Tag: bourbon

ANNOUNCING: The Full Lineup for Bourbon & Beyond 2025 is Here

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Today, Bourbon & Beyond, the world’s largest music and bourbon festival, announced its lineup for their 2025 event, occurring September 11 through 14, 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky once again held at the Kentucky Expo Center. Last year, the festival attracted more than 200,000 attendees over its four days, setting a record as the largest music festival in the state’s history with its singular and wildly attractive roots-meets-mainstream lineup.

This year, main stage headliners include The Lumineers, Alabama Shakes, Phish, Sturgill Simpson (as Johnny Blue Skies), Jack White, Noah Kahan, Megan Moroney, and more. Plus, BGS returns to Bourbon & Beyond for our seventh consecutive year, programming The Bluegrass Situation stage in the Kroger Big Bourbon Bar. Attendees can enjoy delicious Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey from dozens of distilleries while hearing the best bluegrass, country, and Americana from across the country. Don’t miss line dancing between sets while you enjoy the sounds of BGS – from new discoveries to living legends – and one of the shadiest spots on the festival grounds.

Our headliners gracing the BGS stage will be some of our biggest gets yet for the event, including AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Rhonda Vincent, Steep Canyon Rangers, and Leftover Salmon. Plus, you can catch Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland – who just announced their upcoming debut duo album – young mandolin phenom Wyatt Ellis, the impressively big-voiced Jett Holden, GRAMMY nominee Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, and many more. (Find our full BGS stage lineup below.)

While there’s always plenty of bluegrass and old-time, folk and Americana to be found on our own stage, B&B boasts an incredibly diverse array of artists, bands, and musicians each year across all of its stages. Elsewhere during the event we’ll be running around, too catching sets by Bonny Light Horseman, Kelsey Waldon, Flatland Cavalry, Jade Bird, Julien Baker & TORRES, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lake Street Dive, Trampled by Turtles, and so many more.

“Bourbon & Beyond is the best lineup of the year – bringing together the biggest names in rock, Americana, and alt, alongside country icons and breakout artists,” says Danny Wimmer of Danny Wimmer Productions, who produces the event. “It’s a festival that doesn’t just celebrate one sound, but the best of all of them, paired with world-class bourbon, incredible food, and that unmistakable Kentucky vibe.”

We couldn’t agree more. Bourbon & Beyond remains one of the highest quality events we’ve ever partnered with, bringing together world class food and beverage, unique experiences and activities, so many genres and sounds, and the buzziest talents alongside sparkling fresh discoveries and legacy acts with household names. All set in the heart of roots music country in beautiful Kentucky.

Tickets for Bourbon & Beyond are on sale now. We hope you’ll join us for yet another year in Louisville – you won’t want to miss our BGS stage lineup or any of the limitless fun B&B has on offer.

BGS Stage Lineup:

AJ Lee & Blue Summit
Rhonda Vincent
Steep Canyon Rangers
Leftover Salmon
Caleb Caudle & the Sweet Critters
Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland
Chatham Rabbits
Wyatt Ellis
Fruition
Jett Holden
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Danny Paisley & Southern Grass
Steep Canyon Rangers
Thunder & Rain
TopHouse
Wonder Women of Country

Graphics courtesy of DWP.

ANNOUNCING: Louisville’s Bourbon & Beyond 2024 Lineup

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Today, Bourbon & Beyond, the world’s largest music and bourbon festival, announced its lineup for their 2024 event, to be held in Louisville at the Kentucky Expo Center September 19 through 22, 2024. With headliners such as Neil Young, Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers, and many more, the festival promises a roster filled-to-bursting with the best acts from country, Americana, bluegrass, and beyond.

BGS will return to the festival for ours and the festival’s sixth consecutive year, once again curating the musicians and bands that will grace the Bluegrass Situation Stage. Housed in the Kroger Big Bourbon Bar, the BGS stage will feature bluegrass, line dancing, and as much bourbon as you can drink from dozens of distilleries. Each day of the festival our stage will culminate with performances by Sam Bush Band, the Jerry Douglas Band, Yonder Mountain String Band, and Tony Trischka’s Earl Jam. Plus, don’t miss exciting acts like IBMA Entertainer of the Year winners Sister Sadie, newly-minted Black string band New Dangerfield, and KY neighbors the Local Honeys and the Kentucky Gentlemen. See the full list of performers for the Bluegrass Situation Stage below.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, via press release, had this to say about the festival: “The Commonwealth of Kentucky is honored to be hosting Bourbon & Beyond in Louisville this September,” he said. “The festival brings in fans from all over the world and showcases the best of Kentucky; highlighting our rich culture of bourbon, the best in local culinary, and a top tier musical lineup. We can’t wait to welcome fans once again for this great tradition that we all in Kentucky are proud to call our own.”

