(Bardstown, KY) The Kentucky Bourbon Festival in September (National Bourbon Heritage Month) has just released its “Premium Events” which are now on sale. Here is the full list to check out! NOTE, ticket purchase for the main event is required for access to the “Premium Events” opportunities.
MORE INFO: www.kybourbonfestival.com
Wed Sept 14th
1-2:30 p.m. Equipped and Ready to Cocktail: Great cocktails are made with correct tools, delicious amendments, precise recipes and specific techniques. In this hands-on session Samantha Montgomery, national brand ambassador for Bardstown Bourbon Co., will discuss the tools included in attendee’s personal cocktail kits, how cocktail amendments affect each drink, why drink recipes are necessary for good results, and lead the group through hands-on drink making.
Cost: $125 and includes each student’s cocktail kit and light bites.
Location: Bardstown Bourbon Co.
Thurs Sept 15th
1-2:15 p.m. Tasting Whiskey’s Past & Present: If you ask whiskey expert Travis Hill how best to understand American whiskey’s past, he’ll tell you to learn how differently it was made way back when—and then pour you some of it. Join Hill for this extended tasting of some fine “dusty” whiskey and their comparisons to some modern favorites. This year’s lineup includes:
- Old Forester 1996 Olympic Bourbon, 96 proof, compared with Old Forester Single Barrel, 90 proof
- Virgin Bourbon (distilled by Heaven Hill in 1992), 10 years old, 101 proof, compared with Henry McKenna (made by Heaven Hill) 10 years old, 100 proof
- Old Granddad (made by United Distillers in 1981) no age statement, 114 proof, compared with Castle & Key Single Barrel Rye, 5 years old, 113.9 proof
Class cost: $150 and includes whiskeys and light bites.
Location: Bardstown Bourbon Co.
2:30-4 p.m. Discovery Series Deconstructed: Ever wondered how Bardstown Bourbon Co.’s (BBC) blending team creates its Discovery Series whiskeys? These amazing whiskeys contain as many as five unique bourbons, corn and rye whiskeys of widely varying ages that are blended into a single amazing product. Join us when Dan Callaway, vice president of hospitality and product development at BBC, deconstructs one of its Fusion whiskeys, lets you taste its individual parts and then guides you to reconstruct that amazing blend.
Class cost: $100 and includes whiskeys and light bites.
Location: Bardstown Bourbon Co.
FRIDAY SEPT. 16
12:30 Cocktail Creations: The Bitters Truth: Lynn House, who learned mixology firsthand working in some of the nation’s top bars, knows delicious and balanced cocktails require bitter notes. In this seminar, the well-known national brand educator at Heaven Hill will show you how to leverage bitters in three, easy-to-make and memorably tasty cocktails.
Class cost: $75 and includes cocktails and a Scrappy’s Bitters kit.
Location: Kentucky Bourbon Festival Loft
2 p.m. Cooking with Bourbon: Ouita Michel knows a lot about Kentucky foods. As co-owner of Holly Hill Inn and several other restaurants, Michel is a seven-time James Beard Award nominee, cookbook author and nationally revered chef. Bring an appetite when she cooks a few items from her recent cookbook, “Just a Few Miles South.”
Class cost: $95 and includes a welcome cocktail, tastes of Chef Ouita’s food and a signed copy of her cookbook, “Just a Few Miles South.”
Location: Kentucky Bourbon Festival Loft
3:30 p.m. It is Finished: A Deep Dive into Secondary Barrel-Finishing: Making and aging whiskey is no simple task, so why would whiskey makers complicate the process with secondary cask finishing? To create novel flavors, variations on longstanding grain themes tantalize whiskey lovers’ palates, of course. Join our expert panel of a distiller, a blender and a barrel maker to learn about—and taste—how secondary barrels drastically elevate whiskeys.
