Blade & Bow Helps With Putting Swank In Your Bourbon And Ponies

The Collaboration of Blade & Bow and Garden & Gun Has Given Bourbon Fans Ways to Raise Their Bluegrass Experience A Notch

By Richard Thomas

When Blade & Bow Bourbon first started their collaboration with Garden & Gun magazine, that authoritative guide to all things tasteful, upscale and Southern, it was in a standard exercise in cross-branding: the lounge at the Stitzel-Weller Distillery was named the Garden & Gun Club. Stitzel-Weller is indeed the seat of much bourbon history, but it hasn’t been an active distillery in three decades, so it functions as a barrel warehousing center for parent company Diageo and a tourist destination. As far as the latter is concerned, having one of only two Garden & Gun Clubs (the other is in Atlanta) offering exclusive pours of Blade & Bow 22 Year Old and a luxurious menu of bar snacks is a major plus, but again it’s what one would expect from these kinds of partnerships.

Then came the events schedule. Garden & Gun has had a strong, classy events program running in the Southern US for years, and sometimes those events have been co-sponsored by bourbon brands. Several years ago, I was able to attend Garden & Gun’s 225th Anniversary of Kentucky Gala, a very barn chic event catered by local celebrity chef Ouita Michel, and one that yielded stories I tell to this day. That was co-sponsored by Woodford Reserve, and that singular event underscores how different the Blade & Bow collaboration with Garden & Gun has been and what that means for those looking to drink deep in the larger Bluegrass experience.

Woodford Reserve is a sponsor of the Kentucky Derby, and therefore the official bourbon. Maker’s Mark is a sponsor of Keeneland. One sees these bourbons at events, and they are the center of the cocktail program, but it’s not like one sees Maker’s Mark getting involved in a select, ticketed party for the annual Keeneland Fall Meet. But that is exactly the kind of thing Blade & Bow has been doing with Garden & Gun, and as such it is giving people a chance to combine the two things the Bluegrass is best known for: the sport of kings and America’s spirit. Bourbon and horse racing.

For several years now, the pairing has hosted a swanky dinner at the Stitzel-Weller Distillery for the Kentucky Oaks, the major stakes race held the day before the Kentucky Derby. When I attended, the food was delightful, the drink satisfying, and the company interesting: I was seated next to the then-mayor of “Lively” Shively. It’s exactly what anyone should want from a Derby-adjacent event, and while some may blanche at the ticket price, the event still costs a seventh of what it takes to attend the famous Barnstable Brown Party.The only missing part is the Kentucky Oaks being part of the package, but (and unless this changes in the future) the race is a separate affair.

The Kentucky Derby inevitably comes first to mind when Kentucky horse racing is raised, and that is understandable, because it is the richest stakes race in the world. But for those of us who know the thoroughbred business, the center of Kentucky horse racing isn’t the Derby. It’s Keeneland. Blade & Bow and Garden & Gun are over at Keeneland too. I attended their recent Keeneland Cocktail Brunch, tying onto the aforementioned Fall Meet. This year’s was the 11th such event, and it was staged in the rooftop bar of the brand new Manchester Hotel in Lexington, Kentucky, arguably the swankiest joint of its kind in town. And as at the Kentucky Oaks event in Louisville, there were plenty of colorful hats on display. Moreover, unlike the Kentucky Oaks pre-party, the Keeneland Brunch includes tickets to the Fall Meet in the Keeneland Clubhouse and a shuttle to get you there.

These two joint events grant access to the kind of horsey blue blood experience that I brushed up against repeatedly as a child. Back in the Reagan years, the horses were the major source of glamor in the state, and bourbon this neglected, sometimes even scorned blue collar drink. Things have changed quite a bit, but the two have always been an intrinsic part of the Bluegrass experience and should be viewed as inseparable. The first time I met Jimmy Russell was at Keeneland, and one should wonder what Henry Clay would have thought about not tying bourbon and horses together.

So, keep in mind that every May and October, the bourbon brand and the magazine get together and offer folks an opportunity to get fancy while getting their drink and ponies on. For residents and visitors alike, it is well worth doing.