The Scotsman, the Bourbon, and a Spelling War That's Been Brewing for Centuries
There is a debate that has simmered inside whiskey bars, distillery tasting rooms, and online forums for generations — one that predates the internet, predates the cocktail renaissance, and arguably predates American independence itself. It is not a debate about mash bills or maturation, cooperages or char levels. It is a debate about a single vowel. Whiskey or whisky? Five letters versus four, and the gap between them wide enough to contain centuries of tradition, national identity, and more than a little good-natured antagonism between the Old World and the New. Now, with September officially recognized as National Bourbon Heritage Month, one of Kentucky's most storied brands has decided to do something about it — and they've enlisted an unlikely Highlander to make the case.
Elijah Craig, the award-winning family of premium American whiskeys, and Bob MacIntyre, PGA TOUR professional golfer and brand ambassador, are bidding to unite Bourbon and Scotch lovers by lobbying for a uniform spelling of the word that already unites them: Whiskey vs. Whisky. The campaign, launched September 1, 2026, arrives timed perfectly to the unofficial summit of America's spirits calendar — and it carries both the weight of the brand's deep historical legacy and the magnetic personality of one of golf's most compelling young stars.
Who Is Bob MacIntyre, and Why Does His Opinion on Bourbon Matter?
To understand why this partnership resonates beyond the realm of typical celebrity endorsement, it helps to know where Bob MacIntyre comes from. Robert Duncan MacIntyre was born on August 3, 1996, in Oban, Scotland — a coastal town on the Firth of Lorn in Argyll, the kind of place where the sea mist rolls in off the Atlantic and a dram of Scotch after a round is as unremarkable as a handshake. MacIntyre started to focus on golf at the age of 17 after growing up playing shinty, having played for his local club, Oban Camanachd, between the ages of 13 and 17.
His amateur pedigree was exceptional from the start. He became the first player to win the Scottish Youths' Championship and Scottish Boys' Open Strokeplay Championship in the same year, before going on to attend McNeese State University in Louisiana, where he was the South Conference freshman of the year and led the team in scoring average. He turned professional in 2017, and the trajectory of his career since has been one of steady, purposeful ascent.
The breakthrough came in 2024, the kind of season that defines careers. MacIntyre claimed an emotional maiden PGA TOUR title at the RBC Canadian Open, winning by one stroke at Hamilton Golf and Country Club with his father Dougie as his caddie for the week. He then won his first Rolex Series title and second PGA TOUR title at the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open, becoming the first Scotsman to win the event since Colin Montgomerie 25 years prior, thanks to a birdie on the 72nd hole which saw him finish one stroke ahead of former World Number One and Major Champion Adam Scott.
Since those twin peaks, MacIntyre has continued pushing. He came agonizingly close to winning the 2025 US Open at Oakmont, finishing 2nd to JJ Spaun. He represented Europe for a second time at the 2025 Ryder Cup after finishing second on the points list. At the time of the partnership announcement with Elijah Craig, MacIntyre was ranked 16th in the Official World Golf Rankings, with two PGA TOUR victories and three international wins, including his most recent triumphs at the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open and the 2024 RBC Canadian Open. In other words: this is not a faded former champion or a mid-tier journeyman. This is a legitimate world-class golfer, one with real equity in both the American and Scottish sporting landscapes, which makes him a near-perfect ambassador for a campaign designed to bridge exactly those two worlds.
The Campaign: A Vote for the Letter "E"
The mechanics of the campaign are disarmingly simple for something that touches on such deeply ingrained cultural identity. As we enter National Bourbon Heritage Month, Elijah Craig is asking fans to vote and bring whisk(e)y lovers from both sides of the pond together under one shared spelling. The brand's chosen answer to the debate is, predictably but also historically defensibly, the American spelling with the "e."
In a new video, Bob reveals his choice: whiskey with an 'e,' in a nod to Elijah Craig, the American whiskey pioneer credited with introducing the groundbreaking practice of charring oak barrels before aging Bourbon in them, transforming a once-clear liquid into the beautiful, complex brown liquid we know as whiskey today. It is why Elijah Craig is widely referred to as the Father of Bourbon.
