The 2023 Tailspin Ale Fest date has not been announced yet. The last event was on March 5, 2022.
Though latecomers to the industry, the Kentucky craft beer scene has shot up in the past decade. With the Tailspin Ale Fest, the state now has a top-ranked beer festival to match. The festival turns the Bowman Field airport in Louisville into an outdoor celebration of all the bourbon-cum-beer state has to offer. Over 75 craft beers have a presence at the festival, and the Kentucky Heritage section showcases locally made brews. While attendees sip, they can get up close with vintage planes and helicopters, throw an axe and dance in a silent disco with hundreds of their beer-loving friends. As for food, there’s local food trucks and, for those who need to sop up the alcohol in their stomachs on a moment’s notice, pretzel necklaces.
The Specs
- 4,500 people have attended in the past.
- Tickets are available in two levels: General Admission and VIP. General Admission tickets cost $50.
The list of of beers from the 2022 event:
• Abita Mardi Gras Bock
• Abita PB & Jams
• Abita Purple Haze
• Abita Strawberry Lager
• Ace Blood Orange Cider
• Against the Grain A Beer
• Against the Grain Bo & Luke Chocolate Bar
• Against the Grain Double Dry Hopped Rico Sauvin
• Against the Grain Fish Boi Strawberry Rhubarb Ale
• Against the Grain Fresh Cut Mango Sour
• Against the Grain London Balling Barrel Aged Barleywine
• Against the Grain Loo a Vuhl Pale Ale
• Akasha Brewing – TBD
• Apocalypse Beer Works Irish Red
• Apocalypse Beer Works Light Lager
• Apocalypse Beer Works Porter
• Apocalypse Beer Works Session IPA
• Ash & Elm Cider – TBD
• Atrium Blueberry Lemon Cake Boy
• Atrium Local NEIPA variant with Pineapple
• Atrium O’Beer Fruited Sour
• Atrium Peanut Butter Lil’ Devil Guy Variant
• Austin East Blood Orange Cider
• Bearded Iris Attention Please
• Bearded Iris Everclever
• Bearded Iris Homestyle
• Bell’s Hopslam
• Bell’s Kalamazoo Stout
• Bell’s Merlot Barrel-Aged Wild One
• Bell’s No, Yeah
• Bell’s Official Hazy IPA
• Bell’s Wild Spruce Chase IPA
• Bell’s Two Hearted Ale
• Blake’s El Chavo Mango Habanero Cider
• Blake’s Paloma Cider
• Blake’s Strawberry Lemon Cider
• Blake’s Triple Jam Cider
• Blue Stallion Brewing Infinite Wave NEIPA
• Blue Stallion Brewing Kama Sutra Coffee Porter
• Blue Stallion Brewing The Kolsch of Conn
• Braxton Dark Charge Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout in Castle & Key
• Braxton Garage Beer Lager
• Braxton Scooter Blood Orange Radler
• Braxton Switch IPA
• Brooklyn Brewing Black Chocolate Stout
• Brooklyn Brewing Winter Ale
• Butchertown Brewing Banana Pastry Sour
• Butchertown Brewing Berry Hugs Sour
• Butchertown Brewing Juice Hazy IPA
• Chimera Evolution Bourbon Barrel Porter
• Chimera Tracker Witbier
• Chimera Winter Sour
• Ciderboys Blackberry Wild Cider
• Ciderboys Strawberry Magic Cider
• Cidergeist Snug Spiced Cider
• Cidergeist Zappy Semi Dry Cider
• Cigar City Guayabera Citra Pale Ale
• Cigar City Maduro Brown Ale
• Country Boy Bourbon Barrel Aged Nate’s Coffee Stout
• Country Boy Cougar Bait Blonde Ale
• Country Boy Orange Cream Cider
• Country Boy Prime Directive Hazy IPA
• Country Boy Shotgun Wedding Vanilla Brown Ale
• Country Boy Super Premium Lager
• Country Lager con Lima
• Deschutes Black Butte Porter
• Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA
• Deschutes Whiskey Butte Barrel Aged Porter
• Dogfish Head Wild Hop
• Dreaming Creek Kentucky Common
• Dreaming Creek Natural Bridge IPA
• DuClaw Brewing Sour Me Pomegranate, Passion Fruit, & Plum Sour Ale
• DuClaw Brewing Sweet Baby Java Coffee Chocolate Porter
• DuClaw Brewing Sweet Baby Jesus Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter
• DuClaw Brewing The PastryArchy Macchiato Milk Stout
• Ethereal Baba Yaga
• Ethereal Fad-Tastic NEIPA
• Ethereal Throwback Pils
