Behind the Scenes with Randy Prasse: Kentucky Bourbon Festival 2025

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The Scotchy Bourbon Boys welcome Randy Prassy, Kentucky Bourbon Festival President, to discuss major improvements for the upcoming festival including a transformed VIP experience and expanded distillery footprint.

• Complete transformation of St. Joseph's Church parking lot into a premium turf-covered distillery area with shade structures and cooling fans
• Expansion of the Great Tent to include three air-conditioned education suites
• Introduction of RFID technology on 34 single barrel pick bottles to track their journey globally
• Implementation of a beta test for direct-to-consumer shipping options through Kentucky Bourbon Direct
• Relocation of the cigar lounge to provide better accessibility with multiple retailers
• 85% of festival attendees come from outside Kentucky, creating significant economic impact
• Announcement of 2025 festival dates: September 10-13
• Introduction of the exclusive President's Club VIP experience featuring Oris watches and luxury accommodations
• Festival tickets go on sale mid-April with VIP typically selling out within minutes

Remember to mark your calendars for September and book accommodations early, as hotels fill quickly. Follow the Kentucky Bourbon Festival website to join their insider email list for ticket pre-sales.

Step behind the velvet rope of Kentucky's premier bourbon celebration as Festival President Randy Prasse reveals the meticulous planning and significant upgrades coming to this year's Kentucky Bourbon Festival. What began as a bold reinvention five years ago has blossomed into the ultimate bourbon enthusiast's playground, with 85% of attendees traveling from outside Kentucky to experience what can't be found anywhere else in the world.

The 2025 festival promises a complete transformation of the visitor experience. Imagine walking across lush green turf (replacing hot asphalt) to air-conditioned tasting tents, where 34 exclusive single barrel picks await. Each bottle now features cutting-edge RFID technology that tracks its journey globally as it changes hands—creating a digital passport for these sought-after spirits. The distillery footprint has expanded dramatically, with major players like Heaven Hill and Maker's Mark relocating to create a more intuitive flow throughout the grounds.

For collectors and bourbon hunters, the festival has become a treasure trove. Some distilleries now sell more bottles during the festival weekend than at their permanent gift shops, with many creating special releases available exclusively to festival attendees. A beta test of direct-to-consumer shipping options through Kentucky Bourbon Direct will allow visitors from reciprocal states to purchase bottles at the festival and have them shipped home legally—solving the perennial "how do I get all this bourbon home?" dilemma.

The evolution reflects a deeper understanding of what makes bourbon culture special: the intersection of craftsmanship, community, and shared experience. While the festival has transformed from its free-admission roots, it has maintained affordability for genuine enthusiasts while creating luxury options like the exclusive President's Club (featuring Oris watches and premium accommodations) for those seeking the ultimate experience.

Mark your calendars for September 10-13, 2025, but don't wait to secure accommodations—hotels and Airbnbs were booked solid within minutes of the date

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Tiny here to tell you about Whiskey Thief Distilling
Company and their newly openedtasting room.
Whether you are up for afarm-to-glass distilling
experience on the Three BoysFarm in Frankfort, kentucky, or
an out-of-this-world tastingexperience in New Loop, you
won't be disappointed At bothlocations.
Their barrel picks all day,every day are like none other.

(00:24):
Each location features stationswith five barrels, each
featuring their pot-distilledbourbons and rams.
Once the barrels have beenthieved and tasted, you can make
a selection and feed your roombottle.
A day at Whiskey Thief, withtheir friendly staff and
ownership, will ensure you manygood times with good friends and

(00:44):
family.
Remember to always drinkresponsibly, never drink and
drive and live your life uncutand unfiltered.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Not me Drinking bourbon, sipping on scotch.
We did a little while with ashort fun watch.
We love what we do.
We're drinking every brew.
We'll be right back, scottiebuddy boys.
We're here to have fun andwe're going to enjoy.
We're here to have fun, yeah,yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
All right, welcome back to another podcast of the
Scotchy Bourbon Boys Tiny herewith we've got Super Nash and we
also Super Nash, we've gotwhiskey and we have a super
awesome guest in Randy Prassy,el Presidente, kentucky Bourbon

(02:34):
Festival president, here tonight.
It's awesome to have you allhere tonight.
Thanks for coming guys.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Thanks for having us.

Speaker 5 (02:44):
All right, I thought I was logging into the Amway
Teams or Zoom call.
Is this not for how to sellmore Amway?
No, not at all.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
Not at all, are you sure?
Dipped in bourbon.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
I am absolutely positive, unless you're in some
sort of craft distillery Ponzischeme.

Speaker 4 (03:15):
Might be.
This is amway into bourbon.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
Well, tiny.
First of all, that new counter,that bar bar, and I know you
did all the work yourself.
You're very proud of that, butit looks very cool.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
I like that thank you , thanks, um, yeah, that was.
That was above my.
I think you motivated me to dothat because you're always doing
those projects and that's kindof like right above my.
It was a little bit above myskill level, but I at one point
I realized I wasn't going to getany help and if I was going to

(03:49):
get done I had to do it.

Speaker 5 (03:54):
Honestly, English is above your skill level.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Well, that's what.
That's what we were talkingabout.
Chat, gpt fixes all that.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
Well, I couldn't have .
I couldn't have built my fencearound the pool without tiny
showing up on a sunday morningat lowe's and helping me haul
all my lumber, the stuff thatwouldn't fit in my station wagon
.
So, thank you, tiny, I thatfence is dedicated to you.
You left and it was 98 degreesthat day and I about died of

(04:23):
multiple heart attacks.
I kept telling kate every 15minutes look out the kitchen
window just to make sure I'm notlike laying dead in the grass.
I had a constant flow ofgatorade and water from the boys
coming out, so they goteverybody, got me through it.

Speaker 4 (04:37):
But that was a that was a hellacious day, oh I bet
so, oh, but that was in themiddle of the summer heat too
and I swear every year I'm nevergoing to do another demolition
and heavy project.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
Last year I did the deck and this year I did the
whole fence for the pool and thewhole new deck, everything
leading up to the pool.
So hopefully now, knock on woodI won't have any more projects
to do next summer.

Speaker 4 (05:02):
I always plan those right at the beginning of spring
, right when the snow melts off,and all that.
That's when you plan thoseprojects.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
But I didn't make the decision to get a pool until
Memorial Day weekend and then Ihad to fence it in because of
all the legal and insurance, andtwo days after the pool was
built the fence was not quitedone but you could see I was in
progress and someone came outsaying they're from the
insurance company with thecamera on this one and update

(05:35):
the files of our homeowners.

Speaker 4 (05:38):
I'm like great.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
Now they know the pool is there, it's all good.

Speaker 5 (05:44):
Those insurance people suck.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
Oh my gosh, exactly.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
I never trust one, especially executives.

Speaker 4 (05:50):
I know a couple of them.

Speaker 5 (05:53):
Well I'd say you can't trust one as far as you
can throw them, but most of themare overweight, kind of have
bad attitude.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
So you can only throw them a couple of feet, so so
there is some trust there.

Speaker 4 (06:04):
My theory is, when you get to know them, take them
out for a few, few, few bourbonsand drinks and all and and
treat them to a good dinner andthen see where that gets you.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
And then they might end up on on camera.
Here we're on your couch.

Speaker 5 (06:20):
Ouch.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
That's true.
Cheers to that.
Anyway, congratulations, Tiny,on your renovated set that you
have there.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, Thank you, and the people on YouTube really
have been liking the doublescreen right there, and so that
worked out nice.
There's a lot of stuff I workedthrough.
I actually took a YouTube classright and in the class they
were talking about how difficultit is to go live on Facebook

(06:52):
and YouTube because there's noprogram that will let you stream
both at the same time.
That works well, and there's alot.
There's not a lot of peoplethat do the live on Facebook and
YouTube and I was like, well, Idid it archaically, but I did
figure it out.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
Yeah, I was going to say I've been watching you
trying to do it for five years.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Yes, you have figured out a lot of different things,
that's for sure.
But I think, as, as it's goneand it's gotten bigger uh, we've
, you know, look at, look atnash's studio back there.
I mean, man, that's, that'sthat we.
I remember it.
He didn't go live because hehad to run his internet cable
underneath his house, so hefinally got that run through.

