Document and Entity Information	9 Months Ended
	Jan. 31, 2012	Feb. 29, 2012 Common stock, Class A, voting [Member]	Feb. 29, 2012 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	Jan. 31, 2012
Amendment Flag	false
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2012
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q3
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--04-30
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		56,258,165	85,754,553