LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Woodford Reserve presented its 2019 commemorative Kentucky Derby bottle featuring the artwork of Keith Anderson.
This year is the company's 20th anniversary creating limited-edition Derby bottles, and it is the second year that Anderson has been chosen to have his work featured. The bottle shows colorful thoroughbreds racing across the front.
“My vision for this year’s Derby bottle came to me on Derby Day in 2018, when I was at Churchill Downs watching the horses race past me,” Anderson said. “Their sheer power, their colors and the jockeys are seared into my mind -- and now featured on the bottle.”
The art shows the moment that's easy to miss during the big race...when all the horses zoom by right in front of you.
"Blink and you'll miss it," Anderson said.
Anderson said the energy surrounding the Derby is all part of his inspiration.
"There's just so many things to see so what I tried to do is implement that, some of the jockeys looking around getting their position. I love this bottle because of the dirt and it's just what you actually see at a race and that's what I love seeing," Anderson said.
Anderson said he's so grateful the company has given him the opportunity to have the bottle as his canvas.
"They allow me to have fun with this bottle and it's just an artists dream," Anderson said.
The west Louisville native and team leader at Brown Forman's Bourbon Street Café. While he said he loves the family-owned company, he said he considers himself an artist first.
"When you're doing stuff like this and you're rewarded for your talents, that's priceless," Anderson said.
He said he's honored that he's been chosen twice and said he still can't believe his art hits a world stage. He said when his art was featured on the 2018 bottle, people from around the country would email or call him to say they saw his bottle in stores.
"People will tell me 'Man I've seen it on the shelf,' and one lady when I was doing a signing she's like 'I'm not a bourbon drinker,' she said 'but I looked up and saw the artwork and said I'm gonna get that,' and that's a win right there," Anderson said.
He said he looks forward to all of the events he gets to be apart of throughout Derby season to showcase his bottle. He said it's all "surreal."
"I mean when you sit back and look at the big picture," Anderson said. "Satisfied, satisfaction. Yeah, satisfaction."
Woodford Reserve also announced a special year-long exhibit in honor of their 20th anniversary at the Frazier History Museum, the start of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail in downtown Louisville.
The exhibit will open March 20, and will be housed within The Spirit of Kentucky, a permanent exhibition focused on Kentucky bourbon.
The 2019 Kentucky Derby bottle will go on shelves in March, with a suggested retail price of $43.99. It can also be purchased starting today at ReserveBar.