The Scotchy Bourbon Boys
The Scotchy Bourbon Boys love Whiskey and every thing about the industry! Martin "Super Nash", Jeff "Tiny", Rachel "Roxy" Karl "Whisky" and Chris "CT" all make up The Scotchy Bourbon Boys! Join us in talking everything and anything Whiskey, with the innovators, and distillers around the globe. Go behind the scenes of making great whiskey and learn how some of the best in the whiskey industry make their product! Remember good whiskey means great friends and good times! Go out and Live Your Life Dangerously!
The Scotchy Bourbon Boys
Behind the Scenes with Randy Prasse: Kentucky Bourbon Festival 2025
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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Tiny here to tell you about Whiskey Thief Distilling Company and their newly opened tasting room. Whether you are up for a farm-to-glass distilling experience on the Three Boys Farm in Frankfort, kentucky, or an out-of-this-world tasting experience in New Loop, you won't be disappointed At both locations. Their barrel picks all day, every day are like none other. Each location features stations with five barrels, each featuring their pot-distilled bourbons and rams. Once the barrels have been thieved and tasted, you can make a selection and feed your room bottle.
Speaker 1:A day at Whiskey Thief, with their friendly staff and ownership, will ensure you many good times with good friends and family. Remember to always drink responsibly, never drink and drive and live your life uncut and unfiltered.
Speaker 2:Not me Drinking bourbon, sipping on scotch. We did a little while with a short fun watch. We love what we do. We're drinking every brew. We'll be right back, scottie buddy boys. We're here to have fun and we're going to enjoy. We're here to have fun, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:All right, welcome back to another podcast of the Scotchy Bourbon Boys Tiny here with we've got Super Nash and we also Super Nash, we've got whiskey and we have a super awesome guest in Randy Prassy, el Presidente, kentucky Bourbon Festival president, here tonight. It's awesome to have you all here tonight. Thanks for coming guys.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having us.
Speaker 5:All right, I thought I was logging into the Amway Teams or Zoom call. Is this not for how to sell more Amway? No, not at all.
Speaker 4:Not at all, are you sure? Dipped in bourbon.
Speaker 1:I am absolutely positive, unless you're in some sort of craft distillery Ponzi scheme.
Speaker 4:Might be. This is amway into bourbon.
Speaker 3: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, but it looks very cool.
Speaker 1:I like that thank you, thanks, um, yeah, that was. That was above my. I think you motivated me to do that because you're always doing those projects and that's kind of like right above my. It was a little bit above my skill level, but I at one point I realized I wasn't going to get any help and if I was going to get done I had to do it.
Speaker 5:Honestly, English is above your skill level.
Speaker 1:Well, that's what. That's what we were talking about. Chat, gpt fixes all that.
Speaker 3:Well, I couldn't have. I couldn't have built my fence around the pool without tiny showing up on a sunday morning at lowe's and helping me haul all my lumber, the stuff that wouldn't fit in my station wagon. So, thank you, tiny, I that fence is dedicated to you. You left and it was 98 degrees that day and I about died of multiple heart attacks. I kept telling kate every 15 minutes look out the kitchen window just to make sure I'm not like laying dead in the grass. I had a constant flow of gatorade and water from the boys coming out, so they got everybody, got me through it.
Speaker 4:But that was a that was a hellacious day, oh I bet so, oh, but that was in the middle of the summer heat too and I swear every year I'm never going to do another demolition and heavy project.
Speaker 3:Last year I did the deck and this year I did the whole fence for the pool and the whole new deck, everything leading up to the pool. So hopefully now, knock on wood I won't have any more projects to do next summer.
Speaker 4:I always plan those right at the beginning of spring, right when the snow melts off, and all that. That's when you plan those projects.
Speaker 3:But I didn't make the decision to get a pool until Memorial Day weekend and then I had to fence it in because of all the legal and insurance, and two days after the pool was built the fence was not quite done but you could see I was in progress and someone came out saying they're from the insurance company with the camera on this one and update the files of our homeowners.
Speaker 4:I'm like great.
Speaker 3:Now they know the pool is there, it's all good.
Speaker 5:Those insurance people suck.
Speaker 4:Oh my gosh, exactly.
Speaker 3:I never trust one, especially executives.
Speaker 4:I know a couple of them.
Speaker 5:Well I'd say you can't trust one as far as you can throw them, but most of them are overweight, kind of have bad attitude.
Speaker 1:So you can only throw them a couple of feet, so so there is some trust there.
Speaker 4:My theory is, when you get to know them, take them out for a few, few, few bourbons and drinks and all and and treat them to a good dinner and then see where that gets you.
Speaker 3:And then they might end up on on camera. Here we're on your couch.
Speaker 5:Ouch.
Speaker 3:That's true. Cheers to that. Anyway, congratulations, Tiny, on your renovated set that you have there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Thank you, and the people on YouTube really have been liking the double screen right there, and so that worked out nice. There's a lot of stuff I worked through. I actually took a YouTube class right and in the class they were talking about how difficult it is to go live on Facebook and YouTube because there's no program that will let you stream both at the same time. That works well, and there's a lot. There's not a lot of people that do the live on Facebook and YouTube and I was like, well, I did it archaically, but I did figure it out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was going to say I've been watching you trying to do it for five years.
Speaker 1:Yes, you have figured out a lot of different things, that's for sure. But I think, as, as it's gone and it's gotten bigger uh, we've, you know, look at, look at nash's studio back there. I mean, man, that's, that's that we. I remember it. He didn't go live because he had to run his internet cable underneath his house, so he finally got that run through. So that was kind of cool. I mean, that's, that's a beautiful studio that he worked on too.
Speaker 4:So uh, I think I think for so long I was working out of my bedroom and you could see my bed and everything, my spare bedroom and office, and people were always commenting where are you podcasting from? And stuff like that. So it's coming, it's coming.
Speaker 1:My favorite podcast was when he would go into the closet in the bedroom and that's where all his bourbon was. He'd be digging around in there and his shorts were dry. Anyways, let's get this going, because there's a lot of information to cover this year. Information to cover this year because if you've been following us, you know that we cover the Kentucky Bourbon Festival thoroughly each year and then there's usually two podcasts on the lead up and then a podcast afterwards having El Presidente on. And every year, randy, you're fine tuning this and the way that you fine tune it. I mean, let's talk about first, for 2025. What is the biggest fine tune that you did? You know, what do you think? You know, because there's always surprises for us, because, as you send me a lot of times the plans and the layout and then you're I'm seeing it evolve as it goes through, because it changes throughout.
