Latest / The Scotchy Bourbon Boys / Bourbon Bonanza: Inside the 2024 Kentucky Bourbon Festival with VIP Access and president Randy Prasse Tickets on Sale Soon

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Bourbon Bonanza: Inside the 2024 Kentucky Bourbon Festival with VIP Access and president Randy Prasse Tickets on Sale Soon · The Scotchy Bourbon Boys

• 0:58
  Speaker 1: What's up?
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Scotchy Bourbon Boys fans, this is Alan Bishop of.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: If you have Ghosts, you have Everything.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: You may know me better as Indiana's Alchemist of the Black Forest, but if you're at all interested in the Fortean high strangeness, the paranormal and the unexplained, then you should tune into my new podcast.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: If you have Ghosts, you have Everything available now, wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, google Podcasts and Amazon, we'll be right back, man.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: What's awesome?
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: She's a couple tearing the truth.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're the Scotchy Burden Boys Raising some hell and making some noise.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're the Scotchy Burden Boys.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: We're here to have fun and we hope you enjoy.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: We're here to have fun.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll have fun.
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, welcome back to this awesome episode of the Scotchy Bourbon Boys.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: We have a full house here tonight.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: It's awesome and, in contrast to last year, we've got the president of Kentucky Bourbon Festival here to tell us about the 2024 festival, super excited about all the changes.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: But if you remember last year, randy, that it was just me and you, but after that 2023 festival that we were all at, look at this, you're surrounded by friends and we've got CT.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: What's up everybody?
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: We've got Super.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: Dash.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: Yes, in the house We've got Whiskey, okay, and we've got Barrelhead, our main news edition, and myself, tiny, just make sure wwwscotchiebourbonboyscom for everything scotchy bourbon boys and check us out everywhere.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: And it's been pretty good lately.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: So, uh, we want to get right into it.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: We don't got a lot of time.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: Uh, hopefully nobody gets stormed out because the storms have been going across everywhere ohio and south carolina just like we're all expecting.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: Randy, you've already had a close call already, but it's good that you've got your power and all that.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: You're persevering.
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: Right, it got nasty.
• 4:17
  Speaker 6: My old neighborhood that I lived in before I moved here, 20 houses with the roofs taken off.
• 4:24
  Speaker 6: So we got very lucky.
• 4:25
  Speaker 6: Semis flipped over right on 71, right a mile away from our house there's two semis tipped over in the tornadoes.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: Now, that was earlier.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: Right now it's okay, though.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: Right, you're pretty good so far.
• 4:42
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and my trampoline that I was trying to get rid of is still sitting in the backyard.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: You just made sure you put it up.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: So the festival.
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: Let's get right into this year's festival and what's coming up right now, the reason why we wanted to get you on and we get you on at this time pretty much every year it's pretty exciting what's coming up.
• 5:07
  Speaker 6: You're covering your face, Tiny.
• 5:10
  Speaker 7: Sorry.
• 5:12
  Speaker 6: We asked them to do that.
• 5:13
  Speaker 6: We want to see that smiling mug.
• 5:15
  Speaker 6: I mean we are super stoked.
• 5:19
  Speaker 6: I mean we've been killing it.
• 5:20
  Speaker 6: We're moving up our ticket sales three weeks earlier than we were last year, which was about two weeks earlier than the year before.
• 5:29
  Speaker 6: And so April 17th two weeks from tomorrow, our tickets go on sale to the public.
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: But everybody's here it's on this call and most people watching are bourbon insiders, so they've already subscribed to the E Newsletter and they know that two weeks from today they will be able to buy their VIP tickets and their general admission tickets before they go on sale to the public.
• 5:55
  Speaker 6: So last year, if you know, our VIP sold out in four minutes and we're anticipating the same thing.
• 6:02
  Speaker 6: So if you are in the Insiders group, pay attention, don't fall asleep to the switch.
• 6:07
  Speaker 6: It will be a very similar process to last year, but a little extended shopping cart so you can put your stuff in your shopping cart, go back in and do your add-ons and still have time to check out.
• 6:19
  Speaker 6: So we're hoping everybody gets their chance.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: I mean it was on the level of, like Rolling Stones tickets.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: You know it's kind of like what you.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: Basically it's very difficult to get two VIP tickets.
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: You know that was that.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: But you got to like be creative and everything like that.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: But then Randy.
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: have you ever been around, Jeff, when he's stressed out and something's not working the way he wants it to work Every time?
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: Oh, my dear God.
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: Well, be on a fun wave of hope with him while you're trying to get VIP tickets.
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that was one crazy evening.
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: Vip tickets.
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that was one crazy evening last year when they went on sale.
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: Oh I know I was getting sexy.
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: Take that back.
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: That was one crazy morning, because we were all in the morning when they all went on sale.
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: Yeah, hey Ross, what's going on?
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: So, randy, can you tell us how many different levels of tickets that are going on sale this year?
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: Well, it's different categories.
• 7:31
  Speaker 6: So a few of you, including a couple of people on this call, were with us pre-change, the new Bourbon Festival, and then the first year when VIP was upstairs in Spalding Hall, and then obviously the last couple years, including this year, we've moved out into the big parking lot and each year the venue gets bigger and it gets better.
• 7:54
  Speaker 6: But we used to just have two VIPs, so it was VIP, and then the Flask Force with our partner, jacob Bromwell, and so everybody would get that level.
• 8:04
  Speaker 6: We'd get a complimentary built-in kind of a custom flask.
• 8:07
  Speaker 6: So this year now we've got four levels.
• 8:10
  Speaker 6: We've got the Decanter Club, limited to 50, and they get a crystal decanter from Glencairn and they not only get the VIP experience but they also get included tickets to all five of our distillery showcase events.
• 8:25
  Speaker 6: Thank you, tiny Yep.
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: So during the weekend there are two Friday, two Saturday and one Sunday special events with only 150 people in it, and so the DeKender Club automatically gets tickets to each one of those.
• 8:38
  Speaker 6: So you'll have Bars on Bourbon Company, you'll have Beam, you'll have Angel's Envy, rabbit Hole beam, you'll have, uh, angel zendik, rabbit hole, heaven hill and then mictors.
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: So it'll be a pretty fun lineup of elevated experiences and then there are two flask force levels.
• 8:54
  Speaker 6: So last the last couple years has been one flash force level.
• 8:58
  Speaker 6: This year we're elevating it again.
• 9:00
  Speaker 6: Jacob brownwell, our partner.
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: There is going to be 50 class force gold, which each one of those people get a 24 karat gold plated flask, as well as the other vip accoutrement and the regular if I dare say regular uh class force partners will get a red, white and blue flask to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Congress declaring bourbon America's native spirit.
• 9:29
  Speaker 6: So they do a specialized like a patina that is chemically accelerated so it'll look like it's been sitting there for 50, 100, 150 years, but they do it chemically.
• 9:41
  Speaker 6: So you get this very cool patina to your copper flask.
• 9:45
  Speaker 6: So there will be 100 of those available, with a limited to just the KBF.
• 10:36
  Speaker 6: And then obviously the Enthusiast, which is our entry-level VIP, which is so amazing because you get all of the venue, the air-conditioned the four bars, the catering, one-hour early entry for all of our VIPs, so it will be very cool.
• 10:55
  Speaker 6: So those will probably sell out in five minutes.
• 10:58
  Speaker 6: This year, fingers crossed, we wanted more and more of those, but we also want to protect the experience.
• 11:06
  Speaker 6: So I've always kind of said 10 to 12 percent of our overall ticket offering will be those vips, because if everybody's a vip, then nobody is a vip, so that's kind of what we're doing, yeah that's.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: That's so what I but.
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: But what so?
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: Then?
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: Those vips go on sale with the experiences, but also the also the three-day tickets are going on sale too, at the same time.
• 11:34
  Speaker 6: Yeah, all of the tickets will go on sale and there is an early bird discount for those insiders.
