August 30-31, 2014, the Kentucky Bluegrass and Bourbon Experience will happen once again at the Louisville Water Tower. The event has been re-branded several times, and this is the first year under this new name. I went last year when it was called the Bluegrass and Burgoo Festival, and the emphasis was still more on bourbon than it was burgoo.
This is a great festival full of wonderful native Bluegrass music set to the backdrop of the Ohio River. There’s a bourbon tasting tent and plenty of room to set up a chair and listen to the music. Admission for kids under 10 is free, and last year they had inflatables and other kid activities.
Some of my favorite Bluegrass bands are playing this year, including Relic, Blind Corn Liquor Pickers, and The Whiskey Bent Valley Boys. If you’ve never given Bluegrass music a try, this is a great place to start. The lineup is full of top-notch unique acts, and if you get tired of the music you can hang out in the bourbon tasting tent for a fee, tasting some of the many bourbons Kentucky has to offer.
Kentucky has an abundance of both Bluegrass bands and bourbon, so it makes sense to put them together in festival form. It is a nod to the intersection of our cultural heritage- neither bourbon nor Bluegrass would exist in their present form without the other.
For more information about this festival, visit their website here. It is not yet fully updated, but it is sure to be a great time along the banks of the mighty Ohio River.
Photos Courtesy of Bluegrass and Bourbon Experience and The Whiskey Bent Valley Boys
