General Thomas Bourbon with an AI Spin Launching in Late June

By Chuck Keller, Contributor

Do you prefer your bourbon neat or on the rocks? Would you consider adding a splash of AI (Artificial Intelligence) to further enhance the experience? 

You will soon be able to enjoy a specialty bottle of General Thomas Kentucky  Bourbon created by Fort Thomas resident Dan Gorman. Its release will roughly coincide with the July installation of the General Thomas statue in Tower Park. But like so many things, the story of how this came to be is interesting. 

Some years ago, Gorman was taken with the story behind the George Remus branded bourbon. Even though Remus was a fascinating local historical character, he knew that there was another equally fascinating local historical character, the namesake of our city, General George Thomas. 

Gorman said, “Our town is named after this interesting person….wouldn’t it be cool to have a brand named after him that would tell his story as well as somehow try to get people to understand how great of a town Fort Thomas is?” And that is where this story picks up momentum in the winter of 2024. 

But first, a little background. Distillers generally need to project four years out what the market will be and prepare for that. COVID threw a bit of a wrench into the machinery which resulted in a surplus. Knowing this, Gorman approached a distiller with his idea and purchased twenty barrels to create his passion project – a General Thomas branded  bourbon. He designed the labels, bought bottles, and also arranged for 10,000 QR codes so each bottle will be connected to a unique website. 

There is another layer to this story, one that will be historic for a different reason. He said, “I had just been consumed with learning as much about AI as I can and having a lot of fun involving it in different projects that I’m involved in…. And I thought it would be really fun if it would be the first bourbon that I know of that involves AI in some fashion.” As a result each bottle will have a unique QR code that will do two things. When the customer scans the code an AI version of General Thomas will appear allowing the customer to click on links to hear him talk a bit of the history of Fort Thomas or the story behind Thomas’ nickname of the Rock of Chickamauga or a bit of this particular bourbon’s history. 

The other aspect of this project puts this bourbon on another level, though. The customer can personalize a message for that particular bottle that will stay with that bottle forever. General Thomas will appear and speak your message. This would be perfect for a gift because the giver can personalize a message to commemorate the gift.  During the course of this interview, Gorman demonstrated how that works. The process is simple but will surely dazzle. 

Everything about this project revolves around Kentucky and Fort Thomas. The labels are made in Kentucky. The bourbon is made in Kentucky. And even the AI is created by a Fort Thomas guy, Luke Weidner.  

Gorman was raised in a military family so support for veterans is important for him. He said that in order to keep the price reasonable the profit margin on this will remain very narrow. But even at that, he hopes to give up to half of the profits to a local veteran group. 

Gorman said, “Everybody I talk to says that it should be ready by June 20th. That gives my distributor enough time to pick it up, get it into different bars and restaurants” and retailers. 

This is yet another way to celebrate and share the unique character of Fort Thomas with a bottle of General Thomas Kentucky Bourbon with a splash of AI.