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Again, nobody knows for sure, but the oldest legend is that the spirit was named for Bourbon County, Kentucky. Supposedly merchants in New Orleans found that whiskey invoiced in Limestone, in Bourbon County, Kentucky, was the tastiest, and “Bourbon County” whiskey eventually became known simply as “bourbon whiskey” or “bourbon.” Bourbon historian Michael Veach, however, notes that Limestone was part of Bourbon County for only a short time while Kentucky was still part of Virginia, and because the round-trip to New Orleans took a year or more, there would not have been enough shipments invoiced to Limestone to allow that connection to be made. Limestone (now Maysville) had been part of Mason County, Kentucky, for more than 30 years when the Maysville firm of Stout and Adams advertised “Bourbon Whiskey by the barrel or keg” in a newspaper in 1821—the earliest documented use of the term.

Another theory says that people drinking the aged spirit in New Orleans started asking for “Bourbon Street whiskey,” which got shortened to “bourbon.” In any case, bourbon came to mean excellent whiskey from Kentucky.