MacIntyre's willingness to publicly take this stance — and to do it with genuine humor and apparent conviction — is what separates this campaign from the kind of hollow celebrity spirit deal that usually produces one Instagram post and quickly disappears. MacIntyre, who serves as Elijah Craig's brand ambassador, is seen in a clip encouraging Scotch fans to try Bourbon as their whisky pour, instead of his native Scotch. The golfer notes he grew up drinking Scotch but says he's spent a lot of time in the States lately and has started to notice something: "You Americans take your whiskey pretty seriously."
In the ad, he states: "I have been spending a lot of time in the States lately and I have started to notice something. You Americans take your whiskey pretty seriously. Now don't get me wrong, I did grow up drinking Scotch but lately I have been reaching for some Elijah Craig bourbon and I invite you to join me." The delivery is casual and unscripted-feeling — the kind of endorsement that's hard to manufacture because it requires a personality authentic enough to carry it. MacIntyre has that in abundance.
This Isn't the First Time MacIntyre Has Made the Ask
The September spelling campaign is actually the second chapter in what has become a sustained offensive by Elijah Craig to use MacIntyre's transatlantic credibility as a conversion tool. The groundwork was laid months earlier, with a move targeting perhaps the most symbolically resonant date on the international spirits calendar.
Elijah Craig teamed up with professional golfer and brand ambassador Bob MacIntyre to celebrate International Whiskey Day on Friday, March 27. The multi-tour winning Scottish golfer and iconic American whiskey brand called on Scotch lovers to swap their next pour for Bourbon. Their ask: simply share how they enjoy Elijah Craig or whiskey of choice in place of Scotch for the chance to receive a special gift that can make it easier to choose Bourbon next time around.
MacIntyre, an ambassador for the Bardstown, Kentucky-based brand, teamed up with Elijah Craig to give 100 lucky fans a $40 American Express gift card to go towards their next Elijah Craig-filled cheers. The incentive was clever — not a sweepstakes requiring elaborate entry, but a low-friction social media engagement that functioned as both a marketing mechanism and a genuine community moment for whiskey fans across the country and across the Atlantic.
MacIntyre's and Elijah Craig's latest bid to unite the world of whiskey follows MacIntyre's invitation for Scotch lovers to swap their favorite spirit for a dram of Bourbon on International Whiskey Day in late March — as he noted at the time, ideally with Elijah Craig, the Official Bourbon of the PGA of America and the Ryder Cup. That dual role — face of the brand, and competitor in the very events the brand officially sponsors — gives MacIntyre an authenticity that money alone cannot fabricate.
The Ryder Cup Connection: Where Golf and Bourbon Formally Shake Hands
The deeper structural context behind this partnership is the Elijah Craig brand's aggressive positioning in the world of professional golf — and specifically, its official ties to one of sport's most tribally passionate events. As the Official Bourbon and Worldwide Supplier of the 2025 Ryder Cup, Elijah Craig launched its "Road to the Ryder Cup" campaign leading to one of golf's greatest events when the Ryder Cup returned to U.S. soil at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York.
Elijah Craig Bourbon announced a new partnership with PGA TOUR professional golfers Robert MacIntyre and J.T. Poston in multi-year sponsorship deals. Both MacIntyre and Poston will be supported by Elijah Craig as the "Official Bourbon of Robert MacIntyre" and "Official Bourbon of J.T. Poston." The pairing of MacIntyre — the Scotsman increasingly at home on American fairways — with Poston, a Georgia native and steady PGA Tour performer, signals a deliberate dual-audience strategy: appeal to the American bourbon faithful while simultaneously using MacIntyre as a bridge into the European market.
The Ryder Cup, more than any other golf event, is defined by the collision of national identities. American fans versus European fans, each side fiercely parochial and deeply invested. It is the perfect environment for a brand trying to spark a transatlantic conversation about heritage, taste, and shared tradition. The whiskey-or-whisky debate is just a funnier, more accessible version of the same underlying tension.
The Father of Bourbon: Who Was the Real Elijah Craig?
A campaign built around spelling and national pride is only as convincing as the historical foundation beneath it, and Elijah Craig's brand history is remarkably solid ground. The Reverend Elijah Craig, the brand's namesake, is known as "The Father of Bourbon," having established his distillery in 1789 on the banks of Elkhorn Creek in modern-day Georgetown, Kentucky. He is credited with being the first distiller to age his wares in charred oak barrels. The clear, unaged corn liquor became transformed into a bold amber liquid with a distinctively smooth flavor that makes Bourbon what it is today.
