Bourbon & Beyond Is The Place To Be

Zach Bryan was one of more than 100 musicians who performed at Bourbon & Beyond. (Photo credit: Bourbon & Beyond)

World’s Largest Music, Food, and Bourbon Festival

If you’re a music lover and concert goer, you need to add Bourbon & Beyond to your “reasons to come to Kentucky” bucket list. It’s billed as the world’s largest music, food, and bourbon festival. It’s the biggest musical event in Kentucky history. Think a modern-day Woodstock with Whiskey, held in Louisville, Kentucky, right in the heart of bourbon country.

The outdoor festival welcomed a record 210,000 people over its four-days in late September. The biggest crowd, 60,000-plus, showed up on Saturday. This year it included five music stages, more than 100 musicians, along with culinary and bourbon stages with chefs, master distillers, and other stars in the bourbon industry telling stories, conducting tastings, and celebrating all things bourbon.

A few days after the sixth edition of the concert was held, Bourbon & Beyond was named the 2024 Festival of the Year by the International Entertainment Buyers Association (IEBA), a leading live entertainment organization.

What kind of music will you find at Bourbon & Beyond? Country, Americana, classic rock, alternative, roots, blues, bluegrass, and adult contemporary genres. The folks who put on the event said it best: “It features an eclectic mix of music legends and rising stars. Joining Sting and Beck on Thursday are Dave Matthews Band and Tedeschi Trucks Band on Friday, Zach Bryan and Cody Jinks on Saturday, and Tyler Childers and My Morning Jacket on Sunday. The lineup also includes Matchbox Twenty, The National, Whiskey Myers, Black Pumas, The War On Drugs, The Beach Boys, Mt. Joy, Fleet Foxes, Young the Giant, Maren Morris, The Head and The Heart, Melissa Etheridge, Teddy Swims, and many more.”

Here’s a sampling of some of the bourbon-themed workshops and presentations scattered over the four day schedule:

Blending and Bites with Bardstown Bourbon Co.

Bourbon Single Barrel Pick and Sip

The Southern Trinity: Bourbon, Bacon, and Butter

Jack Daniel’s Bonded Bartender Showdown

Bourbon Legacy: Generations of Mastery and Innovation

Shaping the Future of Bourbon

Liquid Legends: Tasting and Trends with Master Distillers

Make no mistake, this is a concert event first, with some great bourbon and culinary opportunities thrown into the mix. If you’re looking for mostly bourbon, with some music and food on the side, come for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown. Thankfully, this year the two major events were moved to their own weekends. The past few years of juggling both events nearly 40 miles apart has been tough on local whiskey revelers.

When I was picking up my armband for the event, I ran into Jim Beam’s father-and-son Master Distillers Fred and Freddie Noe. (“I didn’t know you guys were in a band!”) They were on the Bourbon Legacy panel on Saturday afternoon.

The concert promoter, Los Angeles-based Danny Wimmer Presents, puts on major events around the country. That includes staging “Louder than Life,” the very next weekend in Louisville, which it bills as “America’s LOUDEST rock festival.”

By the way, as a Louisvillian, I want to thank everyone who came to town. The local tourism folks reported last year’s B & B pumped more than $30 million into the local economy. Y’all come back now, ya hear?

For my first foray into the world of Bourbon & Beyond, I invited my daughter, Paige. She’s a veteran concert-goer and offers these observations on her first time at B & B:

Food

There were several food stands set up around the perimeter of the festival grounds that have everything from traditional fair food (brats, hamburgers, ice cream) and more unique items like mac and cheese bowls, fried chicken, barbecue sandwiches, etc).
Separate from the music stages, there are culinary demonstration stages where celebrity chefs (including some local to Louisville, like Anthony Lamas of Seviche, Edward Lee of 610 Magnolia, and Noam Blitzer of Meesh Meesh) have cooking demonstrations.
These demos are staggered throughout the weekend, all during the afternoons before the main music acts perform.
The culinary presentations are sponsored by different distilleries and feature their bourbon in the recipes that are made -sometimes that night’s bands show up on the culinary stage to test the food!

Drinks

There are several full-service bars on all sides of the festival, accessible to everyone in General Admission to purchase (beer, wine, mixed drinks).
You can get bourbon at the general bars, or at a distillery installation.
Willett had a booth that was a prohibition-era speakeasy.
Jim Beam was a major sponsor with a white barn set up that looked like their still house in Clermont. You could get pours of special bottles or specialty cocktails they created for the festival, including some frozen cocktails.
The distillery tents had shaded seating and there were also shade tents set up around the festival grounds if you needed to get out of the sun.
Not all distilleries had their own separate tent, just the major ones.
Another large tent called the Big Bourbon Bar had a row of tables with individual distilleries set up selling pours – this included the brands that didn’t have their own tents (Bulleit, Jack Daniel’s, Jefferson’s Bourbon, Heaven’s Door, Golden Sheaf, Four Roses, Elijah Craig, Larceny, and Michter’s are some examples). This was like going on the bourbon trail without having to travel!
The Big Bourbon Bar tent had tables and chairs in the shade, plus a large screen showing footage from the main stages where the music acts were playing.