(07:36):
So that was kind of cool.
I mean, that's, that's abeautiful studio that he worked
on too.

Speaker 4 (07:40):
So uh, I think I think for so long I was working
out of my bedroom and you couldsee my bed and everything, my
spare bedroom and office, andpeople were always commenting
where are you podcasting from?
And stuff like that.
So it's coming, it's coming.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
My favorite podcast was when he would go into the
closet in the bedroom and that'swhere all his bourbon was.
He'd be digging around in thereand his shorts were dry.
Anyways, let's get this going,because there's a lot of

(08:20):
information to cover this year.
Information to cover this yearbecause if you've been following
us, you know that we cover theKentucky Bourbon Festival
thoroughly each year and thenthere's usually two podcasts on
the lead up and then a podcastafterwards having El Presidente
on.
And every year, randy, you'refine tuning this and the way

(08:46):
that you fine tune it.
I mean, let's talk about first,for 2025.
What is the biggest fine tunethat you did?
You know, what do you think?
You know, because there'salways surprises for us, because
, as you send me a lot of timesthe plans and the layout and
then you're I'm seeing it evolveas it goes through, because it

(09:09):
changes throughout.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
But you know this year, what are the couple extra
things that you've done thatreally, um, you feel you know
you fine-tuned it well, yeah,one of the problems with an
event that is four days a yearis on day one I noticed things
that we should have donedifferently, but you don't
realize it until it's in action.

(09:31):
So last year, you know thelines, you know Heaven Hill,
maker's Mark, you know BardstownBourbon Company lines were
going across seven or eightother distilleries and there was
confusion.
People were like am I in linefor the right place, am I in
line to buy a bottle or am I inline to sample?
And you all know from day one,my vision for this festival was
a really cool kind of a chillexperience walk through a park,

(09:54):
it's this beautiful setting.
And I kind of looked out myoffice window and said, oh man,
I screwed this thing up.
I mean these lines becausebottle sales have just become a
reality in the last two years.
So, as every distillery isfiguring it out and selling
bottles, the lines areinevitable and our fans are
coming and the enthusiasts arecoming in and buying bottles.

(10:16):
You can't get anywhere else.
So it's exactly what we wanted,but we just need to figure out
how to manage it a little more.
I guess more organized chaos,if you will.
So what we decided to do lastyear is work with the bigger
distilleries and say you got tohelp us now this year with a
solution to make sure you'recommunicating what lines.
And they were all very good.

(10:36):
And so in the off season, rightaway, we started looking at,
okay, the distilleries that aredoing these big releases, that
are creating these lines.
God bless them everybody.
But we got to figure out.
So anyone who's been therebefore the St Joseph's Church
parking lot, which has beenreally a parking lot it's been a

(10:56):
food truck area Last year wasmarketplace vendors were trying
to find the best use for it andtrying to find the best home for
everybody so they can allmaximize their exposure and
sales.
So what we did is, every year Isay we're not making any
changes, and this year we did amajor change, which is that a
whole parking lot now is goingto be home to the distilleries

(11:19):
that were creating the line, soHeaven Hills out there.
They were the first ones tovolunteer.
You know that they'd go outthere, which was huge because,
if you know, they've always beendown there on the bottom of
becoming the main gate here downthe hill, and so for them to
move almost voluntarily and thatkind of took everyone else off
the hook.
So we've got heaven hill, we'vegot maker's mark and we've got

(11:42):
the whole um bartis on bourboncompany, green river footprint
out there.
Preservation is out there, um.
So some of the bigger ones tookthat leap and said okay, we're,
we trust you, and it's inside,right inside the main vip gate.
So at 11 o'clock vips line up,they come in.
What are they wanting to do?
They're wanting to go and getin line and buy bottles.

(12:04):
So by putting some of these keydistilleries right in front of
the VIP gate, we took it a stepfurther.
At the end of the day, it'sstill an asphalt parking lot and
it's early September, it's 85degrees out and that means it's
110, 120 on that pavement,pavement.

(12:26):
So we've retooled the entirespace.
So the great tent which is hometo all of our premium education
, we've expanded that.
So all the classes that used tobe upstairs on third floor
they're all down on in thatgreat tent.
So now it's three suites, allair conditioned and enclosed.
So that's the first thing.
It's never all air conditionedand enclosed.
So that's the first thing, it'snever been air conditioned

(12:46):
before.
And so we've got 20 differentsessions going on during the
weekend there and staggering.
But you know culinary focuswith with the kitchen and chefs
coming in and the cocktail piece, again all air conditioned.
We've got the distilleries allloving their new home and we
said we got to make it so it'scomfortable.
So we're putting almostwall-to-wall turf down, and when

(13:10):
I say turf, I just ordered itlast night.
It looked this, this artificialturf it's.
It looks like something you canmow.
It looks like what you wouldsee on a football or a baseball
field.
It's actually grass, but so allof the walking areas out there
will be turf.
So you think about like a pgaevent or you go to the derby,

(13:30):
that kind of a vip feel.
That's what we're doing outthere and then in the middle is
going to be a huge big sunscreenwith cooling fans.
So it's going to be shade andairflow that you can hang out
under while you're figuring outwhich distillery you're wanting
to go to or while you're in line.
So that really is going to bethe biggest change.
If you go to the craft area,it's going to look and feel

(13:52):
exactly the same, except for acouple little tweaks.
The main lawn.
What we're trying to do is geta uniform so everybody has the
same size, tent and footprint.
So as you're walking up anddown the streets, everything
lines up and you can see all theall the different uh distillery
brands that are there.
So I feel like this year wefinally got it fine-tuned, where

(14:12):
I think we probably can staywith this setup.
Now, um, of course we won'tknow until we actually open the
gates and get people throughthere, but, um, I feel like we
finally got.
And then the marketplace vendorsthat have been looking for a
home.
If you come up from thedowntown area as you're
approaching on Flagey, and thenthe food trucks are on 5th

(14:32):
Street, flagey is where themarketplace vendors are.
So it's a really cooltree-lined street.
So the vendors, I think, willbe happy.
I think, as people are coming,going from the festival, I think
they're going to enjoy havingthose vendors there and it'll be
open to the public.
So if you don't have a ticket,you can still shop and come to
the food trucks, but if you area ticketed guest, it's going to

(14:56):
be right there so you can kindof unlimited come and go and
enjoy the whole vibe.
So I'm pretty happy with theway it's come together.
It's taken a lot of work andit's not cheap.
So when you walk in, to getthat parking lot transformed

(15:17):
from a parking lot into a reallycool destination has been a lot
of work, but I'm excited toreveal it and watch reactions to
people when they come in thegate.

Speaker 4 (15:29):
The gate, so the the cigar.
One question is uh, like lastyear, a lot of the things that,
uh, I was asked as I was walkingaround, talking with people too
, was like, like the seats thatyou had around under the trees
and stuff like that.
Are you still going to have alot of that there?
because a lot of people weretaking advantage of that to take
a chance to rest their feetfrom standing in lines or
standing, you know, at thedistilleries and stuff like that

(15:51):
great point and take, take a,take a water, break and and just
rest their feet and relax justa little bit, you know, because
it was so much to take in andand all and be standing a long
period of time yeah, that's.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
That's a great point, nash.
Um, so down down in the craftarea, of course there's the big,
that big tree that we alwaysput the big wraparound couch
sectional on.
There's a couple of otherplaces we're doing that and
probably the biggest change downthere is the, the bourbon bar
that used to be up right by themain gate when you came in.
We put that down in the craftarea so when you come in

(16:31):
there'll be a couple ofdistilleries, the main bar will
be underneath that big tree andthen the vip venue will be that
whole big parking lot and themain, so then main stage will be
in the same spot.
So we tried to add it's a coolarea that people want to be at,
regardless you know it's a coolshaded area.
That's where we put the chairsout in front of the main stage

(16:51):
so people can hang out.
The band same band will be back.
They only play together once ayear, um, so it's like a super
group that we pull together andthey, they practice, you know a
little bit, and they go live ourweekend and they kind of go
back into their own little gigson the side.
So, but yeah, I mean theseating and the shade area.
I mean this year though with Imean Angel Zebby's the feature

(17:15):
distillery.
When you walk in the main gate,angel's Envy has this structure
that is only ever been used atNASCAR before, and actually Dale
Earnhardt Jr, it's thestructure that he commissioned
for NASCAR races and it wasn'tbeing used.
So I snagged it and Angel'sEnvy is going to be in it.