Speaker 3:But you know this year, what are the couple extra things that you've done that really, um, you feel you know you fine-tuned it well, yeah, one of the problems with an event that is four days a year is on day one I noticed things that we should have done differently, but you don't realize it until it's in action. So last year, you know the lines, you know Heaven Hill, maker's Mark, you know Bardstown Bourbon Company lines were going across seven or eight other distilleries and there was confusion. People were like am I in line for the right place, am I in line to buy a bottle or am I in line to sample? And you all know from day one, my vision for this festival was a really cool kind of a chill experience walk through a park, it's this beautiful setting. And I kind of looked out my office window and said, oh man, I screwed this thing up. I mean these lines because bottle sales have just become a reality in the last two years. So, as every distillery is figuring it out and selling bottles, the lines are inevitable and our fans are coming and the enthusiasts are coming in and buying bottles. 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.
Speaker 3:So what we decided to do last year is work with the bigger distilleries and say you got to help us now this year with a solution to make sure you're communicating what lines. And they were all very good. And so in the off season, right away, we started looking at, okay, the distilleries that are doing these big releases, that are creating these lines. God bless them everybody. But we got to figure out. So anyone who's been there before the St Joseph's Church parking lot, which has been really a parking lot it's been a food truck area Last year was marketplace vendors were trying to find the best use for it and trying to find the best home for everybody so they can all maximize their exposure and sales. So what we did is, every year I say we're not making any changes, and this year we did a major change, which is that a whole parking lot now is going to be home to the distilleries that were creating the line, so Heaven Hills out there. They were the first ones to volunteer. You know that they'd go out there, which was huge because, if you know, they've always been down there on the bottom of becoming the main gate here down the hill, and so for them to move almost voluntarily and that kind of took everyone else off the hook. So we've got heaven hill, we've got maker's mark and we've got the whole um bartis on bourbon company, green river footprint out there. Preservation is out there, um. So some of the bigger ones took that 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 get in line and buy bottles. So by putting some of these key distilleries right in front of the VIP gate, we took it a step further.
Speaker 3:At the end of the day, it's still an asphalt parking lot and it's early September, it's 85 degrees out and that means it's 110, 120 on that pavement, pavement. So we've retooled the entire space. So the great tent which is home to all of our premium education, we've expanded that. So all the classes that used to be upstairs on third floor they're all down on in that great tent. So now it's three suites, all air conditioned and enclosed. So that's the first thing. It's never all air conditioned and enclosed. So that's the first thing, it's never been air conditioned before. And so we've got 20 different sessions going on during the weekend there and staggering. But you know culinary focus with with the kitchen and chefs coming in and the cocktail piece, again all air conditioned. We've got the distilleries all loving their new home and we said we got to make it so it's comfortable.
Speaker 3:So we're putting almost wall-to-wall turf down, and when I say turf, I just ordered it last night. It looked this, this artificial turf it's. It looks like something you can mow. It looks like what you would see on a football or a baseball field. It's actually grass, but so all of the walking areas out there will be turf. So you think about like a pga event or you go to the derby, that kind of a vip feel. That's what we're doing out there and then in the middle is going to be a huge big sunscreen with cooling fans. So it's going to be shade and airflow that you can hang out under while you're figuring out which distillery you're wanting to go to or while you're in line.
Speaker 3:So that really is going to be the biggest change. If you go to the craft area, it's going to look and feel exactly the same, except for a couple little tweaks. The main lawn. What we're trying to do is get a uniform so everybody has the same size, tent and footprint. So as you're walking up and down the streets, everything lines up and you can see all the all the different uh distillery brands that are there. So I feel like this year we finally got it fine-tuned, where I think we probably can stay with this setup. Now, um, of course we won't know until we actually open the gates and get people through there, but, um, I feel like we finally got.
Speaker 3:And then the marketplace vendors that have been looking for a home. If you come up from the downtown area as you're approaching on Flagey, and then the food trucks are on 5th Street, flagey is where the marketplace vendors are. So it's a really cool tree-lined street. So the vendors, I think, will be happy. I think, as people are coming, going from the festival, I think they're going to enjoy having those 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 are a ticketed guest, it's going to be right there so you can kind of unlimited come and go and enjoy the whole vibe. So I'm pretty happy with the way it's come together. It's taken a lot of work and it's not cheap. So when you walk in, to get that parking lot transformed from a parking lot into a really cool destination has been a lot of work, but I'm excited to reveal it and watch reactions to people when they come in the gate.
Speaker 4:The gate, so the the cigar. One question is uh, like last year, a lot of the things that, uh, I was asked as I was walking around, talking with people too, was like, like the seats that you had around under the trees and stuff like that. Are you still going to have a lot of that there?
Speaker 4:because a lot of people were taking advantage of that to take a chance to rest their feet from standing in lines or standing, you know, at the distilleries and stuff like that great point and take, take a, take a water, break and and just rest their feet and relax just a little bit, you know, because it was so much to take in and and all and be standing a long period of time yeah, that's.
Speaker 3:That's a great point, nash. Um, so down down in the craft area, of course there's the big, that big tree that we always put the big wraparound couch sectional on. There's a couple of other places we're doing that and probably the biggest change down there is the, the bourbon bar that used to be up right by the main gate when you came in. We put that down in the craft area so when you come in there'll be a couple of distilleries, the main bar will be underneath that big tree and then the vip venue will be that whole big parking lot and the main, so then main stage will be in the same spot. So we tried to add it's a cool area that people want to be at, regardless you know it's a cool shaded area.
Speaker 3:That's where we put the chairs out in front of the main stage so people can hang out. The band same band will be back. They only play together once a year, um, so it's like a super group that we pull together and they, they practice, you know a little bit, and they go live our weekend and they kind of go back into their own little gigs on the side. So, but yeah, I mean the seating and the shade area. I mean this year though with I mean Angel Zebby's the feature distillery. When you walk in the main gate, angel's Envy has this structure that is only ever been used at NASCAR before, and actually Dale Earnhardt Jr, it's the structure that he commissioned for NASCAR races and it wasn't being used. So I snagged it and Angel's Envy is going to be in it. So it's a full glass enclosure with air conditioning and the whole thing. So that'll be cool.
Speaker 3:The double-decker is back. David Mandel Whiskey House is doing the double-decker. So on the first level will be your normal sampling and then the chalet is the second story and they're going to do some upgrade and VIP programming up there. Beam's footprint is double what it's been in the past, so everybody's finally getting it. I mean they're figuring out like the selling and how to, how to, you know, bring their brand into the festival, their marketing aspect correct.
Speaker 3:And I mean, again, it is really difficult to take a year-round gift shop. A bricks and mortar gift shop is easy. You got your cash registers and and all of your inventory and you're there every day. Now pull that model up and try to stick it out in the middle of a lawn and make it still work. So it's not an easy lift for these people but the sales are amazing.
