John (and Shauna for parts of the weekend) is onsite for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown. Distillery sessions across the town’s working houses, signature events on the Spalding Hall Lawn, and the kind of weekend that anchors what a serious bourbon trip looks like. KBF is the spiritual home for everyone who takes American whiskey seriously.

Expect coverage on The Cut Daily through the week of the festival, plus a Beyond The Cut episode unpacking the conversations that matter most.

What is the Kentucky Bourbon Festival?

The Kentucky Bourbon Festival is the annual industry-and-enthusiast gathering held every September in Bardstown — the Bourbon Capital of the World. Founded in 1992 (originally as a single spirit-tasting dinner), KBF is now run by Kentucky Bourbon Festival, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered at 114 N. 5th Street, Bardstown.

The festival is the highest-attended event on the bourbon calendar — most ticketed programming runs on the Spalding Hall Lawn in downtown Bardstown, with curated experiences, master tastings, and distillery dinners across the town’s working houses (Heaven Hill, Bardstown Bourbon Company, Lux Row, Barton 1792, Maker’s Mark, Buffalo Trace, Wild Turkey, Four Roses, Jim Beam, Willett, Log Still, Preservation). The Kentucky Distillers’ Association’s Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame induction ceremony runs in conjunction with festival week.