(17:35):
So it's a full glass enclosurewith air conditioning and the
whole thing.
So that'll be cool.
The double-decker is back.
David Mandel Whiskey House isdoing the double-decker.
So on the first level will beyour normal sampling and then
the chalet is the second storyand they're going to do some
upgrade and VIP programming upthere.
Beam's footprint is double whatit's been in the past, so

(17:59):
everybody's finally getting it.
I mean they're figuring outlike the selling and how to, how
to, you know, bring their brandinto the festival, their
marketing aspect correct.
And I mean, again, it is reallydifficult to take a year-round
gift shop.
A bricks and mortar gift shopis easy.
You got your cash registers andand all of your inventory and

(18:21):
you're there every day.
Now pull that model up and tryto stick it out in the middle of
a lawn and make it still work.
So it's not an easy lift forthese people but the sales are
amazing.
And you know we started sayingyou're going to be able to buy
bottles here that you can't getanywhere else in the world and
the single barrel program westarted was really the thing
that made that not a lie.

(18:42):
You can only come to thisfestival and you're only going
to buy the single barrels here.
But now they're also doingother product releases and
launches.
So I mean it's kind of fun tosee that You're not walking in
and getting the same kind ofstuff you can buy at your local
bottle shop, bottle shop, um.

(19:06):
And then obviously the thedirect consumer option, that
that is kind of rolling outquietly in the background is
something new for us this yeartoo.

Speaker 4 (19:09):
So can you?
Can you give us a number on thenumber of kentucky bourbon
festival barrel picks thatthey're going to be able to
purchase this year?

Speaker 3 (19:17):
yeah, we did 34, and I think there were 29 or 30
individual distilleries, butthere were a few that we decided
to do two barrels with.
So, you know, and Stacy, thewhiskey godmother is the one
that leads that charge and getseverything scheduled and puts

(19:38):
together all of our selectionpanels and everything.
But yeah, I mean, last year Ithink we ended up with 44 from
39 different distilleries andfor for no reason, I mean we
just decided that this year wewere going to be a little bit
more cautious with that.
Some of the smaller craftdistilleries, um, even though
they had strong sales, theydidn't quite have the, you know,

(20:00):
the sales that they had hoped,so they ended up taking some
bottles home.
But then most of the mid leveland upper level, I mean, they
had to kind of ration theirbottles so they wouldn't sell
everything out on Friday.
So, uh, but still 34,.
I mean, when we started firstyear 2021, we had 11 and 10 of
them were actual, and then the11th was the maker's mark, the

(20:25):
extra barrel that they donatedto us to sell for kind of a
charitable piece.
So this whole program startedwith 10 bottles, 10 barrels, and
then that's grown, it's doubledto 20.
And then it doubled again to40-something, and now we're kind
of finding that groove.

Speaker 4 (20:38):
But it's fun, absolutely, and fun for the
consumer and Paul, the ones thatattend the festival.
They're the ones that arecoming home with the prizes.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
Well, and when we do the barrel selections, the
conversation for every singleone is is it on profile with
that brand, but is it an outlierthat people will get excited
about?
But we take into considerationwhen you're buying it.
It's, it's hot out, so is thissomething that you're going to
want, you know more of arefreshing, or are you buying
something that's going to be,you know, enjoyed in december,
january and um, so I mean, butevery time we have these

(21:18):
conversations, while we'remaking the selection, it's
always with the end user in mind.
Like is are we going to drinkthis?
Neat, you know there's alwayswho that's got a great nose, but
you don't.
You don't buy the nose, you'rebuying it to drink it.
But nosing is part of thesensory experience.
So, um, but yeah, when you cometo this festival and you're
buying one of our distillers rowproducts and you know it's got

(21:42):
the little, it's got the littletag on it, um, I don't know, the
lighting is kind of goofy, butthere you go, just like every
year we every year we've got ayeah, that's last year's, this
is this year's yep, but everyyear they're marked and some of
them have fun little names thatthat we put on it.
But every one of them is pickedwith the end consumer in mind,

(22:03):
trying to find something thatisn't so pedestrian that we want
it to stand out and get peopleexcited about it.
So I feel like we've doneanother one and I think we're
dangerously close to 100 totalsingle barrels that we've done
since we started in 2021.
So I'm doing the math since westarted in 2021.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
So I'm doing the math Well.
Plus, you don't give ashout-out to the teams on each
barrel pick that Staceyassembles.
I mean, you're talking aboutpeople who have been and a lot
of the people are, for instance,like Steve Coombs, who goes on
a lot of the barrel picks.
For instance, like Steve Coombs, who goes on a lot of the
barrel picks, their palettes aredesigned for this type of you

(22:48):
know, they've been on a lot ofpicks.
They know also what the whiskeyconsumer is looking for.
And you know, initially, whenyou first started, you were
always like you were on a couple, you were, I was on a couple of
picks with you and you werekind of like, well, I'd like to
defer to everybody else becauseyou know they're, they're not
the.
You know I don't feel that I'mat that level, but I think
you've been on enough picks.

(23:09):
Now I think you're at thatlevel that you do know what the
consumer.
You know you're looking for avariety and I I think it.
You know there's how manyfestivals.
I mean when you go to otherfestivals there's not 31, 34
barrels to choose from.
I mean this is like on a level.

(23:30):
That's, and how it's evolvedthat you know.
At first you know the 10 picks,or through the festival like,
and then it was through a directum, you know another, you know
through um justice house ofbourbon, but now a lot of the
picks are through thosedistilleries and that's

(23:51):
something that how you'veevolved the program so that you
could get people.
And another thing is, yes,there's 34 picks through the
kentucky bourbon festival as apartner, but there are other
barrels that are released thatthe distillers can release, that
they pick specially for thefestival.

Speaker 3 (24:14):
So those are out there too.
And then, like evergreen youknow, evergreen liquors is our
partner and the bardstownlocation just two blocks away
from the the festival they'redoing a lot of things that are
going to be released throughtheir store.
So, while you're in town, as ifit's not enough to do
everything that's cool on thefestival grounds, you have
retail partners like Evergreen,that's out there doing their own

(24:35):
.
And, like Angel's Envy, they'redoing a release the week of the
festival.
But we knew, or we believed,that this would happen five
years ago and we knew it takessome time.
Yep, I mean, if you remember andyou were at the 2019 festival
pre-change it was a big deal tobe able to go and have a
cocktail.

(24:55):
I mean, you couldn't do neatpours at the grounds, but some
people did.
You know we had 11 distilleriesinvolved and now we're at 64 65
distilleries and sampling isexpected.
And now the sales the lastcouple years and we knew it a
couple years ago half thedistilleries would sell and we
trusted that the other halfwould see that activity and

(25:16):
figure out a way, by the nextfestival, to get in the game.
And they've they've all done it.
So everybody that's at thefestival this year.
I believe I could be wrong, butI believe every single one of
them is going to be selling, uh,something, even if it's only
one skew or two skews, um, butwe expanded the the line that
each distillery can bring.

(25:37):
So your mid-size and yourlarger ones that you used before
, now they're six, and and thelarge ones used to have six
different bottle SKUs, nowthey're up to eight, and that's
not counting if they did abarrel pick with us.
We really want this to be theevent of the year for them.
I've been calling it kind oflike the Consumer Electronics

(25:59):
Show in Vegas, but this is forbourbon, so the deliveries are.
you knowilleries are rebranding,they're rolling out.
I mean, last year you hadLawrenceburg Bourbon come in and
then the first day they becameLarrikin and all that.
So the branding and all thatunveil is very cool to see.
But yeah, I mean we'reimportant to them because of

(26:23):
that, because of the sales andthe engagement, um, but it's
reciprocal.
You know, we couldn't put thisfestival and offer the unique,
only place in the world you canget this experiences in
bartstown without them steppingup and taking advantage of of
what they can do legally.
And when you talk about theevolution of the festival, I

(26:43):
always say look, I mean I'm goodat exploiting the law.
The laws have changed to bemore favorable for the
distilleries and I, just as ateam, we got together and
figured out a way to make themost happen out of that, and so
that's really what it comes downto is just taking advantage of
the laws.

