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.

Come Find Bourbon

Breaking Barriers: Women Leading the Bourbon Industry in Bardstown

May 22, 2025
In 1818, Catherine Spears Carpenter Frye made bourbon history as the first person to write down the recipe for sour mash. A century later, Margie Samuels made her own historic contribution when, in the 1950s, she created the most iconic whiskey packaging in the industry with Maker’s Mark’s hand-dipped red wax seal. In 2016, Joyce and Autumn Netherly made headlines as Kentucky’s only mother/daughter bourbon distillery owners. As far back as the early 1800s, Kentucky women have been leaving their mark on the bourbon landscape. “The bourbon industry isn’t just for the boys,” said Stacy Prichard, vice president of distillery relations at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival , held every September on the grounds of Spalding Hall in Bardstown. “There are a lot of women in bourbon—many with chemical and engineering degrees. There are lots of women in leadership roles. Pretty much anything women want to do, they’re doing it.” 

Sip and Stroll: Combining Bourbon Tasting with Outdoor Adventure in Northern Kentucky

May 14, 2025
Bourbon and chocolate. Bourbon and bacon. Bourbon and the Great Outdoors. Bourbon is the ultimate pairing partner. And in Northern Kentucky , bourbon sipping and strolling, tasting and touring go hand in hand—especially when the neighborhoods explored are architectural beauties with lots of character and independently owned shops and restaurants, like in Covington and Newport, or countryside charmers surrounded by gorgeous scenery, like Florence. Whether walking, shuttling, or ridesharing, these communities seamlessly blend bourbon adventuring and outdoor fun while also supporting safe and responsible exploration. COVINGTON: A WALKABLE BOURBON HUB Bourbon Experience: Stroll MainStrasse Village, a German-inspired, pedestrian-friendly, National Register of Historic Places neighborhood. Pop into Stoney’s Etc. toy shop, Hail Records & Oddities, and other unique shops, or take a snap of the Goose Girl Fountain, and relax at Goebel Park with its historic glockenspiel clock tower. Pop into B-Line ® stop, the Old Kentucky Bourbon Bar , and let the staff guide you to your perfect cocktail, mixed with one of a selection of more than 800 bourbons. Sip inside or enjoy on the patio. Alternatively, ride-share to Ludlow to experience one of NKY’s most original distilleries, Second Sight Spirits , with its Las Vegas show-inspired Swami still, crystal balls, and tours that include a tasting of the distillery’s Oak Eye Kentucky Bourbon, fine rums, moonshine, and fan-favorite hazelnut liqueur. Outdoor Adventure: Walk the Roebling Suspension Bridge for sweeping views of the Ohio River unwinding between Cincinnati’s stunning skyline and Northern Kentucky’s church-steepled landscape. At night, when illuminated, the experience is magical. Play a round of disc golf at Devou Park, a 700-acre playground with one of the most photogenic views in the region at its iconic city overlook. Follow the outdoor art on foot with walking tours in Covington’s Central Business District with its mid-1800s architecture to see murals, mosaics, statues, and sculptures, including Clive the Alien, a 50-foot green space invader hanging out—or over—the Midtown Parking Garage and keeping a watchful eye on the earthlings below. 
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