Class cost: $75 and includes tastes of finished whiskeys
Location: Kentucky Bourbon Festival Loft
5 p.m. The Mash Hour: The Fun Past and Frustrating Present of Whiskey Collecting. Brian Gelfo and Travis Hill remember whiskey collecting as fun. In the early aughts, dusties were easily found and affordable. Today, vintage whiskey difficult to find and prices are astronomically high. Same holds for modern whiskey, especially if it has a cult following. Listen in as Gelfo and Hill discuss how bottle shopping once was, what it’s now become, and what it’ll look like in the future.
Class cost: This event is free to VIP ticketholders only.
Location: VIP Tent
SATURDAY SEPT. 17
12:30 p.m. Cocktail Creations: That’s Amaro! From cocktails such as the black Manhattan to the Brooklyn and the Paper Plane, amaro and American whiskey play well together. Let one of our Distilled Living mixologists discuss amaro’s role in cocktails and show you how to make some.
Class cost: $75 and includes cocktails made by attendees.
Location: Kentucky Bourbon Festival Loft
2 p.m. Cooking with Bourbon: Newman Miller, chef and co-owner of the Harrison-Smith House in Bardstown, returns to the Bourbon Festival for another entertaining round of cooking, sips and stories. Settle in for some amazing culinary stories and tastes of his amazing food.
Class cost: $75 and includes a welcome cocktail and tastes of Chef Miller’s creations
Location: Kentucky Bourbon Festival Loft
3:30 p.m. Uniquely Single: The single barrel pick is the true unicorn of the bourbon world. Since every barrel of whiskey is unique, these one-and-done bottlings will never be repeated, and demand for them has never been greater. Join New Riff Distilling’s Creola Dickerson and Maker’s Mark’s Jane Bowie to learn the nuanced differences in each distillery’s single barrel program.
Class cost: $75 and includes tastes of multiple whiskeys.
Location: Kentucky Bourbon Festival Loft
5 p.m. The Mash Hour: American Whiskey Was Different We Started! For a combined 90 years, master distillers Chris Morris (Brown-Forman) and Fred Noe (James B. Beam Distilling Co.) have seen it all in American whiskey. And as both men will tell you, it’s a vastly different industry in 2022 than when they started in the 1980s. Grab a cocktail and a seat and soak up some of the most entertaining stories ever told by these industry legends
Class cost: This event is free to VIP ticketholders only.
Location: VIP Tent
SUNDAY SEPT. 18
12:30 p.m. Bourbon Brunch Cocktails Bourbon at brunch, you ask? Yes, and doubly yes at the Bourbon Festival. Let one of our Distilled Living mixologists demonstrate how to make three bourbon-based cocktails that’ll pair with any brunch menu.
Class cost: $75 and includes tastes of cocktails and light bites.
Location: Kentucky Bourbon Festival Loft
2 p.m. Go to the Source! A large portion of bottles on retailers’ shelves are filled with whiskey sourced by non-distiller producers (NDPs) from distilleries with excess capacity. Some sourced whiskeys become legends, and some are coveted bottles in the modern marketplace. Listen in as Barry Brinegar (founder of RD1 Spirits), David Mandell (co-founder and former president of Bardstown Bourbon Co.) and Monica Wolf (president of The Spirits Group) discuss the art, science, difficulty and luck involved in finding great sourced whiskeys.
Class cost: $75 and includes tastes of multiple sourced whiskeys.
Location: Kentucky Bourbon Festival Loft
3:30 p.m. Big Flavors from Craft Distilleries: “Craft” implies many things when it comes to distilled spirits, but as America’s 2,500 craft distilleries have proven, the plant doesn’t have to be big to produce great whiskey. Join distillers Caleb Kilburn (Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co.) and Royce Neeley (Neeley Family Distillery) for a fun and factual discussion of craft whiskey and, of course, some sips of their whiskeys.
Class cost: $75 and includes tastes of multiple whiskeys.
Location: Kentucky Bourbon Festival Loft