First-rate bands and artists from across the American roots music community can be found throughout Bourbon & Beyond’s lineup, not only at the Bluegrass Situation Stage. This year, Bourbon & Beyond adds two new secondary stages, as well as the usual BGS Stage and the Oak and Barrel main stages. From Tedeschi Trucks Band and Black Pumas to Melissa Etheridge and Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, there’s truly something for everyone. Don’t miss sets by Larkin Poe, Josh Ritter, Jade Bird, Lyle Lovett, Sierra Ferrell, Devon Gilfillian, Vincent Neil Emerson, Robert Finley, Hiss Golden Messenger, and so many more.

Another highlight of Bourbon & Beyond each year are the bourbon and culinary events, workshops, and activations that feature celebrity chefs and food-and-drink experts such as Chris Blandford, Amanda Freitag, Ed Lee, Chris Santos, and more. All in all, Bourbon & Beyond promises to yet again be your complete music, bourbon, and food festival in beautiful Kentucky. Tickets are on sale now – we hope you’ll join us in Louisville for another year of Bourbon & Beyond!

The Bluegrass Situation Stage Lineup

Sam Bush Band
The Jerry Douglas Band
Yonder Mountain String Band
Tony Trischka’s Earl Jam: A Tribute to Earl Scruggs
Sister Sadie
New Dangerfield
Big Richard
Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley
The Brothers Comatose
The Local Honeys
Tray Wellington Band
Chatham County Line
The Kentucky Gentlemen
East Nash Grass
Mountain Grass Unit
Jacob Jolliff Band
…and more to be announced!

Photo Credit: Nathan Zucker, courtesy of Bourbon & Beyond.

BGS Returns to Louisville for Sixth Consecutive Bourbon & Beyond

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

BGS is excited to announce the full lineup and schedule for our Bluegrass Situation Stage at Louisville, Kentucky’s Bourbon & Beyond – for our sixth year in a row! Since 2017, BGS has curated a bluegrass-forward roster for the premier bourbon, food, and music festival’s only music stage outside of their main stages, Oak and Barrel. The 2023 edition of Bourbon & Beyond will be held September 14 through 17 at the Highland Festival Grounds at the Kentucky Expo Center. Tickets are still available.

Each evening of the event, the BGS Stage will culminate with performances by Kelsey Waldon (Thursday), The Lil’ Smokies (Friday), Town Mountain (Saturday) and Dan Tyminski (Sunday). The full schedule includes performances by Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Lindsay Lou, The Arcadian Wild, Della Mae, Sunny War, Twisted Pine and more. See daily BGS Stage schedules below.

This year, as in the past, there are acts and bands all across the Bourbon & Beyond schedule that feel like they were pulled directly from the pages and stories of BGS. On the Oak and Barrel stage roots music fans can hear artists like Jon Batiste, Billy Strings, Midland, Brandi Carlile, Brittany Howard, Joy Oladokun, Darrell Scott Band, Fantastic Negrito, Hailey Whitters, Brandy Clark, Mavis Staples, the Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, and so many more.

But that’s not all! For the foodies and bourbon hounds alike, there will be wall-to-wall culinary demonstrations, bourbon experiences, and more featuring celebrity chefs such as Edward Lee, Amanda Freitag, Chris Santos, Sara Bradley, bourbon expert Fred Minnick, and many others. If you’re curious which Kentucky straight bourbon whiskeys will be available for sipping and guzzling at the Big Bourbon Bar, it’s pretty much every distiller you could ever crave: Angel’s Envy, Bardstown, Brother’s Bond, Bulleit, Doc Swinson’s Whiskey Collection, Elijah Craig, Four Roses, George Dickel, Green River, Heaven’s Door, Jack Daniel’s, Jefferson’s, Kentucky Peerless, Larceny, Legent, Maker’s 46, Michter’s, Middle West Spirits, Monk’s Road, Old Forester, Rabbit Hole, Resilient Bottled in Bond, Starlight Distillery, Wilderness Trail and Willett Distillery.

Bourbon and bluegrass and beyond – what more do you need? We hope you will make plans to join us in Louisville for the 2023 edition of Bourbon & Beyond!

 

The Bluegrass Situation Stage – Daily Schedule

Thursday, September 14

5:45 p.m. – Kelsey Waldon
4:15 p.m. – Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
3 p.m. – Two Runner
1:45 p.m. – Clay Street Unit
12:30 p.m. – Myron Elkins

Friday, September 15

5:45 p.m. – The Lil’ Smokies
4:15 p.m. – The Cleverlys
3 p.m. – Twisted Pine
1:45 p.m. – Lola Kirke
12:30 p.m. – Armchair Boogie

Saturday, September 16

5:45 p.m. – Town Mountain
4:15 p.m. – Della Mae
3 p.m. – Lindsay Lou
1:45 p.m. – Sunny War
12:30 p.m. – Armchair Boogie

Sunday, September 17

5:45 p.m. – Dan Tyminski
4:15 p.m. – Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen
3 p.m. – The Arcadian Wild
1:45 p.m.- Lindsay Lou
12:30 p.m. – Pixie & The Partygrass Boys

