Kentucky Bourbon Festival
A week-long celebration in the self-proclaimed Bourbon Capital of the World, with tastings, distillery tours and a barrel-rolling relay race.
Bardstown, Kentucky has been home to bourbon distilling since 1776, and today the surrounding area produces a large share of the world's bourbon. Since 1992, the Kentucky Bourbon Festival has turned that heritage into a week-long celebration, drawing bourbon enthusiasts from across the country and well beyond Kentucky's borders.
The festival's more than thirty events range from formal tasting galas to genuinely eccentric traditions like the World Championship Bourbon Barrel Relay, where distillery workers race to manoeuvre 500-pound barrels by hand. Distillery tours, cooking demonstrations built around bourbon, and live music round out a packed schedule.
With the vast majority of ticketed guests travelling in from outside the state, the festival has become both a serious showcase for one of America's defining spirits and a significant economic event for the whole region.
Highlights
- ✓Bourbon distilling here since 1776
- ✓Running since 1992
- ✓Barrel-rolling relay race