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The type of document being provided (such as 10-K, 10-Q, N-1A, etc). The document type is limited to the same value as the supporting SEC submission type, minus any "/A" suffix. The acceptable values are as follows: S-1, S-3, S-4, S-11, F-1, F-3, F-4, F-9, F-10, 6-K, 8-K, 10, 10-K, 10-Q, 20-F, 40-F, N-1A, 485BPOS, 497, NCSR, N-CSR, N-CSRS, N-Q, 10-KT, 10-QT, 20-FT, and Other.

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Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
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Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
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Document and Entity Information (USD $)	3 Months Ended
Document and Entity Information (USD $)	Jul. 31, 2011	Oct. 31, 2010	Aug. 29, 2011 Common stock, Class A, voting [Member]	Aug. 29, 2011 Common Stock, Class B, nonvoting [Member]
Entity Registrant Name	BROWN FORMAN CORP
Entity Central Index Key	0000014693
Document Type	10-Q
Document Period End Date	Jul. 31, 2011
Amendment Flag	false
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2012
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q1
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--04-30
Entity Well-known Seasoned Issuer	Yes
Entity Voluntary Filers	No
Entity Current Reporting Status	Yes
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity Public Float		$ 5,200,000,000
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding			56,468,707	87,622,286