The Southern Agenda
FESTIVAL
The Age of Bourbon
BARDSTOWN, KENTUCKY
When your event has trademarked the slogan BOURBON CAPITAL OF THE WORLD, you’ve set a high bar for yourself, so to speak,andsothethirtiethannualKentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown (September 16–19) aims to make a splash. “A complete restructuring, top down,” Randy Prasse, the festival’s president, calls this year’s celebration. “I like to say it’s a first-year festival with a thirty-year history.” Longtime whiskey enthusiasts and novices alike can roam the two-block-long open-air festival grounds, Glencairn tasting glass in hand, to sip and swirl America’s native spirit and mix with master distillers and industry legends. All weekend, more than thirty distilleries will be pouring samples or cocktails, from heavy-hitter heritage brands such as Maker’s Mark and Buffalo Trace and up-and-coming craft distillers such as Pinhook, Penelope, and New Riff. Hardcore hobbyists can geek out with classes on blending and fermentation; food lovers can dig in with bourbon pairings; and collectors and the curious can take in a Saturday auction of rare and vintage bottles. Even teetotalers will savor the “world championship” bourbon-barrel relay races, in which warehouse workers roll full fifty-three-gallon barrels along an outdoor track complete with miniature ricks. “Heaven Hill’s team built their own practice track at the distillery,” Prasse says. “They practice all year round. It’s serious business.” kybourbonfestival.com
COCKTAIL
Alabama
TOUCHDOWN PASS›AROUND
Crimson Tide fans have been throwing back Alabama Slammers since the 1970s, when the drink—these days usually a mix of Southern Comfort, sloe gin, amaretto, and orange, lemon, or
