The 2020 Virtual Kentucky Bourbon Festival is Happening All Weekend Long

14 Signed bottles from some of Kentucky's best distilleries are up for grabs in a facebook raffle this weekend for VIP ticket holders.

Pour a glass of your favorite bourbon and get comfy on your couch, cause the 2020 Kentucky Bourbon Festival fun is already beginning. From October 15th to October 18th, the 29th Annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival will be taking place virtually streaming to bourbon lovers around the world.

Covid concerns caused the festival to be pushed a month before the KBF team shifted to a virtual format, meaning that this will be the first time fans can enjoy the huge range of talks from master distillers, bartenders, experts, and more from the comfort of their own home.

These can’t-miss virtual sessions include Thursday’s “From the Shadows to the Spotlight” talk with Four Roses’ Brent Elliot and Barton 1792’s Josh Hollifield, highlighting the huge upswing in popularity for their products and Friday & Saturday’s “Art of Whiskey Making” series spanning six sessions with bourbon’s best fermenters, distillers, and blenders. On Saturday, be sure to tune in to “Buying and Selling Your Vintage Whiskey—Legally!” with Justin Sloan and Justin Thompson of Justins’ House of Bourbon to learn about vintage “dusty” bourbons and how to store, sip, or sell yours. Sunday the fun wraps up with a Facebook Live drawing for 14 signed bottles ranging from Blanton’s to Angel’s Envy.

All these are interspersed with “Cocktail Quickies,” giving you recipes and techniques for delicious drinks to make at home, as well as tips to pair your whiskey with food and create Kentucky favorites in your kitchen, as well as tons of other fantastic segments with the people who make your favorite pours. Link here for the full list.

While the sessions are free, bourbon fans looking to take their experience up a notch can sign up for the VIP experience. For $150, not only do you get access to every virtual segment airing across the four days of this years festival, but you also get entered to win one of 14 signed bottles from some of Kentucky’s most famous distilleries, as well as passes to next year’s event in beautiful Bardstown, Kentucky.

Link here to register for all sessions of the 2020 Kentucky Bourbon Festival, and tune in all weekend long for fascinating talks with some of bourbon’s best and brightest!

Caroline Paulus
Caroline Paulus is the Senior Editor for The Bourbon Review. She lives and writes in Lexington, Kentucky. Follow her on Instagram @misswhiskeyhistorian to keep up with her latest in bourbon news - and a few old finds, too.