Barrel Secrets... Revealed!

Join Bourbon Women Kentucky and Bourbon Authority and Director of Education at Buzzard's Roost Susan Reigler as she reveals the secrets of the barrel and how it forms the taste of the amber liquid, we all love. The event will begin with a sample welcome cocktail and lite bites. This experience takes you deeper inside the barrel to unlock the secrets of how precision toasting and charring coax specific flavors out of individual barrels. During this interactive experience, we'll put your senses to the test as you discover the range of aromas and flavors that barrels can impart to whiskey along with the chemistry behind those flavors. Then enjoy a guided tasting of three featured Buzzard's Roost whiskey's along with a signature chocolate truffle.

About Buzzard’s Roost

Buzzard’s Roost Sipping Whiskey started in 2019, after Judy Hollis Jones and Jason Brauner met while doing a barrel pick. As the two got to know each other, an idea started to form.

“Let’s start our own bourbon brand!” they said. They knew they wanted Buzzard’s Roost to be not just exceptional but unique. So they turned to a trusted barrel expert at Independent Stave Company, who worked with them to create proprietary barrels for secondary maturation. It was decided to use Char #1 on all their barrels, to let the whiskey access the oak influence more easily. It was also decided to season that oak for at least 18 months (6 months is the norm for other brands). And finally, they developed a series of exclusive toast profiles to coax out specific characteristics from the oak, bringing rare flavor combinations to every Buzzard’s Roost Sipping Whiskey.

Today, Buzzard’s Roost Sipping Whiskey is built around six core expressions and special limited release whiskies are launched several times a year. Buzzard’s Roost Sipping Whiskey can be found online, in 20 markets and at the Buzzard’s Roost Whiskey Row Experience in downtown Louisville. Their shared goal for Buzzard’s Roost is to redefine what American whiskey can be through innovation, experience and – like a buzzard – sharp, long-range vision.

About Susan Reigler

From 1992 to 2005, Reigler was restaurant critic and beverage columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal. Currently she is a contributing writer to Bourbon+, American Whiskey Magazine (for which she writes whiskey tasting notes and ratings), LEO Weekly, and is bourbon columnist for Food & Dining and Covey Rise magazines. Reigler is past president of the Bourbon Women Association and has hosted tastings and been featured in whiskey festivals throughout the United States, including in Chicago, New Orleans, Savannah, Seattle, Louisville, and Smithfield, Virginia. From 2020 to 2021 she served as president of Kentucky chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, an organization of women culinary professionals. She is a Certified Executive Bourbon Steward, a member of the Order of the Writ, and a graduate of Indiana and Oxford Universities. In 2022 she received the Lois Matus Award from the Kentucky Distillers’ Association and Bourbon Women. Susan also serves as Director of Whiskey Education at Buzzard's Roost.

Must be 21 to participate. Please sip responsibly.

Registration deadline is April 19. No refunds after that date.

Tickets are limited – register early as they will go fast!

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$40 Bourbon Women Members - enter your email address in the Promo Code box and select Apply to reveal tickets.

$60 Nonmember Tickets

$100 Bundle Tickets - includes your event ticket and a one-year Bourbon Women Membership (a $75 value).

There is street parking on Main Street near the Buzzard's Roost Whiskey Row Experience. There are parking garages nearby at the 21c Hotel on 7th Street or the garage at 120 South 6th Street.

Host or Publisher Bourbon Women