5:30 PM
All VIP ticket holders and their designated driver companions are invited to enter the event a full hour early.
All vendors and catered foods are now available to our VIP guests. Special bottles are reserved for this group.
Those general admission ticket holders waiting to enter may choose to enjoy the Traveling Tobacconist's Air Stream trailer cigar lounge for a pre-event cigar.
5:40 PM
The Independence Seaport Museum's Workshop on the Water repairs and restores wooden boats. Alex Bell will be opening the woodshop to interested VIP guests and explaining the significance of the "whiskey plank". Join him to toast the history of whiskey on the water!
5:45 PM
VIP guests are invited to join Michael Veach, bourbon historian and author of Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey: An American Heritage, in a discussion forum focused on the transportation of whiskey barrels over water in America’s early days. He is joined by PA distiller, Max Pfeffer, of Manatawny Still Works.
+Tasting of Manatawny Still Works Whiskeys (limited)
6:15 PM
Bourbon Evangelist, Shane Merriam, will be telling the tale of how Garrison Brothers came to be the first legal bourbon distillery in Texas while you sip and savor your way through each unique, American whiskey.
6:30 PM
General Admisson ticket holders and their designated driver companions are invited to enter the event space.
6:45 PM
Greg Metze of Old Elk Distillery and his mentor, Larry Ebersold, will lead a discussion forum on the importance of process in whiskey making. New make spirit and fermentation take a starring role in this converstaion about what makes excellent American whiskey. With nearly 90 combined years of distilling experience between them and first hand knowledge of how one of the largest American distilleries was run for decades, who wouldn't be interested?
+Tasting of Old Elk Whiskeys
7:30 PM
Bourbon Evangelist, Shane Merriam, will be telling the tale of how Garrison Brothers came to be the first legal bourbon distillery in Texas while you sip and savor your way through each unique, American whiskey.
7:45 PM
Join Robin Robinson as he explains the misunderstandings surrounding an industry group that was both the substantial core of the whiskey trade, as well as its most maligned: the rectifier or the non-distillery producer.
+ Taste some of the finest sourced American whiskey on the market- Cooper Spirits, bottled in Philadelphia.
8:00 PM
Each year, our guests are invited to vote for their favorite distillery. Every guest is given a chip (given to each attendee in their lanyard) which they can deposit in the ballot box of their chosing. Those votes are tallied and the ditillery with the most votes is issued the 2020 AWC People's Choice Award.
See last year's winner HERE.
8:30 PM
All guests are invited to participate in games and raffles. Each year, the tickets for these exciting raffle prizes are available to purchase from 5:30-8:30PM. Winners are listed on banners near the exit at 9PM.
9:00PM
2020 American Whiskey Convention's Impact Award (x2 recipients)
2020 AWC Whiskey Under 4 Years Award of Excellence
2020 AWC Straight Bourbon Whiskey Award of Excellence
2020 AWC Straight Rye Whiskey Award of Excellence
2020 AWC American Small Grain Whiskey Award
2020 AWC People's Choice Award
2020 AWC Judge's Choice Award
*See last year's award winners HERE.
All Raffle Winners are posted on banners near exit.
9:30 PM
All guests must exit through the main entrance of the museum.