Speaker 4 (27:03):
And you and the team have done a great job of that
over the past few years.
Like I say, it shows in thefestival and I tell you what
everyone that you talk to that'swent to the festival and that
I've interviewed everyone thatwas there for a first time that
I talked to.

(27:23):
We're coming back if we can gettickets.
That was the first thing.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
If we can get tickets .
Well, and you know, five yearsago it was a free event for 29
years, and then we, during COVID, coming out of COVID, we put
the fence up, and I always haveto think about that.
We put the fence and the gateup.
Originally it was still goingto be a free festival, but we

(27:50):
had to have a way to control howmany people were in the
festival.
I mean, you think about it, youwent to Home Depot or whatever.
They had a guy on the entrywith a radio and when two people
would leave they could let twomore people in.
It was 100 people per store.
And that was the mentality thatwe're approaching the festival
with is like we need to have thefestival but we also need to be
in compliance with all of theyou know recommendations and

(28:12):
guidelines.
And and then we're like, okay,what, what if we charge $10,?
You know, just, it's Countyfair ticket price 10 bucks.
No one's going to complainabout that, right?
Well, we all know what happened.
And now you fast forward fiveyears.
We have the best audience thebourbon enthusiasts.
Every year, for the last threeyears, our stats have been the

(28:34):
exact same 85% of the peoplethat come to this festival are
from outside of Kentucky, sofrom an economic development and
bourbon tourism, which iseconomic development, I mean
we're killing it.
And then you know the peoplethat are in Kentucky, even in
Bardstown, that are coming tothe festival.
They're there because theyenjoy bourbon, not because they
want to drink beer and, you know, dance to, you know, to the

(28:56):
main stage.
I mean we have music but it'sfocused on the bourbon and the
people who are making it andthat really has been our key all
along.
So well, and thank you foralways being there and
supporting it and shout outs and, and you know, off-air phone
calls and supporting and, uh,and it means a lot.
I mean, we are a very smalllittle group of people that put
this thing on.

(29:17):
And, again, the biggestfrustration is when the festival
ends.
We've got 361 days to to livewith our mistakes and try to
make them better for the nexttime.
But I think we really nailed iton a lot of levels this year.
So it'll be a lot tighter, butwe knew going into it would be a
five-year transformation andthis is year five, but next year

(29:39):
, 35th anniversary.
We just announced the dates.
Um, but next year, 35thanniversary.
We just announced the dates.
Yeah, I've already started,like I stopped to put on 2025
and I'm already havingconversations with with
potential spot, you know,sponsors and they're coming to
the festival this year to get,you know, kind of get a walk
through because they want theywant to support us going forward
.
So it just never ends.

(30:00):
I mean, the 2026 file alreadyhas a lot of stuff in it and uh,
and things that we wanted to dothis year, that we had to have
a deadline and say, okay, that'sa great idea, put it in the 26
file.
You know, and you know we'realready, you know we're, we're
already announcing there you gonext year yep, there it is now.

(30:21):
We had a board meeting in Julyand we discussed, you know, and
we've never been shy about itBourbon and Beyond is a music
festival in Louisville and ithappens in September and we've
always been very cautious to notend up on the same weekend, not
because we compete for ticketholders, we compete for fence

(30:41):
rentals and hotel rooms and golfcarts and forklifts and all the
things generators andeverything tents that we need to
put up.
So we've been very careful toavoid them.
And they come out with theirdates for 10 years so we know
what they're going to be, so wecan make some pivots and come
out early with promotions.
September 10th, september 10ththrough the 13th uh, bourbon in

(31:05):
the air is that thursday night.
We're actually kind of adding,instead of a three-day festival
with an opener, we're actuallynow going to treat that thursday
night as a legitimate, like oneof our program evenings and and
kind of retool that a littlebit to get it up to speed.
But so for next year it'll be afour day or three and a half
day.
Let's call it uh festival, um,but yeah, we're excited about

(31:26):
that already I just want to stepback just one second to uh.

Speaker 4 (31:30):
You were talking about, uh, where that how many
percentage of people come fromout of kentucky to the festival?
But also, uh, let's talk aboutinternational people.
There's maybe what 5% to 7% ofinternational people that come
from overseas that are coming tothis festival too.

(31:52):
Right, because I've met andinterviewed a lot of them over
the last couple of years and youknow, this is not just a United
States festival now, this isactually an internationally
watched event.

Speaker 3 (32:06):
Well, and it's growing but it's so small.
But I mean we had Japan and wealways have Canadian, australia,
australia, new Zealand, yep.
And the cool thing, last yearwe had one distillery partner
that we put like a little chipon their bottle so when people
bought the bottles they scannedthe chip and logged in where

(32:29):
they bought it and then wherethey ended.
And now we've got a map withlike the little push pin type
thing where we can see wherethat one distillery's bottles
went.
Well, this year every one ofour single barrels that have
that little tag.
Yeah they're embedded, embeddedwith an RFID.
So all 34 distilleries, they'rehang tags.
When you buy it, you have anapp that you scan and you log in

(32:52):
that you bought this bottle.
If you bought 10 bottles youown, you take possession of all
those bottles and, let's say,nash one of those bottles you
give to el presidente forchristmas.
You, you give it to me, I logit in that I have it.
Now you can check track thathistory of that bottle, um.
And or let's say, you're fromaustralia and you came and

(33:13):
bought these bottles.
You log it.
You bought them in bardstown.
They are all now on yourshelves in australia.
We'll have the history of allof our single barrel bottles as
they travel around the world andas they're given to a son on
their wedding or an anniversarygift or retirement gift.
As those bottles change handsand are given away, the new

(33:33):
owner takes ownership of it andlogs it in.
And I think this is going to bea really cool experiment that
we can watch the true, theinternational impact and even
national, but I mean the true,the international impact, and
even national, but I meaninternational, the history.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
That is so cool, I mean that's cool, but you'll
also be able to track thoseempty bottles to the landfill.

Speaker 3 (33:52):
You'll know where they are.
We hope they're recycling themand, like the Bourbon Festival,
we have a glass recycler.
They grind the glass and thenthey sell it and we actually
have potentially one of thebottle manufacturers coming in
as a late sponsor to do that.
So we're actually hoping totrack it all the way through,

(34:12):
coming back up as asecond-generation bottle.
Second-generation.

Speaker 4 (34:17):
All right real quick.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
As far as you were mentioning, is it going to?
It going to be a 26 thing or isit a 2025 thing?
Will there be the ability toship your bottles?

Speaker 3 (34:30):
You know.
So legally you can't.
You can't buy 10 bottles andsay I don't want to try to
figure out how to get them homeand I'm just going to go to a
pack and ship place and shipthem to your house.
You cannot do that figure outhow to get them home and I'm
just going to go to a pack andship place and ship them to your
house.
You cannot do that right?
So what we're doing, um, andit's kind of a loosey goosey
third party partnership, alocally owned company called

(34:51):
kentucky bourbon direct.
They have reached out to allthe distilleries and probably
two-thirds of them have signedcontracts independent of us.
So if you come up to XYZDistillery and you sample
something and you want to buy abottle to take with you, but
you'd really like to buy a caseof six and have it waiting for
you when you get home, that'sthe service that they're going

(35:13):
to be doing.
It's all legal, it's allreciprocal.
Which states?
You know, pennsylvania,virginia, there's a few out
there, I think, five or six youcan't do that with, but it'll be
very up front.
But none of that transactionhappens at the festival.
So if let's say it's um, again,I'm going to keep it generic,
like distillery a once it has acontract and they sell hundreds

(35:36):
of bottles right after thefestival.
That distillery will ship thosebottles to DC, to their
warehouse, at which point theywill bundle them and package
them.
And so long as it's legal andthey won't let you buy, if
you're in a state that doesn'tallow that, you're not going to
be able to take advantage of iteven there.

