Top Bourbon Events & Festivals

January 1, 2025

Come Find Bourbon aplenty at these annual celebrations

Any time of year is a great time to drive Kentucky’s Authentic Bourbon Road Trip to Covington, Frankfort, and Bardstown. Bourbon-centric events add even more enticement to visit and can help narrow down when to make the trip if you can’t quite decide when to get here. Whether you want to fill up your 2025 calendar, plan different trips into the future, or just love a party, these annual events never disappoint.

 

Bonded Spirit Bluegrass Festival

Covington KY

March 8, 2025; 1-10 p.m.

#BondedSpiritFestival


 Presented by Smoke Justis, the Bonded Spirit Music Festival was originally dubbed the John G. Carlisle Bottled-in-Bond Competition & Celebration. It’s been rebranded and expanded with the addition of live musical entertainment. Bluegrass and Americana bands will take the stage on Covington’s Court Street against a backdrop of the iconic Roebling Bridge. The 2025 musical lineup features Nat Myers, Lindsay Lou, and The Brothers Comatose.

 

While seizing the title as Covington’s first bluegrass festival, the event remains a celebration of Bottled-In-Bond Bourbon as well as the man instrumental in creating the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897, a bourbon purity law advocated by Covington’s own John G. Carlisle, who during his life served as U.S. Senator, Speaker of the House, and Secretary of the Treasury.

 

Festival goers can enjoy bourbon, light bites, and the annual cocktail competition showcasing six of Kentucky’s best bartenders using their favorite bottled-in-bond bourbons. Come raise a glass to bourbon history while savoring some of today’s great bourbons and bourbon-based cocktails to the beats of bluegrass and Americana.

 

General admission tickets are $60+ and include access to the full day of musical entertainment. Food, beer, and cocktails will be available for purchase, and these tickets are standing room only. VIP tickets are $185+ and include priority viewing of the main stage, access to seating in the VIP Lounge in Roebling Rickhouse tent, limited drink tickets and light bites, a gift bag, and more. Tickets are now available for purchase.

Bourbon on the Banks

Frankfort KY

October 4, 2025; early access at 1 p.m., general admission at 2 p.m. Event ends at 6 p.m.

#bourbononthebanks


Held annually on the first Saturday in October, Bourbon on the Banks is Frankfort’s premier bourbon-tasting event set along the historic banks of the Kentucky River at Frankfort’s River View Park. Come “Sip Bourbon, Explore History” during the event’s tastings, demonstrations, and educational discussions that showcase a variety of whiskeys.


The festival spotlights 60+ distilleries, bourbon industry influencers, regional food vendors, bourbon-themed artisans, and regional musicians. Several local breweries and wineries also participate, and bottled spirits and wine will be available for purchase at the event. With an eye on the future, portions of the event’s proceeds fund scholarships to qualifying students who attend accredited, college-level distillation and fermentation science certification or degree programs.


Adults aged 21 and older are invited to attend the festival, and a limit of 2,000 tickets will be sold. A range of different admission levels are offered, including general admission tickets, early access tickets, and special access passes that include 5-hours of tasting time to explore 60+ distillers, an exclusive tasting experience, access to the VIP tent, private bathrooms, and more. Early access begins at 1PM, general admission opens at 2PM, and the event ends at 6PM. Buy your ticket for Bourbon on the Banks!

 

BONUS: 
Arrive early to take part in extra events on October 3, 2025. Experience a food and bourbon pairing, a VIP reception, and a rare and collectible bourbon auction. You can also enjoy Bourbon Street on Broadway, a street fair and carnival. This family-friendly event kicks off the festival weekend with performances by aerialists, fire eaters, human statues, musicians, and other entertainers. Children can enjoy the Kids Zone, and adults can take part in a pub stroll. In addition to downtown restaurants, refreshments will be available from regional mobile food and beverage vendors. This non-ticketed event is open to the public.


Kentucky Bourbon Festival

Bardstown KY

September 5-7, 2025

#kybourbonfest


Held during National Bourbon Heritage Month, the Kentucky Bourbon Festival attracts bourbon enthusiasts from all over the world to celebrate the spirited history and craft of Kentucky’s favorite drink. The event is so popular and well-loved that tickets have sold out the last three years.


This annual celebration of Kentucky bourbon is hosted by Bardstown, the Bourbon Capital of the World, and features over 60 of Kentucky’s top distilleries. The range of spirits presented includes single barrel, small batch, and craft productions as well as some of the world’s best-known brands. Throughout the festival, the lawn at Spalding Hall will serve as the stage for bourbon tastings, education talks, branded booths, a festival merchandise tent, and rows of booths filled with goods made by bourbon-inspired artisans.


