Taking on New Adventures

Festival season is upon us here in New Orleans and as always, there are activities upon activities to choose from on any given weekend throughout the spring. One that my husband, Chuck, and I enjoy is the New Orleans Bourbon Festival. In its second year, the Bourbon Festival has grown a bit from year one and this year’s features over 100 bourbons.

As with most festivals in the city featuring alcohol, there are a variety of specialty dinners to choose from. Each pairs a course with a bourbon from a particular distillery. Last year, we hit the Wild Turkey dinner at Bourbon House and had such a great time listening to master distiller Eddie Russell’s stories, that we decided to hit his dinner again.

This year, it was at Calcaiseau, which is a private event space above the famous Cochon restaurant, by Donald Link. And as expected, Eddie had stories. So sipping the excellent Old Fashioned cocktails, made with Wild Turkey, and American 75s, made with American Honey by Wild Turkey, we listened to stories about how the distillers were all friends, yet competitors, how they came up with Russell’s reserve and what makes a good bourbon. Through the 3 course pairing, we tasted different brands of the Wild Turkey family and had some excellent food. And the conversation was worth every penny!

After a day spent working (and dragging a little, to be honest), Chuck and I hit the Friday night grand tasting event at the Contemporary Arts Center. After getting our wristbands, we walked into a bourbon-lover’s kingdom. Booths upon booths housed unique and traditional bourbons from various distilleries across the U.S., although a majority were from Kentucky, as expected. I’m not much of a bourbon drinker (especially straight) but I did my part and tasted my way through more than my fair share of bourbons.

From great food to bourbons I would have never tried in any other setting, this was an event that didn’t just cater to the bourbon lover. It catered to someone like me, who has an interest but isn’t sophisticated enough in my palate or overall knowledge to know exactly what I want based on a label or reputation alone. The setups made it fairly easy for a novice to figure out the brands that you hear of often. But it was nice that those brands brought some unique bottles for us to try.

I was pleasantly surprised at how many I enjoyed this year compared to last. And I actually could taste the flavors some of the distillers were talking about. It’s a small thing, but I was impressed at how much more I enjoyed the experience this year and many of the bourbons I tasted.

One of the great things about New Orleans is that it’s small enough that you’ll run into people you know at almost any event you attend. It’s definitely an added bonus to attending one of the many food, music, alcohol or cultural festivals that goes on throughout the year.