• 11:40
  Speaker 6: If you're just looking to get in for the three days, you don't need the VIP experience, you just want to be there.
• 11:45
  Speaker 6: We'll have 55, 56 distilleries, close to 200 different brands, expressions to sample and we'll get back to this later but to buy.
• 11:57
  Speaker 6: So this year is going to be amazing because in Kentucky at the Bourbon Festival, you can not only sample from the distilleries but you can buy bottles directly from the distillery.
• 12:07
  Speaker 6: So that'll be huge.
• 12:09
  Speaker 6: But just for the three-day GA.
• 12:12
  Speaker 6: You get in at noon.
• 12:13
  Speaker 6: It's a six-hour day on Friday and Saturday and a four-hour day on Sunday and you can do various upgrades and get your premium education.
• 12:21
  Speaker 6: But if you just come in at the three-day level, you'll have all of those distilleries.
• 12:26
  Speaker 6: You'll have two different cigar smoking areas if that's what you're into.
• 12:28
  Speaker 6: You'll have all of those distilleries.
• 12:28
  Speaker 6: You'll have two different cigar smoking areas, if that's what you're into.
• 12:29
  Speaker 6: You'll have 15 food trucks uh, from louisville food truck association, an expanded marketplace, uh, it'll.
• 12:37
  Speaker 6: And then music there'll probably be four, four different stages with different bands and and solo artists playing during the weekend.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: So it'll be very cool so those tickets, the three-day passes, which I think are, are fantastic.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: Uh, if, if you can't get a vip and you get the three deep, the three-day pass, it's not like you're missing.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: The vip experience is something special, but so is the three-day passes, and if you're into whiskey, there's more than enough stuff to do in those three days.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: It's almost impossible to do it all.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: You almost have to plan on coming back and and taking notes to who, what you tasted and where you were able to.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: You know, really pay attention.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: But it seems like every year, uh, there's somebody you can't just do it all.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's just so much.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: But with those three-day passes, where in the past we kind of usually for the sellout, got into a little, you know you had some time.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: But what I'm noticing, uh, in the industry, and especially since you've evolved this festival to where it's at, I really feel that there's going to be it's not going to be the normal.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: You could take your time, you need to get those, you need to get your tickets pretty much right away is what I'm saying, because from everything that I've been seeing in the industry, maybe you know, when you're talking about this festival, it really has with the amount of those three-day passes and the amount of bourbon you have access to where.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: Last year I think we were still in the, you know, we were still in the dating stage, the engagement.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: But this year we're married and it's a honeymoon and people know what's out there and it's.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: I'm looking forward to what the distilleries are going to be selling because, you know, I really feel heaven hill had a grasp but there's a lot of distilleries that didn't quite have the grasp on it.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: I know beam did really well, but you could.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: You know they can do special bottles just for the festival.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: I mean, there's so much they can do.
• 14:53
  Speaker 6: And just on that point alone, last year for those who haven't been to the festival the state of Kentucky, the Commonwealth, legalized things a year and a half ago, almost two years ago, and last year was really the first year that a couple of the big distilleries kind of got it.
• 15:13
  Speaker 6: A couple of the craft folks did, um, but this year the ones that didn't sell saw, the ones that were selling last year saw the potential, saw some of the special brands that they're bringing out.
• 15:25
  Speaker 6: So all, all of those that you mentioned Beam and Heaven Hill and so forth they will continue to bring out, probably not the mainstream kind of stuff but some special things, thank you.
• 15:37
  Speaker 6: And all the ones that weren't involved last year saw the potential.
• 15:41
  Speaker 6: So literally since that weekend last year, stacey and I have been talking with the distilleries encouraging them to up, and there's probably that I know of six or eight that are releasing first new products at the Bourbon Festival.
• 15:59
  Speaker 6: So they're using the Bourbon Festival for new product launches and then it'll go and absolutely, and right there and Greg's watching, I I'm assuming that was the first single barrel pick that that chicken cock did, back to 1855 in their history.
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: The bourbon festival, that also happens to be the one that I'm I saw you open it up and pour it, yeah, at the beginning of the show but so the single barrels alone, I mean in.
• 16:26
  Speaker 6: In the first year that we did it, in, 2021, there were 12.
• 16:29
  Speaker 6: And the next year there was 20.
• 16:32
  Speaker 6: Last year there was right around that, 18 or 20.
• 16:34
  Speaker 6: This year, 2024, we will be close to, if not over, 30 different single barrel chips with these distillers man, five distilleries and at least 30 of them, and Stacy's probably yelling at home no, there's 34 or there's 38, whatever.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: Well, yes, but she's also very happy that you're underplaying how many there are.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: The cool thing is the distilleries.
• 17:03
  Speaker 6: Because of the law, we can go and you all are joining us on a pick.
• 17:08
  Speaker 6: We can go on and pick something for the bourbon festival.
• 17:12
  Speaker 6: It'll have its own little tag, you know, like a little neck thing you know, on the bottle.
• 17:19
  Speaker 6: So it'll talk about the bourbon festival and you can buy it and take it home and they're only going to be available during that weekend, and some of these are selling out on the Friday and.
• 17:29
  Speaker 6: Saturday, you know, before we get into the Saturday and Sunday.
• 17:32
  Speaker 6: But the fact that these distilleries can all sell and they're putting the KBF, you know, tagging on there and they're allowing us the honor of coming into their distilleries and selecting something and then they're going to sell it on our behalf.
• 17:48
  Speaker 6: So it really is a cool and that's probably the most significant growth that we've seen in this festival since I came in in January of 2020 is the distilleries are getting involved, engaging with us on the single barrels.
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: They're now doing things this year.
• 18:05
  Speaker 6: We're challenging each of them to do more interactive kind of things games and lounge areas that hold the guests and give them a place to hang out during the weekend, and we're doing a contest for the best distillery activation.
• 18:23
  Speaker 6: So it's more about everybody's competing now and upping it, and they see their neighbors last year doing something really cool and gosh, I wish I would have done that.
• 18:31
  Speaker 6: And so we've been working with them over the last year to get them to step up and not just have great spirits to sample and buy, but also up their game when it comes to the presentation of the brand and also the engaging piece of it.
• 18:45
  Speaker 6: If you have 7,000 people on three days and all the distilleries are just doing the sampling.
• 18:52
  Speaker 6: You still have to provide areas for them to sit and hang out.
• 18:55
  Speaker 6: But now, if all of a sudden those 55 distilleries are sampling, selling and expanding their footprint and kind of giving that experience, now every one of them is a hangout place.
• 19:05
  Speaker 6: The light bulb kind of collectively went off last year and we've been working with them literally every time.
• 19:12
  Speaker 6: We talk to them about how can you step up your game and engage people and represent your brand, rather than just being a trade show where you're sampling and hopefully selling but also giving people that experience.
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah, last year the addition of the cigar lounge.
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: I thought kind of brought that to the to the forefront because people would get a drink and they'd come to the cigar lounge sit down.
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: They had a nice area to sit and enjoy a cigar and that I thought, made that whole transition, like you're talking about, so much better yeah, and we've been trying ct.
• 19:46
  Speaker 6: You know that we've been trying.
• 19:48
  Speaker 6: A couple years ago we had a cigar lounge planned and it just it went flat, it didn't, it didn't get rude and take off.
• 19:55
  Speaker 6: Last year was the first year that we got potential and this year, probably the biggest single thing that you're going to be able to see when you approach the festival and when you walk in those gates is we're elevating that again.
• 20:08
  Speaker 6: Literally we're running out of space to go out, so we're going vertical.
• 20:11
  Speaker 6: We're building the first ever double deck structure.
• 20:14
  Speaker 6: So the first floor will be the festival shop where you can buy all your merch, and then second floor, the entire upper level, is going to be cigar lounge.
• 20:23
  Speaker 6: So you're up there and people find sometimes not everyone's a cigar fan.
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: So if you're up here, the smoke's blowing away and we have little suites.
