Bullitt County Kentucky Wine, Whiskey and Ale Fest Festival
On the Saturday before the Kentucky Derby, Shepherdsville sets out its glasses. The county seat of Bullitt County hosts a tasting festival that gathers the nine partners of the county’s Wine, Whiskey & Ale Trail in a single place, turning a route that normally takes days of driving into one afternoon of pouring. Distillers, winemakers and ale makers who usually welcome visitors at their own premises stand side by side, with live music playing and food close at hand, and the money taken for tastings goes to a local nonprofit.
The event reaches print under a slightly different name from the one on this page. A county tourism layer and the city government site call it the Wine, Whiskey & Ale Fest, spelling the joining word with an ampersand, while a county tourism event listing lengthens it to the Wine, Whiskey & Ale Trail Fest and a city government layer drops the comma to print Wine Whiskey & Ale Fest. No layer read prints the comma-and-and form carried in this article’s title, so readers searching for the day should look under the ampersand.
About
The fest is hosted by the City of Shepherdsville together with the Shepherdsville/Bullitt County Tourist & Convention Commission, and both county tourism and city government layers carry that pairing of hosts. Shepherdsville is the county seat of Bullitt County, and the county tourism layer places the festival in the downtown district, behind the County Courthouse. The editions documented for two thousand twenty-four, two thousand twenty-five and two thousand twenty-six are placed by city and tourism layers at Shepherdsville City Park, on the grounds along Frank E. Simon Avenue, so the recent home of the event is the city park rather than the courthouse lawn.
Its place in the year never moves, even though its date does. The county tourism layer describes an annual event held on the Saturday before the Kentucky Derby, which anchors the festival to the approach of the race without fixing it to a numbered day. The three most recent editions in the record fell on the twenty-seventh of April two thousand twenty-four, the twenty-sixth of April two thousand twenty-five and the twenty-fifth of April two thousand twenty-six. The day also raises money as it pours, because the tourism layer states that all tasting proceeds are donated to a local nonprofit.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
| Published name | Wine, Whiskey & Ale Fest |
| Other printed forms | Wine, Whiskey & Ale Trail Fest; Wine Whiskey & Ale Fest |
| Host town | Shepherdsville, the county seat of Bullitt County |
| Recent venue | Shepherdsville City Park, on the Frank E. Simon Avenue grounds |
| Earlier description | Downtown Shepherdsville, behind the County Courthouse |
| Hosts | City of Shepherdsville and the Shepherdsville/Bullitt County Tourist & Convention Commission |
| Place in the year | The Saturday before the Kentucky Derby |
| Documented editions | April of two thousand twenty-four, two thousand twenty-five and two thousand twenty-six |
| Pouring partners | The nine partners of the Wine, Whiskey & Ale Trail |
| Programme | Tastings, live music and food, with tasting proceeds donated to a local nonprofit |
History
No layer read gives the festival a founding year, a first edition or an anniversary count, and this account invents none. What the record does show is a settled annual rhythm: the county tourism layer treats the event as a recurring fixture tied to Derby week, and the city government and tourism layers document it in detail for three consecutive years, two thousand twenty-four through two thousand twenty-six.
For a useful comparison, see the Bullitt County Kentucky Bullitt Blast Festival for another county festival.
Across those three documented editions, the shape of the day shifted in small ways. In two thousand twenty-four the city government layer set the hours from three in the afternoon to eight in the evening at Shepherdsville City Park, with live music, food trucks and yard games. The two thousand twenty-five edition, carried by the city government site and the tourism layer, kept the same three-to-eight span, and that year’s tasting proceeds were directed to a veterans’ nonprofit named in the layers. For two thousand twenty-six, a county tourism event listing moved the day earlier, from eleven in the morning to four in the afternoon. The festival’s terms changed over the same span, as the admission notes below show, so each year’s arrangements are best read on their own.
What to Expect
Nine producers do the pouring, and the lineup is the point of the day. The nine partners of the county’s Wine, Whiskey & Ale Trail bring their bottles to one ground. The distilleries among them are James B. Beam Distilling Co., Four Roses Warehouse & Bottling and Coxs Creek Distilling Co. The wineries number four: Brooks Hill Winery, Crume Haven Winery, Forest Edge Winery and Wight-Meyer Winery. Ale partners complete the nine. A taster can move from whiskey to wine to ale within a short walk, comparing producers who are scattered across the county for the rest of the year.
The current county tourism price list describes how the tasting runs. An armband buys a souvenir cup and samples from all nine partners, so the circuit is built into the ticket rather than sold pour by pour. Around the tasting tables, the documented editions add live music and food: the two thousand twenty-four city government layer lists food trucks and yard games alongside the music, and the tourism and city layers describe food as part of the day in the other documented years. The setting is an outdoor park ground, so the afternoon has the feel of a fair as much as a tasting room, with the Derby a week away and the county’s own produce at the centre of it.
Planning Your Visit
One date governs everything else: the Saturday before the Kentucky Derby. Because the Derby moves, the festival moves with it, landing in late April in each of the three documented years. Hours move too. Two thousand twenty-four and two thousand twenty-five ran from three in the afternoon to eight in the evening, while the two thousand twenty-six listing ran from eleven in the morning to four in the afternoon, so checking the current year’s listing matters more than remembering a previous year’s times.
Admission terms are printed in two snapshots that this account keeps separate. The county tourism layer’s current price list sets an entry fee of ten dollars, waived for anyone who buys a tasting armband; the armband itself costs twenty dollars on the day or fifteen dollars bought in advance, and a designated-driver option is priced at five dollars. The same layer states that the tasting proceeds are donated to a local nonprofit. The city government layer for two thousand twenty-four describes a different arrangement for that year: entry was free, and tasting ran on a ten-dollar tasting card. Neither snapshot should be read onto the other’s year.
The festival lasts a single day, with no second date to fall back on, and the tourism event listing prints a telephone number for the organiser for anyone who needs to confirm details before travelling. Buying armbands ahead of the day saves five dollars apiece against the gate price on the current list.
A Sample Itinerary
For an edition running from eleven in the morning to four in the afternoon, as the two thousand twenty-six listing did, a workable shape looks like this. Arrive a little before the opening hour, buy armbands at the gate or collect the ones bought in advance, and pick up the souvenir cup. Give the first hour to the distilleries, when the ground is quietest: James B. Beam Distilling Co., Four Roses Warehouse & Bottling and Coxs Creek Distilling Co. Break at midday for food and a first stretch of live music. Spend the early afternoon with the four wineries, Brooks Hill, Crume Haven, Forest Edge and Wight-Meyer, then finish the circuit with the ale partners. Leave the last half hour for a return to whichever pour impressed most, and for the food stalls, before the four o’clock close. Groups who nominate a designated driver can build the day around that person’s five-dollar option on the current price list and let the tasters work through all nine partners without hurrying.
The Fest and the Trail
The festival is easily confused with the thing it samples, so the distinction is worth drawing plainly. The Wine, Whiskey & Ale Trail is a year-round, self-guided route: the same nine partners, visited at their own premises, at the traveller’s own pace, across as many days as the trip allows. The fest is a single day on which those partners leave home and pour together in Shepherdsville, with music, food and a crowd around them. One is a route; the other is an occasion. On the trail, each tasting happens where the drink is made; at the fest, the making stays home and only the pouring travels. A visitor who enjoys the festival’s circuit can repeat it slowly along the trail later in the year, and a trail traveller who wants the producers gathered instead of scattered waits for Derby-eve Saturday.
Checklist
- Confirm the year’s date by finding the Saturday before the Kentucky Derby.
- Check the current listing for that year’s hours, which began at eleven in the morning in one documented edition and at three in the afternoon in two others.
- Decide who tastes and who drives before setting out.
- Buy tasting armbands in advance where the current price list offers the fifteen-dollar rate.
- Remember the entry fee on the current list: ten dollars, waived with an armband.
- Plan time for all nine partners, not only the familiar names.
- Leave room for food and a full stretch of live music between tastings.