 

Photos L-R: Dan Tyminski by Scott Simontacchi; Kelsey Waldon courtesy of the artist; Michael Cleveland by Amy Richmond

Bluegrass Returns to Bourbon & Beyond

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Bluegrass is back at Bourbon & Beyond! We’re so excited to once again curate and host a stage at the bourbon, food, and music festival in Louisville, Kentucky. To add onto the already stellar main stage headliners like Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Yola, and so many more, this year’s bluegrass stage will feature Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, Sierra Hull, and Hogslop String Band, as well as Gary Brewer & Kentucky Ramblers, Jon Stickley Trio, Missy Raines & Allegheny, Jake Blount, Bella White, Tray Wellington, Tyler Boone – and more to be announced! We can’t wait to gather with all of our bluegrass friends for a weekend of stellar bourbon, delicious food, and incredible music.

You can grab your tickets and learn more about Bourbon & Beyond here.

Must-See Food and Drink Events at Bourbon & Beyond 2019

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Yes, bourbon and great music (and, in our case, bluegrass!) are all givens at Bourbon & Beyond this weekend in Louisville, Kentucky, but the culinary and libations programming might be somewhat unexpected to even the most seasoned festival goers. Do yourself a favor and make a point to consume — literally and figuratively — some of the incredible gourmet talent that makes Bourbon & Beyond truly an event that goes above… and beyond. Here are our top picks for must-see food and drink events for B&B 2019:

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
1:30 p.m: Jose Salazar & Matt Abdoo

Jose Salazar is a chef and restaurateur based in Cincinnati, Ohio, so it’s a quick jaunt down to Louisville to be a part of Bourbon & Beyond. Originally from Queens, he got his start in restaurants around New York City, most notably working with Chef Thomas Keller for a four-year stint at Per Se and as the Executive Sous-Chef at Bouchon Bakery when it first opened its doors in 2006. 

This will be the third year in a row that Jose hosts a cooking demo at Bourbon & Beyond (we even interviewed him at last year’s festival for an episode of The Shift List), so the B&B veteran will be mixing things up by inviting the award-winning pitmaster Matt Abdoo to join him on stage. Matt’s BBQ joint Pig Beach is a staple in Gowanus, Brooklyn, so it’ll be fun to see how Chef Salazar incorporates Abdoo’s pit techniques into his demo. 

4:30 p.m: Justin Sutherland & Ben Jaffe 

Chef Justin Sutherland hails from St. Paul, Minnesota, where he’s the owner and executive chef of two restaurants, “Handsome Hog” and “Pearl & The Thief” – both contemporary Southern restaurants. He gained national attention by competing on last year’s season of Top Chef, which just so happened to take place in Louisville,  and recently competed and won on Iron Chef America. 

This will be his first appearance at Bourbon & Beyond, and he’ll be joined onstage throughout his demo by Ben Jaffe, the creative director of Preservation Hall in New Orleans, who also plays tuba and double bass with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and will be performing a set of their own earlier in the day at noon over on the Oak Stage.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
2:30 p.m.: Tiffani Thiessen

Yes – this is the same Tiffani Thiessen that spent her teenage years playing Zach Morris’s on-again/off-again high school sweetheart Kelly Kapowski on Saved By The Bell (now sans her middle name ‘Amber’). That said, over the past few years, she has remade herself as a cookbook author and host of the Cooking Channel series ‘Dinner at Tiffani’s’. 

Making her debut appearance at Bourbon and Beyond, her cooking demo is sure to attract die hard SBTB fans and home cooking aficionados alike.

5:30 p.m: Kelsey Barnard Clark and Sara Bradley

Even though Chefs Kelsey Barnard Clark and Sara Bradley made their television debuts on Top Chef: Louisville, the two Southern chefs had worked and known each other around kitchens for over a decade. 

Barnard Clark, an Alabama native who went on to win the competition, and Louisville hometown hero Bradley, who placed second, are taking their longtime friendship to the stage for their Saturday evening cooking demo. After watching them compete against one another for an entire season of television, it will be fun to see them working together. 

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
12:05 p.m.: Manhattan Vs. The Old Fashioned

Sunday’s the final day of Bourbon & Beyond, so it might as well be spent in the pursuit of enjoying as much Bourbon as possible. Over at the Kentucky Gold stage, Beth Burrows, a brand ambassador for Jim Beam, and ‘master taster’ for Old Forester Jackie Zakan will be debating which classic bourbon cocktail reigns supreme. The Manhattan and Old Fashioned will face off for cocktail supremacy, although we’re pretty sure it’s just a good excuse to sample both in one sitting. 

 6:15 p.m: Slavery In American Whiskey

Enslaved people helped build the foundation of American whiskey, and a panel of historians and experts will be gathering to tell some of their stories. Led by renowned whiskey connoisseur Fred Minnick, the panel will include Clay Risen, a food editor for the New York Times, and Bourbon Hall of Famer Freddie Johnson.

