The lineup has been announced for this year’s Bourbon & Beyond festival, which is returning Sept. 22-23 to Louisville, Ky.’s Champions Park. The music lineup for this year’s event is like the playlist for a Classic Rock radio station, with Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters, Sting, Lenny Kravitz and David Byrne among the acts topping the bill.
Other big names for this year’s music/food/bourbon celebration include John Mayer, Counting Crows, Sheryl Crow and Brian Setzer. Kaleo, Gov’t Mule, Keb’ Mo’, Blackberry Smoke, JJ Grey & Mofro, The Record Company, Del McCoury Band, Joseph, Magpie Salute and others round out the bill. There will also be a Bluegrass stage curated by The Bluegrass Situation featuring The Travelin’ McCourys, Billy Strings, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Ben Sollee, River Whyless and Lindsay Lou.
Described as “the world’s largest bourbon festival,” the inaugural festival last year drew around 50,000 attendees. On the bourbon side, there will be a vast variety on hand to sample, from vintage bourbons dating back to the ’30s and two dozen bourbons selected by “bourbon curator” Fred Minnick to a range of craft bourbon selections.
The food component of this year's Bourbon & Beyond looks strong, as well. The food demonstrations and presentations will be “headlined” by Tom Colicchio, head judge on Top Chef, which is filming its 16th season in Louisville.
Here’s the rest of the foodie superstars scheduled to appear:
● Edward Lee (Executive Chef for 610 Magnolia, MilkWood, and Whiskey Dry in Louisville; Culinary Director for Succotash in National Harbor, M.D. and Washington, D.C.)
● Stephanie Izard (Chef/Partner at Girl & the Goat, Little Goat Diner and Duck Duck Goat in Chicago; Iron Chef Gauntlet winner)
● Aarón Sánchez (Chef/Owner at Johnny Sánchez in New Orleans; MasterChef judge)
● Ray Garcia (Chef/Owner at Broken Spanish and BS Taqueria in Los Angeles)
● Damaris Phillips (Louisville native, Food Network host, cookbook author)
● Akhtar Nawab (Louisville native, Chef/Owner at Alta Calidad in New York City, Fero in Birmingham and Prather’s on the Alley in Washington, D.C.)
● Alex Thomopoulos (Chef, blogger, Bravo.com’s Going Off The Menu)
● Jose Salazar (Chef/Owner at Mita's and Salazar in Cincinnati; 2018 James Beard Foundation nominee)
● Anthony Lamas (Chef/Owner at Seviche, a Latin Restaurant in Louisville)
● Annie Pettry (Chef/Owner at Decca in Louisville)
Tickets go on sale Friday at noon. Visit bourbonandbeyond.com for complete details.