Speaker 3:And you know we started saying you're going to be able to buy bottles here that you can't get anywhere else in the world and the single barrel program we started was really the thing that made that not a lie. You can only come to this festival and you're only going to buy the single barrels here. But now they're also doing other product releases and launches. So I mean it's kind of fun to see that You're not walking in and getting the same kind of stuff you can buy at your local bottle shop, bottle shop, um. And then obviously the the direct consumer option, that that is kind of rolling out quietly in the background is something new for us this year too.
Speaker 4:So can you? Can you give us a number on the number of kentucky bourbon festival barrel picks that they're going to be able to purchase this year?
Speaker 3:yeah, we did 34, and I think there were 29 or 30 individual distilleries, but there were a few that we decided to do two barrels with. So, you know, and Stacy, the whiskey godmother is the one that leads that charge and gets everything scheduled and puts together all of our selection panels and everything. But yeah, I mean, last year I think we ended up with 44 from 39 different distilleries and for for no reason, I mean we just decided that this year we were going to be a little bit more cautious with that. Some of the smaller craft distilleries, um, even though they had strong sales, they didn't quite have the, you know, the sales that they had hoped, so they ended up taking some bottles home. But then most of the mid level and upper level, I mean, they had to kind of ration their bottles so they wouldn't sell everything out on Friday.
Speaker 3:So, uh, but still 34,. I mean, when we started first year 2021, we had 11 and 10 of them were actual, and then the 11th was the maker's mark, the extra barrel that they donated to us to sell for kind of a charitable piece. So this whole program started with 10 bottles, 10 barrels, and then that's grown, it's doubled to 20. And then it doubled again to 40-something, and now we're kind of finding that groove.
Speaker 4:But it's fun, absolutely, and fun for the consumer and Paul, the ones that attend the festival. They're the ones that are coming home with the prizes.
Speaker 3:Well, and when we do the barrel selections, the conversation for every single one is is it on profile with that brand, but is it an outlier that people will get excited about? But we take into consideration when you're buying it. It's, it's hot out, so is this something that you're going to want, you know more of a refreshing, or are you buying something that's going to be, you know, enjoyed in december, january and um, so I mean, but every time we have these conversations, while we're making the selection, it's always with the end user in mind. Like is are we going to drink this? Neat, you know there's always who that's got a great nose, but you don't. You don't buy the nose, you're buying it to drink it.
Speaker 3:But nosing is part of the sensory experience. So, um, but yeah, when you come to this festival and you're buying one of our distillers row products and you know it's got the little, it's got the little tag on it, um, I don't know, the lighting is kind of goofy, but there you go, just like every year we every year we've got a yeah, that's last year's, this is this year's yep, but every year they're marked and some of them have fun little names that that we put on it.
Speaker 3:But every one of them is picked with the end consumer in mind, trying to find something that isn't so pedestrian that we want it to stand out and get people excited about it. So I feel like we've done another one and I think we're dangerously close to 100 total single barrels that we've done since we started in 2021. So I'm doing the math since we started in 2021.
Speaker 1:So I'm doing the math Well. Plus, you don't give a shout-out to the teams on each barrel pick that Stacey assembles. I mean, you're talking about people 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 are designed for this type of you know, they've been on a lot of picks. They know also what the whiskey consumer is looking for. And you know, initially, when you first started, you were always like you were on a couple, you were, I was on a couple of picks with you and you were kind of like, well, I'd like to defer to everybody else because you know they're, they're not the. You know I don't feel that I'm at that level, but I think you've been on enough picks. Now I think you're at that level that you do know what the consumer. You know you're looking for a variety and I I think it.
Speaker 1:You know there's how many festivals. I mean when you go to other festivals there's not 31, 34 barrels to choose from. I mean this is like on a level. That's, and how it's evolved that you know. At first you know the 10 picks, or through the festival like, and then it was through a direct um, you know another, you know through um justice house of bourbon, but now a lot of the picks are through those distilleries and that's something that how you've evolved the program so that you could get people. And another thing is, yes, there's 34 picks through the kentucky bourbon festival as a partner, but there are other barrels that are released that the distillers can release, that they pick specially for the festival.
Speaker 3:So those are out there too. And then, like evergreen you know, evergreen liquors is our partner and the bardstown location just two blocks away from the the festival they're doing a lot of things that are going to be released through their store. So, while you're in town, as if it's not enough to do everything that's cool on the festival grounds, you have retail partners like Evergreen, that's out there doing their own. And, like Angel's Envy, they're doing a release the week of the festival. But we knew, or we believed, that this would happen five years ago and we knew it takes some time.
Speaker 3:Yep, I mean, if you remember and you were at the 2019 festival pre-change it was a big deal to be able to go and have a cocktail. I mean, you couldn't do neat pours at the grounds, but some people did. You know we had 11 distilleries involved and now we're at 64 65 distilleries and sampling is expected. And now the sales the last couple years and we knew it a couple years ago half the distilleries would sell and we trusted that the other half would see that activity and figure out a way, by the next festival, to get in the game. And they've they've all done it.
Speaker 3:So everybody that's at the festival this year. I believe I could be wrong, but I believe every single one of them is going to be selling, uh, something, even if it's only one skew or two skews, um, but we expanded the the line that each distillery can bring. So your mid-size and your larger ones that you used before, now they're six, and and the large ones used to have six different bottle SKUs, now they're up to eight, and that's not counting if they did a barrel pick with us. We really want this to be the event of the year for them. I've been calling it kind of like the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, but this is for bourbon, so the deliveries are.
Speaker 3:you knowilleries are rebranding, they're rolling out. I mean, last year you had Lawrenceburg Bourbon come in and then the first day they became Larrikin and all that. So the branding and all that unveil is very cool to see. But yeah, I mean we're important to them because of that, because of the sales and the engagement, um, but it's reciprocal. You know, we couldn't put this festival and offer the unique, only place in the world you can get this experiences in bartstown without them stepping up and taking advantage of of what they can do legally. And when you talk about the evolution of the festival, I always say look, I mean I'm good at exploiting the law. The laws have changed to be more favorable for the distilleries and I, just as a team, we got together and figured out a way to make the most happen out of that, and so that's really what it comes down to is just taking advantage of the laws.
Speaker 4:And you and the team have done a great job of that over the past few years. Like I say, it shows in the festival and I tell you what everyone that you talk to that's went to the festival and that I've interviewed everyone that was there for a first time that I talked to. We're coming back if we can get tickets. That was the first thing.