 

Full Food and Bourbon Panel Lineup:

Friday, September 20 

Better In The Bluegrass Stage (Culinary Demos and Presentations) 

  • Noon: Edward Lee
  • 1:30 p.m.: Jose Salazar & Matt Abdoo
  • 3 p.m.: Michael Voltaggio & Adam Sobel
  • 4:30 p.m.: Justin Sutherland & Ben Jaffe (Preservation Hall Jazz Band)

Kentucky Gold Stage (Bourbon Demos and Presentations) 

  • 11:35 a.m.: Welcome
  • 12:40 p.m.: Beer Drinker’s Bourbon
  • 2:05 p.m.: How Highball Can You Go?
  • 3:50 p.m.: Whiskey Women
  • 5:05 p.m.: Bourbon Disrupters 
  • 6:05 p.m.: What Is A Master Distiller

Saturday, September 21 

Better In The Bluegrass Stage (Culinary Demos and Presentations) 

  • 1:05 p.m.: Graham Elliot
  • 2:30 p.m.: Tiffani Thiessen
  • 4 p.m.: Brooke Williamson
  • 5:30 p.m.: Kelsey Barnard Clark & Sara Bradley

Kentucky Gold Stage (Bourbon Demos and Presentations) 

  • 11:25 a.m.: Bourbon Storytime
  • 12:25 p.m.: Barrel Finish Vs. Traditional Bourbon
  • 1:35 p.m.: Whiskey’s Dark Past
  • 3 p.m.: The Barrel
  • 4:45 p.m.: The Van Winkle Family

Sunday, September 22

Better In The Bluegrass Stage (Culinary Demos and Presentations) 

  • 12:45 p.m.: Ouita Michel
  • 2:05 p.m.: Rusty Hamlin & Coy Bowles (Zac Brown Band)
  • 3:35 p.m.: Amanda Freitag & Tierinii Jackson (Southern Avenue)
  • 4:15 p.m.: Jamie Bissonnette

Kentucky Gold Stage (Bourbon Demos and Presentations) 

  • 11:15 a.m.: Welcome
  • 12:05 p.m.: Manhattan Vs. The Old Fashioned
  • 1:15 p.m.: Sweet Mash: The Whiskey Revolution
  • 2:35 p.m.: Master Taster: How To Taste Like A Pro
  • 4:15 p.m.: Executive Round Table
  • 6:15 p.m.: Slavery In American Whiskey History

 

Festival Founder Danny Wimmer Infuses Bourbon & Beyond with Bluegrass

Posted on by Editor

This month, Bourbon & Beyond will descend upon Louisville, Kentucky, for its third annual event, attracting tens of thousands for a weekend of music, food, and brown liquor. Alison Krauss, Greensky Bluegrass, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and more top-notch talent are slated to grace the stages over a newly-expanded three-day stretch, but the bourbon and food lineups are just as impressive.

Bourbon aficionados can sample tastings from more than forty labels, as well as partake in workshops that range from cocktail-making to history lessons. Meanwhile, culinarians can spend an evening at supper club with acclaimed chef Edward Lee or sample local fare across the grounds.

To prepare for the weekend, BGS caught up with festival founder Danny Wimmer, whose namesake production company puts on more than a dozen annual festivals throughout North America. We spoke about how Bourbon & Beyond got its start, what makes it a must-attend event, and why he thinks the Louisville festival is here to stay.

Editor’s Note: Be sure to check out the Bluegrass Situation Stage at Bourbon & Beyond

How did Bourbon and Beyond come together in the beginning?

My love for bourbon is really where it started. About eight or nine years ago, we had the idea to start our own bourbon [label], and started meeting with master distillers. I spent a year in Louisville and I fell in love with the city — well, really, I fell in love with the community. So we put the bourbon on hold and we launched Louder Than Life, a hard rock festival. Through that, we saw an opportunity for something that centered around craft — music, culinary, spirits.

Making bourbon isn’t just something you can do overnight. It takes about four to seven years before you can even drink any of the product. It’s a true art form and it’s something that takes patience. Kentucky produces 95 percent of all bourbon, and we saw an opportunity to further connect the dots between the bourbon industry and the state. When you say “Napa Valley,” you think of wine. When you say “Kentucky” or “Louisville,” you should be instantly thinking bourbon. We wanted to create an event that incorporated bourbon, food, music, and this beautiful state.

You worked with two people who are really in touch with the bourbon and culinary scenes in Louisville — bourbon writer Fred Minnick and acclaimed chef Edward Lee, respectively. What made it important to have their involvement?

We really wanted to have a five-year festival in year one, from the way it operated to the way the community was to engage in it. When you’re talking about launching a bourbon festival in the heart of bourbon country, there’s going to be a lot of skepticism. These guys from LA. Why are they doing it?

