Bourbon collectors, especially in Kentucky, are a dime a dozen. Well, I’m one of them. Hoarding Kentucky’s finest doesn’t necessarily mean you drink it.

Several years ago, the state of Kentucky contracted me to write for their Travel Guide. My assignment was the Bourbon Trail … every distillery. That’s when I started collecting.

When it came to bourbon, gin, vodka or scotch you can throw truth in advertising out the window. The better the story behind the origin of their product the better their sales. A consumer has to decide if it’s the usually made-up-tale that is reason enough to pay big bucks for a bottle.

One of the bottles I did not run across as I traversed Kentucky was Pappy’s. No one was selling. I was fortunate enough a few years back to put my name in a local package store lottery and win the right to purchase a bottle. Notice I said purchase. Of course I overpaid, but today it is well-placed in a lighted corner glass cabinet in my dining room just to look at, along with an assortment of other top rated signed by master distillers bourbons.

Even though Jack Daniel’s whiskey is owned by Brown Forman Company in Louisville, it is not one of my collectibles. It’s a Tennessee whiskey, not a bourbon. From what I researched, most of its historic marketing story is not truth worthy. But, it’s their story and they’re sticking to it. Even though the facts seem to tell a lesser story.

The Brown Forman Corporation has allowed the Old No. 7 label of Jack legend to grow so much that their marketing spin has overstated the facts. Some researchers of Old No. 7 say that, “some of the most cherished notions about the whiskey and its founder are simply not true.”

“It wouldn’t be such a big deal if they didn’t pin so much of their marketing on these few items, but they really do,” said Peter Krass author of “Blood & Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel.”

Without question, Daniel is a true American success story, like so, so many of Kentucky’s legends Jim Beam, Bill Samuel, Evan Williams, Elmer T. Lee and Colonel Blanton.

Krass takes issue with Jack Daniel claiming to be the first registered distillery in the country, and he never won a gold medal for World’s Best Whiskey. Daniel claimed 1866 as the beginning, however, land deed records reveal he didn’t go into business until 1875.

Anyone who has ever toured the Bourbon Trail surely was wide awake when the tour guides would casually drop in the line “legend has it,” or “as the story goes” or “it has been passed down.”

Personally, I don’t mind a good story behind a product, as long as there is enough truth to halfway believe it. Perhaps a preacher really was mixing up a batch of “good stuff” for his congregation in Nelson County. Maybe his barn really did catch on fire and char an old barrel. Sounds good, but who really knows?

Make no mistake, the Bardstown area is a wonderful place to visit. Bourbon does indeed runneth over. A few years ago a tourism friend of mine was discussing the Talbot Tavern, a historic venue downtown. The sign says it dates back to 1779. My friend let it slip that the date may not be exactly accurate.

“It was said several years back a painter who had been over-served some of the local stuff was sprucing up things and instead of putting the correct numbers 1797 up he did 1779,” said my friend. “Who knows for sure?”

It really doesn’t make a lot of difference to me about a few years, just as the sometime wild bourbon stories don’t.

Visit the Bourbon Trail and decide for yourself. Oh, by the way, my collection is under lock and key, behind bullet-proof glass, surrounded by motion detectors from five different directions. Only spinning another tale. Hey, it’s about bourbon.

– There’s no excuse, get up, get out and get going! Gary P. West can be reached at westgarypdeb@gmail.com.