Speaker 3:If we can get tickets. Well, and you know, five years ago 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 have to think about that. We put the fence and the gate up. Originally it was still going to be a free festival, but we had to have a way to control how many people were in the festival. I mean, you think about it, you went to Home Depot or whatever. They had a guy on the entry with a radio and when two people would leave they could let two more people in. It was 100 people per store. And that was the mentality that we're approaching the festival with is like we need to have the festival but we also need to be in compliance with all of the you know recommendations and guidelines. And and then we're like, okay, what, what if we charge $10,? You know, just, it's County fair ticket price 10 bucks. No one's going to complain about that, right? Well, we all know what happened.
Speaker 3:And now you fast forward five years. We have the best audience the bourbon enthusiasts. Every year, for the last three years, our stats have been the exact same 85% of the people that come to this festival are from outside of Kentucky, so from an economic development and bourbon tourism, which is economic development, I mean we're killing it. And then you know the people that are in Kentucky, even in Bardstown, that are coming to the festival. They're there because they enjoy bourbon, not because they want to drink beer and, you know, dance to, you know, to the main stage. I mean we have music but it's focused on the bourbon and the people who are making it and that really has been our key all along. So well, and thank you for always 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 small little group of people that put this thing on.
Speaker 3:And, again, the biggest frustration is when the festival ends. We've got 361 days to to live with our mistakes and try to make them better for the next time. But I think we really nailed it on a lot of levels this year. So it'll be a lot tighter, but we knew going into it would be a five-year transformation and this is year five, but next year, 35th anniversary. We just announced the dates.
Speaker 3:Um, but next year, 35th anniversary. We just announced the dates. Yeah, I've already started, like I stopped to put on 2025 and I'm already having conversations 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 they want to support us going forward. So it just never ends. I mean, the 2026 file already has a lot of stuff in it and uh, and things that we wanted to do this year, that we had to have a deadline and say, okay, that's a great idea, put it in the 26 file. You know, and you know we're already, you know we're, we're already announcing there you go next year yep, there it is now.
Speaker 3:We had a board meeting in July and we discussed, you know, and we've never been shy about it Bourbon and Beyond is a music festival in Louisville and it happens in September and we've always been very cautious to not end up on the same weekend, not because we compete for ticket holders, we compete for fence rentals and hotel rooms and golf carts and forklifts and all the things generators and everything tents that we need to put up.
Speaker 3:So we've been very careful to avoid them. And they come out with their dates for 10 years so we know what they're going to be, so we can make some pivots and come out early with promotions. September 10th, september 10th through the 13th uh, bourbon in the air is that thursday night. We're actually kind of adding, instead of a three-day festival with an opener, we're actually now going to treat that thursday night as a legitimate, like one of our program evenings and and kind of retool that a little bit to get it up to speed. But so for next year it'll be a four day or three and a half day. Let's call it uh festival, um, but yeah, we're excited about that already I just want to step back just one second to uh.
Speaker 4:You were talking about, uh, where that how many percentage of people come from out of kentucky to the festival? But also, uh, let's talk about international people. There's maybe what 5% to 7% of international people that come from overseas that are coming to this festival too. Right, because I've met and interviewed a lot of them over the last couple of years and you know, this is not just a United States festival now, this is actually an internationally watched event.
Speaker 3:Well, and it's growing but it's so small. But I mean we had Japan and we always have Canadian, australia, australia, new Zealand, yep. And the cool thing, last year we had one distillery partner that we put like a little chip on their bottle so when people bought the bottles they scanned the chip and logged in where they bought it and then where they ended. And now we've got a map with like the little push pin type thing where we can see where that one distillery's bottles went. Well, this year every one of our single barrels that have that little tag.
Speaker 3:Yeah they're embedded, embedded with an RFID. So all 34 distilleries, they're hang tags. When you buy it, you have an app that you scan and you log in that you bought this bottle. If you bought 10 bottles you own, you take possession of all those bottles and, let's say, nash one of those bottles you give to el presidente for christmas. You, you give it to me, I log it in that I have it.
Speaker 3:Now you can check track that history of that bottle, um. And or let's say, you're from australia and you came and bought these bottles. You log it. You bought them in bardstown. They are all now on your shelves in australia. We'll have the history of all of our single barrel bottles as they travel around the world and as they're given to a son on their wedding or an anniversary gift or retirement gift. As those bottles change hands and are given away, the new owner takes ownership of it and logs it in. And I think this is going to be a really cool experiment that we can watch the true, the international impact and even national, but I mean the true, the international impact, and even national, but I mean international, the history.
Speaker 1:That is so cool, I mean that's cool, but you'll also be able to track those empty bottles to the landfill.
Speaker 3:You'll know where they are. We hope they're recycling them and, like the Bourbon Festival, we have a glass recycler. They grind the glass and then they sell it and we actually have potentially one of the bottle manufacturers coming in as a late sponsor to do that. So we're actually hoping to track it all the way through, coming back up as a second-generation bottle. Second-generation.
Speaker 4:All right real quick.
Speaker 1:As far as you were mentioning, is it going to? It going to be a 26 thing or is it a 2025 thing? Will there be the ability to ship your bottles?
Speaker 3:You know. So legally you can't. You can't buy 10 bottles and say I don't want to try to figure out how to get them home and I'm just going to go to a pack and ship place and ship them to your house. You cannot do that figure out how to get them home and I'm just going to go to a pack and ship place and ship them to your house. You cannot do that right? So what we're doing, um, and it's kind of a loosey goosey third party partnership, a locally owned company called kentucky bourbon direct. They have reached out to all the distilleries and probably two-thirds of them have signed contracts independent of us. So if you come up to XYZ Distillery and you sample something and you want to buy a bottle to take with you, but you'd really like to buy a case of six and have it waiting for you when you get home, that's the service that they're going to be doing. It's all legal, it's all reciprocal.
Speaker 3:Which states? You know, pennsylvania, virginia, there's a few out there, I think, five or six you can't do that with, but it'll be very up front. But none of that transaction happens 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 a contract and they sell hundreds of bottles right after the festival. That distillery will ship those bottles to DC, to their warehouse, at which point they will bundle them and package them. And so long as it's legal and they won't let you buy, if you're in a state that doesn't allow that, you're not going to be able to take advantage of it even there. So you're not going to get the frustration of scanning a QR code and entering all your information and then and then finding out you know sad trombone You're not going to be able to get. So you'll know going into it and most people know, if you live in a state that you can't do that. But so it's not going to be the.
