Globetrotter, outdoors-man, and bourbon enthusiast on the hunt for the best bourbons.

My name is James Kern, friends call me Jim. My passion for bourbon started in my home growing up. It was the only alcohol my mother drank!  Not that common a libation for a woman, especially back then. She drank Ancient Age, a Bourbon I considered low end at the time but now I know it has quite the pedigree even if it is inexpensive. 

When I was in college, as most young men do, I began my own journey in the world of bourbon at college bars. Because of my college-size budget and lack of experience, I drank primarily Jim Beam and Jack Daniels (which is not a bourbon but we will get into those intricacies later) as well as Rebel Yell, Cabin Still, Ezra Brook, Even Williams and others of the sort.  When I returned home, I principally drank Jack Daniels and in my quest for all things bourbon I found and old Vic Traders cocktail book in my mother’s kitchen and began experimenting with bourbon cocktails. Eventually I landed on the Manhattan and this became my mother’s favorite drink. She drank a Jack Daniels Manhattan almost every day from then until  the night before she passed away. When I asked her if she wanted another she said, “I have had enough,” and she did, passing away the following morning.  It was a special moment for my family as we all knew she was at the end of the road and we came together to spend the evening with her and have a Manhattan.

As I started making my way in the world and could afford a larger variety of bourbons, I expanded my tastes. There was not a huge selection in those days but I tried almost every common bourbon on the shelf. I then started purchasing bourbons that, today, you can hardly find, like Blanton’s, Rock Hill Farms, and Bookers. In those days, bourbon was not yet part of popular culture and I could find all the brands I wanted in most liquor stores.

Flash forward to 2016:  A friend of mine, who works at a top line investment firm, called me and said he wanted me to come to his house to meet someone who wanted to sell us a large quantity of barreled bourbon.  With a group of friends and other bourbon enthusiasts, I went to hear what the deal was all about. The pitch was convincing but, being a proper skeptic and businessman, I listened, took notes, and called some other friends in the horse racing business who had started their own bourbon brand a few years earlier. After assessing the deal, I determined it was not the best possible opportunity but I had figured out how we could get into the bourbon business! And so we did. We have now been laying down 300 barrels a year for 4 years and may sell some next year at 5 years old.

All this has led me to start this blog and share my tastes and insights with anyone who shares my interest in the actual, official liquor of the USA, bourbon!