Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame Ceremony Cancelled…Again

The Kentucky Distillers’ Association (KDA) announced yesterday that the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame ceremony for 2021 has been cancelled due to Covid-19 concerns.  The event was also cancelled in 2020.   

KDA President Eric Gregory acknowledges that vaccination rates are increasing and positivity rates and cases are declining in Kentucky, yet “the KDA Board of Directors does not want to diminish this elite event or take a chance and possibly endanger any of our industry’s legends, their families or friends”. 

Gregory went on to say, “We talked about virtual, but it would lose too much of the event’s prestige and intimacy”.   

While I can understand concerns about “our industry’s legends” and the desire to not go completely virtual, I do not understand the decision to cancel altogether.  In the last week we have seen in-person occasions such as The Oscars ceremony and the NFL Draft take place.   The successful completion of these high-profile events combined with the fact that the Kentucky Bourbon Festival itself is moving forward as an in-person event only make the complete cancellation of the Hall of Fame ceremony more puzzling.   

Surely the KDA could craft a hybrid virtual-live event for this year’s ceremony.  A “virtual” format to protect the industry’s legends and a “live” format to honor new, deserving inductees would seem reasonable in the current environment.  

While a hybrid format may not be preferred, it is a better option than failing to recognize the industry contributions of prospective nominees for the second consecutive year.   After all, according to the KDA website, the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame was created “to recognize individuals and organizations that have made a significant impact on Bourbon’s stature, growth and awareness”.  That doesn’t happen without a ceremony.  That doesn’t happen without honoring new inductees.