• 20:34
  Speaker 6: So if you and five of your friends want to get together and rent a cigar lounge, you can actually have your own little suite in the lounge for six people on the railing.
• 20:44
  Speaker 6: So you're up on the double-decker looking out over the people.
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: It's kind of like a little nod to my Churchill Downill downs experience, where you can have the best seat right on top of the track but everybody's on the railing watching, you know, watching the infield, watching the people.
• 20:57
  Speaker 6: So, so, how, how are you gonna?
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: how are you gonna reserve those, those suites, do you like?
• 21:02
  Speaker 6: gotta get there like right away in the morning and put you outside working we're doing online reservations, like the same with our box office, so you can buy your tickets in a couple weeks and then you can go back in and reserve your your suite.
• 21:17
  Speaker 6: So it'll be 75 per person for the hour and that's what the cigar smokers that are like giving us feedback are saying.
• 21:26
  Speaker 6: You know, that's that's the time it takes for a couple friends to get together and enjoy a cigar and a cocktail, and we're partnering with Angel's Envy and maybe another one or two distilleries, so when you arrive, you'll walk in and you'll have a cocktail ready for you.
• 21:41
  Speaker 6: You'll have this really cool lounge furniture not outdoor patio furniture, but actually like leather furniture and a table where you can sit there and kind of make it your own little space.
• 21:52
  Speaker 6: We're partnering with Clayton and Kroom, which is a leather company based here in Louisville and they do premium leather goods, and so we're working with them on a couple of premium that when you rent that suite for that hour, you get a couple of those little add-on takeaways as well as the cocktail, as well as that kind of exclusive experience that not everyone's going to get.
• 22:13
  Speaker 6: I mean six people, three, 18, well, I mean probably fewer than 200 people out of that, 7,000 will get that opportunity to be in one of those suites and enjoy the festival from that perspective, hey, CT, CT, you're in charge of booking that for us.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I hear you.
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: Hey, I know a guy that probably will get it handled for us and his name's Steven, so I'm going to give him a book.
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we'll go up there with Steven.
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: Fonten, that's a good one to do it.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: So, nash, you have questions?
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: That's awesome.
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: The cigar lounge sounds fantastic, randy good, that's just a new one.
• 22:54
  Speaker 6: We're outside of evergreen liquors.
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: We're having a tent where people can sample and buy bottles, and outside of that it's gonna be a ground level like a patio fence stop where people can also sit and hang out and smoke their cigars, and that'll be obviously that's included in the price.
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: So I don't want I don't want to communicate that the only way you're going to have this experience is if you rent it.
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: There are just other opportunities to be in there.
• 23:16
  Speaker 6: So I wanted to clarify that.
• 23:17
  Speaker 6: But go ahead, nash.
• 23:18
  Speaker 6: Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off?
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we do have a couple people asking on the 17th.
• 23:29
  Speaker 6: Exactly what time do the tickets go on sale online?
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: It'll be noon on the 17th and if you're signed up through our new website, kybourbonfestivalcom, you sign up.
• 23:37
  Speaker 6: And then at that same point.
• 23:38
  Speaker 6: You'll get instructions ahead of time.
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: But noon on the 16th, which is the insider, the private presale will also happen.
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: So do you have to re-sign up at the new website or does the old?
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: Okay, that's what I thought, so that clears that up.
• 23:55
  Speaker 6: But I mean, we've had some technical issues in the last week or so and I hate to say it, but part of launching the new website and doing all the GoDaddy and.
• 24:03
  Speaker 6: Microsoft and things.
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: I mean, if you are in question, you know whether you are signed up.
• 24:08
  Speaker 6: It wouldn't hurt to take the five seconds.
• 24:10
  Speaker 6: I just did it myself today.
• 24:11
  Speaker 6: I went in and I signed up and I got the message saying you're already an insider.
• 24:16
  Speaker 6: So I mean, just to be safe, we believe that the whole database transferred.
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: But if you're sitting there and going gosh, I really want to get in on the 16th go to kybourbonfestivalcom, go in and sign up.
• 24:29
  Speaker 6: It takes five seconds to do it and you'll get that little error message that says oops, you're already in there, so just double-check.
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that was another one of the comments that I was going to ask about, because they had asked earlier.
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: They were the ones that asked what time, but they also said that we were bourbon insiders, so did we have to sign up again, and so that was good information.
• 24:51
  Speaker 5: So they know now to just double-check and if you are, you are, and it'll tell you and we'll go from there.
• 24:59
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and look, I mean we have the last count earlier last week.
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: We're at 30,000, give or take insiders.
• 25:08
  Speaker 6: We're in 30,000 give or take insiders.
• 25:10
  Speaker 6: So we're selling 800 VIP tickets and probably 5,500 to 6,000 GA tickets.
• 25:20
  Speaker 6: So if you are interested and the presale for the GAs, it's a $5 price.
• 25:24
  Speaker 6: Basically you get to buy the three day ticket or what last year's pricing was before the, and it was one 75.
• 25:27
  Speaker 6: If you miss that, it goes to buy the three-day ticket for what last year's pricing was, and it was $175.
• 25:31
  Speaker 6: If you missed, that it goes to $180.
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: So we're really trying to be sensitive to we're not price gouging people.
• 25:37
  Speaker 6: There's a little bit of a discount, but there's also an incentive to get in early.
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and one of the good things about being able to get in early too, is being able to get in line and for all those barrel picks and that was one thing that really went wild last year and I'm sure it's going to be even better this year Well, thanks, Nash.
• 26:03
  Speaker 6: I mean two years ago VIP said we want our own gate and we want our early admission.
• 26:09
  Speaker 6: So last year we delivered that both and this year they want that.
• 26:13
  Speaker 6: But they also wanted more catering and more bar service.
• 26:19
  Speaker 6: And this year, if you were in that VIP penthouse last year it was 40 feet by 140.
• 26:25
  Speaker 6: This year it's 66 feet by 160.
• 26:29
  Speaker 6: The entire venue will be floored and carpeted, including the new 20-foot extension which is going to be a porch, so that entire length of that VIP penthouse will have a 20-foot porch, open but covered with flooring, extra tables and chairs and, and the windows were like the clear tent final.
• 26:53
  Speaker 6: This year we're going full glass so we're actually having glass windows so you can be inside and look out.
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: People on the outside that didn't get in can kind of look in and see what they're missing.
• 27:02
  Speaker 6: We're adding a hydration station.
• 27:05
  Speaker 6: So if you're into the IV hydration for the weekend either recovering or building up for the weekend in prep, that will be there.
• 27:13
  Speaker 6: More catered food, um, better bartending.
• 27:17
  Speaker 6: I didn't wear my watch, but oris timepieces is now the official timepiece of the kentucky bourbon festival and they will have a mobile like an airstream converted to a mobile watch showcase so you'll be able to go in and get exclusive deals on some watches.
• 27:34
  Speaker 6: Welcome horse.
• 27:35
  Speaker 6: Yeah, absolutely, and and we're we're also creating a separate vip only merch shop so you can come in and buy two or three items that are vip, elevated brands that you wouldn't be able to get at the main festival store, that you can only buy inside v.
• 27:52
  Speaker 6: So again, we're continually trying to make sure that we're listening to what VIPs wanted.
• 27:57
  Speaker 6: They wanted more lockers to store their amenities when they buy during the year.
• 28:01
  Speaker 6: So we're adding more lockers, the flooring and the carpeting and the whole experience is going to be very cool.
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: Well, and people who haven't been to the festival, that haven't been a part of the VIP, maybe you know the other thing about it that's pretty amazing is when you go in the VIP tent, you're not only going to get all these special you know things that you're doing to the tent itself and the food and catering, but special pours.
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: This is where you are going to get some pours that you will get at the distilleries, hence outside in the normal area.
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: So I don't know it's hard to relate to people how big of a deal that is, but that's why that sells out in four minutes and probably will sell out faster this year is because it is so exclusive the opportunity to meet people like Kaveh that comes in and talks to everybody and brings a bottle and says, hey, here's what we've got.
