Lessons From the Barrel: Bourbon’s Place in Pop-Culture

In our final post for our Bourbon series (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4) we review Bourbon’s impact on pop culture. On May 6, 1993, Lionel Hutz, the hilariously inept attorney of the fictional Simpsons TV-verse, lovingly referred to Kentucky’s most famous drink as, “Delicious bourbon…  brownest of the brown liquors.” Since then, bourbon has climbed precipitously in popularity. It might be a bit of an over-extrapolation to claim that this on-air reference was responsible for bourbon’s meteoric rise because as we’ve discussed in previous blog posts, bourbon’s return to prominence after the down decades of the 80s and 90s  was likely brought on by a change in branding and an intra-industry push toward premium bourbon brands. 

Of course, as bourbon has grown in general popularity, its place in pop culture has proliferated as well. One well-known example from relatively recent times can be found in the mega-popular television show Mad Men. You’d be hard-pressed to find an episode of the AMC drama where at least once, main character Don Draper and his fellow Madison Ave. executive buddies aren’t knocking back a neat glass of bourbon or,  more likely, an Old Fashioned. While it’s hard to quantify with hard numbers, a real, non facetious claim (unlike with The Simpsons) claim can be made that Don Draper’s affinity for Old Fashioneds is directly responsible for that cocktail’s sudden return to public consciousness.  

The film Kingsman: The Golden Circle famously depicts a bourbon distillery as the characters take a distillery tour and learn about how the drink is made. Although the accuracy of the film’s depiction of bourbon country and bourbon culture is not beyond reproach, it is still perhaps the most famous instance of a bourbon distillery appearing in popular culture. 

Although bourbon is not always featured in such explicit plot-related terms, it has become nearly ubiquitous, particularly in dramas, as a sort of interactive set dressing.  After all, a glass of bourbon in a character’s hand looks great on film, and it gives them something to do during dialogue-heavy scenes. It can also carry with it an implied sense of surrounding gravitas, as alcohol, for better or worse, is widely seen as a stress reliever. Popular shows like Bloodline and Justified, or the Tarantino film The H8teful 8,  feature heavy doses of characters sipping bourbon on screen as the tension around them builds.  

The film Mississippi Grind, starring Ryan Reynolds and Ben Mendelsohn, depicts one particular bourbon heavily throughout the course of its winding narrative. While bourbon surely serves the aforementioned “set dressing” purpose in this film as well, it also plays a prominent thematic role. Right near the beginning of the two main character’s relationship, during a game of poker, Gerry (played by Mendelsohn) orders a bourbon, which prompts Curtis (Ryan Reynolds) to ask what bourbon they have on hand. The waitress replies, “It’s the cheap stuff.” Not satisfied with this response, Curtis  responds with a line that could be lifted straight out of a commercial: “Make mine a  Woodford.” He’s referring here to the popular brand Woodford Reserve. When Curtis asks if Gerry would also like a Woodford, Gerry says, “The cheap stuff’s fine,” but Curtis insists, no, he should have a Woodford, and offers to pay for it himself. “Make it a  Woodford,” becomes a running theme throughout the film. The message is clear. Life is short? Why settle for anything but the best? 

Bourbon’s place in popular culture is impossible to ignore, and it begs the eternal question surrounding art and culture. Does art imitate life, or is it vice versa? Did bourbon begin to appear more frequently in pop culture because it was gaining real-world popularity again, or does bourbon owe its surge in popularity to some Hollywood writers’ decision to make Don Draper an old-fashioned fiend? The answer is probably a  little of both, as the two elements have surely fed into one another. One thing is beyond dispute, just as bourbon is everywhere in the real world, it’s all over the small and silver screens.