Banter

Maker’s Mark Bourbon Ad for Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone! I tried to locate a Halloween-themed vintage bourbon ad but came up short. This ad from Maker’s Mark bourbon is about as close as I could get to something creepy or Halloween-themed.

Events

Win Free Admission to the St. Louis Bourbon Academy

Would you like to attend the St. Louis Bourbon Academy for free? Head on over to our Facebook page and either click or comment on the post below (on Facebook) for your chance to win free admission. We’ll draw a winner on Saturday, November 2nd, after 5 pm.

Food Stuff Reviews

That Bourbon Ketchup: Spiked Ketchup For Grownups

I feel I should disclose the following: I’m not the biggest fan of ketchup. I don’t hate ketchup, but compared to many of my friends, who put ketchup on everything from eggs to hash browns and burgers to hot dogs, I’m rather simple. I dip my fries in ketchup, and that’s about it.

Cocktails

Baseball Sour Bourbon Cocktail

It’s World Series time! Maybe your team is in it, maybe they were plagued with injuries and never had a chance. Regardless, you need a drink. This variation on the whiskey sour adds Aperol for a bit of the bitter taste of defeat.

Vintage Advertising

Kentucky Tavern Bourbon Ad Circa 1947

What better bourbon ad to feature during the World Series than this gem from Kentucky Tavern Bourbon circa 1947. That’s the year that the New York Yankees won the title in 7 games against the Brooklyn Dodgers and the first time that a racially integrated team played in the World Series.

Bourbon Whiskey Reviews

Rock Hill Farms Bourbon Review

This review might strike some people as odd because it’s for a bourbon that was first released over 20 years ago; 1990 to be exact – Rock Hill Farms Single Barrel Bourbon. I don’t know if it was due to a perceived lack of audience, or if it had to do with red tape.

Cocktails

Bourbon-Spiked Apple Cider: Because You Can’t Really Put It In Pumpkin Spice Lattes

I don’t understand the pumpkin spice tyranny that happens every fall. It’s not that pumpkin spice is bad, per se, it’s just that (starting as early as August!) it’s everywhere. Pumpkin chai, pumpkin latte, pumpkin beer, pumpkin vodka, pumpkin coffee, pumpkin milkshakes… By me-September, I’m over it.

Cocktails

A Cherry Chocolate Bourbon Cocktail for National Liqueur Day

Happy National Liqueur Day! Maybe you’re thinking, “I’m a bourbon drinker! Liqueur is not my style.” I’d ask you to give this cocktail a try. There is, after all, chocolate involved. And I promise it’s not too sweet. I used Old Weller Antique for the bourbon and I made my own Chocolate Liqueur.

Banter

Seagrams Whisky Ad Circa 1985

Bourbon & Banter reader Jim Thorpe sent me the Seagrams Whisky ad below and I just couldn’t pass it up. I know it’s not for a bourbon brand but how can you not love it?

Cocktails

Fall Fashion Issue: An Old Fashioned Cocktail Perfect for Autumn

The Old Fashioned is not so much a single cocktail as a style of cocktail. Originally, cocktail meant the drink consisted of a spirit, bitters, sugar and water.

Banter

Bourbon & Beer: Beyond Boilermakers

If you’re a regular reader, you know that bourbon makes bad things bearable and good things great—even when those things are beer, and therefore already awesome.

Bourbon Whiskey Reviews

Belle Meade Bourbon Review

I was sitting in a bookstore several months ago reading Garden & Gun when I stumbled across a review for Belle Meade Bourbon. Anytime I see a review for a bourbon I’m not familiar with I take notice.

Cocktails

Boardwalk Empire Cocktail Recipes

Our friends over at Original Penguin teamed up with the folks at MOJO bar in Leeds to create create three prohibition-inspired cocktails to celebrate the return of Boardwalk Empire. Here’s the story.

Banter

October Bourbon Wallpaper

A month or so ago I was exploring some ideas for a new bourbon wallpaper and I put together a bottle montage using a sketch technique when my wife walked in and mentioned how much she liked it. After a little bit of tweaking, I’m pleased to finally offer it up for everyone’s enjoyment and use. I hop

Banter

Oh, What A Bourbon Heritage Month!

Where has the time gone? It’s seems like only yesterday that we kicked off Bourbon Heritage Month by launching our Bourbon Sweepstakes. It’s been an amazing 30 days filled with posts about the history of bourbon, bourbon education, cocktail recipes, giveaways and much more.

Banter

Bartender Journey Podcast Interview

A week ago I was interviewed on the Bartender Journey Podcast and they were kind enough to allow me to embed the podcast for your listening pleasure.

Events

The #BOURBON Toast Results Are In

We love our online #BOURBON community. You guys are simply amazing! We put out a request for help toasting #BOURBON in order to break our single day Tweet record and you guys crushed it.

Banter

Celebrate National Coffee Day with Bourbon

It’s Sunday morning. It’s National Coffee Day. And it’s always a great day for Bourbon.  In 2009, I went on my first tour of the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. It provided all of the familiar smells of mash and oak, and the tour was fascinating as always.

Banter

A Twitter Toast to #BOURBON

Today’s the day folks. The day we make history. The day we give #BOURBON it’s moment in the sun on Twitter.  That’s right folks. It’s #BOURBON go time. A few weeks ago we first posted about our desire to boost #BOURBON visibility online – most notably Twitter.

Banter

Jim Beam Bourbon Ad Circa 1985

Today we’re featuring a Jim Beam Bourbon advertisement from Mechanix magazine back in May of 1985 courtesy of Bourbon & Banter reader Jim Thorpe. I don’t have much to say about this one other than while these folks were enjoying Jim Beam bourbon, I was graduating 8th grade.

Banter

How George Remus Kept Prohibition From Killing Bourbon

In honor of Bourbon Heritage Month I thought I would take a moment and look back on one of the darkest periods of our drinking history, the ignoble experiment known as prohibition.

Cocktails

Mississippi Punch Recipe

Falling right between International Talk Like a Pirate Day and Miniature Golf Day, it’s National Rum Punch Day! Of course this is Bourbon & Banter, not Rum & Repartee (patent pending), so we had to make sure America’s Native Spirit was in the mix.

Vintage Advertising

Schenley Bourbon Ad Circa 1950

Who better to celebrate Throwback Thursday with than Cesar Romero. And look, he’s all suited up to enjoy a glass of Schenley Bourbon in this fantastic 1950’s advertisement.

Cocktails

These Aren’t Your College Roommate’s Jello Shots

Whether you’ve been out of college a few months or a few decades, I’m sure you remember a night when you and a few Jello shots got a little too cozy, and things got out of hand. Sticky fingers, artificial colors, acrid flavors, and one hell of a hangover—sound familiar?

Cocktails

Bourbon Jam Cocktail Recipe

Several weeks ago I was contacted by a PR firm asking if Bourbon & Banter would be interested in having one of the mixologists that represented create a cocktail for Bourbon & Banter in celebration of Bourbon Heritage Month.