Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., speaks before a gathering to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail at the Frazier History Museum in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, June 20, 2024. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., speaks before a gathering to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail at the Frazier History Museum in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, June 20, 2024. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky.
“The Kentucky Bourbon Trail now is a global, bucket-list tourism destination,” Eric Gregory, president of the distillers’ association, said as industry leaders gathered for the announcement. Now those tours are consolidating. The new tourism and marketing strategy was unveiled in Louisville — the gateway to bourbon tourism. They also announced a new logo and a new digital marketing campaign to help tourists plan bourbon trips to the state.
“Now that the KDA has put us all on the same trail, I think that sort of thinking will stop and we’ll be looked at as just another distillery, which is great for us,” she added. Any big bourbon announcement in Kentucky typically draws a bevy of the state’s political leaders. On Thursday, industry leaders were joined by Democratic Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, who co-chairs the Congressional Bourbon Caucus.“There’s so much opportunity in the export market for Kentucky bourbon,” Barr said.