Are there unofficial rules of drinking bourbon? Sure!

Are there rules when it comes to bourbon?

At first, you might be tempted to say no way. After all, Maggie Kimberl, president of the Bourbon Women Association and content editor at American Whiskey Magazine, says "I always follow Freddie Johnson's (of Buffalo Trace) rule that bourbon is meant to be enjoyed with friends and loved ones, and instead of saving the ‘special stuff,’ you should share it because that's the whole point.” 

I totally agree. It’s nobody’s job to tell someone else how to drink their bourbon.

“My other rule,” Kimberl says, “is that if someone wants to put your bourbon in diet Coke, drink it on the rocks, or mix it into a cocktail, let them."

And I love what Peggy Noe, founder of the Bourbon Women Association, and the world’s first female master bourbon taster, had to say: “I truly believe that part of the reason the bourbon industry is special and different from any other spirit, and/or the wine industry is that we did not force rules on consumers, or make them feel uneducated (like ordering the 'right' wine at dinner).” 

All that said, there is a time and a place for “rules,” and I have one nonnegotiable bourbon rule, myself. This one has to do with being a good guest. If I’m at someone’s house and they tell me to help myself to bourbon from their bar, there are two bottles I won’t touch: the one that’s not opened, and the one with only one drink left.

Why? 

That first drink could be from a bottle they’re saving for a special occasion. Maybe it’s rare, maybe they camped out overnight to get it. Maybe it’s a single-barrel pick they can never get again. Same for the last drink in a bottle. I know from my own bar that I have an array of one-drink-left bottles that I can’t bring myself to finish off because once it’s gone, it’s gone.

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It’s comforting knowing – even if I never get around to drinking it – that I have that one final sip of, say my Wild Turkey Diamond, that 2012 Old Forester Birthday, or my Old Carter Batch 1.

I’d be heartbroken, honestly, if I went to reach for one of those and found it empty. So I take care not to take the first or the last drink of anyone else’s collection. 

So, what are some other bourbon folks’ non-negotiable rules when it comes to Kentucky's native spirit? I wondered, so I reached out to a few industry insiders. Here’s what they shared.