(35:57):
So you're not going to get thefrustration of scanning a QR
code and entering all yourinformation and then and then
finding out you know sadtrombone You're not going to be
able to get.
So you'll know going into itand most people know, if you
live in a state that you can'tdo that.
But so it's not going to be the.
Here's my bottles.
I bought too many.
I don't know how to get themhome.

(36:17):
Can you take care of them?
That that not going to happen,but the ability to buy directly
from the distilleries and haveit come to your house.
That's what we're doing withthem, or we're allowing a
company to come in and have thatinteraction.
Technically, they're not asponsor.
There's no legal affiliationwith us.
It's just someone that we'veopened up our venue for and

(36:40):
they're beta testing it thisyear Perfect.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
I mean that's good for a lot of people, that'll be
really good, especially I meanit'll be individual distilleries
, separate things but still forsomebody who lives in one of
those other 50-some, 40-somestates, that could alleviate how
you'll be able to get a fewmore bottles that you weren't

(37:04):
able to because you filled yourcar or your luggage weighs too
much, and if you're notsuper-nash you probably can't
convince them that if your bagweighs 150 pounds to let it go
under 50.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
Yeah, yeah, put your toe underneath the scales and
push up.
Yeah, they report a few times.
Oh, my gosh, no.
So I mean it's something we'rebeta testing.
I mean so, before people getreally super crazy excited, I
mean it's new, it's kind ofwe're all rolling this out
together and but we're excitedabout it for the consumer and

(37:40):
for the distillery.
I mean that that really iswhat's going to be kind of cool
Again, something you can't doanywhere else in the world, and
we're rolling that out for thefirst time and hopefully it'll
be a little bit more um,organized and, uh, you know,
formal going forward.
But this year we all agreed that, okay, here's, here's who's
coming to the festival.
You reach out to themindependently of us.

(38:02):
A lot of people, a lot ofdistilleries, have their own
direct-to-consumer contractsalready, so not everyone's going
to do it.
This is fully voluntary, butmost of the small and the
mid-sized distilleries aregiving us a serious look.
If you're one of the largerones, I mean, you've already got
some you know sales that youdon't know what to do with.
But we'll see.

(38:25):
I've not seen the list of thedistilleries that they're under
contract with, so I'm curious tosee how that's going to work
out too.
But again, all we're doing itfor is so the distilleries can
sell more bottles and so theconsumer that is our customer
can get more.
And you know it's going to begeo-fenced.
So at midnight on sunday, onclosing day, if you haven't got

(38:46):
your orders in, you're not goingto be able to do it.
So we're really trying to makesure it's something special for
the bourbon festival and then,um, go from there okay.

Speaker 4 (38:54):
Well, president, I gotta throw this in here.
There's's a couple of peoplethat wanted me to tell you that
you got people coming fromGermany.
They're commenting on Facebookhere that mentioned there's
people coming in from Germany.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
I love that, yeah, I'm of German descent, so
hopefully they'll look me up,because I know exactly where my
family home is, in westphalia ingermany I was born in stuttgart
, germany, so at bad meinbergawesome.
My volkswagens and audis wereall made in stuttgart, so

(39:30):
awesome uh uh, yeah, I was bornborn in stuttgart uh bad
konstadt uh area.

Speaker 4 (39:35):
So well so come look us up?

Speaker 3 (39:39):
I hope when they come they make their presence known,
because we'd like to be able to, I'd like to shake their hand
and we'd like to have photos,and we've got a new main
admission gate too, so it'll behopefully highly photographed,
like the old one was.
That was just retired.
But I do hope sincerely thatwhen our foreign dignitaries

(40:00):
come in and check out thefestival, I'd really love to
meet them.

Speaker 4 (40:04):
Yeah, and I want to give that a shout out to
everybody that's watching and on.
Or if you know somebody that'scoming in internationally, when
you come in the gate, to let usknow where you're coming from
and to let it be known you'recoming from, and to let it be
known so that we can welcome youto the festival.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
Well, and last year if you told me that I had 100
guesses of the country that wasprobably one of the hotter
higher, you know raising bourbondestinations, I would never
have guessed.
But it was Kenya.
So the Kentucky Department ofAg had a contingent from Kenya.

(40:46):
That's one of the fastestgrowing.
You know markets with thedistributors and wholesalers and
you know governmentintervention.
I'm sure that somebody'sgetting paid there, but it was
very cool to see that.
You know, kenya was representedat the festival and they were
there kind of as guests of thedepartment of ag, an exchange
situation.
But but you're right, nash, wewe don't take into account

(41:09):
because most of theinternational we don't ship our
like the wristband tickets outinternationally.
If you buy, if you buy ticketsand you're not in the U S, you
come to the, will call and thenwe handle you a little
differently because thefulfillment, but we we
oftentimes lose track of of that.
So thank you for bringing thatup.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
So, last but least, or at least you can do your one
more but the the cigar loungethis year.
It last year.
You can do one more but theCigar Lounge this year.
Last year you had that.
In that I really feel that thecigar experience was fantastic.
I know it's going to bedifferent this year, but talk
about it, what it's going to belike this year.
Where do you have it?

(41:52):
What's going to be there, thattype of thing.

Speaker 3 (41:56):
Cigars is an important part of the culture.
It's like Churchill Downs orKeeneland it's.
It's thoroughbred horses, it'scigars, it's bourbon, that's
Kentucky.
So I'm committed to continuingto try different things to to
get it right.
So last year the double deckerI wanted to.
We put the double decker inknowing that we were losing

(42:16):
money on it for year one.
But we wanted it to be kind oflike a parade of homes.
So this structure is availableand of course now, with Whiskey
House taking it cool, I checkedthat box.
It's being used and it's goingto be exploited and really used
to the best.
So the cigar lounge was on thesecond floor.
It was a little quirky to tryto manage that.

(42:37):
So what we did this year was wehave two large tents, different
retailers, so evergreen liquorsand cox's, the smoke shops will
be in one and our partners withdeployment cigars will be in
the other, and then in themiddle will be a large patio
area with all the furniture,kind of of like what Nash was
asking about earlier.

(42:58):
So it's going to be an open airlounge so you can buy cigars
from your choice of merchant andenjoy it under the cover or sit
out in the open air patio, andso I mean, but it's all first
floor, right there on the ground.
It's actually very close to thefootprint where the bourbon bar
has been the last four years.
Um, it's right there inside themain gate along fifth so, but

(43:22):
it's in the shady area kind oflike behind where beam was in
that area.
Um, so we're really happy withthe way this is coming together,
but we're always trying, youknow, trying to tweak it and, um
, I'm I'm not a cigar smoker, so, but I'm also very aware of the
culture, so I'm trying to dothe best thing.
So everybody has a spot thatthey can really enjoy and hang

(43:44):
out with friends and enjoy thefestival and people watching,
which is always one of the bestparts, especially at the end of
the day.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
And Matt Nehal quickly asked when planning to
attend next year.
When is a good time to startplanning Now?
Book your hotel, attend nextyear.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
When is a good time to start planning?
Now?
We already announced dates.
Yeah, we announced dates andyou know the hotels.
That's always the challenge.
You know as difficult as it issometimes to get tickets, it's
even more challenging.
You got your tickets.
Now what do you do?
Um, but yeah, I would say checkhotels.
Now we have a partnership witha number of downtown Louisville

(44:20):
hotels too, and a shuttle MintJulep is is kind of working with
us right now to provide thatshuttle service back and forth,
and it's challenging.
There's not a lot of ride share,uber Lyft options, and
certainly not from Louisville toBarnstown, um.
So we want to be responsible.
All the distilleries talk aboutresponsible service and so

(44:41):
we're in tune with that also.
But you know Elizabethtown,shelbyville, shepherdsville I
mean there's other little areasthat you can get.
Barnstown is growing.
It's adding more hotel rooms.
I think five years ago when westarted, it was under 900 rooms
in their inventory.
Now they're up over 1,000 andstill growing.