• Falls City Moon Fuel
• Falls City Sun Streak IPA
• Falls City Upside Down Weather Sour Ale
• Fat Head’s Bumbleberry
• Fat Head’s Headhunter
• Fat Head’s St. Fatty’s Irish Ale
• Fifty West Coast to Coast IPA
• Fifty West Ocean City Strawberry Gose
• Fifty West Over Yonder
• Flying Dog Royal Crush Orange Wheat Ale
• Flying Dog Tropical Bitch Belgian Style IPA with Pineapple
• Flying Dog Vicious Hook Fruit Punch Sour Ale
• Flywheel Island Boi Pineapple Hazy IPA
• Flywheel Plum-diddleyumptious Plum & Apricot Sour
• Flywheel Wheat Ale
• Founders Brewing All Day HAZE
• Founders Brewing Frootwood Maple Bourbon Barrel Aged Cherry Ale
• Founders Brewing Porter
• Fretboard Improv West Coast IPA
• Fretboard Sapphire Haze NEIPA
• Fretboard Vlad Pilsner
• Gallant Fox Derby City Haze IPA
• Gallant Fox Jamburana Raspberry Milk Stout Aged on Amburana Wood
• Gallant Fox Key Lime Pie Sour
• Goodwood Brewing Bourbon Barrel Stout
• Goodwood Brewing IPA
• Goodwood Peach Sour
• Gordon Biersch Hefeweizen
• Gordon Biersch Roggenbier Collab with Hometown Brewing
• Gordon Biersch Weizenbock Collab with TenTwenty Brewing
• Gravely Brewing Doc’s Hefe
• Gravely Brewing Smoke Signals Rauchbier
• Gravely Brewing Wave of Mutilation NEIPA
• Great Lakes Bourbon Barrel Aged Alberta Clipper
• Great Lakes Bourbon Barrel Aged Tripel
• Great Lakes Conways Irish Red Ale
• Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
• Great Lakes Tropicoastal IPA
• Hive & Barrel Elderberry Cider
• Hive & Barrel PB&J Mead
• Hive & Barrel Peach Apricot Cider
• HiWire 10W40 Coffee Chocolate Vanilla Imperial Stout
• HiWire Mountain Water
• HiWire Dry Irish Stout
• HiWire Pink Lemonade Session Sour
• HiWire Lager
• HiWire Sour Red Boysenberry & Cherry Ale
• HiWire Vanilla Chocolate Sir Charles Stout
• Holsopple Berry Fairy Strawberry Milkshake IPA
• Holsopple Obscured IPA
• Holsopple Paula’s Pilsner
• Hometown Brewing Cumberland Red
• Hometown Brewing Munich Lager
• Hometown Brewing Stout
• Kentucky Ale Alohop IPA
• Kentucky Ale Bourbon Barrel Aged Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout
• Kentucky Ale Vanilla Cream Ale
• Lagunitas Daytime
• Lagunitas Little Sumptin Sumptin
• Mad Tree Citra High Imperial IPA
• Mad Tree Luna Lux IPA with Coriander & Lemon Peel
• Mad Tree Tropical Psycopathy IPA
• Mile Wide Golden Ticket Chocolate Porter
• Mile Wide Hurricane Quiet Science American Sour
• Mile Wide IPA (NEW)
• Mirror Twin Hazy but Lazy Hazy IPA
• Mirror Twin Wheezing the Juice Sour
• Mirror Twin You, Me, and Mr PB Porter with Reese Cups
• Monnik Foreign Extra Stout
• Monnik Oma’s Hefe
• Monnik Red Crown Gose
• Narragansett Del’s Shandy
• Narragansett Lager
• New Belgium 1554 Black Lager
• New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale
• New Belgium Fruit Smash
• New Belgium Juice Force Hazy IPA
• New Belgium UK Spring Break Sour
• New Belgium Voodoo Ranger IPA
• Noble Funk Mr. American Cascadian Single IPA
• Noble Funk Mocha Husky Boi American Oatmeal Stout
• Noble Funk Peanut Butter Chocolate Batch 007 ESB
• Old Louisville Brewing Chocolate Mint Stout
• Old Louisville Brewing Dreaming Creek Collab
• Old Louisville Brewing Jalapeño Citrus Cider
• Oskar Blues Double Dales Pale Ale
• Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pils
• Oskar Blues Mutant West Coast IPA
• Pivot Kentucky Sunrise Pear and Cherry Cider
• Pivot Particle Collider Double NEIPA
• Pivot Rapacious Wit Hopped Cider with Coriander
• Pivot Thistle Raspberry Ginger Cider
• Platform Blue Martian Imperial Berlinerweisse
• Platform Haze Jude Hazy IPA
• Platform Odd Future Imperial IPA
• Platform Terratrooper DDH Double IPA
• Prairie Tiny Esses Fruited Sour Ale
• Rhinegeist Agnes Pale Ale
• Rhinegeist Antelope Amber Lager
• Rhinegeist Bourbon Barrel Aged Black is Beautiful
• Rhinegeist Cheetah Lager
• Rhinegeist Perceptual Passion Sour