Speaker 3:Here's my bottles. I bought too many. I don't know how to get them home. Can you take care of them? That that not going to happen, but the ability to buy directly from the distilleries and have it come to your house. That's what we're doing with them, or we're allowing a company to come in and have that interaction. Technically, they're not a sponsor. There's no legal affiliation with us. It's just someone that we've opened up our venue for and they're beta testing it this year Perfect.
Speaker 1:I mean that's good for a lot of people, that'll be really good, especially I mean it'll be individual distilleries, separate things but still for somebody who lives in one of those other 50-some, 40-some states, that could alleviate how you'll be able to get a few more bottles that you weren't able to because you filled your car or your luggage weighs too much, and if you're not super-nash you probably can't convince them that if your bag weighs 150 pounds to let it go under 50.
Speaker 3: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're beta testing. I mean so, before people get really super crazy excited, I mean it's new, it's kind of we're all rolling this out together and but we're excited about it for the consumer and for the distillery. I mean that that really is what's going to be kind of cool Again, something you can't do anywhere else in the world, and we're rolling that out for the first time and hopefully it'll be a little bit more um, organized and, uh, you know, formal going forward.
Speaker 3:But this year we all agreed that, okay, here's, here's who's coming to the festival. You reach out to them independently of us. A lot of people, a lot of distilleries, have their own direct-to-consumer contracts already, so not everyone's going to do it. This is fully voluntary, but most of the small and the mid-sized distilleries are giving us a serious look. If you're one of the larger ones, I mean, you've already got some you know sales that you don't know what to do with. But we'll see. I've not seen the list of the distilleries that they're under contract with, so I'm curious to see how that's going to work out too. But again, all we're doing it for is so the distilleries can sell more bottles and so the consumer that is our customer can get more. And you know it's going to be geo-fenced. So at midnight on sunday, on closing day, if you haven't got your orders in, you're not going to be able to do it. So we're really trying to make sure it's something special for the bourbon festival and then, um, go from there okay.
Speaker 4:Well, president, I gotta throw this in here. There's's a couple of people that wanted me to tell you that you got people coming from Germany. They're commenting on Facebook here that mentioned there's people coming in from Germany.
Speaker 3: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 in germany I was born in stuttgart, germany, so at bad meinberg awesome. My volkswagens and audis were all made in stuttgart, so awesome uh uh, yeah, I was born born in stuttgart uh bad konstadt uh area.
Speaker 4:So well so come look us up?
Speaker 3: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 be hopefully highly photographed, like the old one was. That was just retired. But I do hope sincerely that when our foreign dignitaries come in and check out the festival, I'd really love to meet them.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and I want to give that a shout out to everybody that's watching and on. Or if you know somebody that's coming in internationally, when you come in the gate, to let us know where you're coming from and to let it be known you're coming from, and to let it be known so that we can welcome you to the festival.
Speaker 3:Well, and last year if you told me that I had 100 guesses of the country that was probably one of the hotter higher, you know raising bourbon destinations, I would never have guessed. But it was Kenya. So the Kentucky Department of Ag had a contingent from Kenya. That's one of the fastest growing. You know markets with the distributors and wholesalers and you know government intervention. I'm sure that somebody's getting paid there, but it was very cool to see that. You know, kenya was represented at the festival and they were there kind of as guests of the department of ag, an exchange situation. But but you're right, nash, we we don't take into account because most of the international we don't ship our like the wristband tickets out internationally. If you buy, if you buy tickets and you're not in the U S, you come to the, will call and then we handle you a little differently because the fulfillment, but we we oftentimes lose track of of that. So thank you for bringing that up.
Speaker 1:So, last but least, or at least you can do your one more but the the cigar lounge this year. It last year. You can do one more but the Cigar Lounge this year. Last year you had that. In that I really feel that the cigar experience was fantastic. I know it's going to be different this year, but talk about it, what it's going to be like this year. Where do you have it? What's going to be there, that type of thing.
Speaker 3:Cigars is an important part of the culture. It's like Churchill Downs or Keeneland it's. It's thoroughbred horses, it's cigars, it's bourbon, that's Kentucky. So I'm committed to continuing to try different things to to get it right. So last year the double decker I wanted to. We put the double decker in knowing that we were losing money on it for year one. But we wanted it to be kind of like a parade of homes. So this structure is available and of course now, with Whiskey House taking it cool, I checked that box. It's being used and it's going to be exploited and really used to the best.
Speaker 3:So the cigar lounge was on the second floor. It was a little quirky to try to manage that. So what we did this year was we have two large tents, different retailers, so evergreen liquors and cox's, the smoke shops will be in one and our partners with deployment cigars will be in the other, and then in the middle will be a large patio area with all the furniture, kind of of like what Nash was asking about earlier. So it's going to be an open air lounge so you can buy cigars from your choice of merchant and enjoy it under the cover or sit out in the open air patio, and so I mean, but it's all first floor, right there on the ground.
Speaker 3:It's actually very close to the footprint where the bourbon bar has been the last four years. Um, it's right there inside the main gate along fifth so, but it's in the shady area kind of like behind where beam was in that area. Um, so we're really happy with the way this is coming together, but we're always trying, you know, 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 do the best thing. So everybody has a spot that they can really enjoy and hang out with friends and enjoy the festival and people watching, which is always one of the best parts, especially at the end of the day.
Speaker 1:And Matt Nehal quickly asked when planning to attend next year. When is a good time to start planning Now? Book your hotel, attend next year.
Speaker 3:When is a good time to start planning? Now? We already announced dates. Yeah, we announced dates and you know the hotels. That's always the challenge. You know as difficult as it is sometimes to get tickets, it's even more challenging. You got your tickets. Now what do you do? Um, but yeah, I would say check hotels. Now we have a partnership with a number of downtown Louisville hotels too, and a shuttle Mint Julep is is kind of working with us right now to provide that shuttle service back and forth, and it's challenging.
Speaker 3:There's not a lot of ride share, uber Lyft options, and certainly not from Louisville to Barnstown, um. So we want to be responsible. All the distilleries talk about responsible service and so we're in tune with that also. But you know Elizabethtown, shelbyville, shepherdsville I mean there's other little areas that you can get. Barnstown is growing. It's adding more hotel rooms. I think five years ago when we started, it was under 900 rooms in their inventory. Now they're up over 1,000 and still growing. But, yes, get your rooms quickly.
Speaker 3:Tickets will be on sale again, probably mid-April. It'll be the same thing like right around April 15th tickets will go on sale. So if you haven't already done it, get on the insider email and look, I'll just own this. I mean there's 44,000 people on an email list and when we do the pre-sale I mean we only sell 6,000 tickets total and 800 VIP. So it's just the reality. You got 40,000 people that have signed up over the years and they all want to, you know.
