Damon Thayer

“Champion of Bourbon and Horses”

Damon Daniel Thayer was born on September 16, 1967. His early life was spent in the tiny town of Reese, Michigan, before heading to college. After earning a BA in communications from Michigan State University in 1989, Thayer worked in several horseracing communications roles, such as in media relations at Thistledown near Cleveland, Ohio, as well as the Maryland Jockey Club. In 1992, he moved to Kentucky for a communications post at Turfway Park in Florence. Those early Northern Kentucky years led to a broader public profile and first introduced him to his future constituency as he ultimately sought elected office in a state that is greatly dependent two of his passions: horseracing and bourbon.

By 2003, the warm and talkative Republican had won a special election to the Kentucky Senate, and would become Majority Floor Leader in 2013. While his legislative portfolio ranged widely, his imprint on bourbon law and policy is where his reputation in whiskey circles took root. Industry groups consistently connect his name to a series of “bourbon modernization” laws that opened up distillery hospitality, tourism, and direct-to-consumer pathways. One early milestone in that modernization arc arrived in 2016, when the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 11, a law which allowed distilleries to serve cocktails by the drink and making it easier for visitors to buy bottles at the place of production. The measure is widely credited with exponentially boosting the visitor experience along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and helping distilleries build tasting-room businesses that resemble the wine industry’s. That same 2016 session also saw alcohol-law changes travel under SB 200, a bill increasing the ability to produce, distribute, and consume alcohol; of that bill, Thayer was a co-sponsor. These stepwise changes formed building blocks for later, more comprehensive fixes that the whiskey industry had long sought from Frankfort.

Two years later, Thayer pressed for passage of HB 400, the so-called “Bourbon Without Borders” law, that allowed distilleries to ship bottles to consumers in reciprocity states. The effect was practical, since visitors to the state could ship bottles home; and symbolic, signaling that state policy would support bourbon tourism in a meaningful, consumer-friendly way. The modernization continued in 2022 with HB 500, also sponsored by Thayer, which explicitly legalized private barrel selections and allowed satellite tasting rooms, among other updates. The Kentucky Distillers’ Association celebrated the final passage as clearing up long-standing ambiguities that held back a wildly popular part of bourbon culture. Furthermore, HB 500 was penned with an emergency clause made the changes immediately effective.

In 2019, Thayer decided to step directly into the bourbon business while the laws he helped create were still reshaping the operating environment. Together with Lexington attorney and friend André Regard, the lawmaker co-founded premium brand Kentucky Senator Bourbon, a revived historic label whose limited releases are each named for a US Senator from Kentucky. The inaugural 2020 release honored Alben W. Barkley with a 15-year, 107-proof Kentucky straight bourbon; subsequent annual small batches have followed, all distilled and aged in the Bluegrass State. After their first launch sold out, Thayer worked to source barrels from an “unnamed but respected” distillery in Bardstown that they plan to use for a total of four years’ worth of releases, one each year as the barrels age. In 2021, Kentucky Senator released a six year, 107 proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon named for William J. Deboe, the first-ever Republican senator from Kentucky, and in the summer of 2022, Kentucky Senator released a seven year, 107 proof Kentucky Bourbon named for one of the most influential names in the bourbon world, John G. Carlisle, the leader of the “Bourbon Democrats.” In 2025, Kentucky Senator Bourbon, which typically sells for around $199 per 750 ml bottle, became a regular presence at high-profile events at Kentucky Downs.

Living in the quiet suburb of Georgetown, Kentucky, Thayer and his wife Carrie have now raised their two adult children. A strong Catholic, Thayer says he has often thought of his family when making decisions that impact not only his life, but that of the next generation of Kentuckians. Perhaps in part for this reason, as his long Senate tenure wound down, he chose not to seek re-election in 2024 and instead to concentrate on his bourbon and his other love, horses.

To that end, Thayer has also been honored for his advocacy for the horse-racing industry, including as 2024 recipient of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners’ Warner L. Jones Jr. Horseman of the Year Award. Thayer partners in a group of horses campaigned by CJ Thoroughbreds, including Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf starter, “Hang the Moon.” The Jones award reflects laws sponsored and passed with Thayer’s guidance that brought important legislative changes to Kentucky’s horse racing environment.

Not to be outdone, In 2025, Thayer was inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame, with the distillers’ association highlighting his role in stewarding more than 20 pieces of legislation that modernized the bourbon industry, as well as noting his status as a co-owner of Kentucky Senator Bourbon.

Set end-to-end, Thayer’s bourbon story is not that of a Master Distiller but of a policymaker-turned-brand owner whose legislative fingerprints are on many of the rules that can now greatly shape Kentucky distillery sales and a visitor’s experience. It culminates in a chapter where the statehouse and the rickhouse converged, first by statute, then by label.

Sources:

  1. Vote Smart, “Damon Thayer’s Biography”, justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/biography/35109/damon-thayer

  2. Ballotpedia, ballotpedia.org/damon-thayer

  3. Louisville Courier-Journal, “Bourbon, beer regulations change under new law”, Bailey Loosemore, March 30, 2016

  4. InsideHook, “A New ‘Bourbon Without Borders’ Law…”, insidehook.com/food/kentucky-bourbon-without-borders-hb-400 

  5. Kentucky Distillers’ Association, “Kentucky Distillers Cheer Final Passage of Private Barrel Legislation (HB 500)”, March 23, 2022

  6. Fred Minnick, “ Kentucky Senator Bourbon…Kentucky Downs”, September 3, 2025

  7. GoBourbon.com, “Kentucky Senator…”, Caroline Paulus, January 19, 2024

  8. Northern Kentucky Tribune (Covington, Kentucky), “Thayer named to…Bourbon Hall of Fame”, June 23, 2025

  9. Kentucky Senator Bourbon official website, kysenatorbourbon.com

  10. Breaking Bourbon, “…Thayer enters Bourbon Hall of Fame.” breakingbourbon.com, September 18, 2025

Contributed by Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee