Music and bourbon have gone hand in hand since the whiskey itself was invented. Nothing is more enjoyable than firing up your favorite artist and sipping on your favorite bourbon in the waning hours of late summer. There’s something magical that happens when you inundate your senses with your favorite things all at once.

The whole experience becomes even better when you can do this while listening to live music. That’s why we’re excited to announce that we’ll be traveling down to Louisville, KY to attend and participate in the 2019 Bourbon & Beyond festival taking place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, September 20 - 22. Both the artist lineup and bourbon selection look great, and we’re excited to experience it all in person. With the festival only weeks away, we had the opportunity to catch up with Fred Minnick, who has been curating the bourbon portion of the festival since it started in 2017.

Breaking Bourbon: Fred, what's your official role in Bourbon & Beyond?

Fred: I'm a co-founder in it, and the curator of the festival. I curate the culinary and bourbon stuff. Less on the culinary, but 100% on the bourbon. I come up with some ideas on the food side. But really everything in the bourbon...that's my footprint...that's like my baby. Especially the panels, I came up with all those. And that's kind of what I do every year. And then I also do promotions for the festival and drink with the artists and stuff, teach them how to taste bourbon...things like that.

Breaking Bourbon: How did you initially get involved in Bourbon & Beyond?

Fred: I am just really a bourbon geek and there is nothing more. I really didn't have it in my plans of breaking into super mainstream stuff. But the more I saw the impact I could have on regular everyday consumers, the more I wanted to do that kind of stuff. I can have more support and have a bigger impact and that’s really what Bourbon & Beyond has. It transformed me a little bit.

Breaking Bourbon: Ok. So you talked about the food aspect and the stage aspect. But what makes Bourbon & Beyond different than other music festivals that attendees might go to?

Fred: There are a lot of festivals that will have some kind of a drink component to it, or food component. But you go there and there is no connection to the food or drink, it's just there. And the food may be good, and the drink may be good. But there's no one there to talk about it. There's no one there to say what it is. And it's a real myth, in my opinion, for a lot of music festivals to have that, because it doesn't matter what the genre is, people who go to music festivals and listen to concerts, they are usually more on the affluent side.

So it is usually the people who listen to the likes of the Foo Fighters, Leon Bridges -  that's your affluent crowd that has a college degree and is out spending money. So I think that's what Bourbon & Beyond is, it is legitimately a bourbon festival. It really is. If you look at our panels for the last three years, those panels have been some of the most engaging in the industry. Last year I got Fred Noe and Jeff Arnett on the stage...Jack Daniels and Jim Beam, a huge rivalry. And no whiskey event in America [has] ever done that. And this year, we have a panel on the history of slavery and American whiskey as a topic...that most people don't want to discuss...but we think it's important.

I'd say what really makes us different, is that there is a thoughtfulness for every square inch of the festival. And specifically on the bourbon. This is one of bourbon’s best chances to convert a French consumer into a fan [for example]. And its happened. I mean, the first year there were truckloads of Eddie Vedder fans, and none of them were bourbon drinkers. And then in the middle of his set, they would go to the big bourbon bar, and then get a cocktail.

But also on the culinary side, we're bringing the people who are on Top Chef, who are the celebrity chefs, and they're kind of like their own rock stars right now. And we're bringing them to the table We're bringing them to people to meet. [For example, there are] a lot of Graham Elliot fans out there. So you bring in that kind of talent, and you know, this festival just stands out so much. [It’s] so much bigger than a lot of those that try to do something like it.

Breaking Bourbon: The last two years have been two day festival. This will be the first three day festival, which means even more bourbon and music for everyone, right? So what type of bourbon experiences can festival attendees expect when they go to Bourbon & Beyond?