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: You know, that's a special thing, that that has that you don't get anywhere else.
• 29:05
  Speaker 4: And CT, that's a good point and a call out.
• 29:08
  Speaker 6: We've been working on this for years and obviously COVID kind of threw a wrench into it.
• 29:12
  Speaker 6: Working on this for years and obviously COVID kind of threw a wrench into it, we had, you know, an option for master sellers and branded ambassadors to come into VIP and meet our VIP guests.
• 29:21
  Speaker 6: But COVID kind of said, okay, we don't want to have our master sellers.
• 29:28
  Speaker 6: You know that kind of contact.
• 29:29
  Speaker 6: But the last couple of years we've been working towards that and I believe this year will be one more step closer to having that.
• 29:33
  Speaker 6: When're in there, it's kind of like a like a backstage pass for uh, la la falusa.
• 29:38
  Speaker 6: I mean you're you're not always seeing and rubbing elbows with them out on the lawn, but you're going to get a kind of feel the layer back and go backstage and then meet some of the icons and the up-and-comers people that you know maybe you haven't heard of but you should, right, and that's the brands and the people behind it.
• 29:54
  Speaker 6: Which has kind of been our mantra since day one is focus on the spirits and the people who make it, and that's that continues this year.
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: Thank you, yeah, so there's always.
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: So the hours are they going to be similar to last year as far as it's going to be?
• 30:15
  Speaker 6: Identical.
• 30:16
  Speaker 6: So noon to 6, noon to 6, noon to 4, friday, saturday, sunday for GA and VIP will be 11 am on each of those days, so early entry and then Thursday night all the VIPs get into Bourbon in the Air and we've made a few extra tickets available but very limited.
• 30:35
  Speaker 6: So if you all remember and Jeffrey, I know you and Nash the first year after the rains we were in evening bourbon in the air, all the lights and the string lights and everything.
• 30:44
  Speaker 6: But we got away from that.
• 30:46
  Speaker 6: The last couple of years missed the mark a little bit, admittedly.
• 30:49
  Speaker 6: So this year we're going to be 6th and 9th, admittedly so this year we're going to be six and nine.
• 30:57
  Speaker 6: Um 9 30 actually will be the at the end of it, but bar the distilleries will sample up until nine but people will be able to stay until 9 30 before they have to leave.
• 31:02
  Speaker 6: But we're really trying to maximize the lighting.
• 31:05
  Speaker 6: We're going to uplight all the trees and throw lighting on the on spalding hall and kind of bring back that feel that we had in 2021, this year.
• 31:13
  Speaker 5: Oh great, yeah, yeah.
• 31:15
  Speaker 5: And another thing that allows is, once that closes down, then everybody's able to go out throughout the town of Bardstown and experience it, because all the bars and restaurants are open that night and all of them have something going on.
• 31:32
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 31:35
  Speaker 6: And you're able to experience all of that.
• 31:37
  Speaker 6: Well, well, and that's a great point, and you all remember, a couple years ago we were open till 10 o'clock at night.
• 31:41
  Speaker 6: Yeah, well, the last three years we've closed at six because we want people, we want to breathe people in, we want to give them that unique festival experience, but then let them go and reset and go back out into the community, go out to the distilleries, go out to the restaurants and bars, and that's true of even Louisville.
• 32:01
  Speaker 6: So I mean, we're a Bardstown festival, but there's a lot of our distilleries that are in kind of the region around Louisville and we've got hotel packages in downtown Louisville so you can stay there.
• 32:13
  Speaker 6: You can actually make your reservations this year through the box office, through the website, so you can buy your tickets, you can get your hotel reservations and we're doing free shuttles, included in the packages, from downtown Louisville to the front gate of the festival in Bardstown and back.
• 32:28
  Speaker 6: So if you're there and you want to go back out and you want to do something in downtown Louisville, we'll make sure we get people back in time to enjoy the whole region, not just Bardstown itself, because you know it's a small town.
• 32:40
  Speaker 6: There's a lot of density of people that come in.
• 32:43
  Speaker 6: 85% of the people that come to this festival are from outside of Kentucky.
• 32:47
  Speaker 6: So there's a lot of people coming in doing the Bourbon Trail the week of.
• 32:50
  Speaker 6: They end with us or they come to us and they're extending on.
• 32:55
  Speaker 6: But that's a lot of pressure on hotels and a small town's infrastructure.
• 32:59
  Speaker 6: We don't, you know Barts Town doesn't have the Uber and Lyft that you would expect.
• 33:04
  Speaker 6: So that's something you've got to think about when you're planning out is where you're staying.
• 33:10
  Speaker 6: There will be opportunities for people to move around town safely, but it's a little bit more involved than just pulling up your Uber or Lyft to happen.
• 33:17
  Speaker 5: Calling for a car and having that designated driver, absolutely.
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: So Laura is asking what about hotel availability?
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: I would strongly suggest to do it now.
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: It's booking up already.
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: There's still probably some availability, but it's it in this area and that's a great idea, randy.
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: As far as the shuttle to louisville to disperse some of the people, so that that you know, because that uh, as uh whiskey knows, last year when he was trying to book uh, what know, I think his Airbnb canceled on him and he had to do it later.
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: And when you start looking and you're doing it, maybe as early as July, that whole area is pretty much booked up for that.
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: So doing it now is very advisable, that's for sure.
• 34:10
  Speaker 5: Well, it was five months off from the first right now it's months and months all over.
• 34:16
  Speaker 6: Whiskey's experience wasn't typical.
• 34:17
  Speaker 6: They actually looked him up and did a little Google search and that's what they bumped him.
• 34:27
  Speaker 7: Jeff reported me to Homeland Security.
• 34:33
  Speaker 6: Before they leave this year's festival they will book next year's hotels in Bardstown, again, we've grown.
• 34:42
  Speaker 6: So there's Elizabeth Town, shepherdsville, louisville, and we're talking downtown right now.
• 34:46
  Speaker 6: So the Marriott Hotel Distil the Omni some really nice properties that are stepping up.
• 34:52
  Speaker 6: I think there's seven or eight that are participating in the program so you can actually go in and kind of one-stop shop and not only get your tickets but get your hotel.
• 35:01
  Speaker 6: And new this year is our online merchandise shop so you can buy your 2024 Urban Festival concert tee with the logo on the front and all the distilleries listed on the back.
• 35:13
  Speaker 6: So we're kind of get ahead of the game where we can actually get it fulfilled and shipped to you and then wear it to the festival this year instead of just buying it from our store To talk about hotels.
• 35:26
  Speaker 7: I just out of curiosity went to Holiday Inn because we've stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and I put in the festival dates and they're already sold out.
• 35:36
  Speaker 7: Tickets haven't even gone on sale.
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 35:39
  Speaker 6: And Minaj is a dear friend of the festival.
• 35:41
  Speaker 6: Yeah, he is.
• 35:42
  Speaker 6: He runs the little trolley and he's one of our Bourbon Guild members.
• 35:47
  Speaker 6: But that is the case.
• 35:49
  Speaker 6: We announced this year's festival dates in august last year, so month before the festival.
• 35:55
  Speaker 6: People were coming in knew what this year's dates were, and they do.
• 35:59
  Speaker 6: They leave when they're checking out.
• 36:01
  Speaker 6: They're knocking in, you know, making sure they got the the festival dates locked in for for this year.
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: So well, talk about the the week.
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: That.
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: Just quick about the week that the festival is this year.
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: Don't assume it's the same week that it's been for the last 31 years it's not great point.
• 36:19
  Speaker 6: Yeah, we moved up a weekend earlier.
• 36:21
  Speaker 6: So we've been traditionally the third weekend of september and you know september is national bourbon heritage month, so it's the big, big month for all of the distilleries and for us.
• 36:31
  Speaker 6: So we moved up a week.
• 36:33
  Speaker 6: So we're now the 13th, 14th and 15th, with Thursday the 12th being Bourbon in the Air.