Speaker 3:So the funnel isn't big enough to handle everybody and we're trying to figure that out. You know a more fair way to you know, manage the VIP and there's technical glitches and stuff that five minutes before we go on sale and the insiders were assured that by the vendor that it's good, and then stuff goes haywire and again we've got a whole nother year to live with those mistakes and and and that you know I twitch, that I develop and because we don't want that, I mean I don't get out of bed every morning to to create a system that's not going to work. We want it to work and work flawlessly. Um, so just everyone out there, you know if you had a problem this year, the technical glitches, we continue to work through it and look for, you know, the best partner possibly and um, but yeah, september 10th through the 13th is next year's date, so but a lot of hotels, locally at least already kind of block those out, so people just don't accidentally stumble upon that weekend and take up their tickets and I mean, uh, the rooms.
Speaker 4:So um not only that but also, uh, wait, homeowners, the airbnbs, because there's a lot of local homeowners around the uh bardstown area that offer airbnbs that you know for the kentucky bourbon festival. So, uh, give a shout out to them and, uh, you know, maybe you can pick up an airbnb. You know that a better suit your needs for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, so give a shout out to them and, you know, maybe you can pick up an Airbnb.
Speaker 5:You know that better suits your needs. Whiskey, did you have something to say? Yes, well, you know I do.
Speaker 3:I've kind of been saving them up, because it's hard to get a word in edgewise. See, I'm moderating.
Speaker 5:You are. So you know I'm a numbers guy. But you know I will say this to you, randy I got the email announcing next to our 2026 dates and 15 minutes after that email hit, I was on Airbnb and there was not a single Airbnb available anymore, other than a couple of sleeping rooms. And I don't know about you, but I'm not staying with a bunch of people I don't know.
Speaker 3:I'm all right in my tent, oh nice.
Speaker 5:Yeah, Um, I'm trying to be good because I got a joke for that, but um, no, no, no jokes, no jokes, no jokes. Um so, um, but you know I am a numbers guy so I'm kind of curious. Um, you know, I I have some of the numbers for this year. I mean, obviously tickets went on sale and I think the vips were sold out in under three minutes correct um and and general admission in three days yeah, general admission sold out in three days, which I know in.
Speaker 5:Historically there have been tickets for at least a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3:Months, I mean. We usually don't sell out until late July, early August.
Speaker 5:But to kind of give people that are watching this and have never been or are thinking about coming. I mean, do you get numbers from the distilleries? Do you know how many bottles were sold at the festival last year? Because I mean I can tell you two years ago there were a fair number of bottles sold. Last year it had to be I mean it almost had to be in the tens of thousands of bottles. I mean there was more than one bottle sold per person. It had to have been well, no, that they don't.
Speaker 3:They don't tell us and and the few that do, it's always been like on the very qt um. But we do know. Like we pull our attendees and we ask them. One of the questions is if you bought bottles, how much, how many did you buy? And there's the range like one to five, six to ten, whatever we. I think I counted 17 people that responded. Now that doesn't mean there's the range like one to five, six to 10, whatever we. I think I counted 17 people that responded. Now that doesn't mean there's a lot of people that didn't respond, but the people that responded 17 people bought, I think, 50 or more bottles.
Speaker 5:Well, one of those was one of those was clearly super nice but I mean, do the math.
Speaker 3:Even if it's a 50 or $60 bottle and you're buying 50 of them, I mean people are coming here, even if it's a 50 or $60 bottle and you're buying 50 of them. I mean people are coming here armed and ready to buy. No, but I mean there are a few of the distilleries I know kind of roughly. I can tell you that there are several of them that have said that the bourbon festival on the grounds they sell more bottles and the revenue is higher there than at their main gift shop. Back at the distillery I mean that's anecdotal but I mean, if you can think about it sold out distillery tours that whole weekend and every tour ends up conveniently dropping out right at the gift shop. Um, the, the burton that you know the bourbon festival is out selling their bricks and mortar gift shop during that weekend.
Speaker 3:That blows me away.
Speaker 4:I mean, you think about it, that's a testament to what you're doing for this festival right there.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you, but no, I mean it's a testament to the law changing that allows the distilleries to sell and I create an environment that they can set up, shop and sell.
Speaker 4:So get those laws changed is what is what I'm saying?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, but the vision, randy, that that you had and I've always said that you you've had and I've always I knew, I've always known what, what, what's, what it's grown into, is what, the direction where I knew that the distilleries would because I have a little bit of a marketing background that I knew they were going to figure this out. And there's going to be a time when there's just going to be releases that are just for the festival, I mean, the barrel picks, the single barrels but there'll be distilleries are going to just have a special Kentucky Bourbon Festival bottle that you can only get, similar to what happens at the Kentucky Derby, and then, if you're at the festival, this release will happen. And I've always seen that as you went down that road, that I knew that the bot and you're right 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 the festival that you talk about, that was like it was free. You went into a place you might have had that year. You could get a little sample of a mixed drink and you saw what they had and then they could sell some T-shirts and hats.
Speaker 1:But the festival. When someone tells you that it was always free, that's really not true because there were events. There was the VIP in what is now the Brandiamo. There was a VIP up there that cost money a lot. It cost a decent amount of money per day. Um, there was the gala. That wasn't. That stuff wasn't free. So the part of the festival of what you've done is you took the part where was kind of separate from the festival, where there was extra things you could buy for the festival. You just put it all in one one website, one thing, and made that part, you brought in the one and you mix the two together.
Speaker 3:So when and you're right, I mean the first year 2021 it's supposed to be 2020. That didn't happen but you're right.
Speaker 3:So all of all of those events that were all over town that you can drink at, the laws changed so it's like, okay, uh, flight to bourbon, four roses out at the airport. Uh, my, you know, they of bourbon, four Roses out at the airport. They had bourbon cigars and jazz, heaven Hill out at my old Kentucky home and the gala out at 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. So the great tent that first year started as an answer to all the distilleries who were not yet in a spot where they felt comfortable putting Fred and Freddie out, because COVID was still happening and and and they didn't want to spring for the to do the event out at the kitchen table and Heaven Hill didn't want to do something out there. So we, we did it.
Speaker 3:I wanted this dense, heavily programmed festival. Everything's happening here. And then the second year, we closed it at 6 o'clock at night and told the distilleries now you need to program the evenings, I'm closing at 6. Nothing good happens from 6 to midnight if you've already been there from noon. So we're going to let people go home, shower, clean up, grab some dinner, and now Barstown, bourbon Company and Heaven Hill and Beam and it's growing Chicken Cock is doing things. So that was my deal. We close at six, we breathe people in, give them a really cool experience during the afternoon and we let them go.
