New Orleans Bourbon Festival 2026 LIVE UPDATES
UPDATE 1/24-
Good day to everyone who has been waiting for FAR too long for information on this years New Orleans Bourbon Festival.
We have a metric ton of stuff to go over, and while some things aren’t finalized yet, they will be soon, and I will update you all the moment it happens. Let’s get to it.
The new venue will be at 1 Canal Place. Yes, it’s a mall, that’s connected to the Westin Hotel. Before you think of some dreary mall from Day of the Dead, don’t despair, we have a lot of details for you.
The adjoining Westin Hotel is going to be our host hotel. We will have discounted room links soon, with a festival room block, so no rush to book this instant.
The seminars will be taking place in the Movie Theaters (9 screens!) with comfy stadium seating and audio/visual access to the screens for the presenting brands. No more having to look around folks to see the speaker.
The Grand Tasting will be a very cool affair. We will have access to three connected spaces, the ballroom at the hotel, which empties out into the mall itself, where we will have the entire wing of floor space (it’s a high end mall in case you were wondering) and there’s a short elevator ride and walk to the outside top floor of the parking garage that has a terrific view of downtown New Orleans (right down Canal street) where we will have an Ultimate VIP only tent, cigar lounge, food vendors, brand space, space to hang out, and so much more.
The schedule is as follows-
Wednesday
Load in 7am.
Brand Activations 5-8pm TBA.
Cemetery Tour sponsored by Dark Arts 7-10pm.
NOBF Unofficial Nightcap at The Will and the Way 10pm-?
Thursday
Check-in begins. 830am.
Whiskey Judging 10-4pm.
Chicken Cock kick off party at Barrel Proof (time TBA, either 4-6 or 5-7).
4 Roses Dinner (TBA 7-830pm)
Angel’s Envy Dinner (TBA 7-830pm)
Dark Arts Dinner (TBA 7-830pm)
Second Line to VIP Party (this is a maybe, pending NOPD approval).
VIP Party at the Sazerac House 9-11pm.
NOBF Unofficial Nightcap (TBA) 11-?
Friday
Seminars 10-4pm (presenters and times TBA but we have some very exciting guests to announce!).
VIP Grand Tasting 6-10pm.
Ticketed Grand Tasting 7-10pm.
NOBF Official After Party at the Rusty Nail 10pm-?
Saturday
Seminars 10-4pm.
VIP Grand Tasting 6-10pm.
Ticketed Grand Tasting 7-10pm.
NOBF Official After Party at Barrel Proof 10-?
Now that you’ve seen the schedule you probably have a bunch more questions.
The Cemetery Tour was an absolute smash event last year. Ticket sales will begin soon, and this event has a total capacity of 84 tickets. 3 groups of 26. Starts and ends at Jax Brewery across from Jackson Square. Walk through the French Quarter and see spooky things, and then depart to a cemetery on a night tour, and it’s hosted by Dark Arts. If you were an attendee last year, you may or may not recall how much fun you had.
This years VIP party is being hosted by the incredible local treasure, the Sazerac House. It’s not far from the hotel, and if you’ve never been, well, it’s pretty amazing.
We are trying to get a second line permit to take us all from the hotel to the party. If we don’t get the permit, we might just walk the streets anyway.
So far we have four single barrel selections this year, and it’s quite likely we will add a few others. We have two Four Roses singles, picked by Brent himself (these NEVER miss), Dark Arts, and a delicious Chicken Cock Rye with a NOBF Exclusive label!. We are going to allow preorders via Eventbrite shortly (I can only do so much at once bear with me). If you order, we cannot ship because Louisiana is dumb about that, so you will have to pick them up in person. Pre-orders will have the majority of inventory, and there will only be leftovers at the festival itself. There will be no refunds on these picks if you cannot pick them up, we will consider it a generous donation to charity, since we can’t store them.
We are desperately trying to get an on site permit to allow brands to sell at the festival, but again, Louisiana is dumb about this, and we probably won’t get the permit for this year. Now, there may be some QR codes you can scan to order…..
Ultimate VIP’s can expect to be well cared for this year. Not only are they the judges in the whiskey awards, but they will have exclusive access to the Ultimate VIP area, where there will be a selection of NOBF single barrel bottles they can enjoy, as well as some exclusive special releases that will not make the grand tasting floor. We will be working with brands to have their special secret bottles at the grand tasting to be presented to the Ultimate VIP badge holders without them having to ask if they have something. There will also be a pretty sweet swag bag too. Again, this is for the highest tiered VIP ticket.
We are doing two new T-shirts this year, one will be our standard every year shirt and design (with the year updated), and then we will be doing extremely limited annual shirts that will only be available that year that will have a fun variation from the standard.
We will have discount codes for returning visitors shortly.
We will be inviting stores, bars, restaurants and distributors to attend this year so that the brands can have a chance to make some new contacts. If you’re a store/bar/restaurant/distributor reach out to me so I can get a headcount from you.
