The Brown-Forman bourbon company is the Presenting Sponsor of the 147th Kentucky Derby®. With that partnership, a commemorative Woodford Reserve Derby Bottle 2021 release is coming.
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Derby Bottle Artist
This Woodford Reserve Kentucky Derby bottle is designed by Louisville resident, Richard Sullivan. He is a former professional baseball player, who attended Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Sullivan was drafted by the Atlanta Braves as an 11th round pick. There he played six years for their minor league club team.
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His art portfolio now includes two fine pieces paying tribute to the Kentucky Derby, Atlanta Braves Truist Park, Mercedes Benz Stadium, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Sullivans paints a parallel between sports an his artwork, suggesting they both require the same level of dedication and practice.
The Woodford Derby bottle 2021 edition is a compliment to the bottle artwork of 2020, which Sullivan created as well. Sullivan says, “the Kentucky Derby is resplendent with color, pageantry, and pure athleticism — and I wanted to capture that in my artwork.”
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Bottle Artwork
The Woodford Reserve Derby Bottle 2021 artwork itself features a watercolor representation of the horses thundering down the home stretch. A total of eight thoroughbreds are racing towards the wire, but the iconic Twin Spires are absent from the rendering. Woodford Reserve Master Distiller Chris Morris says, “there is a depth of beauty in Richard’s watercolors — and his back-to-back Derby bottles are a winning exacta.”
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Release Date
The Woodford Reserve 1-liter bottles of their Kentucky Straight Bourbon will go on sale starting March 2, 2021. These annual collector’s bottles have been sought after by bourbon lovers and horse racing fans alike since their inception in 1999. The Woodford Reserve Bourbon inside these collectors bottles is their flagship 90.4 proof which is a clean, brilliant honey amber color.
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