By Richard Thomas
Once the province of bar, retail and industry pros, whiskey festivals have grown far beyond being mere conventions. These events are now so tourist-centered that it’s hard to find a festival not organized with enthusiasts first and foremost in mind. Most modern festivals were started with drinkers and collectors, not industry pros, in mind.
Attending these events gives whisk(e)y fans a chance to meet more luminaries, sample more drink (including get a crack at rare and hard to find items and sneak peeks at upcoming releases), network with fellow boozehounds, and generally cover more ground in a single day than a year of visiting distilleries and attending local tasting events will allow. These ten in particular are well worth your time, and wherever you live, are worth traveling to.
(Credit: Sara Babcock)
Bourbon Classic (Late February/Early March)
If you like bourbon and you like food, this is your must-attend event. Chefs from Kentucky’s top tier, some of the regions best barkeeps and noted experts team up to create a raft of whiskey tastings, lectures, experience classes and drink-and-food pairings and dining experiences. Decadent seems like a small word when applied to what develops on a Bourbon Classic agenda.
Feis Ile (Late May/Early June)
It’s hard to find a Scotch lover who doesn’t have a fondness for Islay whiskies, so Feis Ile appears on many whisky enthusiast’s bucket list. For each day of the festival, one of Islay’s eight distilleries plus neighboring Jura hosts an open house, complete with tastings, lectures, entertainment and special events. With most festivals, visiting attendees spend a weekend; at Feis Ile, they spend a vacation.
Kentucky Bourbon Affair (Early-to-Mid June)
Billed as the fantasy camp for bourbon enthusiasts, the festival runs less than a week. Events are hosted by individual distilleries, with most distilleries hosting more than ones, and often combine food and drink with behind the scenes tours and access. Of particular note to bourbon fans are how tours of distilleries not normally open to the public are a regular feature of the festival.
(Credit: Kurt Maitland)
Kentucky Bourbon Festival (September)
Whereas the aforementioned festival is considered Louisville-centric, the Kentucky Bourbon Festival is based in Bardstown. The agenda here mixes some in-depth classes aimed squarely at pros and diehard enthusiasts with art, music, tastings and family fun.
Limburg Whisky Festival (April)
It’s not hard to understand the enduring appeal of this event. It is one of the oldest whisky festivals around (founded in 2002), admission is cheap (€8), and it’s such a fan favorite that attendance is regularly over 5,000 for the weekend. It’s the place where Scotch fans from around the world gather to slap each other on the back and drink too much.
Nashville Whiskey Festival (October)
No list including American Whiskey festivals would be complete without at least one in the country’s second whisky state, Tennessee. Of course, Tennessee only had three distilleries until the craft whiskey boom swept up the state, so it’s playing catch up. This festival is only for one day so far, but it’s well-attended by brands. Besides, whiskey just pairs so well with country music.
Spirit of Speyside (May)
It feels like an understatement to describe Spirit of Speyside as the world’s biggest whisky festival, because this dizzyingly busy event absolutely sprawls across a whole region of Scotland. For Scotch fans, it’s like this: Speyside is where the overwhelming majority of distilleries actually are; each of the five days is so jam packed with events you would need a team effort to attend them all; so, you can go to this event every year for the next decade and still leave stones unturned.
(Credit: Richard Thomas)
Water of Life (September)
Dr. Matthew Lurin’s festival allows attendees to combine fighting cancer with fine whisky. The format is a novel one too, borrowing from “speed dating.” Attendees rotate among the different booths and exhibits, spreading out time and improving access with different brands and industry reps.
Whisky Live Paris (September)
Among the Whisky Live and Whiskyfest events out there, drinks fans have two basic ways to choose what to attend: go to the one closest to you or go to Whisky Live Paris. If you talk to globetrotting members of the business, the event most looked forward to by the most people is this one, and precisely because it is held in the City of Lights. The French love whisky. Whisky people love Paris. It’s a magical combination.
The Whisky Show: Old & Rare (February)
Held in Glasgow and organized by the folks at The Whisky Exchange, this event is quite a contrast to the noise and bustle of a convention or the (wonderful) chaos of a Limburg. It’s quieter, more relaxed atmosphere reflects its focus on old pours, and here “old” doesn’t mean ultra aged (although there are many well-aged whiskies at hand). Instead, the focus is on vintage bottlings. Want to know what the Haig & Haig that was a staple of Ian Fleming’s version of James Bond was like or sample the second-ever bottling of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society? This is where you go.
