Jim Gaffigan didn't find bourbon — bourbon found him. During the early days of COVID, like many Americans, he turned to cocktails at home. He and wife Jeannie would cap off long days of homeschooling and social distancing with Old Fashioneds, which transitioned to bourbon on the rocks, and eventually became bourbon neat — "mostly because we were just lazy," Jim says matter-of-factly. Sometimes when the bourbon bug bites, it bites hard, and for him, it bit instantly. What started as a harmless pandemic-era pastime snowballed into a full-blown obsession that any bourbon drinker will recognize: the uncontrollable need to take it to the next level and commit fully to what is — let's be honest — a hobby with a drinking problem.

For Jim, the natural endpoint of all that obsession was bootstrapping a bourbon brand from the ground up. And he has a simple explanation for how it got to that point:

"I’m the hobbyist that's gone too far.”

Jim was approached by companies to lend his name to a celebrity spirits brand, the more traditional way, but to him, that "just felt icky." So instead, he reached out to his college friend and fellow Hoya, Stu Pollard — a Louisville native, film producer, and writer who already had an extensive bourbon collection, a bar in his basement, and presumably some Louisville bourbon connections. It didn't take much convincing. Like Jim and probably many of you reading this, Stu is also obsessed with bourbon. The duo launched Fathertime Bourbon in the spring of 2024.

On its surface, it might look like any other celebrity bourbon story. But spend a few minutes talking with Jim, and you realize there’s more to this story than meets the eye.

"I love the storytelling," Jim admits., going on to talk about "authenticity" and "approachability" as a foundation for the brand. As many know, bourbon brands can be 50% science, 50% art, and 100% marketing angle — with entire boardrooms dedicated to convincing you that a multinational conglomerate is really just a guy in overalls guarding a secret family recipe that was passed down in the shadows of dusty rickhouses for centuries. "Authenticity…with a wink in it," Jim says, describing a feeling most bourbon fans have had when encountering one of those loosely embellished stories from a bourbon brand at one time or another. To his credit, he's quick to add that he's "rooting for all of them" — the good bourbon brands that is, as they are the core element in what makes the spirit so captivating.

For Fathertime Bourbon, the storytelling led inward. Family is important to Jim, and that comes through in every release. Most bottles feature his paternal grandfather, Joseph Patrick Gaffigan, on the front — a man who taught himself to be a denture maker, breaking the family's generational cycle of working in the Pennsylvania coal mines and paving the way for the life Jim finds himself living today. The back label features his maternal grandfather (Richard Furlong Mitchell) in the top left, along with Jim’s father (Michael Ambrose Gaffigan) near the bottom, pictured alongside Jim. Each of the five standard releases — if you can call them that, as every release is a one-off — has paid tribute to one of his five children, with batch names like Middle Child Mystery and Fourth and Long. The labels have an old-timey feel and are packed with details often tied to the particular family member in focus — "I allowed my kids to pick Easter eggs," Jim notes, with intentional inside jokes and hidden messages scattered throughout.

But not all of the releases have been about fatherhood, Mother of the Century was created to pay tribute to Jim’s wife, Jeannie Louise Noth Gaffigan. “Mothers are the true heroes,” Jim says, which he makes evident with a note expressing his gratitude for her selfless generosity as she has navigated the challenges of surviving a brain tumor, raising five children, and dealing with over 20 years of marriage to him, a constantly traveling comedian.    

Fathertime’s latest release, The Caboose, closes the chapter on the inaugural run with a different bottle focused on each child. It carries special significance — Jim is also a caboose himself, the youngest of six siblings. Like the releases immediately before it, it comes as a two-bottle set. The lower proof version clocks in at 92.4 — a (very) subtle nod to 1988, the year Jim and Stu met at Georgetown (92 minus 4 equals 88). The higher proof, cask strength version clocks in at 121, and it’s lovingly dubbed Empty Nester Strength.

Every bottle carries Jim's actual signature — a promise he made early on and has kept (with a bit of weight in his voice), even hauling labels with him on tour to make good on his promise. It's a level of personal investment that keeps the releases small and intentional. There are no plans to scale distribution or expand operations; instead, the focus is on the details that go into each release. Bottles are primarily sold through the company’s website, bypassing traditional distribution entirely.

All of Fathertime’s products so far have been high-rye Kentucky straight bourbon, reflecting Jim's natural pull toward that particular mashbill. They're sourced from different Kentucky distilleries, allowing Jim and Stu to put their own unique spin on each final blend. And unlike many celebrity brands, the goal isn't to get rich — it's to break even. And sometimes they don't even manage that, as was the case with last year’s limited edition Santa's Reward release.

With every member of Jim's immediate family now immortalized on a label, the question is what comes next. A mashbill shift is on the table, though a full-blown rye probably isn't on the immediate horizon as Jim admits he's "still waiting for his rye phase." For now, he's just a proud parent watching his batches find their way into the hands of people who appreciate them. Not bad for a guy who was too lazy to make an Old Fashioned.