It wasn’t like we had an idea and [Bourbon & Beyond] just happened. It took a lot of different players to bring this together and make it happen — the mayor’s office, the bourbon community. Bringing [Minnick and Lee] in as partners gave the festival the credibility it needed. They’re really our gatekeepers, between the city and the state and the bourbon and the culinary worlds.

Music-wise, what are your priorities when booking Bourbon & Beyond, and how does bluegrass fit in?

The soul of Kentucky is bluegrass, and it was very important to have the genre be a centerpiece of this festival. We wanted the respect of the [bluegrass] community, but also to put these acts in front of a whole new crowd. One of the things we hope for is that artists can use our festivals as a way to really grow their awareness — as a vehicle to come back and headline a bigger room. Bluegrass, specifically, is something I’ve fallen in love with. It’s a genre that we’re going to stay very focused on, and focused on growing. Don’t be surprised if soon we’re doing bluegrass events in other places in the country.

You said you fell in love with Louisville as a city. Of course, a bourbon event there feels like a no-brainer, but what made you think this festival, with the music and culinary elements intertwined, would work there?

The people. Listen, I’m from Jacksonville, Florida. I’m a Southern boy. Louisville is a gateway to the South. Ever since we got here, the city, the mayor’s office, and now the governor’s office, has opened their arms. There are not a lot of communities that are so welcoming to the arts. The reason we now have three festivals here is really the community.

But Louisville also sits in an area that has five or ten major cities around it. We have Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Nashville. We have St. Louis that’s six hours away, we have Chicago that’s five hours away. We’ve got some major markets that are really close by. With the explosion of the bourbon industry, a lot of people really want to come experience Louisville — we believe it’s where Austin, Texas was ten to fifteen years ago; where Nashville was ten years ago. Both of those cities started with music. And I think we have the right recipe to help this city become the next [big music and food destination].

Are there any unique advantages to producing festivals independently?

I’m in a place where I can follow my heart fast. I don’t have to get approval. Sure, I have to run a business — me and my partner have a really great relationship between business and art — but I’m in a place where I can make a decision [based on what I’m aiming for] five years from now or ten years from now. I love independent companies. They’re usually great at creating niches; they’re specialists in certain genres. I think independent promoters are very crucial to the food chain of our industry.

[For example,] I don’t like that there are three radio stations that really control the listening and the programming of our country. One of the major downfalls is that we lost localization in markets. Before the [consolidation], I loved the local aspect that radio would bring to certain markets. [On the label side,] I loved that you had records signing certain genres — they were specialists. Right now, we’re missing that, but there will be a day when you see indies rising again.

Photo credit: Sam Shapiro

Whiskey Nicks: Four Ways to Drink Bourbon While Listening to Stevie Nicks

Posted on by Editor

With the legend herself, Stevie Nicks, performing this weekend at the Bourbon & Beyond festival in Kentucky, we thought it’d be a great time to look at how to pair America’s spirit, bourbon, with different Stevie Nicks songs. In order to do so, we spoke to some of the best in the business — star bartender Jane Danger, award-winning author Fred Minnick, and Angel’s Envy master distiller Wes Henderson — to get their take on some of the best ways to pair the two.

Neat Pour paired with “Landslide”

2 parts Angel’s Envy Bourbon
Method: Serve neat.

“‘Landslide’ has a deeply personal meaning for me, and this brand is such a family brand, which I think creates such a great connection between the music and Angel’s Envy. That song, in particular, comes to mind, when I think of such personal connections.” — Wes Henderson

The Nightbird paired with “Nightbird”

1.5 parts Angel’s Envy Bourbon
.75 part pineapple juice
.5 part lemon juice
.5 part cinnamon syrup*
Pineapple leaf
Lemon peel feather
Edible orchid
Method: Build in shaking tins. Shake. Fine strain into a rocks glass with ice. Pineapple leaf and lemon peel feather with an edible orchid.

*If in a pinch, raw cane sugar syrup and a dropper of Bittermens Tiki Bitters may be used.

“While researching some of Stevie’s favorite things, I came across a love of animal crackers, a special recipe for a famous chip dip, and her favorite perfume. The perfume was the inspiration. It had notes of wood and white flowers, coming across as sweet and warm … just like this cocktail.” — Jane Danger

The Perfect Cocktail paired with “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”

2 parts Angel’s Envy Cask Strength Bourbon
Method: What you want to do is get a nice rocks glass, fill it to the brim with ice. I mean cram that son of a gun. Get your bourbon, pour two ounces in a separate shot glass. Then, take your rocks glass and dump all the ice in sink. You can now pour the bourbon into the glass and enjoy neat. Perfect cocktail.

“Because good bourbon is best neat, and it breaks my heart when I see people screwing with it.” — Fred Minnick

Black Walnut Old Fashioned paired with “Edge of Seventeen”

1.5 parts Angel’s Envy Bourbon
2 dashes Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters
2 dashes Fee Brothers Cherry Bitters
1 sugar cube
Orange peel
Method: Place sugar cube in an old fashioned glass and add bitters. Muddle together with a few drops of water. Add cubes of ice and bourbon. Give a quick stir, express orange peel over the top. Rub the outside of the peel around the rim and drop in.

