Document and Entity Information	3 Months Ended
	Jul. 31, 2016 shares
Document Information [Line Items]
Entity Registrant Name	BROWN FORMAN CORP
Entity Central Index Key	0000014693
Document Type	10-Q
Document Period End Date	Jul. 31, 2016
Amendment Flag	false
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2017
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q1
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--04-30
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Common stock, Class A, voting [Member]
Document Information [Line Items]
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding	169,080,654
Common stock, Class B, nonvoting [Member]
Document Information [Line Items]
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding	222,431,456