The Kentucky Bourbon Festival tells BourbonBlog.com that due to concern for the health and safety of distilleries, attendees, and the Bardstown community amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the traditional live event will be moved to a virtual experience for the 29th edition of the annual bourbon festival.
Over the years, the BourbonBlog.com team along with Bourbon expert Tom Fischer has covered the Kentucky Bourbon Festival extensively. BourbonBlog was perhaps the first to cover on major social media platforms in the very early days of our coverage ( see video below and many more like it on YouTube.com/BourbonBlog).
With 28 years bourbon tradition and festival know-how, the 2020 Kentucky Bourbon Festival, organizers still promise a unique and exciting bourbon experience that attendees will not get anywhere else, except Bardstown, Kentucky.
Bardstown, Kentucky, which is perhaps better known as “The Bourbon Capital of the World.” This is the festival that so many other Bourbon and whiskey events have modeled themselves after over the years.
It began as a simple Bourbon tasting dinner and has grown tremendously over the years. Today, it is known as one of the Commonwealth’s leading cultural festivals and a celebration of all the people who’ve contributed to the state’s signature industry for generations.
“Over the course of the last couple of months, we have been working diligently on the best plan to ensure the health and safety of our attendees, distillery partners, volunteers, and staff,” KBF Board of Directors Chairman David Mandell tells BourbonBlog.com. “At this time, we know it’s the right decision to move to a new type of bourbon celebration by going virtual. We look forward to welcoming everyone back to Bardstown for our 30th Anniversary next year.”
We’re including the information below on the virtual festival. Also, BourbonBlog.com will continue to follow the story. To be first to receive updates on this and other Bourbon whiskey news, subscribe to our newsletter here.
How the Virtual Festival will Look
All will require free registration to attend. Visit KYBourbonFestival for more information.
Viewers will enjoy virtual sessions that include: The Art of Whiskey Making (a four-part series featuring multiple master distillers teaching the particulars of bourbon making); the Bottled-in-Bond Happy Hour, where there will be a toast this landmark law, its great whiskeys and cocktails made with them; Cocktail Quickies (between-session breaks in which mixologists give rapid-fire lessons on cocktails you can make at home); and a new Bourbon Legends Series, in which some of the industry’s most famous families will share hilarious and heartwarming stories.
World Championship Bourbon Barrel Relay
All sessions will encourage participants to buy their bourbons and cocktail ingredients in advance and ‘play along at home.’ The weekend’s festivities will culminate with the action-packed World Championship Bourbon Barrel Relay.
Will competing distillery teams have what it takes to knock off the 2019 champion distiller?
The 2020 Kentucky Bourbon Festival welcomes its first-ever Presenting Sponsor, to help deliver the virtual content and underscore the commitment the bourbon industry leaders have to quality programming and to the KBF itself. “We are both proud and excited to support the Kentucky Bourbon Festival again this year”, stated Koetter Construction V.P. of Sales Estimating, Todd Magner. “We’re really looking forward to the lineup of virtual educational sessions as well as announcing our newest product in barrel storage.
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