Old Soul, Good Taste: 5 Reasons To Fall For A Bourbon Drinker

Bourbon drinkers are a defined, eccentric and passionate group of people.

We are the dreamers, the believers and the free thinkers.

We are also the traditionalists, the trailblazers and the bold. A person who loves to drink bourbon is unique and has no grasp on social norms, classes or the status quo.

Bourbon drinkers are the people’s people.

They're a group as fiery as they are loyal, and odd as they are special.

Falling in love with a bourbon drinker is a fate-tempting, world-jarring decision to make, but trust me, everyone should do it at least one time in his or her life.

It seems to me that all bourbon lovers share these traits in common:

1. Falling in love with a bourbon drinker means falling in love with a soul much older than any number of years.

Just as drinking bourbon is a tradition that gets passed down generation after generation, a bourbon drinker is equally old fashioned.

A bourbon drinker will read you Cecil (preferably "Melbourne"), Bukowski, Thompson, Faulkner and Twain. You’ll start to identify with Bogart, and Errol Flynn.

Bourbon drinkers will introduce you to pureness of the crackle of a vinyl, and you’ll share cigarettes and marvel at the wonder of Miles Davis (Bitches Brew), Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday and Robert Johnson.

The soul of a bourbon drinker will always wander back in time; they never belong to their era. They’ll be reluctant to give themselves away, but you’ll understand it.

There will be subtle things, like a silver-engraved cufflink, a vintage wiggle dress or a stand-up record player. They are slaves to the past.

A bourbon drinker always awed by the simplicity of this world and how it’s amazing to find beauty in even the most mundane things.

That’s why we drink our bourbon straight up, or sometimes on the rocks.

No chaser.

2. Falling in love with a Bourbon drinker means to burn.

A bourbon drinker is passionate. Just as he or she likes the burn and bite in the whiskey, he or she loves to burn in all aspects of life. Intense and all-encompassing, a bourbon drinker will demand all of your time and energy.

It’s consuming, all or nothing, no nonsense with bourbon drinkers. They know what they want and nothing else will do after they set their sights on something.

It’s just our way. Imitation is non-existent to a bourbon drinker; we always go for the original.

3. Falling in love with a bourbon drinker means you’ll learn to savor tradition.

The best and most notable bourbons have been perfected and distilled for generations, creating their own brand of traditions and celebrations.

Bourbon drinkers usually come from a long line of bourbon drinkers. We're the troubadours, the cowboys, the outlaws. We greet change, but appreciate tradition and uphold it the best we can.

We realize and protect the importance of staying true to our roots, but also welcome progress and change.

Bourbon drinkers are always looking for ways to better themselves while keeping the integrity of their heritages and pasts intact.

4. Falling in love with a bourbon drinker means being loyal.

You’ll rarely see a bourbon drinker drinking anything other but bourbon. Once we’ve made up our minds that something is for us, that’s it.

When we’ve found that perfect something, we leave it at that. A bourbon drinker is fiercely and intensely loyal. Not only to a spouse or significant other, but to family, friends, coworkers and jobs.

Loyalty is a trait that also goes hand-in-hand with being an old soul. It’s rare and hard to find, but I’ve found most fellow bourbon drinkers usually possess it.

5. Falling in love with a bourbon drinker means you’ve fallen in love with someone who is real.

You can be a very rich man and drink bourbon, and you can be a very poor man and drink bourbon. It’s for everyone and bourbon drinkers aren’t tied together by how much the brand they are drinking costs, but by the fact that what they love is the same.

Bourbon drinkers aren’t worried about frills, expectations or what looks good on paper. We love what we love, and aren’t worried about the rest.

Giving your heart to a bourbon drinker is something that is both wildly intoxicating and exhilarating at the same time. I can't pinpoint why most of the people who enjoy bourbon share these same qualities.

Perhaps it's because we all share the same love for our heritage and tradition or perhaps because bourbon attracts those who are full of passion and intensity.

Whatever the reason, I think you'll discover that loving a bourbon drinker will leave you with the same feeling equated with simply taking a straight shot: fulfilled, brazen and ready to take on the world.

"I have never in my life seen a Kentuckian who didn’t have a gun, a pack of cards, and a jug of whiskey." – Andrew Jackson