- Note that tasting proceeds go to a local nonprofit, so the armband doubles as a donation.
Beyond the Festival
Once the armband comes off, the county still has the originals. The nine partners pour at their own premises through the year along the Wine, Whiskey & Ale Trail, the self-guided route from which the festival draws its lineup, so any favourite found on the day can be revisited where it is made. Shepherdsville itself, as county seat, holds the courthouse downtown that the tourism layer names in its description of the festival’s setting. The festival’s date ties the town to the wider Derby season as well: the following Saturday belongs to the race itself, which makes the fest a local first act to Kentucky’s most watched week, and a reason to stay in Bullitt County rather than pass through it.
Why the Festival Matters
For a small county seat, gathering every one of its drinks producers into a single ground is a statement about what the county makes. Whiskey, wine and ale are poured by the people who produce them, and the nine-partner lineup gives Bullitt County a shop window that no single premises could match. The charitable design matters too: the tourism layer states that all tasting proceeds are donated to a local nonprofit, and in two thousand twenty-five the recipient named in the layers was a veterans’ nonprofit, so the afternoon’s drinking is organised to leave money behind in the community. Set on the Saturday before the Derby, the fest also claims a share of the state’s biggest sporting week for a town that visitors might otherwise only drive through on their way to the race.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the printed name use an ampersand when this title spells out “and”?
Because that is how the record prints it. The county tourism layer and the city government site publish the event as the Wine, Whiskey & Ale Fest, a county tourism event listing calls it the Wine, Whiskey & Ale Trail Fest, and a city government layer prints Wine Whiskey & Ale Fest without the comma. The comma-and-and form, and the county prefix, belong to this page’s title rather than to any layer read.
Which producers pour at the festival?
The nine partners of the county’s Wine, Whiskey & Ale Trail. The distilleries are James B. Beam Distilling Co., Four Roses Warehouse & Bottling and Coxs Creek Distilling Co.; the four wineries are Brooks Hill Winery, Crume Haven Winery, Forest Edge Winery and Wight-Meyer Winery; ale partners complete the nine.
What does a tasting armband include?
On the county tourism layer’s current price list, the armband includes a souvenir cup and samples from all nine partners. It costs twenty dollars on the day or fifteen dollars bought in advance, and buying one also removes the ten-dollar entry fee. The same layer states that all tasting proceeds are donated to a local nonprofit.
How did admission work at the two thousand twenty-four edition?
Differently. The city government layer for that year states the event was free to attend, with tasting run through a ten-dollar tasting card. Those terms belong to two thousand twenty-four alone; the current tourism price list prints its own figures, and the two sets are recorded separately rather than merged.
What to Expect From the Next Bullitt County Kentucky Wine, Whiskey and Ale Fest Festival
How often is Bullitt County Kentucky Wine, Whiskey and Ale Fest Festival held?
The county tourism layer describes an annual event fixed to the Saturday before the Kentucky Derby, so a new edition arrives each spring on that Derby-eve Saturday, hosted in Shepherdsville by the city and the tourist commission.
When is the next Bullitt County Kentucky Wine, Whiskey and Ale Fest Festival?
By the documented pattern, the next edition falls on the Saturday before the next Kentucky Derby, following the most recent documented edition on the twenty-fifth of April two thousand twenty-six. The year’s hours and grounds are best confirmed against the county tourism listing nearer the day, since both have changed between documented editions.
Will the dates change?
The day of the week and its place in the season are the fixed points: a Saturday, one week before the Derby. The numbered date moves with the race, and the hours have moved too, running three to eight in two thousand twenty-four and two thousand twenty-five but eleven to four in two thousand twenty-six, so the pattern is stable while the details are set fresh each year.
Closing
One Saturday, nine producers, a souvenir cup and a good cause: the Wine, Whiskey & Ale Fest compresses a county’s worth of pouring into a single Shepherdsville afternoon, and sends the proceeds to charity as the Derby crowd gathers. For anyone who wants Bullitt County’s distilleries, wineries and ale makers introduced in one place, there is no shorter route.