(45:03):
But, yes, get your roomsquickly.
Tickets will be on sale again,probably mid-April.
It'll be the same thing likeright around April 15th tickets
will go on sale.
So if you haven't already doneit, get on the insider email and
look, I'll just own this.
I mean there's 44,000 people onan email list and when we do

(45:25):
the pre-sale I mean we only sell6,000 tickets total and 800 VIP
.
So it's just the reality.
You got 40,000 people that havesigned up over the years and
they all want to, you know.
So the funnel isn't big enoughto handle everybody and we're
trying to figure that out.
You know a more fair way to youknow, manage the VIP and

(45:45):
there's technical glitches andstuff that five minutes before
we go on sale and the insiderswere assured that by the vendor
that it's good, and then stuffgoes haywire and again we've got
a whole nother year to livewith those mistakes and and and
that you know I twitch, that Idevelop and because we don't
want that, I mean I don't getout of bed every morning to to

(46:06):
create a system that's not goingto work.
We want it to work and workflawlessly.
Um, so just everyone out there,you know if you had a problem
this year, the technicalglitches, we continue to work
through it and look for, youknow, the best partner possibly
and um, but yeah, september 10ththrough the 13th is next year's
date, so but a lot of hotels,locally at least already kind of

(46:28):
block those out, so people justdon't accidentally stumble upon
that weekend and take up theirtickets and I mean, uh, the
rooms.

Speaker 4 (46:35):
So um not only that but also, uh, wait, homeowners,
the airbnbs, because there's alot of local homeowners around
the uh bardstown area that offerairbnbs that you know for the
kentucky bourbon festival.
So, uh, give a shout out tothem and, uh, you know, maybe

(46:59):
you can pick up an airbnb.
You know that a better suityour needs for the Kentucky
Bourbon Festival, so give ashout out to them and, you know,
maybe you can pick up an Airbnb.

Speaker 5 (47:07):
You know that better suits your needs.
Whiskey, did you have somethingto say?
Yes, well, you know I do.

Speaker 3 (47:11):
I've kind of been saving them up, because it's
hard to get a word in edgewise.
See, I'm moderating.

Speaker 5 (47:18):
You are.
So you know I'm a numbers guy.
But you know I will say this toyou, randy I got the email
announcing next to our 2026dates and 15 minutes after that
email hit, I was on Airbnb andthere was not a single Airbnb
available anymore, other than acouple of sleeping rooms.
And I don't know about you, butI'm not staying with a bunch of
people I don't know.

Speaker 3 (47:39):
I'm all right in my tent, oh nice.

Speaker 5 (47:41):
Yeah, Um, I'm trying to be good because I got a joke
for that, but um, no, no, nojokes, no jokes, no jokes.
Um so, um, but you know I am anumbers guy so I'm kind of
curious.
Um, you know, I I have some ofthe numbers for this year.
I mean, obviously tickets wenton sale and I think the vips

(48:04):
were sold out in under threeminutes correct um and and
general admission in three daysyeah, general admission sold out
in three days, which I know in.
Historically there have beentickets for at least a couple of
weeks.

Speaker 3 (48:17):
Months, I mean.
We usually don't sell out untillate July, early August.

Speaker 5 (48:27):
But to kind of give people that are watching this
and have never been or arethinking about coming.
I mean, do you get numbers fromthe distilleries?
Do you know how many bottleswere sold at the festival last
year?
Because I mean I can tell youtwo years ago there were a fair
number of bottles sold.
Last year it had to be I meanit almost had to be in the tens

(48:48):
of thousands of bottles.
I mean there was more than onebottle sold per person.
It had to have been well, no,that they don't.

Speaker 3 (48:56):
They don't tell us and and the few that do, it's
always been like on the very qtum.
But we do know.
Like we pull our attendees andwe ask them.
One of the questions is if youbought bottles, how much, how
many did you buy?
And there's the range like oneto five, six to ten, whatever we

(49:17):
.
I think I counted 17 peoplethat responded.
Now that doesn't mean there'sthe range like one to five, six
to 10, whatever we.
I think I counted 17 peoplethat responded.
Now that doesn't mean there's alot of people that didn't
respond, but the people thatresponded 17 people bought, I
think, 50 or more bottles.

Speaker 5 (49:30):
Well, one of those was one of those was clearly
super nice but I mean, do themath.

Speaker 3 (49:34):
Even if it's a 50 or $60 bottle and you're buying 50
of them, I mean people arecoming here, even if it's a 50
or $60 bottle and you're buying50 of them.
I mean people are coming herearmed and ready to buy.
No, but I mean there are a fewof the distilleries I know kind
of roughly.
I can tell you that there areseveral of them that have said
that the bourbon festival on thegrounds they sell more bottles

(49:56):
and the revenue is higher therethan at their main gift shop.
Back at the distillery I meanthat's anecdotal but I mean, if
you can think about it sold outdistillery tours that whole
weekend and every tour ends upconveniently dropping out right
at the gift shop.
Um, the, the burton that youknow the bourbon festival is out
selling their bricks and mortargift shop during that weekend.

(50:21):
That blows me away.

Speaker 4 (50:22):
I mean, you think about it, that's a testament to
what you're doing for thisfestival right there.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
Well, thank you, but no, I mean it's a testament to
the law changing that allows thedistilleries to sell and I
create an environment that theycan set up, shop and sell.

Speaker 4 (50:38):
So get those laws changed is what is what I'm
saying?

Speaker 1 (50:41):
Yeah, Well, but the vision, randy, that that you had
and I've always said that youyou've had and I've always I
knew, I've always known what,what, what's, what it's grown
into, is what, the directionwhere I knew that the
distilleries would because Ihave a little bit of a marketing

(51:01):
background that I knew theywere going to figure this out.
And there's going to be a timewhen there's just going to be
releases that are just for thefestival, I mean, the barrel
picks, the single barrels butthere'll be distilleries are
going to just have a specialKentucky Bourbon Festival bottle
that you can only get, similarto what happens at the Kentucky

(51:24):
Derby, and then, if you're atthe festival, this release will
happen.
And I've always seen that asyou went down that road, that I
knew that the bot and you'reright as the laws changed, you
could do things I mean in 2019,you talked about real quick is
that you could?
But that free part of thefestival that you talk about,

(51:48):
that was like it was free.
You went into a place you mighthave had that year.
You could get a little sampleof a mixed drink and you saw
what they had and then theycould sell some T-shirts and
hats.
But the festival.
When someone tells you that itwas always free, that's really
not true because there wereevents.
There was the VIP in what isnow the Brandiamo.

(52:12):
There was a VIP up there thatcost money a lot.
It cost a decent amount ofmoney per day.
Um, there was the gala.
That wasn't.
That stuff wasn't free.
So the part of the festival ofwhat you've done is you took the
part where was kind of separatefrom the festival, where there
was extra things you could buyfor the festival.
You just put it all in one onewebsite, one thing, and made

(52:34):
that part, you brought in theone and you mix the two together
.

Speaker 3 (52:38):
So when and you're right, I mean the first year
2021 it's supposed to be 2020.
That didn't happen but you'reright.
So all of all of those eventsthat were all over town that you
can drink at, the laws changedso it's like, okay, uh, flight
to bourbon, four roses out atthe airport.
Uh, my, you know, they ofbourbon, four Roses out at the

(52:59):
airport.
They had bourbon cigars andjazz, heaven Hill out at my old
Kentucky home and the gala outat the Guthrie Opportunity
Center.
All of those things were great.
But people would say, well,where's the festival?
Where is the festival?
So we brought all that stuff in.

(53:20):
So the great tent that firstyear started as an answer to all
the distilleries who were notyet in a spot where they felt
comfortable putting Fred andFreddie out, because COVID was
still happening and and and theydidn't want to spring for the
to do the event out at thekitchen table and Heaven Hill
didn't want to do something outthere.
So we, we did it.
I wanted this dense, heavilyprogrammed festival.
Everything's happening here.
And then the second year, weclosed it at 6 o'clock at night

(53:44):
and told the distilleries nowyou need to program the evenings
, I'm closing at 6.
Nothing good happens from 6 tomidnight if you've already been
there from noon.
So we're going to let people gohome, shower, clean up, grab
some dinner, and now Barstown,bourbon Company and Heaven Hill
and Beam and it's growingChicken Cock is doing things.

(54:06):
So that was my deal.
We close at six, we breathepeople in, give them a really
cool experience during theafternoon and we let them go.
I'm not trying to monopolizethem.
I want the community, I wantthe restaurants, the bars and
those distilleries to do eveningprogramming and and it's worked
and um.
But we needed to have thatdensity.