“A classic song for a classic cocktail. This was the first Stevie Nicks song I ever heard (or could at least identify) and the drink, well, does much more need to be said about an old fashioned? You could use Angostura, but I think adding the black walnut and cherry bitters instead gives it a nice little twist without being too much.” — Sam Slaughter 

The Bourbon & Beyond Festival features music, food, activities, and lots of bourbon in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 23-24, and the BGS will be there presenting two days’ worth of great roots music. Come on down!

Photo credit: ctj71081 via Foter.com / CC BY-SA

Ride Along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail with Wild Ponies

Posted on by Editor

For the fourth year in a row, Doug and Telisha Williams will host the Wild Ponies Kentucky Bourbon Trail Ride on July 21-23, 2017. The trail ride is a bourbon-infused, musically inspired fan adventure through the bluegrass hills of Kentucky.

It’s a place where great music and the best bourbon come together. That sip … a moment that can take you from the sweet spice of amber goodness on your lips to the hands that planted and harvested the corn. Wild Ponies’ music transports in the same way. Sometimes you’re not even aware: You’re just listening and connecting to your own experiences through a song of universal truth made apparent through the telling of a specific story. So, yeah, you’re likely to leave the bourbon tasting room and a Wild Ponies’ show with the same feeling of being deeply connected and satisfied. Imagine combining the two in fun-filled weekend touring the Kentucky countryside, filled with horse farms, rolling bluegrass hills, and the world’s best bourbon distilleries.

The weekend consists of cocktail parties, concerts, jam circles (BYOBanjo?), great food, distillery tours, and a fair amount of product tastings. Participants leave the weekend pleasantly exhausted with more friends than they came with and an inspired love for the folk-art traditions of distillation and music … and, maybe, with a slight hangover.

We asked Telisha to tell us a little bit about the trip and give us some expert tips on a few of their favorite bourbons and distilleries.

Distillery: Angel’s Envy
Whiskey Sampled: Angel’s Envy Rye finished in a rum barrel
Neat or Iced: Either way is beautiful
Bottle Design: Sleek and sexy, reminiscent of angel’s wings.
What We Love about This Whiskey or Tour: I don’t typically fancy myself a rye fan because it’s a bit bitey for me. The rum barrel finishing smooths away any of the harsh, leaving a caramel candy and vanilla spice cherry wood bloom with each sip.
Effects on Songwriting and Other Meaningful Magic: This is the kind of whiskey that you share with friends. Sure, you waffle between hoarding every drop for yourself and shouting its glory from the mountaintops, but this is something to be shared and discussed amongst a circle of close friends. If you find yourself with a bottle of this stuff, it’s your responsibility to let your buddies try it.

Distillery: Woodford Reserve
Whiskey Sampled: Kentucky Straight Bourbon
Neat or Iced: I prefer this over a large ice cube. The flavors are more open and exposed over ice.
Bottle Design: Sturdy and professional. This bottle says that shirt and shoes are required when sipping this level of bourbon.
What We Love about This Whiskey or Tour: The Woodford Reserve Campus is one of the loveliest along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Imagine picturesque stone buildings planted along rolling green hills dotted by grazing thoroughbreds and you’ll have the idea. This is the vision that bluegrass bourbon dreams are made of.
Effects on Songwriting and Other Meaningful Magic: We have a song called “Learning to Drink Whiskey,” and the first verse describes the first shot burning like the memories of a lost love, the second shot being easier, though the love is still missed, and the third shot makes everything a-okay. During our first Woodford Reserve tour, without prompting, our guide explained that we were actually pretty close to right. The first sip burns, awakening the taste buds with a peppery tingle, and it’s not until the third sip that the full and robust flavor of the bourbon is truly appreciated. Science!

Distillery: Wild Turkey
Whiskey Sampled: Wild Turkey Bourbon
Neat or Iced: Neat and from a flask
Bottle Design: Traditional bourbon bottle shape. This is the kind of bourbon that you’re sure to find at any family gathering or tailgating event. Wild Turkey = Tradition.
What We Love about This Whiskey or Tour: Wild Turkey is our final destination for Wild Ponies Kentucky Bourbon Trail Riders to complete their full Bourbon Trail passports. Like the smell of your grandmother’s perfume, the essence of Wild Turkey resides deep in our bones, carrying memories of good times with family and friends.
Effects on Songwriting and Other Meaningful Magic: The “Learning To Drink Whiskey” song that I mentioned above? I was drinking Wild Turkey while writing that. Wild Turkey was my first bourbon and, like a first kiss, it holds a special place in my heart.