Additional events will be held at sites throughout Bardstown, including The Brindiamo Penthouse, which will host premium events like rare and vintage bourbon tastings and cocktail demonstrations and tastings among other unique opportunities. The event schedule includes a bourbon barrel relay race, live musical entertainment, themed tastings, cooking demonstrations, and much more.


Follow @VisitBardstown on Facebook and Instagram for announcements and sign up to get notified on the Kentucky Bourbon Festival’s website about when tickets will become available.

Savoring Bourbon: The Best Pairings and Local Culinary Delights

April 24, 2025
Foodies and bourbon enthusiasts seeking elevated dining experiences find their bourbon-infused bliss in Covington, Frankfort, and Bardstown. Many restaurants and bars in these bourbon-centric cities showcase unique takes on pairing bourbon with meals, specialize in bourbon-infused menus, and feature dishes that amplify bourbon flavors. Additionally, these three cities offer bourbon experiences that bourbon lovers aren’t likely to find anywhere else. SIGNATURE SPINS In Newport, the team at Purple Poulet Southern Bourbon Bistro , led by Chef Rick Zumwalde, loves a good splash or three of bourbon in dishes like fried chicken and waffles with maple bourbon syrup, “Swanky” Shrimp-n-Grits with bourbon-cream pan gravy, hickory-smoked beef brisket with bourbon-peach jus, a Casino-style market catch with bourbon-bacon-maple broth, and bourbon mashed sweet potatoes. Likewise, the team at Beehive Augusta Tavern shows its unbridled enthusiasm for Kentucky bourbon by incorporating it into multiple dishes: bourbon-braised short ribs, bourbon carbonara, bourbon-glazed bone-in pork chops, bourbon-glazed salmon, a bourbon bordelaise burger, and honey bourbon fried chicken. Even sides like the honey bourbon bacon brussels get a dousing. At the Kitchen & Bar at Bardstown Bourbon Company (BBCo.), Kentucky’s first distillery-based restaurant, Chef Stu Plush likes to bring out bourbon tasting notes through various dishes. For instance, the menu suggests BBCo. Origin Series Bottled-in-Bond or Prohibited Paradise for country ham carbonara and BBCo. Origin Series Rye Whiskey or Feel the Heat for its Southern fried chicken. At HOC (House of Commons): A Bourbon Library in Frankfort, Founder and Proprietor Dave Sandlin brings encyclopedic knowledge to the bourbons he stocks. Additionally, this bourbon barkeep knows how to spin a good yarn. “Everyone has a story to tell, and every bourbon has a story to tell,” said Sandlin. “Our storytelling is the framework around the more than 315 Kentucky whiskeys we have on the shelf, why we have them, why each is special, rare, or different.” Visitors to HOC won’t find food and bourbon pairings (although Sanders is happy to share restaurant recommendations); this bourbon bar is about pairing bourbon to people’s palettes. “People come in and tell us what they like, and we formulate a taste profile for them,” said Sanders.

Bourbon Basics: How to Taste, Pair, and Enjoy Like a Pro

April 23, 2025
Planning your first distillery visit or considering a journey along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®? Bourbon has a built-in mystique and culture that might give the bourbon-curious and aspiring aficionados pause in taking that first step into the world of America’s Only Native Spirit. BOURBON 101 The variety of distilleries and their unique experiences may seem daunting, and terms like “nosing” and “Kentucky chew” baffling, but part of the fun of bourbon is in the learning. Beginners can get their feet wet in Frankfort at Buffalo Trace Distillery , with an intro to the history and science of bourbon, and at Castle & Key with an interactive Cocktail Therapy class to elevate sensory awareness. The Old Pogue Experience on Northern Kentucky’s The B-Line ® in downtown Maysville offers a different perspective, combining the Bourbon History Galleries, which delve into the 1791 Whiskey Tax Act Rebellion and Prohibition, with an (optional) tasting of an original Kentucky bourbon—Old Pogue Master’s Select. In the Bourbon Capital of the World, Lux Row Distillers in Bardstown gives an insider’s view of the bourbon making process from start to finish on its Grain to Barrel Tour, followed by an educational, guided tasting experience. Here is a guide to some bourbon basics that will help you look more natural than novice when sitting down to a tasting and will soon have you pairing like a pro.
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