The man himself was a fascinating figure — not merely a distiller, but a Baptist preacher whose life straddled the worlds of religious conviction and frontier commerce. Born in 1738 in Orange County, Virginia, to Tolever Craig and Mary Hawkins Craig, Elijah grew up during a time when religious conformity was tightly enforced by the established Anglican Church. In the early 1760s, Elijah began spreading the gospel and was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1771. His defiance of religious orthodoxy and his willingness to experiment with new techniques in his distillery mark him as a genuinely American archetype — the creative, stubborn, God-fearing individualist.
The story of how bourbon got its distinctive character is as rooted in practicality as it is in inspiration. Elijah Craig, as a preacher and distiller, is thought to be one of the first to add whiskey to barrels as a cheaper means of storage while shipping it south. By the time the whiskey reached port three months later, the charred oak barrels had turned the whiskey a slight caramel color and added a charming flavor. The accident — if it was one — fundamentally altered the trajectory of American spirits.
As for the naming of bourbon itself, the geography is just as intriguing as the man. Whisky distilling was brought to what is now Kentucky in the late 18th century by Scots and Scots-Irish settlers, with a Baptist minister named Elijah Craig credited with the invention of Bourbon whiskey. The name comes from the House of Bourbon, the old ruling dynasty of France, with Bourbon County, Kentucky, named in gratitude for King Louis XVI's assistance during the American Revolution. So the spirit that MacIntyre is now championing is, in its very DNA, partly a product of Scottish and Scots-Irish immigration — which gives his advocacy a historical resonance that extends well beyond the marketing brief.
What the "E" Actually Means: The Whiskey vs. Whisky Divide Explained
For the uninitiated, the distinction between "whiskey" and "whisky" is not a typo — it is a deliberate and fiercely defended orthographic choice that maps almost perfectly onto national boundaries. Scotch whisky, Japanese whisky, and Canadian whisky all drop the "e." Irish whiskey and American whiskey — bourbon included — retain it. The rule of thumb holds with only occasional exceptions, and producers on both sides of the divide take the spelling seriously enough that regulatory bodies in several countries codify the correct form in legal definitions.
More Scotch whisky is sold around the world than American, Japanese, and Irish whiskies combined, with total exports worth £5.36 billion in 2025. That commercial reality gives the "no e" camp considerable weight — Scotch is the dominant global category by volume, by value, and by cultural visibility. The kilt, the glen, the peat — the iconography of Scotch has a grip on the global imagination that no other whisky or whiskey tradition has yet matched. For Elijah Craig to use a Scottish golfer to lobby for the American spelling is a genuinely cheeky move, and it works precisely because MacIntyre appears to be in on the joke rather than merely cashing a check.
To be classified as a bourbon, the whiskey must be made from at least 51% corn and aged in new charred oak barrels. It is known for a sweeter profile with vanilla and caramel notes. Those profile characteristics — the warmth, the sweetness, the barrel-driven complexity — are exactly what make bourbon a credible alternative to Scotch for drinkers who are not yet committed to the peaty, briny, or fiercely oaky expressions that define much of what makes Scotch famous. For a Scotch lover looking to broaden horizons, the jump to a well-made Kentucky bourbon is not a betrayal; it is a lateral move into equally serious territory.
National Bourbon Heritage Month: The Ideal Stage for This Campaign
The timing of the September campaign launch is anything but accidental. Introduced by Kentucky Republican Senator Jim Bunning in 2007, a resolution was passed by the U.S. Senate declaring September as National Bourbon Heritage Month. That federal recognition transformed what might have been a regional Kentucky celebration into a nationwide occasion — one that now generates media coverage, retail promotions, distillery events, and consumer engagement across the country every fall.
The Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown is the flagship event, featuring live music, food pairings, barrel-rolling contests, and heritage exhibits. Bardstown is also the home city listed on Elijah Craig's press releases, and the brand is woven into the fabric of the region's identity in a way that few others can claim. Workshops, seminars, and distiller talks focus on bourbon's heritage — from legendary figures like Elijah Craig, often called the "Father of Bourbon," to the science of aging and the role of oak barrels.