Each attending brand will be able to enter one label into the judging competition for free this year. Which means we should see more representation from some smaller brands.
We will be doing a very limited amount of social media passes this year. You can reach out to me directly if you’re interested, but there are terms and conditions for the passes (and we are limiting them to 20 this year) that will require close partnerships and performance verification. Why? Because we want to build out our social media program as we grow, and we want the people on the passes to grow with us, potentially into a long term ambassadorship. To be clear, these will not be paid media passes, but they are all access.
UPDATE 1/6-
Howdy folks, we got a lot to update you on, so check back frequently.
Firstly, I know a lot of you are waiting for the returning attendees discount code. It’s coming. Stay tuned.
We have a new venue for the event, and we cannot wait to share it with you all.
With that, hotel room info and discount code will be posted shortly.
Hint, the entire event (other than parties/events) will be at one location, yes, the grand tasting and the seminars will be in the same spot!!!
It’s a big big change from the Contemporary Arts Center, but it will be still have the great brands and food we’ve all come to love.
UPDATE 10/11-
TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW!
Click the link baby!
UPDATE #4-
Been a minute, we are about to get fast and furious. Here’s what’s coming.
New venue. Yes, new venue. It will not be at the Contemporary Arts Center. We have something in store that should be very cool, and offer a more consolidated event space, that will feature pretty much all things in one location.
It will have an outside food area, that will include seating, as well as outdoor whiskey vendors, think Bulleit and their trailer, as well as an expanded cigar lounge.
There will be indoor space, as well as a craft corner (very small emerging brands), and an inside elevated ballroom showcase.
Seminars will be theatre seating!
There will be offsite events of course. We are hoping to lock in a riverboat experience, a speakeasy event, a poker tournament, as well as some brand activations throughout the week.
Friday after party will be at the Rusty Nail.
Saturday after party will be at Barrel Proof.
There will be a discount code for returning attendees that we hope to post early January. Don't worry if you already bought yours, there will be a credit option.
We should have the hotel code soon too. (hint, it’s spitting distance from Caesars Casino).
We just picked a festival exclusive single barrel from Chicken Cock that is a Rye, and we intend to offer it for pre sale shortly via EventBrite (pickup at festival only, with ID, and no shipping available).
We will also have not one, but TWO single barrel picks from Four Roses that Brent Eliot has picked. We also expect to offer these for pre-sale.
We think we will get a Dark Arts pick, and a Bardstown pick as well, so stay tuned.
We are expecting the return of the cemetery tour!
We hope to include a swamp tour, but this is a long shot for this year.
We are still looking for a really compelling VIP party space, we have some ideas, but nothing solid yet.
Jim Beam will be back this year, you know how I feel about this!!!
Archer Eland will be attending.
There will be really cool Judging VIP ticket swag bags this year. I’m working some very good partners to make this very special.
UPDATE #3-
Hello everyone, time for an update! Last time I added a roadmap, and I’ve updated it, will provide some progress and give some exciting information on the Festival for 2026.
There will be a venue change for 2026! Yes, we figured we would be back at the CAC for the grand tasting, but we are finalizing a new all-in-one location that should excite you. We will announce it the moment the dotted line is signed. As an annual attendee, let me tell you, I am excited for this!
Discount codes for previous attendees will be sent out shortly. We apologize for the delay, if you’ve ever worked with WIX you know it can be problematic.. If you’ve already bought your tickets, fear not, we will be able to apply the discount and refund you, or you can donate the difference directly to the charity.
This will be the updates page until after the 2026 festival. The official website will reflect that, and link to this page. I already have the bones of the new website built (debuts post festival 2026) and it looks fresh and user friendly.
UPDATE #2-
Ok, this is kinda cool I guess. This clown (meaning me) is now running the official New Orleans Bourbon Festival Website.
Please don’t expect a complete overhaul of the site before the festival in 2026. Not going to happen. It’s Wix. It’s bloated and messy. However, you can expect to at long last see live updates on the official website. I will be duplicating things here, simply because this page keeps showing up on Google so I don’t want the festival to miss any traffic.
Here’s my roadmap-
Live Updates section on official site. Due 8/7. COMPLETE.
Simplifying Attendee Contact Page (no more form submitting, a direct email link contact to the festival organizers. Due 8/14. COMPLETE.
Adding Vendor only contact info. COMPLETE.
Removing redundant FAQ page and turning it into a relevant FAQ. COMPLETE.
Prepare links and information for ticket sales. COMPLETE
Merchandise site. TBA
Hotel information. Coming soon!
Brand Lineup. TBA.
Food / Vendor lineup. TBA.
Seminar lineup and schedule. TBA.
Events schedule. TBA.
Map of Venue. TBA.
Website overhaul. Summer 2026.
UPDATE #1-
Well I guess it’s time to start this up again.
Here are the dates for 2026-
March 18th-22nd, 2026.
Get ready for the potential of a very different update page.