The 'Everything To Do With Bourbon But the Bourbon' Festival A Week Late

Last weekend hubby and I decided to go on a getaway. After we went to Wild Turkey, we did some antique shopping and counted the hours till we would be at the Bourbon Festival. Now to understand our anticipation, one would have to understand how MANY different places we've been to that told us that nothing beats this festival. 

NOTHING.

The last time hubby and I went to Bardstown, we knew we wanted to go back, it's such a quaint town:

The view from the second floor looking down their mainstreet.
Yes, it is a Mayberry type of town

 Every distillery we've ever visit, the people there would say, "If you love Bourbon, you have to go the Bourbon Festival in Bardstown."
Now here's the thing; when I think about a Festival that has a specific name in front of it, I think that it will have the foods and drinks of that name. For example, apple festivals always have different apple things to buy and taste, pumpkin festivals have pumpkin food, there is even a sauerkraut festival close by that has a bazillion of sauerkraut dishes to sample. Would make sense that a bourbon festival would have bourbon too.
Now don't get me wrong, I like bourbon, but only when it's with something like in a mix drink or in a dessert sauce. So my goal for that day was to come away with some new ways to use bourbon in cooking and/or baking.

Four Roses had a cute 'tent' to sell their wares

So imagine my surprise when, after walking the festival, the only bourbon thing we found to eat was a cake and some cream candy. There were several distilleries there and they were selling everything that had their name on it (shirts, sweatshirts, cups, keychains, etc.) but NO BOURBON! Well we did find ONE that was selling bourbon balls but it wasn't a brand we liked.

This is Jim Beam's tent

When we finally found some booze, it was beer and a cocktail made from bourbon. One small glass costed seven dollars.
We got one of their seven dollar punch but we didn't like it. They must have used a cheap bourbon what little they had in it.
Plus we didn't like how we had to stay in a confined area to drink it. Seriously, they had security at every entrance and exit in this area to make sure we stayed there while we drink, no walking around and looking at the booths while drinking.
We giggled as we left the festival because there were several signs and cars that were offering rides home if you had too much to drink. Not on that punch!
On our way into town, we saw the signs for Jim Beam so we decided to finish out our day there.

New visitor's center

While there, we ran into my nephew and his wife! They were spending the day visiting a few of the distilleries themselves.

The black on the white siding is the mold that grows around the distilleries

 If I had to rank this tour, I would say it's not one of my favorite but a step above Wild Turkey. It wasn't cheap (10 dollars a person) and they were stingy with the tasting portion of the tour.

This is the first time I've seen the mold growing on the trees

 Made me wonder if the county we were in had restrictions as to how much they were allowed to give us. It would explain the lack of being able to buy bourbon at the festival. I know once when we were at a different distillery we had to go into a separate room to buy any alcohol because their liquor licenses was only good for that room. At another distillery, we were told how to make a root beer float using a cream bourbon but the guy couldn't make it for us because he didn't have a bartender's license. Each person had to pour their own root beer into their cup of cream bourbon.  

This is a machine that dispenses your sample. You put your card into the slot and push the button

 Made me think how silly some of our laws can be perceived. Though I should look at the bright side and be glad that these distilleries aren't in what we call a 'dry' county. Throughout Kentucky there are some counties that don't allow any selling or buying of alcohol. This is a 'left over' from prohibition. Sadly, these counties aren't developing like the others that do have alcohol sales. Restaurants won't open there without liquor licenses,  even Walmart wants to be able to sell beer.

Mike enjoys his tasting sample

In the end, it was a beautiful day to spend time together and that's all that matters.

Well that and the yummy bourbon cake that we bought and brought home for the others to eat.

And yes, it's gone. We ate it in less than a week....................