The staff of the KDF love showing off the BourbonVille gear!
The folks at the Kentucky Derby Festival might be on to something. A few years back, they created the BourbonVille event — which offers bourbon tastings, food pairings and more — to their lineup of actives that begin three weeks before the Kentucky Derby. It’s one of my favorite Derby Fest events, second only to the Great Steamboat Race, of course (as long as I’m riding on the Belle!).
Anyway, they’ve decided to launch a line of merchandise with the BourbonVille theme, because why limit the cool name to just one day? I believe it would make a fine nickname for Louisville, definitely better than River City. BourbonVille or Bourbon City — I’m cool with either one.
From T-shirts to glasses to bags, the line of apparel went live this morning, so check out the full array. They’d make great holiday gifts, just sayin’. Instead of a rock in my stocking, how about a BourbonVille rocks glass, Santa?
“Like the Derby Festival, bourbon is part of our city’s history and tradition, and we wanted to help celebrate that,” said Matt Gibson, KDF President and CEO, in a news release. KDF is partnering with local company 12/13 Apparel by Synergism for the products.
Check out BourbonVilleUSA for all the details. Also, notice how much fun the KDF staff is having modeling the products!
Michter’s drops a $5,000 bottle of bourbon!
I’ll also take this in my stocking, Santa.
OK, so hopefully nobody will EVER actually drop a bottle of the new Michter’s Celebration Sour Mash Whiskey, because if they do, they’ll be out an instant $5,000!
After a three-year break, Michter’s is releasing the blended whiskey, which was carefully selected by Master Distiller Dan McKee.
“Working on my first Celebration release was a labor of love for me,” he said in a news release. “Ultimately, I chose to take whiskey from two Kentucky straight bourbon barrels and four Kentucky straight rye barrels in our stocks. Each Celebration release is special and unique, and this year’s release differs from the 2016 one, where the whiskey came from three bourbon barrels and three rye barrels.”
In other words, this is what happens when a master distiller is let loose in a rick house and challenged to pick his or her very favorite honey barrels.
So why is it so expensive? Because there are only 277 bottles of the 2019 edition. And it’s in a fancy box!
Yeah, you’re right. Me and you will never get a sip of this, but a girl can dream.
Meet the makers of Maker’s Mark … and drink with them!
It’s rare to catch both Bill Samuels Jr. and Rob Samuels in the same spot, and it’s even rarer to get a chance to drink bourbon with them — unless you’re invited to their Thanksgiving or something. But in a partnership with Liquor Barn, the father and son team behind Maker’s Mark are inviting folks to come out and learn, sip and mingle with them this holiday season.
Called a “Taste of Heritage,” the sessions will be held at both Lexington and Louisville Liquor Barns and cost $25 — but they sound well worth the money, because you’ll be sampling all sorts of Private Select bottles and even some rare vintage MM bottles.
Here’s the schedule, and here’s the link for more info.
- Liquor Barn Beaumont (Lexington) — Friday, Nov. 22 — 5:30 & 8 p.m.
- Liquor Barn Springhurst (Louisville) — Friday, Dec. 6 — 5:30 & 8 p.m.
- Liquor Barn Hamburg (Lexington) — Thursday, Dec. 19 — 5 & 8 p.m.
Other end-of-year releases
So the Pappy line should be rolling out as we speak. Good luck finding or winning one! Other new releases include the Knob Creek Quarter Oak (which I received a sample of and will be part of my next Tasteless Tastings — hint: it’s yummy!); the last Booker’s Bourbon of the year, called “Beaten Biscuits” after the small, cracker-like biscuits Booker liked to make; and another Four Gate Whiskey release that goes by the name of Foundation. That one is a nearly 10-year-old bourbon that is bottled at barrel-strength — a whopping 119.4 proof!
Stay tuned for more bourbon news today …