• 36:39
  Speaker 6: So I mean, we've been around the 15th the last couple years, but we should have been the 19th through the 22nd this year.
• 36:46
  Speaker 6: But we moved up.
• 36:48
  Speaker 6: One of the main reasons we moved up I'm fully transparent Bourbon and Beyond is a big music festival in Louisville.
• 36:54
  Speaker 6: They're on that weekend and we wanted to make sure we had hotel rooms.
• 36:58
  Speaker 6: We wanted to make sure we had access to all of the fencing and tents and golf carts and all the forklifts and air conditioning units that we have to rent to build this little city.
• 37:06
  Speaker 6: So we moved up a whole week just to avoid that.
• 37:09
  Speaker 6: But we know there are a lot of people that like to come in and go to the Bourbon Festival and maybe they go to Bourbon and Beyond in the evening.
• 37:16
  Speaker 6: But we do want to make sure that everyone knows it's not going to be the same weekend, so tiny thanks for calling that out.
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because that's something you're always willing to do to make sure that you're able to give us the best festival experience.
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: I mean, and it should be a little bit easier, like you said.
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: Plus, you know, if you want to come in for the festival, stay the week after the festival, do the bourbon trail and finish up with bourbon and beyond.
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: I mean, if you want to really do bourbon, that would be the way to do it, but make sure that you come in early.
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: That's for the first week.
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: The second week we really don't care what you do.
• 38:05
  Speaker 6: Right, and we know I mean.
• 38:07
  Speaker 6: 85% of the people that come to the festival are coming from outside of Kentucky and as much as we'd like to believe that we're drawing from all 50 states because of just the festival, that's not the case.
• 38:19
  Speaker 6: They're timing their visit to include the festival but they're coming and doing the Bourbon Trail.
• 38:24
  Speaker 6: That whole probably a 10-day impact.
• 38:27
  Speaker 6: If you look at a Bourbon Trail attendance, it's strong all year round, but there is definitely a curve to the positive around the middle of September when we are so you've got to look at the dynamic of your festival, okay.
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: So one of the reasons why this is such a great festival is this is where the person who's serious about bourbon but maybe has a job and isn't just completely engulfed.
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: They might collect the bourbon, but it maybe has a job and isn't just completely engulfed they're not.
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: They might collect the bourbon, but they're not.
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: It's not a business to them, whereas, uh, when you go down to kentucky, you see that business, that secondary market, always happening.
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: You go into lines and there's but, but this is a place where you get in and you get your tickets and there's stuff that's normally reserved for those lines in Kentucky that are available in this festival and it's not as appealing for a flipper to spend $350 or the kind of money he would have to spend to get those bottles.
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: So it's more for the average bourbon collector to be able to really get some really good bourbon, and that's one of the things I love about the festival.
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: It's just like when you're in there, we see people from Ohio that are so you know.
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: We see people from Wisconsin that are part of these bourbon groups and everybody's having a good time.
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: Plus, you're going home with some of the most spectacular bourbon.
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: I mean bottles that, if you were just coming down to kentucky, you're not, you're not going to get unless you know what you're doing well, great point.
• 40:09
  Speaker 6: And and I don't.
• 40:10
  Speaker 6: I don't follow the secondary market as much as some.
• 40:14
  Speaker 6: But to your point, Tiny, it's not a tater fest.
• 40:19
  Speaker 5: Exactly.
• 40:19
  Speaker 6: People aren't buying the tickets to stand in line to turn around and flip it.
• 40:22
  Speaker 6: It doesn't happen, I'm sure.
• 40:24
  Speaker 6: But for the most part these are people that are serious enthusiasts that want to come in and drink it and enjoy it.
• 40:32
  Speaker 6: And also very important is, it's not just for the advanced bourbon enthusiasts.
• 40:39
  Speaker 6: I see that all the time there are people that are coming in and their first real interaction with this kind of culture is at the bourbon festival.
• 40:47
  Speaker 6: So you might have a reluctant spouse that's coming along and okay, I'll try it out, and they engage that way and all of the distilleries are aware of that.
• 40:59
  Speaker 6: So it's not an intimidating kind of experience.
• 41:02
  Speaker 6: I mean, you can make it what you want.
• 41:04
  Speaker 6: If you want to really nerve out and deep dive and talk to the master distillers and engage, you can do that all day long.
• 41:11
  Speaker 6: But you can also come in, just look at like a craft beer or a wine festival where you're just coming in to kind of learn, to stick your toe in the water and kind of maybe buy a couple of your favorites.
• 41:22
  Speaker 6: I mean there are people that I know that have never been into this experience and they bought two or three bottles because they really enjoyed the sample and the experience and they wanted to buy the bottle and take home so they could kind of relive that fond memory.
• 41:34
  Speaker 6: So that I just want to be clear for people who haven't been to the festival it's not this night like Comic-Con, where you've got all the extreme people.
• 41:42
  Speaker 6: There's a lot of people that are just kind of learning how to enjoy the whole the bourbon experience.
• 41:49
  Speaker 6: So we work really hard to be very inclusive and welcoming to all levels of from the introductory all the way to the expert level.
• 42:00
  Speaker 5: And the other thing I want to go on record saying is I got a lot of walking around and interviewing couples last year during the festival and I was getting a lot of feedback and I was asking them what they liked about the festival and a bunch of them some of them the couples were into bourbon and the other one part of them wasn't and what they liked about it was having all those craft tents and and setups and all.
• 42:31
  Speaker 5: So some of them were going in shopping and doing some of the craft and also there was a couple of craft beer setups there where one of them didn't like bourbon but they liked the craft beer it was a ranch, Lexington.
• 42:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah.
• 42:50
  Speaker 5: So and then you know there was a couple that you know that liked.
• 42:57
  Speaker 5: You know their significant other liked the bourbon and all, but the other one didn't drink at all but then like the Staven Bean coffee and all that she was going around and the food and the coffee and the other drinks that she was able to sample and stuff.
• 43:12
  Speaker 5: So you know it was a whole plethora of different things that these people were liking and the crafts and stuff like that that you know brought everybody together and was able for each significant other to enjoy the festival together.
• 43:27
  Speaker 6: That's a great point.
• 43:28
  Speaker 7: Nash.
• 43:29
  Speaker 6: And a couple of years ago up until 2021, the craft craft level distilleries weren't included in the berkman festival.
• 43:37
  Speaker 6: Really, I mean, if you go back to 2019, I think somewhere around here we got a barrel head that had 11 of the distilleries that were involved in 2019, and now we're at 55, and over half of those 55 distilleries are the craft.
• 43:53
  Speaker 6: Either they're new or they're emerging.
• 43:56
  Speaker 6: So we've got like bespoken spirits, which just launched.
• 43:59
  Speaker 6: You've got peerless, you've got pursuit, on and on and on.
• 44:03
  Speaker 6: You know.
• 44:04
  Speaker 6: So there are various levels of being established.
• 44:07
  Speaker 6: But when people come in that main gate, you see four roses, you see maker's mark, you see me, see heaven hill, you know wilderness trail, wild turkey the list goes on.
• 44:16
  Speaker 6: But everybody wants to look and deep dive into the craft area in that lawn.
• 44:21
  Speaker 6: It number one.
• 44:22
  Speaker 6: It's a very cool park-like setting, but it's a small venue.
• 44:28
  Speaker 6: So you're there for three days.
• 44:29
  Speaker 6: You will have ample opportunity to visit everyone.
• 44:32
  Speaker 6: But everyone wants to like okay, visually, okay, all the big ones are here.
• 44:36
  Speaker 6: I get it.
• 44:37
  Speaker 6: Now I'm going to go and try to explore and discover a new brand and take something home.
• 44:42
  Speaker 6: You know, we laughed a couple years ago.
• 44:43
  Speaker 6: Ej curly was the bell of the ball, nobody had heard of ej curly and people left saying, wow, that's amazing juice.
• 44:50
  Speaker 6: Every year there's someone new.