Tips if you go

Arrive early to the culinary demonstrations because samples of the food that is made are offered to those in the first few rows.
You can bring a lawn chair with you, but only if you buy a special lawn chair pass (so they can control how many chairs are set up) – buy this early because they always sell out!
Add your payment method to your festival wristband for easy purchase of food and drinks.
Bring an empty water bottle to refill at the water stations around the festival grounds.
The festival is rain or shine so come prepared, mostly with proper footwear! The festival grounds can go from baked dirt to muddy if it rains.
Merch from the festival and from some of the bands are available at the festival – if you go multiple days, buy toward the end of your first day so you get what you want before it sells out, and so you don’t have to carry it around all day.

“We are thrilled that Bourbon & Beyond is getting recognized by our peers in the live events industry as well as others nationally and internationally. Since day one, our goal has been to create something that Kentuckians can proudly say represents this great state, along with our fans and partners. Louisville has an incredible hospitality industry. The teams at the Kentucky Exposition Center, Louisville Tourism, the city, the state, along with local restaurants and hotels, all know how to create a home for a world-class event. This award belongs as much to them as it does to us.”Danny Hayes, CEO of Danny Wimmer Presents

Expert Advice from a B & B Veteran

Jenny Hodge (right) and her daughter Addison are regulars at Bourbon & Beyond each year. (Photo credit: Jenny Hodge)

Because this was my rookie year attending Bourbon & Beyond, I decided to go to a B & B veteran for some additional advice. My friend Jenny Hodge is a talented singer and musician, who started going to B & B in its second year. Her oldest daughter Addison is always along for the ride, and her husband has ventured out a couple of times.

TBT: Can you describe a typical day at Bourbon & Beyond?

JH: “We always get there before gates open to get a nice parking spot and spot to watch the performances. We have a nice breakfast and pack our essentials for the day. Once we arrive, we settle in and hit some booths, plan our schedule, and chat with other festival goers.”

TBT: How does the bourbon element make it different from other outdoor concerts you attend that don’t have that focus (such as Louder than Life)?

JH: “We always go to Louder than Life, too. The crowds are totally different for sure. B & B is always laid back and that is a major part of why I love going so much. This year was a little different due to some of the festival changes. But the vibe remains laid back.”

TBT: What makes Bourbon and Beyond unique? What is your favorite part of the concert?

JH: “The atmosphere. As I mentioned the vibe has always been laid back. The mix of genres. There’s something for everyone at B & B. As a musician and music lover, you get so much of everything. Rock, country, pop, blues, bluegrass..it’s all there. That’s the biggest part of why I love this festival. Also discovering new bands and artists. I enjoy taking in the full experience of concerts and never miss an opening act. You find new artists you enjoy that you may have never discovered. It’s more than the bourbon. It’s the music and the people.”

TBT: Did you spend time at any of the bourbon-related sections of the venue? If so, what did you think?

JH: “Since my daughter is older now, we hit a few different booths every day and discover new bourbon and trying new food. If we have time, and if it fits in the performance schedules, we try to hit a demonstration but most of the time, it doesn’t work out. To be honest, this year we didn’t get to see many of the chef shows in the back.”

TBT: Are you a bourbon drinker?

“I love me some bourbon. Last year I discovered Heaven’s Door and loved it. Every day I’ll buy a couple of bourbons from different booths. Being hot, the bourbon slushies were a must!”

TBT: Anything else you want to add?

JH: “It’s worth every penny. There’s always a memory made. A new band to discover. And a new bourbon to drink. “

Jenny’s Insider Tips for Bourbon & Beyond Beginners:

Keep to your budget. It’s very easy to overspend.
Arrive early and expect to stay late.
Eat a good breakfast and hydrate.
Wear comfortable clothes and shoes.
Mingle with your festival neighbors. People have always been friendly and take care of each other at Bourbon & Beyond. This year was terribly hot, and we were all trying to stay cool.
Bring a fan and sunscreen.

Overall, late September is usually a beautiful time to come to Louisville. But it can be quite hot. Or a bit cool. Or it might rain. But all that weather unpredictability is good for the bourbon aging in the rick houses all over the Commonwealth. Grab another cocktail. sit back and listen to the music, and go with the flow.

The dates for next year’s edition haven’t been set yet. You can bet Bourbon & Beyond will be Bigger & Better than ever.