Speaker 3:I'm not trying to monopolize them. I want the community, I want the restaurants, the bars and those distilleries to do evening programming and and it's worked and um. But we needed to have that density. We needed to have that. No one's ever going to ask again 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 all this stuff, but mostly it's sampling. You're talking to people that are making it and it's the bottle sales piece now.
Speaker 4:You know and also you say that. But it's not only just the distilleries that are creating events after hours, but it's also too the restaurants and the bars downtown. They're staying open later at night and they're creating after hours events too for the ones that don't go to those special events at the distilleries, because those are also ticketed events that are going on, but also too those restaurants and bars and stuff downtown. They're staying open later now and they're realizing, hey, we've got this crowd here, they're here in the town, and so they're capitalizing on that too and bringing it in.
Speaker 3:You're right. And the first year there were people that were detractors to the new direction of the Bourbon Festival and I try as I might, I would explain to them that that old organization was on the brink of bankruptcy. Distilleries did not want that. They told the other group that is not what we need right now. We need what we've ended up building. We listened to them, but the you know, the the community, was against me at first, or against us, but then the business community got on and there's still some people that are locals that don't really care for the new direction. Never will. They probably never were really our target audience anyway. Um, but the business community, to your point, nash is taking the restaurant and I told him, I said this is our gift to you Staff up, stock up, clean your business business, roll the red carpet out. We're bringing people with a lot of money in and they want to spend it. That's all you do. You don't need to be a sponsor of the festival. We're doing this as a way of thanking you for being.
Speaker 3:You know, and and kate, we talk about double. 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 be so expensive that the locals can't afford yada, yada, yada. And she made a point like we have 51 weekends a year that Churchill downs and horse racing is accessible and should be for the locals. There's one weekend a year that we're the host. We're the host, we're the host community. Don't. Don't bemoan the fact that you can't afford to go to the Derby, because there's people from all over the country and the world that are coming in and laying down billions of dollars in this town. So I mean, I thought about that. She, you know she made a valid point.
Speaker 1:Although the Kentucky bourbon festival. I don't give a crap what you say, I don't care. If you're poor and you like bourbon, you can afford the general admission tickets. It's affordable. There's no place that they. If someone tells you it's not affordable, I go out to a restaurant and order three drinks. Restaurant and order three drinks and I can be like at senior drinks half of the festival daily. Of what you're charging I could just offer three. I know, I know.
Speaker 3:So the unaffordability is great and thank, thank you. I mean, if you take the 190 price tag and divide it by three days, I mean, and all the access to the sampling, and if you do the math you know whiskey's a numbers guy. That was what the first year, when we were 125 bucks, I said I used to do a four-hour beer festival. That was 125. We're doing a three-day whiskey festival for 125 dollars.
Speaker 3:You divide it down, but anyway distillery sampling barnstown is figuring out that maybe this festival isn't for every resident, but it's. It's an opportunity to roll out the red carpet. You know, spit, shine and really showcase your community to the world. And the business community gets it. The business people are now standing up, sticking up.
Speaker 3:For me, one of the first couple of years I was getting, you know, the slings and arrows. Now the business community is like, be quiet. That's like our biggest sales weekend of the year. You know, stay home if you don't like it, leave town if you 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 talking to the council members, the mayor's office, so when you see Flage, which is that main street, coming in, we offered the residents that live there to two complimentary tickets to the festival, just for the inconvenience and for playing along with us and letting us use, you know, expand out into that street.
Speaker 3:But I'm always, always trying to like listen to the people that are our neighbors. And you know the closing at six o'clock everybody in the neighborhood loves that because you don't have the people leaving at 11 o'clock at night trying to make it up to the, you know, the downtown bars before last call, all of the things that go with an all-day party. People are actually leaving in pretty good shape, you know, and they're going home they're being respectful of the neighborhood and um, but yeah, we always do everything. Everything we do is first, is it going to benefit the distilleries and second, is it going to fit within the kind of the fabric of the community to make sure that we're not going against what the community, the residents who live there, want.
Speaker 1: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:Last year we debuted the pen and this year it's a copper. It's actually made out of copper and it's the column the column still. So that's this year's pen for our vips and select friends. The flask, the flask force, nice. Stainless steel I got the gold one right here. I saw that jacob bromwell is our partner. Stainless steel, something new oris, the president's club, which is the ultra super vip. Only 24 in the world are members of the oris president's club, and this, this is the watch they get.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's really nice it's the 60th anniversary, so the font and everything is back to like 1964, 65 design Beautiful.
Speaker 1:And Randy Ford, who is our whiskey doctor on the podcast. Now he is one of those members we're proud of that and he just joined us.
Speaker 3:I saw him a couple weeks agoter jane, denny and jane invited us out to their distillery and we did a very, very cool, one-of-a-kind type of immersive barrel selection. Where we're, we're tasting the white 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, shout out, it was good to see you. But I mean it's the trail hotel, the new hotel in bardstown. It it includes three nights at the hotel, unlimited exclusive shuttles. If you happen to be staying at the trail and going to the festival. You can't get on this exclusive President's Club shop. You have to have the right wristband to get on and get to the festival. And it's just this really cool package. You get a guaranteed reserved locker upstairs Some of you have seen the third floor, the $175,000 renovation we did a couple years ago.
Speaker 3:You get a guaranteed table and chair for the entire weekend. You've got your private bartender, you've got catering it's going to be top level and you also still get all the benefits of the VIP access. But Oris I can't say enough about Oris. Their ad agency out of New York approached me a couple years ago just inquiring, and this has turned into now where the ad agency doesn't talk. I'm actually meeting with the president of Oris watches that you know to put together. He's going to be there in Bardstown.
Speaker 3:So the president's club members, we're going to do a joint president presentation of the watches up in the up in the Brindiamo penthouse. So just a testament to not only the quality of partners that we have but also the quality of vip guests that really see the value in doing something a little different. You know, and um it just it's very humbling to see, because I've been there, I've been where it was and now where we are and uh, we're, we're trying to really create a truly unique experience you can't get anywhere else in the world for everybody. If you're a sunday sampler, you can only come down for one day. You're going to get an experience that you're not going to get anywhere else. If you're all in on the president's club, forget about it. No one's going to touch the kind of package that we we put together this year and we're gonna.
Speaker 1:With having having him there, we are going to be podcasting with him one day on his little porch that his room comes with, and we're going to be promoting that President's Club and the experience throughout the podcast. So look out for those lives for those lives.
Speaker 4:That's what I was fixing to ask if Scotchy Bourbon Boys was going to be able to come up and cover that presentation. I don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't know if we get into the presentations. I know I can get myself at the room, not in three of you.
