Whiskies With Unusual Monikers and How They Came About

The origin of the names of most whiskies is pretty easy to fathom—usually founders’ names like Jim Beam, Jack Daniel, and George Dickel—or recognizable locations like Bardstown or Breckenridge. But sometimes you come across names and have no clue about their provenance. Frankly, if we love the whisky, most of us don’t spend much time thinking about the meaning behind its name. Just for the fun of it, we’ve taken a look at some of whisky’s more unusual names, and precisely what they mean.

Buffalo Trace

The earliest American pioneers forged through the wilderness on paths first trod by buffalo herds—called buffalo traces—and Buffalo Trace Distillery is built on an ancient buffalo crossing along the Kentucky River. The distillery has had a number of name changes in its history. Once owned by E.H. Taylor, it was named O.F.C. in 1870, and then was renamed George T. Stagg Distillery in 1904. It was purchased by Sazerac in 1992 and became Buffalo Trace Distillery in 1999. The place was given National Historic Landmark status in 2013 and can lay claim to being the oldest distillery in America, with whiskey made at the site for nearly 200 years.

Balcones

Spanish explorer Bernardo de Miranda y Flores traveled the Texas Hill Country in 1756 and called the land los Balcones—the Spanish word for balconies—here used by Miranda to describe Hill Country’s step-like terrain that resembles a series of rising balconies. The word has since been used to name a variety of regional features, including the Balcones Escarpment, a wall of rock extending from Waco west to Del Rio, and the Balcones fault line, where Waco-based Balcones Distillery sources its water. Following the lead of scotch whisky makers who sometimes named their distillery for its water source, the company became Balcones Distilling. Its label is an artist’s view of the fault line’s tectonic plates.

Compass Box

In preparing to found Compass Box in 2000, John Glaser sought a name to illustrate his new company’s mission of doing things differently. His first choice was Orion, inspired by the constellation that had fascinated him as a child. But his father noted that it sounded too much like “O’Ryan,” and that everyone would think he was an Irish whiskey maker. So Glaser searched for other constellations. He came across Pyxis Nautica, which is a small constellation whose name represents a mariner’s compass—sometimes translated as compass box. Glaser liked the distinctive sound of the name, its reference to a ship’s compass, and its connection to exploring. Compass Box it was.

Four Roses

This name has two different origin stories. One account credits Rufus Mathewson Rose, an Atlanta-based businessman who founded the R.M. Rose Co. Distillery in the 1860s, naming his Four Roses bourbon brand after himself, his brother, and their two sons. Today’s owners only acknowledge the one about Paul Jones, Jr., who acquired the brand and registered the Four Roses name as a national trademark in 1888. Jones fell in love with a Southern belle and wrote to propose marriage prior to a grand ball. If her answer was yes, she should wear a corsage of four red roses at the ball. She did indeed wear the corsage, and Jones eventually honored his wife by naming his bourbon after her response to his overture.

Driftless Glen

“Driftless” is a term used by geologists to describe land that lacks glacial drift—the silt, sand, clay, gravel, and rock that glaciers or their meltwater usually left behind. The Driftless Area of Wisconsin is a prime example of this. It’s a rugged expanse of land that also possesses what’s said to be the largest concentration of cold-water streams in the world. Brian and Reneé Bemis founded Driftless Glen Distillery in this area, in Baraboo, Wisconsin along the banks of the Baraboo River, to be precise. It’s a land of peat bogs and sandy soil good for growing wheat, with a generous aquifer. Hence the name became Driftless Glen, though Baraboo would have been a pretty good one too.

Widow Jane

Widow Jane limestone mine is part of the Rosendale Mines in the upstate New York town of Rosendale, about 100 miles north of the Brooklyn home of its namesake, Widow Jane Distillery. The mine dates back to the early 1800s; its limestone was used to build the Washington Monument, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, among other famous structures. It was abandoned more than 50 years ago, but its aquifer is still in use—as a source of limestone mineral water used by Widow Jane to proof its whiskeys. Visitors may take self-guided tours of the mine during the warmer months of the year.