• 44:52
  Speaker 6: That kind of steps up their representation and the product that they offer, and that's really what we're all about.
• 44:58
  Speaker 6: We've had so many distilleries that have come to us and say that the Kentucky Bourbon Festival was a game changer for their business, the networks that they made the distributors, that they've picked up multiple states' distribution because of what they were able to start with.
• 45:17
  Speaker 6: So I mean I take that seriously also.
• 45:19
  Speaker 6: I mean there's definitely an industry perspective to what we're doing here.
• 45:23
  Speaker 6: We always want to make sure our distilleries are happy.
• 45:25
  Speaker 6: If the distilleries are happy, everyone else is happy.
• 45:29
  Speaker 6: That's kind of our poor mantra the customer is second.
• 45:33
  Speaker 6: In this case, the ticket buyer is is second, and every one of them has been fine with that because they know if the distilleries are number one, they will also be able to benefit from it so someone asked about the great, the great tent and the, the experiences of you know each.
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: Each day you have a couple experiences that are extra.
• 45:56
  Speaker 6: Are those happening again this year?
• 45:57
  Speaker 6: The Great Tent is the large tent that everyone knows.
• 46:00
  Speaker 6: If you've been there, we've moved it out into the paved area of the church parking lot in the neighborhood but it's the same program.
• 46:09
  Speaker 6: So on Friday and Saturday there'll be a bourbon opener at 1230 to 2, and then a bourbon engagement that's 4 to 530.
• 46:17
  Speaker 6: And then on Sunday the mictors kind of the brunch theme, which will be 1230 to 2.
• 46:22
  Speaker 6: So again I mentioned earlier, we've got Barstown Bourbon Company, jim Dean, we've got Angel's Envy, we've got Rabbit Hole and we've got mictors.
• 46:31
  Speaker 6: I believe that's the five that will be in there for the weekend and they've all had new offerings.
• 46:37
  Speaker 6: So, like today, we just confirmed that Heaven Hill, which is our feature distillery for the year.
• 46:42
  Speaker 6: Each year we had Maker's Mark, we had Jim Beam, knob Creek.
• 46:46
  Speaker 6: Last year we had Barstown Bourbon Company.
• 46:48
  Speaker 6: This year it's Heaven Hill.
• 46:49
  Speaker 6: So they will be doing a bottle and bond, as most people know, and Hill owns the most impressive bottle and bond inventory lineup.
• 46:58
  Speaker 6: So they will be doing something this year on the bottle and bond focus and we're pretty excited about that.
• 47:06
  Speaker 3: Awesome.
• 47:06
  Speaker 3: I mean Bernie Lubbers does such a great we got to check him out at that other festival and his presentation for Bottled and Bond is pretty amazing.
• 47:15
  Speaker 3: I mean what he does with the guitar and singing and explaining how special Bottled and Bond is.
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: You just until you've encountered that you don't really realize how rare Bottled and Bond is.
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: There's not a lot out there.
• 47:30
  Speaker 3: You think there is, but there just isn't.
• 47:34
  Speaker 6: And Bernie has a Bottled and Bond tattoo.
• 47:37
  Speaker 6: Oh yeah, I ran into him at that other festival wearing a Mellow Corn polo shirt, which I thought was amazing.
• 47:45
  Speaker 6: Did you see his?
• 47:46
  Speaker 6: I will assure you that this year, what Heaven Hill is doing in this Bottled and Bond event within the great tent will not be mellow corn level.
• 47:57
  Speaker 6: I mean, I love mellow corn for an old fashioned, but they're going to be doing some elevated things that will be truly special for us this year.
• 48:04
  Speaker 4: That's awesome, Randy the one thing that touch on it's kind of off subject a little bit, but this year or in 2023 seemed to be significantly different was the influence of I felt you could see it around the festival of the influencers I guess you could call it whether it be podcasts, tiktokers, instagrams there was a lot of people at the festival that are what you would probably say are famous.
• 48:35
  Speaker 4: I guess there's people doing TikTok with bourbon and whiskey and Instagram, but almost all of the big name people were there and I think that, too, did something, because there was people going around taking pictures with them.
• 48:52
  Speaker 4: That kind of drew some excitement, I think as well.
• 48:57
  Speaker 6: Well, I mean I've seen you all.
• 48:59
  Speaker 6: I mean CT, tiny Nash.
• 49:02
  Speaker 6: I mean I saw a lot of fanboying going on just with you guys.
• 49:07
  Speaker 6: But yeah, it's taken a while.
• 49:11
  Speaker 6: You know, I mean influencers to me I'm kind of 50-50 on it.
• 49:14
  Speaker 6: I mean everybody wants to be an influencer.
• 49:18
  Speaker 6: Very few are really good at it and can get out there and kind of inspire people to engage in what they're doing, and I think we've got a few of those that can do that.
• 49:27
  Speaker 6: We have.
• 49:28
  Speaker 6: We also have, like industry writers, travel writers, a number of the major, you know spirits.
• 49:33
  Speaker 6: Publications are partners with us.
• 49:35
  Speaker 6: But it's taken a few years.
• 49:37
  Speaker 6: I mean you don't know that.
• 49:38
  Speaker 6: I mean I was selling a concept in 2020.
• 49:40
  Speaker 6: You guys were involved previously and you embraced the change.
• 49:45
  Speaker 6: You've told me some of the horror stories of what you know kind of what we used to be, and I mean just from you make a huge investment in time and resources and hotels and you see your dollars setting up and then you really weren't engaging with the top bourbon enthusiasts from the public and now I think we've created that environment which is perfect for you.
• 50:05
  Speaker 6: But you know, the Scotchie Bourbon boys were the first ones to embrace that and I'm an honorary member and I know, presidente, I wear that badge probably.
• 50:18
  Speaker 6: But you know, I think you're right, ct, I think it's definitely turned.
• 50:22
  Speaker 6: And you know, last year was the first year that we kind of broke media out from kind of the run of the herd and we created a separate venue for them, and we're going to be doing that again this year.
• 50:34
  Speaker 6: So last year you had your own dedicated space with a bar and catering, it was air-conditioned, you had a lounge area, so it was kind of a VIP just for you.
• 50:43
  Speaker 6: This year we're going to continue that.
• 50:45
  Speaker 6: We're expanding it to have two interview suites.
• 50:49
  Speaker 6: So last year, if you were in there, it was kind of a noise a lot of ambient noise and kind of tough for you to conduct your podcasts and interviews with the different masters sellers.
• 50:58
  Speaker 6: So this year we're creating two different little recording suites off to the side where you can go in.
• 51:03
  Speaker 6: We're adding more outlets, working tables where you can plug in your laptops and your microphones and kind of do some of that stuff there.
• 51:11
  Speaker 6: So it's still going to be a little bit of a VIP catering area for you, but it's also a very serious workspace for our media and our podcasters and influencers, but it's huge man.
• 51:23
  Speaker 6: That's such an important part of our word of mouth.
• 51:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 51:28
  Speaker 6: I agree.
• 51:29
  Speaker 4: I think that having that, to be able to bring that to people who can't make it, get a ticket whatever, for them to be able to almost feel like they're able to sit there and have a conversation, be involved in it, just like when we do it a lot of times we do a live on Facebook and people have the chance to interact and ask questions, like we are now, and I do think people enjoy that that they get a chance to say what they may want to say.
• 51:59
  Speaker 6: Well, and one thing that Pandemic Year taught us when we had to do the virtual and we went all to our YouTube channel.
• 52:03
  Speaker 6: And you know one thing that pandemic year taught us when we had to do the virtual and we went all to our YouTube channel and all of our educational sessions were produced and then put on YouTube, that was a great audience builder for us.
• 52:11
  Speaker 6: People that had never heard of us and, quite frankly, if not for the pandemic, may not have been out there searching the Internet for content, and they tripped upon us and they loved what they saw, so they wanted to come.
• 52:22
  Speaker 6: I, I mean, I'm a realist.