Speaker 3:You can plant a mic on Randy Thereandy and there you go there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're in it already. One of our guys is in it I'll get.
Speaker 4:I'll get him one of those hats that's got the camera on it too so this is our glenn karen uh decanter from a couple years ago.
Speaker 3:And everybody wants to know what's my favorite bourbon, and we do these kind of things. What are we drinking tonight? So this, this was my infinity decanter 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 there all the way down to hidden barn. There's peerless um, there's new loo. I put some pursuit in here, and so I've slowly been. When I come up to my little shelf and like, look for something unique, I like tonight I wanted to have something that's representative of all kentucky. So that that's what I'm cheers, tonight is my and it's a damn good infinity canter too well let's do a cheers and I'm gonna put
Speaker 1:some in my decanter rocks glass from 2023 and I'm doing this. Thank you, this was a wonderful pick from the buzzards roost I'm using my kentucky bourbon festival glass from I believe, 2023.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, that's 2019.
Speaker 2:That's old, that's pre-me that's the old logo.
Speaker 3:This is 21. This was my first year.
Speaker 1:And somewhere along the line. Jeffrey swears, I've got a scotchy bourbon, the order went in and no matter what one of those puts you into the, you're in our crystal decanter, not decanter.
Speaker 4:Our crystal Glencairn.
Speaker 1:So I will have that before there.
Speaker 4:The order's in Kentucky, bourbon basketball pick from last year 1792. Well, carl, are you awake?
Speaker 5:Whiskey, yes I am, I have mine. You can't really see it. It's got you bourbon boy crystal.
Speaker 3:Glencairn, that's the one I'm supposed to have, that tiny cyst I have.
Speaker 1:I would have thought that was the first person that got it and I don't know how it got through. But I'm fixing that. I'll trade you a pen Well, a pen, but I never got a Kentucky Bourbon Festival Crystal Glen. You seriously have never. No.
Speaker 3:You've been a.
Speaker 1:VIP. How does that happen? Not the Crystal Glen one?
Speaker 4:All right.
Speaker 1:Well, I've got you on that. I know You've always got me, el Presidente, I mean, whoever thought I'm just going to this is last year's. A guy from grew up in Wisconsin were down home people. But you know what you've done with this festival. You've turned it into an international national festival that's unlike any. I mean, it's right up there, in my opinion, with the Kentucky Derby, because you don't have a live action sporting event. You've got brands of bourbon that you share with the world, and the way that you've done this and you've evolved it in these few, five short years, uh, it's just amazing. And uh, the experience is unlike any other when, when you walk away from this, you never feel like you didn't get what, you didn't get enough. You walk away satisfied. You might want something or whatever, but what you walk out with you can't be unhappy with. It's just always been a fan and and that's all you, randy, you've made no, no, no.
Speaker 1:Your team, you and your team you and your team, you and your team you and your team.
Speaker 3:No, it is us, it is the four of us, it's the team, the team.
Speaker 1:I meant you, and your team.
Speaker 3:It's the people that come to this thing. I can put out a business plan that looks good on paper that never takes root, so no.
Speaker 1: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 Paul Horning and everybody, but those people wouldn't be together if it wasn't for you. You've worked hard to find this team. I'll take. I'll take that. Yes, and they do.
Speaker 3:And also we've also worked really hard with the distilleries and made them feel special. And one of our big distilleries said Randy, every other event we do, we're told what we can and can't do and we just figure it out. We're not happy, but we figure it out and we actually spend time asking them like what would you do differently, what can we do to help? And a lot of very few festivals and events ask that question. So thank you.
Speaker 5:So I got to ask what was the look on your face when somebody said they wanted to blow up a 30 foot?
Speaker 3:kangaroo. Well, I didn't know about it until it was already up. I walked, I walked out and and and Jeffrey's voice, I think I said what the shit? Um, no, but we also said that that that's not not, that that's not copacetic, that doesn't happen this year. It happened and it got kind of grandfathered in. It was fun and I and I love the fact that the distillery chose the bourbon festival to kind of, because they their little shingle sign hanging on their tent started off as lawrenceburg and then we took it down and like change it to larrikin and then the kangaroo popped up. But yeah, um, so short of that, the the big inflatable blow-up things just kind of give me like ptsd, because in the old festival there used to be a big budweiser can.
Speaker 1:That was oh, there was a. There was big jim beam bottles too. I remember taking pictures with Jim Beam and Knob Creek together blown up.
Speaker 3:We're a different kind of festival now. No, I mean we really do. We want the distilleries to focus on the liquid they're sampling and the engagement piece.
Speaker 1:Has anybody ever suggested a bourbon dunk tank piece? But has anybody ever suggested a?
Speaker 5:bourbon dunk tank tank? No, because somebody always pees in the pool that first year we could already.
Speaker 3:I could have made a mint, five bucks, three balls and sink me. They would have been throwing at me and not the target a lot of money.
Speaker 1:No, you know, a hundred thou you would have had an extra hundred thou with that.
Speaker 3:But next year being the 35th anniversary, there's something I'd like to kind of do for the community and like a little tongue-in-cheek, but yeah and fun, something that kind of embraces the, the old festival and how we've evolved. So I I'll make sure that when that happens if it happens happens I'll I'll announce it here.
Speaker 1:Well, if you embrace that, what you could do is, instead of the, the, the giant kangaroo, have one like the largest blow up of a bourbon bottle ever.
Speaker 3:I mean I'll pass on that one for 14,.
Speaker 1:You know, just kind of like the double decker tent, just make it like you know 14 stories tall. You can see it from space.
Speaker 3:Great wall of bourbon.
Speaker 1: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 song done by AI, so let's just start wwwscotchiebourbonboyscom for all things Scotchie Bourbon Boys Glen Cairns T-shirts. Contact me for that information or order it right off the website. Make sure you follow us on Facebook, instagram, youtube and apple iheart and spotify, but whether you listen to us or you watch us, make sure you like, listen, comment, subscribe and leave good feedback. Feedback. Uh, remember, good bourbon equals good times and good friends. Thank, thank you guys. Remember to drink responsibly. Don't drink and drive. Drink and drive.
Speaker 4:And live your life uncut and unfiltered.
Speaker 1:And let's try this one today. Here we go, and I'm going to go get in the pool All right, all right.
Speaker 2:You work hard to get done. Three days of work in one. We'll be right back. Tuesdays and Thursdays Tiny rocks in Nash, whiskey and CT. We'll be talking bourbon, scotch Whiskey, heads, hearts and veins, whether you like it, neat Mixed around the rocks. We always are on the lookout For the next Whiskey bar With whiskey guests from within. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1:All right, there we go.