(54:26):
We needed to have that.
No one's ever going to askagain where the bourbon festival
is.
Right, I mean, it's, it's here,it is, it is dense, it's
layered, it's music, it's allthis stuff, but mostly it's
sampling.
You're talking to people thatare making it and it's the
bottle sales piece now.

Speaker 4 (54:45):
You know and also you say that.
But it's not only just thedistilleries that are creating
events after hours, but it'salso too the restaurants and the
bars downtown.
They're staying open later atnight and they're creating after
hours events too for the onesthat don't go to those special

(55:06):
events at the distilleries,because those are also ticketed
events that are going on, butalso too those restaurants and
bars and stuff downtown.
They're staying open later nowand they're realizing, hey,
we've got this crowd here,they're here in the town, and so
they're capitalizing on thattoo and bringing it in.

Speaker 3 (55:29):
You're right.
And the first year there werepeople that were detractors to
the new direction of the BourbonFestival and I try as I might,
I would explain to them thatthat old organization was on the
brink of bankruptcy.
Distilleries did not want that.
They told the other group thatis not what we need right now.

(55:49):
We need what we've ended upbuilding.
We listened to them, but theyou know, the the community, was
against me at first, or againstus, but then the business
community got on and there'sstill some people that are
locals that don't really carefor the new direction.
Never will.
They probably never were reallyour target audience anyway.
Um, but the business community,to your point, nash is taking

(56:10):
the restaurant and I told him, Isaid this is our gift to you
Staff up, stock up, clean yourbusiness business, roll the red
carpet out.
We're bringing people with alot of money in and they want to
spend it.
That's all you do.
You don't need to be a sponsorof the festival.
We're doing this as a way ofthanking you for being.
You know, and and kate, we talkabout double.

(56:31):
Okay, yeah, she, you know,she's a lifelong louisville,
born and raised in Louisville,and people complain that the
Kentucky Derby has gotten to beso expensive that the locals
can't afford yada, yada, yada.
And she made a point like wehave 51 weekends a year that
Churchill downs and horse racingis accessible and should be for

(56:53):
the locals.
There's one weekend a year thatwe're the host.
We're the host, we're the hostcommunity.
Don't.
Don't bemoan the fact that youcan't afford to go to the Derby,
because there's people from allover the country and the world
that are coming in and layingdown billions of dollars in this
town.
So I mean, I thought about that.
She, you know she made a validpoint.

Speaker 1 (57:14):
Although the Kentucky bourbon festival.
I don't give a crap what yousay, I don't care.
If you're poor and you likebourbon, you can afford the
general admission tickets.
It's affordable.
There's no place that they.
If someone tells you it's notaffordable, I go out to a
restaurant and order threedrinks.

(57:35):
Restaurant and order threedrinks and I can be like at
senior drinks half of thefestival daily.
Of what you're charging I couldjust offer three.
I know, I know.

Speaker 3 (57:48):
So the unaffordability is great and
thank, thank you.
I mean, if you take the 190price tag and divide it by three
days, I mean, and all theaccess to the sampling, and if
you do the math you knowwhiskey's a numbers guy.
That was what the first year,when we were 125 bucks, I said I
used to do a four-hour beerfestival.

(58:10):
That was 125.
We're doing a three-day whiskeyfestival for 125 dollars.
You divide it down, but anywaydistillery sampling barnstown is
figuring out that maybe thisfestival isn't for every
resident, but it's.
It's an opportunity to roll outthe red carpet.

(58:32):
You know, spit, shine andreally showcase your community
to the world.
And the business community getsit.
The business people are nowstanding up, sticking up.
For me, one of the first coupleof years I was getting, you know
, the slings and arrows.
Now the business community islike, be quiet.
That's like our biggest salesweekend of the year.
You know, stay home if youdon't like it, leave town if you

(58:53):
don't like it, but let's let,let let this thing happen.
And and I'm always, always,always in tune with the
residents I spend time talkingto the council members, the
mayor's office, so when you seeFlage, which is that main street
, coming in, we offered theresidents that live there to two
complimentary tickets to thefestival, just for the

(59:15):
inconvenience and for playingalong with us and letting us use
, you know, expand out into thatstreet.
But I'm always, always trying tolike listen to the people that
are our neighbors.
And you know the closing at sixo'clock everybody in the
neighborhood loves that becauseyou don't have the people
leaving at 11 o'clock at nighttrying to make it up to the, you
know, the downtown bars beforelast call, all of the things

(59:38):
that go with an all-day party.
People are actually leaving inpretty good shape, you know, and
they're going home they'rebeing respectful of the
neighborhood and um, but yeah,we always do everything.
Everything we do is first, isit going to benefit the
distilleries and second, is itgoing to fit within the kind of
the fabric of the community tomake sure that we're not going

(59:59):
against what the community, theresidents who live there, want.

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
Perfect.
All right, I know you're tired,so do you want to sum it up?
And then we'll get?
Let you go our pen, you.

Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
Last year we debuted the pen and this year it's a
copper.
It's actually made out ofcopper and it's the column the
column still.
So that's this year's pen forour vips and select friends.
The flask, the flask force,nice.
Stainless steel I got the goldone right here.
I saw that jacob bromwell isour partner.
Stainless steel, something neworis, the president's club,

(01:00:44):
which is the ultra super vip.
Only 24 in the world aremembers of the oris president's
club, and this, this is thewatch they get.
Wow, that's really nice it's the60th anniversary, so the font
and everything is back to like1964, 65 design Beautiful.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
And Randy Ford, who is our whiskey doctor on the
podcast.
Now he is one of those memberswe're proud of that and he just
joined us.

Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
I saw him a couple weeks agoter jane, denny and
jane invited us out to theirdistillery and we did a very,
very cool, one-of-a-kind type ofimmersive barrel selection.
Where we're, we're tasting thewhite dog and we're going to
work every year, you know,through its maturity.
But randy ford was along there,so if he's watching, you know,

(01:01:39):
shout out, it was good to seeyou.
But I mean it's the trail hotel, the new hotel in bardstown.
It it includes three nights atthe hotel, unlimited exclusive
shuttles.
If you happen to be staying atthe trail and going to the
festival.
You can't get on this exclusivePresident's Club shop.
You have to have the rightwristband to get on and get to

(01:02:02):
the festival.
And it's just this really coolpackage.
You get a guaranteed reservedlocker upstairs Some of you have
seen the third floor, the$175,000 renovation we did a
couple years ago.
You get a guaranteed table andchair for the entire weekend.
You've got your privatebartender, you've got catering
it's going to be top level andyou also still get all the

(01:02:26):
benefits of the VIP access.
But Oris I can't say enoughabout Oris.
Their ad agency out of New Yorkapproached me a couple years
ago just inquiring, and this hasturned into now where the ad
agency doesn't talk.
I'm actually meeting with thepresident of Oris watches that
you know to put together.

(01:02:47):
He's going to be there inBardstown.
So the president's club members,we're going to do a joint
president presentation of thewatches up in the up in the
Brindiamo penthouse.
So just a testament to not onlythe quality of partners that we
have but also the quality ofvip guests that really see the
value in doing something alittle different.
You know, and um it just it'svery humbling to see, because

(01:03:10):
I've been there, I've been whereit was and now where we are and
uh, we're, we're trying toreally create a truly unique
experience you can't getanywhere else in the world for
everybody.
If you're a sunday sampler, youcan only come down for one day.
You're going to get anexperience that you're not going
to get anywhere else.
If you're all in on thepresident's club, forget about
it.
No one's going to touch thekind of package that we we put

(01:03:32):
together this year and we'regonna.

Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
With having having him there, we are going to be
podcasting with him one day onhis little porch that his room
comes with, and we're going tobe promoting that President's
Club and the experiencethroughout the podcast.
So look out for those lives forthose lives.

Speaker 4 (01:03:58):
That's what I was fixing to ask if Scotchy Bourbon
Boys was going to be able tocome up and cover that
presentation.
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:04:06):
I don't know if we get into the presentations.
I know I can get myself at theroom, not in three of you.

Speaker 3 (01:04:15):
You can plant a mic on Randy Thereandy and there you
go there.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
Yeah, we're in it already.
One of our guys is in it I'llget.