• Rhinegeist Press Tart Fruited Berliner Weisse
• Rhinegeist Raspy Cat Fruited Wheat Ale
• Rhinegeist Rye Bourbon Barrel Aged Night Whale
• Rhinegeist Sabertooth Imperial IPA
• Rhinegeist Vision West Coast Pale Ale
• Sam Adams Boston Lager
• Sam Adams Cold Snap
• Schlafly Coffee Stout
• Schlafly Kolsch
• Schlafly Tasmanian IPA
• Scout & Scholar Alls Well That Ends Pale Hazy Pale Ale
• Scout & Scholar Anther BBA Imperial Porter w/ Cacao Nibs & Cherries
• Scout & Scholar Breathe and Stop ESB
• Scout & Scholar Give Me Three Steps Belgian Blonde
• Scout & Scholar High Five Revive Sour w/Prickly Pear and Lemongrass
• Scout & Scholar Marcia Marcia Marcia Single Hop IPA (Nelson Sauvin)
• Scout & Scholar Ol Buddy Lager
• Scout & Scholar Reclaimed Reward Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Rye Saison with Cardamom (Evan Williams Bourbon Experience Collab)
• Scout & Scholar Separator Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Red (Southfork Collab)
• Scout & Scholar Stone Hands Saison w/ Honey & Rye
• Shiner Bock
• Shiner Pecan Porter
• Shippingport Brewing Eddy, Kolsch
• Shippingport Brewing Mabel, Tripel
• Shippingport Helles Bock
• Sierra Nevada Bourbon Barrel Aged Narwhal Imperial Stout
• Sierra Nevada Hazy Lil IPA
• Sierra Nevada Powder IPA
• Stone Brewing Co Buena Veza Salt & Lime Lager
• Sun King Brewing Exquisite Octopus Hazy IPA
• Sun King Brewing When the Lights Go Out Coffee Porter
• Sweetwater Brewing 710 Hazy Double IPA
• Sweetwater Brewing Blood Orange Radler
• Sweetwater Brewing Blue Blueberry Wheat Ale
• Sweetwater Brewing Hazy-O IPA
• Swilled Dog Carmel Apple Cider
• Swilled Dog Pineapple Cider
• Swilled Dog Walk the Dog Semi Dry Apple Cider
• Swilled Dog Winter Pear Cider
• Sycamore Brewing Co Tropical Kush IPA
• Sycamore Brewing Co Vanilla Affogato Coffee Cream Ale
• Sycamore Brewing Co. Mountain Candy
• Sycamore Brewing Co. Special Brownies Chocolate Stout
• TenTwenty Brewing the Machine Russian Imperial Stout
TenTwenty Schnitzelburger Vienna Lager
• TenTwenty Storyteller New England IPA
• Terrapin Beer Co. Los Bravos Lager
• Terrapin Beer Co. Blood Orange Dreamsicle IPA
• Terrapin Beer Co. High & Hazy
• Terrapin Beer Co. Hopsecutioner Imperial IPA
• Terrapin Beer Co. Luau Krunkles Hawaiian IPA
• Terrapin Beer Co. Maple Praline Wake N Bake Imperial Oatmeal Stout
• Terrapin Beer Co. Peanut Butter Pretzel Moo Hoo Chocolate Milk Stout
• Terrapin Beer Co. Watermelon Gose
• The Void Sake Co Opalescent Nigori
• The Void Sake Co Plum Ginger Sake Seltzer
• The Void Sake Co The Messenger Junami
• Three Floyds 50M$Man Double IPA
• Three Floyds Aggromaster Brown Coffee Ale
• Three Floyds Gumball Head
• Three Floyds Speed Castle Pilsner
• Toppling Goliath – TBD
• Upland Brewing Bourbon Barrel Aged S’mores Teddy Bear Kisses
• Upland Brewing Champagne Velvet Lager
• Upland Brewing Dragonfly IPA
• Upland Brewing Juiced in Time IPA
• Upland Brewing Little Dragon Session IPA
• Upland Brewing Pawpaw Sour Ale
• Upland Brewing Petal to the Kettle Sour Ale
• Upland Tropical Vortex Southern Hemisphere IPA
• Urban Artifact Gadget (Midwest Fruit Tart Raspberry & Blackberry)
• Urban Artifact Kaleidoscope (Midwest Fruit Tart Orange Pineapple Guava)
• Urban Artifact Misrule (Cranberry Chocolate Gose)
• Urban Artifact Pinwheel (Kumquat Gose)
• West Sixth Brewing Good Beer Lager
• West Sixth Brewing Double Chocolate Snake Cake
• West Sixth Brewing IPA
• West Sixth Fuzzy Fields Hazy IPA
• Wise Bird Cider Black Twig Dry
• Wise Bird Cider Commonwealth Gold Semi Dry
• Wise Bird Cider Pomme Pomme Semi Sweet
• Wise Bird Cider Rose Semi Sweet
• Wiseacre Azazel Belgian Golden Ale
• Wiseacre Gotta Get Up to Get Down Coffee Milk Stout
• Wiseacre Tiny Bomb Pilsner
• Woodchuck Mimosa Cider
• Yazoo Brewing Co. Calla IPA
• Yazoo Brewing Co. Gerst Amber Ale
• Yazoo Brewing Co. Hefeweizen