• 52:25
  Speaker 6: You know this is now 2021, 23 year four of the new model, and as much as we try to make sure there's something fresh every year, but yet something familiar, um, you know people are, you know the groups are starting to get into.
• 52:38
  Speaker 6: Okay, this year, instead of the bourbon festival, maybe we're going to go golf, mexico fishing.
• 52:43
  Speaker 6: We're going to go to a golf tournament.
• 52:44
  Speaker 6: We're going to go and do a baseball stadium tour somewhere.
• 52:48
  Speaker 6: So I know we're going to lose some people, but I'm also hoping that our influencers and our media will kind of one for one at least replace that group of six guys that are not going somewhere else.
• 52:58
  Speaker 6: So the six girls that are going shopping here, we that are not going somewhere else.
• 53:02
  Speaker 6: So the six girls that are going shopping here.
• 53:04
  Speaker 6: We hope that we're replacing that.
• 53:05
  Speaker 6: So the influencers and the podcasters and the media they're still very important to us.
• 53:09
  Speaker 3: Well, what I've noticed just by ourselves and what the influencers are doing, is you're getting a lot more young people involved, okay, and this year we do an annual bus tour on the Wednesday before the festival, and last year we were in one bus, I think there was a total of you could fit 12, and we had 10 on the year before.
• 53:34
  Speaker 3: We had two buses and we had about 18 people.
• 53:37
  Speaker 3: But this year I've had requests to go on that bus tour of up to 30 people and they're all wanting to come down to kentucky bourbon festival.
• 53:46
  Speaker 3: Because it's now kind of been established that you added in the whiskey aspect of being able to get those special bottles, plus the festival experience of tasting and everything.
• 53:58
  Speaker 3: Uh, you're really getting it out, and and last year I think you got it out to a lot of the younger audience, because a lot of the people that we're talking to are younger than you know, and that's really good because that's just going to keep the bourbon thing going, now that the younger crowd's starting to really grasp what's going on.
• 54:20
  Speaker 6: And that's a great point.
• 54:21
  Speaker 6: And look at look at the six of us.
• 54:23
  Speaker 6: We're no offense to anybody, but we're all white guys and the industry has been known as that forever.
• 54:30
  Speaker 6: If you look at our video, like our sizzle reel on our website, you look at our social media.
• 54:36
  Speaker 6: We're very diverse.
• 54:37
  Speaker 6: We're very racially diverse, but also age and and I think 52 percent of the people that bought tickets last year were women and and so if you look at what we're doing, the festival is anything but old, crusty white guys sitting around drinking bourbon, like in the days of the past.
• 54:56
  Speaker 6: It is very diverse, and I saw that with the beer festivals and you look at the wine festivals.
• 55:01
  Speaker 6: I mean people are looking for that social engagement.
• 55:05
  Speaker 6: There are people that come to the bourbon festival that only see each other and their friends but they only see each other once a year in Barstown.
• 55:12
  Speaker 6: It's the bourbon capital of the world, but it also is kind of this great big reunion and I love that.
• 55:17
  Speaker 6: So if you look at our website and you look at our YouTube channel and look at that sizzle reel, it shows you what your experience will be, and I'm going next week in front of our local Rotary Club and I watched that video a hundred times and when I go and stand in front of that business community there's 50 people looking at me.
• 55:41
  Speaker 6: I get choked up because I'm so proud to show that video.
• 55:44
  Speaker 6: I'm watching it and watching the reactions of the people.
• 55:47
  Speaker 6: It hasn't always been like that and you all know that.
• 55:49
  Speaker 6: But I mean, what we've created here with the community is kind of the backdrop to this whole thing, is something pretty special and you know it takes a lot of work and a lot of passion and you guys have been there since before day one, so thank you.
• 56:04
  Speaker 5: And it takes a lot of people and a great group of people that you've got.
• 56:07
  Speaker 5: You've got a great group of people behind you that's been helping you put this on.
• 56:13
  Speaker 3: And we've watched those Great shout out, we've watched those people change over the years and we and watch that, that staff gel.
• 56:21
  Speaker 3: I mean you've got the whole um board and everything and how.
• 56:26
  Speaker 3: You know how, initially what you were trying to do and you were spending a lot of time doing the transformation.
• 56:31
  Speaker 3: But I really get the feeling that transformation's over, or we are.
• 56:36
  Speaker 3: This has made its own thing and we're ready to go.
• 56:39
  Speaker 3: So just go over one more time, randy, for everybody out there, and and then we'll finish up with a couple last questions.
• 56:45
  Speaker 3: But the, the people who came in late, when is the festival when you just go over it one more time?
• 56:51
  Speaker 3: As far as date time, you know when the tickets go on sale it's.
• 56:56
  Speaker 6: It's our 33rd year.
• 56:57
  Speaker 6: It is september 13th, 14th and 15th, with september 12th being thursday.
• 57:02
  Speaker 6: That is our bourbon in the air opening night kickoff, but the main festival is noon to six.
• 57:08
  Speaker 6: Noon to six.
• 57:08
  Speaker 6: Noon to four, with an 11 o'clock am one-hour early.
• 57:12
  Speaker 6: Welcome for our VIPs.
• 57:14
  Speaker 6: Tickets go on sale to the public April 17th, which is a Wednesday, but two weeks from today, I hope on April 16th.
• 57:23
  Speaker 6: To our insiders, I'd like to think that a lot of our VIPs and our main run for tickets will be already sold out.
• 57:31
  Speaker 6: We've sold out every year since we've started this and I don't see this being any change.
• 57:36
  Speaker 6: But yeah, if you have any questions, go to KYUrbanFestivalcom.
• 57:42
  Speaker 6: Follow us on Facebook and.
• 57:45
  Speaker 6: Instagram.
• 57:46
  Speaker 6: That really is where you're going to see all the latest, like what distilleries are going to be there.
• 57:52
  Speaker 6: We have a couple of new corporate sponsors that are going to be really fun for us this year.
• 57:56
  Speaker 6: But, most importantly, how to get your tickets and how to get your hotels and how to move around when you're.
• 58:02
  Speaker 6: Once you're there, there'll be some special.
• 58:05
  Speaker 6: Now, you know, 30 days out from the festival, what can you do?
• 58:08
  Speaker 6: How do you enhance and expand your experience now that you're here?
• 58:12
  Speaker 6: The shuttles and hotels is something that's very important and I try not to ignore any one of those little details.
• 58:19
  Speaker 6: I don't.
• 58:20
  Speaker 6: I think your experience begins by tonight and you go to our website and you look at our social media.
• 58:25
  Speaker 6: You come to our box office in a couple weeks and buy your ticket, hotel planning how you're going to get here and then what your experience is while you're here and also what your experience is in the evenings, when you're around town and enjoying Markstown.
• 58:38
  Speaker 6: It's the Bergen capital of the world.
• 58:40
  Speaker 6: It's one of the most beautiful small towns in America and it's culturally just a really cool experience.
• 58:49
  Speaker 5: Cool Nate, now that you bring that up, once the festival gets here during that week around the town of Barks Town, a lot of the restaurants and the bars and things like that.
• 59:01
  Speaker 5: They will be having special events and things like that.
• 59:03
  Speaker 5: Will you be listing those on your website?
• 59:06
  Speaker 5: Yes, Is there made available to you?
• 59:10
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and not only that, but also we've been encouraging our distilleries.
• 59:16
  Speaker 6: Again, one of the reasons we closed at 6 is to allow the distilleries to showcase their venues in the evening.
• 59:23
  Speaker 6: So you've got Heaven Hill and you've got Luxoril, and Barson Bourbon Company does a tremendous job with doing that, so we will be promoting that.
• 59:31
  Speaker 6: We've also got something that I think I won't go to sleep for the next five months once he learns about this.
• 59:40
  Speaker 6: But if you remember, a couple years ago we would do something over there at Fred and Sandy's house in the evening in the backyard, private.
• 59:49
  Speaker 6: There may or may not be something like that coming up this year, kind of a return.
