Dive Brief:
- More than a half-million tourists visited the bourbon distilleries of Kentucky in 2013 — a 12% rise from the prior year.
- At the center of the bourbon tour craze is the Kentucky Bourbon Trail — a marketing effort with participation from such giants of the industry as Wild Turkey, Jim Beam and Marker's Mark.
- Tourism has grown so quickly since the Trail began in 1999 that distilleries are expanding to serve the crowds. Wild Turkey is opening a new visitor center this year to handle an expected 70,000 visitors.
Dive Insight:
Years and years ago, when we lived in Winston-Salem, N.C., we met a family who had come to town just to see the place where they made Goody's Headache Powder. And they were leaving town quite disappointed after learning that the Goody's plant, a nondescript building on the outskirts of the Old Salem community, didn't offer tours.
We remember thinking a) why would anyone want to see a headache powder factory?, b) why would anyone think there were tours available of such a place?, and c) what is wrong with these people?
The answers, it turns out were a) because Nascar legend Richard Petty was Goody's spokesperson, b) "Richard Petty is about the most down-to-earth fella you'd ever want to meet. Why, you can just stop by his garage most anytime and Richard himself will come out and talk to the kids and let 'em try on his hat and such, so we just figured the Goody's people might could be like Richard," and c) they had an underdeveloped sense of cynicism.
Our guess is that the folks on the bourbon tour are much like that family — good, solid, Americans who love good, solid American brands and figure that consuming a brand is much like having a friend. Folks on the bourbon tour, we suspect, are not particularly cynical.
We would never fit in.