Distillery: Knob Creek
Whiskey Sampled: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Neat or Iced: Neat or iced, depending on the weather and my mood.
Bottle Design: Rugged, refined, and rectangular. The shape and feel of a Knob Creek bottle is like a giant glass flask, making you long to grab your flannel and sit by the campfire.
What We Love about This Whiskey or Tour: The Knob Creek tour takes place on the Jim Beam campus and you get to BOTTLE YOUR OWN WHISKEY! You rinse the bottle, place it on the line, watch it get filled with amber goodness, corked, and dipped in wax. When you retrieve your bottle after the tour, you can even have your memories from this fantastic experience etched into the side of the bottle. Knob Creek is probably the most fun and educational tour on the trail.
Effects on Songwriting and Other Meaningful Magic: Knob Creek is a go-to. Everybody likes it, so you can kind of consider it a bourbon with super-powers.

Distillery: Jefferson’s Bourbon
Whiskey Sampled: Jefferson’s Ocean
Neat or Iced: Over Ice
Bottle Design: Sleek and serious.
What We Love about This Whiskey or Tour: This bourbon is ocean aged, which brings a whole new meaning to “rocking the boat.” The movement on the ocean and humid conditions forces the bourbon in and out of the oak barrel, resulting in a salted oak flavor and intense amber color.
Effects on Songwriting and Other Meaningful Magic: Our first experience with Jefferson’s Ocean came from a fan of our music. She created a sample box of some of her favorite bourbons with stories to share. As we tried each one, we read over her words, sipping and enjoying the connection that we share. Songs inspire bourbon inspire more songs, and songs make me thirsty. The circle is beautiful.

Distillery: Buffalo Trace
Whiskey Sampled: Blanton’s Original Single Barrel
Neat or Iced: Either way is stunning
Bottle Design: Squat and round with a race horse on the cork. How could it NOT be our favorite bottle?! There are eight different ponies you can collect.
What We Love about This Whiskey or Tour: We didn’t do the ghost tour at Buffalo Trace, but you definitely get the feeling that there are spirits (pun intended) running the place. The setting is historic with a lovely café that will do pre-ordered boxed lunches for large groups. We’ve collected a number of the lettered corks, but we’re still missing an “n” and an “o” if you’re interested in sending us a bottle: PO Box 160644, Nashville TN, 37216.
Effects on Songwriting and Other Meaningful Magic: I hate to play favorites, but we always keep a bottle of Blanton’s in our bar. It’s the bourbon that I reach for when we’re setting up to play some tunes around the house, so I’d say there’s a little Blanton spirit in most of the songs we’ve written.

 

Joining the Wild Ponies Bourbon Trail Ride is the perfect warm up for this year’s Bourbon & Beyond Festival. Music, food, activities, and lots of bourbon will collide in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 23-24, and the BGS will be there presenting two days’ worth of great roots music.

Lede photo: Barrels of Woodford Reserve bourbon age in a rickhouse. Photo credit: Ken Thomas (public domain).

Traveler: Louisville

Posted on by Editor

Loo-a-vul, Lou-e-ville, Loo-a-ville, Looey-ville: Ask a local and you might get mixed responses on the correct pronunciation of its name, but anyway you spin it, the city boasts a lot more than their slugger. Louisville is proving itself as a destination, not just a stop along Highway 65. In addition to the unmistakably Kentucky traditions of bourbon and basketball, the town has a storied cultural history, a thriving food culture, and an evolving music scene. Derbies and juleps are great, but we did a deep dive of Louisville’s local spots.

Getting There

Smack dab in the middle of the eastern U.S., Louisville’s geography lends itself well to a quick weekend trip from various surrounding cities, like Nashville (two+ hours), Cincinnati (four hours), and St. Louis (four hours). Take the Bourbon Trail through Lexington to Louisville or, if you’re feeling ambitious, bike it. Louisville International Airport is 10 minutes from downtown.

Accommodations

Photo credit: Seelbach Hilton

If you like your accommodations with a side of cocktails and modern art, check out the 21C Hotel. If a hotel with an art museum isn’t in your budget, you should still stop by for cocktails and art browsing. For the lit nerds, F. Scott Fitzgerald hung around the Seelbach Hilton’s bar, meeting a gangster who inspired his socialite character, Jay Gatsby, in The Great Gatsby.

Eats

Photo credit: Rye on Market

UPS is headquartered in the town, so local chefs have extra speedy access to fresh ingredients overnighted, thus fostering a killer food scene. From restaurants which have endured the times — like Jack Fry’s — to new kids on the block — like Rye — Louisville’s food scene is rooted in Southern food with a finger on the contemporary foodie pulse. Chef Edward Lee’s 610 Magnolia is also a great choice for a fancy meal that’s worth it.

Drinks

Photo: Please & Thank You

Bourbon. And lots of it. Declared “America’s Official Native Spirit,” more than 95 percent of the world’s bourbon is distilled and aged in Kentucky. Downtown Louisville has a free Urban Bourbon Trail, which consists of bars which all serve at least 50 different kinds of bourbon. For the hops enthusiasts, Falls City Brewery is in the midst of reinventing itself and has been a Louisville staple for years. Apocalypse Brewing has quality brews made in an environmentally conscious process and a Yappy Hour for you and your pup.

