A Brand Born in 2026
I founded Bourbon Dad in 2026 to help spread the joy I've found as a tour guide on the bourbon trail as well as the newfound joy I've found as a father. I've been a bourbon enthusiast for a while, but it wasn't until August 2026 that I became a dad.
I've seen a lot of great custom t-shirts during my time on the trail, from "Kevin's Small Batch of Friends" to the classic "Call Me Old Fashioned" to Hawaiian style shirts but instead of flowers it's the face of a middle-aged white guy having the time of his life and everything in between, and yet there are so many more custom designs that still need to be made, and we're here to make that happen.
Whether you're looking to outfit your whole squad for an upcoming visit to Kentucky's bourbon country or just looking for the perfect gift for your local knucklehead—I mean—whiskey enthusiast, you've come to the right place.
My pricing varies from project to project, but my calculations are simple: material costs, shipping costs, and enough margin to make it worth my while and to help me spend more time with family and loved ones. I can help you come up with a design or plug an existent design right in.
Every purchase you make from Bourbon Dad supports my freedom to prioritize the things that matter the most to me, and because of that, I am truly grateful for every purchase.
If my time in bourbon has taught me anything, it's that it's best to appreciate the time and process it takes to make something just as much as the thing itself, and that precious things are meant to be shared with those you love.
-Cali
Cali, Founder
There's Always a Story...
"Call Me Old Fashioned"
This is probably the design which I've seen the most variations of while out on the bourbon trail, so I thought I'd put my spin on it too.
As a bourbon shirt design, it's very straightforward: clear text turning the classic phrase "call me old fashioned" into a double entendre by adding the context of a ready-to-drink Old Fashioned cocktail.
I'm a big fan of white on black, but I can also alter the color of any design to fit any background color you want.
"Bourbon Eye Chart"
While there's no evidence that bourbon can improve your eyesight, it can make you better looking...
This bourbon t-shirt is a Bourbon Dad original, and I can't tell if it's dumb clever or clever dumb, but it makes me smile all the same!
"Soup of the Day"
There's a restaurant that sits right in between Woodford Reserve and Castle & Key called The Stave, inside of which I saw a sign much like this one that made me laugh.
One of the easiest self-guided trips on the bourbon trail is Woodford Reserve then The Stave (5m drive), then Castle & Key (5m), then Buffalo Trace (25m). I will say, if you're in a time crunch though, The Stave might not be the play...
And if you end up at Buffalo Trace, give the folks across the street at J Mattingly a look-see. If you tell them that Cali sent ya, they might even give you a couple of free pours...
"Mixed Drinks"
I first saw a graphic with "I have mixed drinks about feelings" at Willett down in Bardstown, and it tickled me so much that I eventually ended up buying a bar rag from their gift shop with that text on it.
This design, like most Bourbon Dad designs, can be printed as a simple text variant, as shown in the second image.
"Fine Bourbon"
Pappy Van Winkle smoked cigars and distilled bourbon until the day he died at the ripe age of 91 years old.
Today his name is mostly known as the label for, in my experience, the most prestigious and sought after bourbon of all time.
This design frames a slightly smoking cigar above the last few lines of Pappy's most famous quote. This full quote can also be found on the side of the W.L. Weller Bottling Hall on the Buffalo Trace campus.
"We make fine bourbon at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always fined bourbon." - Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle
"Vegetables & Hydration"
This is just a goofy little design that justifies sitting in a corner and drinking bourbon, inspired by something I saw that was in the similar vicinity of humor but was word differently.
"I Was Told There Would Be Cats"
A lot of folks who end up visiting the bourbon trail don't actually care about bourbon at all... they're simply along for the ride, supporting their loved ones and enjoying the views.
Whether folks like bourbon or not, distillery cats are often one of the highlights of the day. There's a long tradition of distillery cats as mousers, but most of the ones you might see on the trail today have put their working days behind them in order to bask in the sunshine and the attention of adoring visitors.
If that's you, this Bourbon Dad original was designed with you in mind. It'd also go great on a hat... I should make hats.
"Shots Fired"
Bourbon folks tend to be some of the most generous people on the planet. It feels like most of the time I walk into a bourbon enthusiast's house, they've given me a Glencairn and half an ounce of something they spent years searching for before I can even sit down.
Maybe I just hang out with a bunch of alcoholics...
Anyways, this Bourbon Dad original depicts the other side of the coin—the unbridled wrath that bourbon folks feel whenever someone downs a beautiful bourbon like it's a shot of well vodka at happy hour.
"Bourbon Weather"
Wet or dry, rain or shine, hot or cold, day or night... it's always bourbon drinking weather.
"You Shut Your Mouth When You're Talking To Me"
This Bourbon Dad comes straight from a two day bourbon tour.
This particular guest was the comedian of the group, and his humor was accented by the fact that he lost his voice before the tour even began. His voice never got better because he never stopped cracking jokes, and the way he said, "you shut your mouth when you're talking to me" without even realizing the verbal typo is forever etched into my memory as one of the funniest things I've heard while on the trail, so I thought I'd share it with y'all.
