Bourbon Festivals Coming To America’s Littlest Corners

By Richard Thomas

Another indicator pointing to just how hot a ticket whiskey has become in America is where the festivals are popping up. Several years ago, whiskey events were found just in Kentucky and a few major cities. This year, almost every major city in America has a whiskey show to call its own, some more than one, and the fun has spread even to small towns.

Take Oxford, Mississippi, population 18,916. I know this town because I was there several years ago, researching my series of American Civil War novels, and as the home of Ole Miss, aka the University of Mississippi. It’s a quaint, Southern college town, and something of an oddity when you consider that such a little place is home to the state’s flagship institution of higher learning. This year it is also home to the Oxford Bourbon Festival & Auction.

This festival is one of the better examples of presenting the intersection between bourbon and food. James Beard-nominated chefs, included Mike Lata of The Ordinary in Charleston and Edward Lee of 610 Magnolia in Louisville, lead separate private, whiskey-centric dinners at historic homes around town, and then later on take part in the festival bourbon tasting. The event will also feature a rare bottle auction at a whole hog roast.

Events of this nature, in places far from any airport hub, are becoming more commonplace. While an event like Oxford’s can’t draw in the drinks companies like WhiskyFest or Whisky Live, they aren’t intended as to be primarily industry-oriented conventions in the way those big festivals are. A good small town whiskey festival shines in other ways, such as Oxford’s focus on food and whiskey as a subject and putting together an outstanding line-up of Southern chefs.

So, instead of trekking to New York, Louisville, New Orleans or Chicago this year, you might just be able to find something just as good and much closer to home.

The Oxford Bourbon Festival & Auction is from May 18 to 20.