Fred: So kind of the whole market would be big bourbon bar, where you go in there and it’s the size of a football field….like spans the whole thing. You know you can get bourbon or you can get a cocktail. There [are also] Tiki components, [as in] there will be bourbon Tiki. You'll find little hidden bars throughout the festival. There's a lot of effort to pair the food with the bourbon. You'll see some fun pizza and bourbon opportunities. But probably one of the coolest for our particular audience is what we call the Hunter Bar. And that's the element that Silver Dollar operates and they're bringing in a bunch of vintage stuff and then bringing in some [feral] pigs and stuff. And then you've got my minibar, which the minibar is the bar where we bring in the craft spirits. I've got Wilderness Trail, MB Roland, and Bluegrass Pillars and then we're also going to put all of our barrel picks in there. And we've partnered with Kroger this year as our retailer. And when I tell you - they were like “Hey, can we do barrel pics for the festival?” I was thinking we might do like five or six. That turned into about 12 to 15!

Breaking Bourbon: It really sounds like at Bourbon & Beyond you can be any experience level with bourbon to really appreciate that.

Fred: Yeah. We definitely have something for the geeks, the panels would get you. But the music draws in such a non-bourbon drinker. In fact, the majority of people who come, like 70%, are from outside of Louisville. And so I think we will have 20 countries, we will have people from almost all the states, we'll have people from everywhere at this festival. And what we're trying to do is to get this [to] where people talk about it like they do Coachella. This is an incredible festival, an incredible lineup, and bourbon is the headline. Bourbon is literally the headliner...star of the show. And when people walk in, they see all this stuff, they listen to music, and they're like, WOW! And they want to come back and they want to do more. It is a very, very important festival for bourbon.

Breaking Bourbon: What have you learned from your last two go-arounds, helping curate Bourbon & Beyond, that you plan on incorporating into this year's event?

Fred: I'd say what I personally learned is that...I am trying to give the people who come the best possible bourbon experience. It's really refreshing to me to see the new blood of fans come in before we're able to taint them and while they're still pure. So Bourbon & Beyond is kind of like the new wave of consumers before we've had a chance to...you know...what's the word I'm looking for...manipulate them into being crotchety curmudgeons.

Breaking Bourbon: Speaking of the music aspect, do you have any fun stories about the last two festivals of converting any musicians into bourbon drinkers, or getting to hang out and really influence the artists into looking at bourbon in a different light?

Fred: Oh, yeah! The first year, I hung out with ZZ Ward, and I taught her about bourbon and tasting and all that, and she fell in love with it. Same with Sean James, a really brilliant blues player. And it was magnificent. Sean and I stayed in touch. ZZ...she's like...she's blowing up. But last year, with the rain, I hung out with David Byrne who was one of the headliners. And we drank some Kentucky Ale 9 and some other stuff. But he was cool. And he is very, very much like he was on stage, very eclectic and unique.

Breaking Bourbon: Very cool. And is there anyone this year that you're looking forward to seeing and trying to drink bourbon with, or just influence them into looking at bourbon in a different way?

Fred: Yeah. The obvious answers are [people] like Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters. The person I am really most excited to talk to is Willie Nelson's boy, Lucas Nelson. He's an amazing musician...amazing. And I think he gets overshadowed for the fact that he's Willie Nelson's boy. I am a big fan of his, so that's probably who I'm most excited to meet. And of course, we've got the other two festivals. Louder Than Life is the next weekend. And the headliner for that is Guns N’ Roses. I am not gonna lie, I'd love a sip of bourbon with Slash.

Breaking Bourbon: Wrapping up, you know a lot of people want to know when can we expect you to launch Vodka & Beyond?

Fred: So much funny about that. I tried to do a panel on vodka this year, and I couldn't get anyone from the vodka world to join me on the bench. So it's not like I didn't try to give it a presence at Bourbon & Beyond. I was like, “Hey, you guys, you have like an hour to convince me vodka is good. I mean, come on, you know...” but I think in their hearts they just know, they know they are inferior. But there's vodka there. If you are a vodka fan you will find plenty I am sure.

Breaking Bourbon: Final plug for Bourbon & Beyond this year?

Fred: If you can find me and I've got five minutes to spare, I'll have a bourbon with you. I really, truly mean that. I'm busy at this thing, I have things to do, but I really truly and genuinely enjoy just hanging out with people. And you know, I've got to pace myself. What I learned last year...I also shot my Amazon Prime show there...what I learned there is I need to make a little bit more time for hanging out with our people.