Speaker 4 (01:04:24):
I'll get him one of those hats that's got the camera
on it too so this is our glennkaren uh decanter from a couple
years ago.

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
And everybody wants to know what's my favorite
bourbon, and we do these kind ofthings.
What are we drinking tonight?
So this, this was my infinitydecanter from when I started
five years ago.
So it is everything.
It's everything from knob creek, it's it's elijah craig.
There's maker's mark in thereall the way down to hidden barn.

(01:04:55):
There's peerless um, there'snew loo.
I put some pursuit in here, andso I've slowly been.
When I come up to my littleshelf and like, look for
something unique, I like tonightI wanted to have something
that's representative of allkentucky.
So that that's what I'm cheers,tonight is my and it's a damn
good infinity canter too welllet's do a cheers and I'm gonna

(01:05:18):
put

Speaker 1 (01:05:19):
some in my decanter rocks glass from 2023 and I'm
doing this.
Thank you, this was a wonderfulpick from the buzzards roost
I'm using my kentucky bourbonfestival glass from I believe,
2023.

Speaker 3 (01:05:35):
No, no, no, that's 2019.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
That's old, that's pre-me that's the old logo.

Speaker 3 (01:05:41):
This is 21.
This was my first year.

Speaker 1 (01:05:44):
And somewhere along the line.
Jeffrey swears, I've got ascotchy bourbon, the order went
in and no matter what one ofthose puts you into the, you're
in our crystal decanter, notdecanter.

Speaker 4 (01:05:57):
Our crystal Glencairn .

Speaker 1 (01:05:59):
So I will have that before there.

Speaker 4 (01:06:01):
The order's in Kentucky, bourbon basketball
pick from last year 1792.
Well, carl, are you awake?

Speaker 5 (01:06:08):
Whiskey, yes I am, I have mine.
You can't really see it.
It's got you bourbon boycrystal.

Speaker 3 (01:06:15):
Glencairn, that's the one I'm supposed to have, that
tiny cyst I have.

Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
I would have thought that was the first person that
got it and I don't know how itgot through.
But I'm fixing that.
I'll trade you a pen Well, apen, but I never got a Kentucky
Bourbon Festival Crystal Glen.
You seriously have never.
No.

Speaker 3 (01:06:43):
You've been a.

Speaker 1 (01:06:43):
VIP.
How does that happen?
Not the Crystal Glen one?

Speaker 4 (01:06:47):
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:06:47):
Well, I've got you on that.
I know You've always got me, elPresidente, I mean, whoever
thought I'm just going to thisis last year's.
A guy from grew up in Wisconsinwere down home people.
But you know what you've donewith this festival.
You've turned it into aninternational national festival

(01:07:09):
that's unlike any.
I mean, it's right up there, inmy opinion, with the Kentucky
Derby, because you don't have alive action sporting event.
You've got brands of bourbonthat you share with the world,
and the way that you've donethis and you've evolved it in
these few, five short years, uh,it's just amazing.

(01:07:30):
And uh, the experience isunlike any other when, when you
walk away from this, you neverfeel like you didn't get what,
you didn't get enough.
You walk away satisfied.
You might want something orwhatever, but what you walk out
with you can't be unhappy with.
It's just always been a fan andand that's all you, randy,

(01:07:52):
you've made no, no, no.
Your team, you and your team youand your team, you and your
team you and your team.

Speaker 3 (01:07:58):
No, it is us, it is the four of us, it's the team,
the team.

Speaker 1 (01:08:03):
I meant you, and your team.

Speaker 3 (01:08:04):
It's the people that come to this thing.
I can put out a business planthat looks good on paper that
never takes root, so no.

Speaker 1 (01:08:13):
I mean You're Vince, you're Vince Lombardi.
So no, I mean you're Vince,you're Vince Lombardi.
Your team is you got PaulHorning and everybody, but those
people wouldn't be together ifit wasn't for you.
You've worked hard to find thisteam.
I'll take.
I'll take that.
Yes, and they do.

Speaker 3 (01:08:27):
And also we've also worked really hard with the
distilleries and made them feelspecial.
And one of our big distilleriessaid Randy, every other event
we do, we're told what we canand can't do and we just figure
it out.
We're not happy, but we figureit out and we actually spend
time asking them like what wouldyou do differently, what can we

(01:08:47):
do to help?
And a lot of very few festivalsand events ask that question.
So thank you.

Speaker 5 (01:08:58):
So I got to ask what was the look on your face when
somebody said they wanted toblow up a 30 foot?

Speaker 3 (01:09:01):
kangaroo.
Well, I didn't know about ituntil it was already up.
I walked, I walked out and andand Jeffrey's voice, I think I
said what the shit?
Um, no, but we also said thatthat that's not not, that that's
not copacetic, that doesn'thappen this year.
It happened and it got kind ofgrandfathered in.

(01:09:23):
It was fun and I and I love thefact that the distillery chose
the bourbon festival to kind of,because they their little
shingle sign hanging on theirtent started off as lawrenceburg
and then we took it down andlike change it to larrikin and
then the kangaroo popped up.
But yeah, um, so short of that,the the big inflatable blow-up

(01:09:46):
things just kind of give me likeptsd, because in the old
festival there used to be a bigbudweiser can.

Speaker 1 (01:09:52):
That was oh, there was a.
There was big jim beam bottlestoo.
I remember taking pictures withJim Beam and Knob Creek
together blown up.

Speaker 3 (01:10:02):
We're a different kind of festival now.
No, I mean we really do.
We want the distilleries tofocus on the liquid they're
sampling and the engagementpiece.

Speaker 1 (01:10:14):
Has anybody ever suggested a bourbon dunk tank
piece?
But has anybody ever suggesteda?

Speaker 5 (01:10:20):
bourbon dunk tank tank?
No, because somebody alwayspees in the pool that first year
we could already.

Speaker 3 (01:10:29):
I could have made a mint, five bucks, three balls
and sink me.
They would have been throwingat me and not the target a lot
of money.

Speaker 1 (01:10:36):
No, you know, a hundred thou you would have had
an extra hundred thou with that.

Speaker 3 (01:10:41):
But next year being the 35th anniversary, there's
something I'd like to kind of dofor the community and like a
little tongue-in-cheek, but yeahand fun, something that kind of
embraces the, the old festivaland how we've evolved.
So I I'll make sure that whenthat happens if it happens
happens I'll I'll announce ithere.

Speaker 1 (01:10:59):
Well, if you embrace that, what you could do is,
instead of the, the, the giantkangaroo, have one like the
largest blow up of a bourbonbottle ever.

Speaker 3 (01:11:12):
I mean I'll pass on that one for 14,.

Speaker 1 (01:11:14):
You know, just kind of like the double decker tent,
just make it like you know 14stories tall.
You can see it from space.

Speaker 3 (01:11:24):
Great wall of bourbon .

Speaker 1 (01:11:25):
Yep, there you go All right, so that that I think we
covered it all right.
Thank you, el Presidente.
I know we went a little longer,but let's finish this up.
I know we went a little longer,but let's finish this up.
Let's see if I could do this.
I even got a new ending songdone by AI, so let's just start

(01:11:46):
wwwscotchiebourbonboyscom forall things Scotchie Bourbon Boys
Glen Cairns T-shirts.
Contact me for that informationor order it right off the
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(01:12:09):
leave good feedback.
Feedback.
Uh, remember, good bourbonequals good times and good
friends.
Thank, thank you guys.
Remember to drink responsibly.
Don't drink and drive.
Drink and drive.

Speaker 4 (01:12:22):
And live your life uncut and unfiltered.

Speaker 1 (01:12:26):
And let's try this one today.
Here we go, and I'm going to goget in the pool All right, all
right.

Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
You work hard to get done.
Three days of work in one.
We'll be right back.
Tuesdays and Thursdays Tinyrocks in Nash, whiskey and CT.
We'll be talking bourbon,scotch Whiskey, heads, hearts

(01:13:07):
and veins, whether you like it,neat Mixed around the rocks.
We always are on the lookoutFor the next Whiskey bar With

(01:13:40):
whiskey guests from within.
We'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (01:13:47):
All right, there we go.