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The Dirty Truth About Bourbon’s Name 🥃 (Your Tour Guide Won’t Tell You)

The Dirty Truth About Bourbon’s Name 🥃 (Your Tour Guide Won’t Tell You)

Danny Bauer
May 04, 2025

Hey Barrelhead 🥃

In today’s newsletter:

Our Jack Daniel’s 14 WINNER
Every Kentucky Derby win by post position
How Bourbon got it’s name
And more …

The Cask Strength Cognition Test

Which U.S. distillery holds the title for the oldest continuously operating distillery — even surviving Prohibition by producing "medicinal whiskey"?

THE WEEKLY POUR

🏇 Safe bet: Here’s a breakdown of Kentucky Derby wins from every post position.
👀 Recipe alert: How to make the best Mint Julip ever according to a Bourbon expert.
🥃 Cost of the Hunt: How do you bankroll your bourbon collection? Here’s a discussion around what people making $200K+ a year do for a living. But after spending $150K on Bourbon, there’s not much left for rent.
🐛 Whisky Worm: Someone asked what this worm like thing was floating in the whiskey. Lots of NSFW answers. One mentioned “lipids” which seems like the best answer without doing research. Have you seen this before?

WE HAVE A VICTOR IN THE WHISKEY THUNDERDOME

Ten brave Barrelheads entered the whiskey Thunderdome.
Only one emerged victorious—with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s 14 clutched in hand and a blimp screaming his name across the sky.

Along the way, they helped bring 23 new maniacs into the Rickhouse fold. That’s 23 more dusty-hunting, tater-mocking, pour-savoring LEGENDS.

To every single one of you: THANK YOU.

You made this ridiculous ride worth it.

🎲 The Odds

Winning a Jack Daniel’s 14: 1 in 23
Getting a Hole-in-One (as an amateur): 1 in 12,500
Getting Thunder-Punched by Lightning: 1 in 15,300
Becoming Shark Sushi: 1 in 3,748,067
Getting Elected POTUS: 1 in 10,000,000
Winning an Oscar While Holding a Pappy: 1 in 11,500,000
Sleeping with Sydney Sweeney: LOL

(proof of random raffle if you care)

TOP SHELF

HOW BOURBON GOT ITS NAME: THE HARD TRUTH YOUR TOUR GUIDE WON'T TELL YOU 🥃

Bourbon's origin story is hazier than your memory after a barrel proof tasting flight.

Your buddy swears it's from Kentucky. That whiskey influencer claims it's all about French royalty. They're both half right ...

And completely wrong.

Let's cut through the BS and get to the good stuff.

THE KENTUCKY THEORY (AKA THE OBVIOUS ONE)

95% of bourbon comes from Kentucky. No shit. But was it named after Bourbon County? Maybe.

Back in 1785, when Kentucky was still Virginia's problem child, Bourbon County became ground zero for corn juice production. Those Scots-Irish settlers didn't come to make friends They came to make whiskey (and get drunk).

Perfect limestone water. Corn for days. Rivers to ship product. Fiddles. It was a distiller's paradise before "craft" was cool

Those barrels stamped "Old Bourbon" started showing up downriver. Coincidence? Probably not.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION (AND NO, NOT THE MOVIE)

Here's where it gets interesting. The Bourbon royal family was bourbon before bourbon was bourbon. Say that 10 times fast.

During the Revolutionary War, we were French-obsessed. They helped us tell the British to pound sand, so we named everything after them. Louisville? King Louis XVI. Bourbon Street in New Orleans? Same royal bloodline.

When Kentucky whiskey hit New Orleans, those French-speaking locals at the port couldn't get enough of that sweet corn spirit.

Calling it "bourbon" after their fancy street just made sense.

THE MARKETING HUSTLE

Here's the truth: there was no single "bourbon baptism moment." No distiller slapped their knee and said, "Let's call this bourbon!"

The name evolved like secondary market prices. Gradually, then suddenly

Smart distillers leaned into the French connection. Their marketing team knew "bourbon" would move bottles faster than "that stuff the Kentucky boys make when they're not fighting raccoons."

By the mid-1800s, "bourbon whiskey" was a thing, and nobody was looking back.

THE BOURBON FLEX FACTOR

Fast forward to 1964.

The government finally defined bourbon legally (took them long enough). By then, the name carried more weight than your bourbon bunker after a lottery win.

Whether it came from a Kentucky county, a New Orleans street, or a French royal's Instagram, bourbon's name is now as American as camping out for Buffalo Trace releases and Freedom Fries.

And honestly? The murky origin story just makes it cooler to drop at your next bottle share.

🥃 RICKHOUSE RECOMMENDO

Next time you pour that Weller Full Proof, casually mention both origin stories.

(meme of a douche trying to be smart)

Let your bourbon buddies fight it out while you enjoy the good stuff. Bourbon knowledge is even better when it comes with a side of drama.

POUR DECISIONS

LAST CALL

Last week’s trivia:

Which Kentucky distiller shocked the bourbon world by deliberately LOWERING their barrel entry proof when everyone else was raising theirs?

Four Roses
Wild Turkey
Maker’s Mark
Heaven Hill

The answer is Maker's Mark!

While most Kentucky distillers were cranking up their barrel entry proof to maximize profits, Maker's Mark deliberately kept theirs lower at 110 proof — well below the legal limit of 125. Bill Samuels Sr. (the founder) was all about flavor over profit margins. He knew a lower entry proof would preserve those sweet wheat notes and creamy mouthfeel that made Maker's different. But it also meant getting fewer bottles from each barrel — basically leaving cash on the table with every dump.

That's how you spot the real bourbon OGs — they're the ones leaving money on the table to keep their whiskey from tasting like everyone else's.

Next time someone brings a Maker's bottle to your tasting, drop this knowledge bomb and watch their expression change from "oh, that basic red wax stuff" to "wait, I need to respect this pour."