• 59:54
  Speaker 6: So those details will be hammered out in the new year.
• 59:58
  Speaker 6: I've heard a lot about those.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 4: Oh my gosh.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 4: Yes, now they have an in-ground trampoline, so do we get to use it?
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 3: neither confirm nor deny so, barrelhead, do you out of all listening to this?
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 3: You have any questions?
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 3: Do you have, as far as like vendor areas um?
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 4: like people making stuff out of furniture and stuff like out of barrels.
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 6: Yeah, so we have kind of the reclaimed barrel furniture and we have Cruise Customs is making a large American flag out of reclaimed bourbon barrels.
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 6: We've got your honeys and your syrups and candles and things like that it's all got a bourbon theme.
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 6: We also have artistsrups and candles and things like that it's all got a bourbon theme.
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 6: We also have artists that have done paintings and and things like that, and and I've been trying for years and I feel like this is the first year where I'm actually going to get a plein air program, so artists that are actually sitting out there on the lawn with their easels paint sitting as you can watch.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 6: You can buy the painting right off the easel if you want, and I've been working on something like that here and I feel like it's finally taking root.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 6: We also partner with Bourbon with a Heart.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 6: So inside the VIP there's going to be artists painting barrel staves and kind of doing that as their own little fundraiser.
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 6: So that's kind of part of our outreach.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 6: But, yeah, so we'll have probably 40 to 45 vendors in the church parking lot right next to the Burger Bin Festival.
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 6: So if you were there last year where the food trucks were, the food trucks are going out on the street.
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 6: We're closing the entire 5th Street for the week and so that little church parking lot next door is for marketplace vendors, for that media tent that we talked about earlier, the great tent that we also talked about earlier All of that will be out in the church parking lot this year.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 6: So that's probably our last expansion.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 6: Again, we're going vertical in a couple spots, but that's probably about as wide as we can get in that little downtown area.
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 6: So we're starting to make the higher and better use.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 6: All the distilleries get first priority on the lawn, then everything else kind of gets moved around.
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 4: And then you're saying the food trucks will move out to where everybody came in and like loaded when they were setting up their displays and dropping off, so they'll be all down that main road.
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 6: I mean the food trucks will be going from one end of the street to the other, directly across.
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 5: Stop sign to stop sign.
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 4: That's probably better for them.
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 4: That's probably better for them actually.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 6: It is.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 6: It is and we're adding two additional gates.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 6: So now, along that front, everybody will still come in the two main gates, like either VIP or that main gate where you walk through the brick house.
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 6: Once you're in and we feel like most people are in, we're going to create two little in and out gates for people that want to go out into the food truck area without having to walk all the way across to get out there.
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 6: So there'll be a couple of little secondary gates that people will be able to use during the weekend and again, the food trucks I mean it's open to the public, so the food trucks will be outside of the gated area.
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 6: So a lot of people come into town that maybe don't even know the burden festivals it's happening, but they would, you know, certainly come down and check us out and at least be able to enjoy the food trucks randy, are you guys gonna?
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 7: are you guys kicking around like something like a park and ride or anything like that?
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 7: Because I knew that fifth street spot was one of my favorite places to park and this year it'll be a ticket ticket, ticket and toe.
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 6: I mean, we work with a local company, that is, they're looking at doing two different loops one that would be hotels to the festival and the other one, the same company, but another loop that would be the festival out to the different distilleries and restaurants, and that will kind of change during, depending on the time of the.
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 6: So early in the morning and later in the afternoon the hotel service will be taken care of a little heavier.
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 6: And then obviously during the day, because a lot of people, because with our tickets there are FID wristbands, so unlimited come and go.
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 6: So a lot of people come in right away and buy their bottles and kind of get their experience and they go off and do a distillery tour and then want to come back in later in the afternoon.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 6: So a lot of that.
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 6: But those details will be on the website once they become clear.
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 6: But we're still kind of in that early concept phase of how we make sure we can responsibly move people around and make sure that people aren't standing there waiting too long.
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 6: But all of that will be on the website as the summer kind of progresses long.
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 7: But all of that will be on the website as the summer kind of progresses.
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 7: We talked a lot about the VIPs, but I don't want to undersell what great value the general admission ticket is.
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 7: I mean you get access to basically everything but the fancy tent.
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 7: If you think about it, you got 50 plus distilleries, with four expressions each on average, so there's 200 pours.
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 7: So for $180 or $185, you're under, I mean you're under a buck, a pour Right.
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 7: So, and you know, I think the Scotch Burger Boards are going to have an around-the-world ticket.
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 7: So you know, if you try all 200 expressions you'll get a Glencairn.
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 3: That would be a hell of a challenge in 16 hours.
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 3: Hey, that's not sponsored by me, I know.
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 6: Randy, I can't bring my Glencairns there.
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 5: Well, and that's a great point Actually, what we're going to do is I already consorted with Carl Whiskey on this we're going to have punch cards made up, and if they bring the punch card back, we'll ship it to them later.
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 3: There's always a workaround, right, Randy.
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 6: I don't want to hear about it and I don't want to see it.
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 6: I've got to maintain plausible deniability.
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 6: There you go.
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 6: It was Sergeant Schultz who saw that one, though.
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 6: Yeah, you jackals get away with things that most people don't.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 3: I promise to behave, I do.
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 3: I do.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely.
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 3: All right, everybody, that was.
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 3: Weather cooperated, we're all still here, so I'm excited about that.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely.
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 3: Once again, we've kicked it off and we're five months away, but it seems like it'll be here tomorrow.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 5: All I can say is you probably might need to add a few extra servers and a couple extra computers and have those techs standing by on April 17th, because ticket sales are going to explode.
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 5: They're going to be better than last year.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 6: I hope so and thank you all for what you do, I mean not just on this kind of stuff, but year-round.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 6: I mean Ty and I are going to Lambeau to watch the Packers play.
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 6: I mean, I'm a Scotchie bourbon boy, for God's sake.
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 6: Yes, you are.
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 6: You sure are.
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 3: We appreciate you.
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 5: Hell, you gave me my podcast name Super Nash.
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 6: I remember that night sitting down there at that dining room table eating on a tambourine or whatever the hell it was.
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 3: The bongos?
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah it's.
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 3: It's changed a little bit since then, right overall.
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, all right everybody.
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 3: Uh, we're the, we're the scotchy bourbon boys.
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 3: We had el presidente on tonight.
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 5: Uh, we were honored and bourbon festival yep everything about kentucky bourbon festival.
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 3: Uh, check us out on all the major podcast formats.
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 3: We were honored.
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 3: Kentucky Bourbon Festival Yep, everything about Kentucky Bourbon Festival.
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 3: Check us out on all the major podcast formats and Instagram, youtube, facebook.
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 3: And what did I put Axe?
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 3: How can I forget Axe?
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 3: And then also all the major podcast formats.
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 3: You know we're there.
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 3: If you listen to it, you can, you can hear us.
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 3: And, uh, make sure that you check us out also on wwwscotchiebourbonboyscom.
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 3: This is going really well because I don't think I've had a pour tonight.
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 3: So this is what happens when I, when I I'm not in my zone.
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 3: And then also remember everybody good bourbon equals good times and good friends and great festivals.
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 3: And make sure you don't drink and drive.
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 3: You drink responsibly and go out and live your life dangerously.
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 3: Little Steve-O's going to take us out.
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 5: Cheers everybody.
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 5: Thanks everybody for watching and tuning in.
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 5: It was great.
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 5: Go, sarah, that's the one I want.
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 5: Love you boys.
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 2: Love you man.
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 2: Oh, don't ask why.
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 2: Oh, don't ask why.
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 2: Show me the way to the next whiskey bar.
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 2: Oh don't ask why.
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 2: Oh, don't ask why.
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 2: For if we don't find the next whiskey bar, I tell you we must die.
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 2: I tell you we must die.
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 2: I tell you we must die.
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 2: I tell you, I tell you, I tell you we must die.