For your coffee fix, Quill’s Coffee and Please & Thank You will fit the hip coffee bill of big cities. Head to the back of Please & Thank You to shop for records, while you sip their Thai iced coffee and eat “Louisville’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie.” Wander over to Bardstown Road for local shops, food, and bars in one spot.

Cultural Sights

Photo credit: Muhammad Ali Center

Pay homage to the greatest of all time at the Muhammad Ali Center, a spot well worth the $12 price tag. It’s just as much about civil rights as it is his career, plus we could all take a cue from his motto, and the museum’s tagline: “Be great. Do great things.” It’s not open on Mondays and has spotty hours, so check before you go.

If you’re planning on geeking out on museums, consider getting “The Main Ticket,” which bundles admission to six downtown Louisville attractions, including the Frazier History Museum, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Kentucky Science Center, KentuckyShow!, Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, and the Muhammad Ali Center for 30 bucks.

On top of that, the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest is a great day hang and hosts all kinds of nerdy plant events, like wildflower walks and updates on the American Woodcocks’ nesting.

Photo credit: louisvillemegacavern.org

Louisville Mega Cavern boasts the world’s only underground zipline. Yep, that’s a thing, and they’ve got six of them which run year round.

Music

Louisville’s upped its festival game with Forecastle every July, and Bourbon And Beyond in September. If you’re looking for low-key, down-home Kentucky bluegrass, look no further than Barret Bar. For bluegrass with your bloody mary, check out the Monkey Wrench. Louisville’s quirky Zanzabar brings under the radar artists to their pinball arcade/venue combo, and has been open since the ’30s.

Lede photo credit: Scott Oves

7 Amazing Oral Histories from the Southern Foodways Alliance

Posted on by Editor

If you're unfamiliar with the Southern Foodways Alliance, you're missing out on one of the most important contributors to culinary culture — Southern or otherwise — operating today. Housed at the University of Mississippi's Center for the Study of Southern Culture, Southern Foodways "documents, studies, and explores the diverse food cultures of the changing American South." Through research, outreach, events, a fantastic podcast and print journal, and a number of other efforts, SFA has become the go-to authority on the South and its intimate connection to food. 

A primary component of SFA's work is producing oral histories — a series of in-depth, multimedia interview projects that offer glimpses into overlooked communities, tackle tough subjects like race and class, and shine a much-needed light onto some of the region's most storied culinary traditions. There's an entire online archive of oral histories worth poring over, but here are some of our favorites. 

Bluegrass & Birria

This oral history looks at the quickly growing Latino population in Kentucky, focusing on the growing trend of regional dishes popping up at Mexican restaurants. Interviews feature several Louisville-based restaurant owners, including the husband and wife owners of Con Huevos, which specializes in serving desayuno (Mexican breakfast), and the owner and chef of the Mayan Café, a purveyor of Yucateco cuisine.

Women Who Farm: Georgia

According to this oral dispatch from Georgia, "women are the fastest-growing group of farmers in the country." Dig into tales of farming with several badass Georgia-based female farmers, including a Jamaican transplant educating her Atlanta community about farming and a fifth-generation farmer tending land in the small town of Bluffton.

Carter Family Fold

The Carter Family is perhaps the most famous family in roots music, but they also established a culinary legacy at their small Virginia venue, the Carter Family Fold. Hear first-hand accounts from visitors, musicians, and family friends of the delicious cornbread and homemade cakes served at the famous Fold. 

Restaurants of Oxford's Past

Best known as either a college town or the home of William Faulkner, depending on who you talk to, Oxford, Mississippi, is also home to a vibrant restaurant scene. Learn about several historic Oxford restaurants — some still serving delicious food, others defunct — in this assortment of interviews.

Kentucky Bacon

Ah, bacon, pork fat supreme and public enemy number one of would-be vegetarians across the globe. Kentucky is home to some of the country's greatest bacon, and this series of interviews provides a glimpse into why the Bluegrass State should consider changing its name to Hog Heaven, as well as the challenges that have afflicted the industry in recent years.

Nashville's Nolensville Road

Nashville may be in the news for its influx of hip farm-to-table joints, but the real eats are along Nolensville Pike, a stretch of road south of town that boasts some of the best international cuisine around. Visit with restaurant community pillars from Ethiopia, Bhutan, UAE, and beyond in this oral history project.

Louisville Barroom Culture

Go on a virtual bar crawl and learn about the history of booze and bars in bourbon-soaked Kentucky in this set of interviews which features, among other storied establishments, the Seelbach Hilton Hotel which is famous for housing Al Capone during Prohibition and plying literary boozehound F. Scott Fitzgerald with its renowned cocktails.

Lede screenshot via Southern Foodways Alliance