For a brand whose very name is synonymous with bourbon's origin story, September is less a marketing opportunity than a homecoming. The spelling campaign turns what could be a dry heritage-month message — "buy our whiskey, it has history" — into something participatory and slightly irreverent, inviting consumers to take a side in a debate that is fundamentally about belonging and identity. Those are the conversations that move product and build loyalty at the same time.
The Elijah Craig Lineup: What MacIntyre Is Actually Asking You to Drink
No amount of clever marketing survives contact with a mediocre liquid. The reason the Elijah Craig partnership with MacIntyre has traction is that the product line he's representing is genuinely respected in the whiskey community. Elijah Craig is one of the most award-winning families of premium Bourbons and Ryes. Its inaugural Barrel Proof Rye release (2025) is Whisky Advocate's reigning Whiskey of the Year. That is not a minor regional accolade — Whisky Advocate's annual ranking is one of the most closely watched designations in the global spirits press, and taking the top spot with a rye release is the kind of achievement that earns credibility with even the most skeptical Scotch loyalists.
Scotch fans looking to add the 'e' back into their whiskey rotation with the Father of Bourbon can reach for Elijah Craig's award-winning Small Batch, known for its distinctive warm spice; Toasted Barrel, with a second toasted finish for an added layer of sweet oak complexity; and Straight Rye with notes of rich baking spices and honey. Each expression addresses a different drinker profile: the Small Batch is the accessible entry point with its approachable warmth; the Toasted Barrel offers something more layered and contemplative for the enthusiast who wants structure and complexity; the Straight Rye is for the drinker who appreciates the assertive, grain-forward character that pairs beautifully with cocktails or rewards sipping neat.
For those at the premium end of the spectrum, the lineup extends considerably further. A complex Single Barrel Bourbon, bottled at 108 proof for a unique experience for those with premium taste, and a rare Single Barrel Bourbon, expertly chosen by the Master Distiller, round out the upper tier of the range. Under the guidance of Master Distiller Conor O'Driscoll, the team selects barrels that deliver extraordinary depth and approachability. The combination of awards, master distillery pedigree, and a product range that runs from accessible to rare gives MacIntyre something genuinely worth endorsing.
Elijah Craig 15-Year-Old Bourbon is available in 750ml bottles nationally, with a suggested retail price of $149.99, and the sensory profile rewards that investment. The expression leads with aromas of dark fruit, figs, and roses. Upon tasting, expect flavors of roasted nuts, toasted oak, and caramelized sugar that build to a rich, complex finish evoking crème brûlée with ginger and cloves. Its structure yields a mature elegance without feeling too intense, creating a full-bodied profile balanced by refined sweetness and spice. This is not the kind of bourbon that needs to win over reluctant converts with a gimmick — it earns its place at the bar on merit alone.
What It All Means for the American Bourbon Market
Zoom out from the specific campaign mechanics, and there is a broader strategic conversation worth having. The American bourbon industry has spent the better part of two decades riding a domestic renaissance — the barrel supply crunch of the mid-2010s, the explosion of craft distilleries, the premiumization trend that has pushed aged single-barrel expressions into the price territory once exclusively occupied by single malt Scotch. But the international audience remains a significant frontier.
Even though America's distilling heritage started before the nation was founded, bourbon was declared as a unique product of the United States in an act of Congress in 1964. That designation gave bourbon the legal clarity that Scotch had long enjoyed, but it did not automatically generate the global cultural cachet that Scotch had built over centuries of export and brand-building. The Elijah Craig and MacIntyre partnership is, at its core, an attempt to close that gap — using the crossover appeal of professional golf and the face of a beloved Scottish competitor to tell European drinkers: this spirit is serious, it has history, and it deserves space in your glass.
The spelling debate is the vehicle, but the destination is market share. And it is a smarter vehicle than most, because it invites participation rather than demanding conversion. Asking someone to cast a vote in a whiskey/whisky debate is fundamentally an act of flattery — it treats the consumer as someone with an informed opinion worth soliciting, which builds goodwill even before the bottle is opened. MacIntyre's natural charisma makes the invitation feel genuine rather than transactional, and the historical depth of the Elijah Craig name gives the whole enterprise something to stand on.
The Bigger Picture: Athletes, Authenticity, and the Spirit World
Celebrity spirit partnerships are not new, and they have not always aged well. The graveyard of ill-considered tequila brands and vaporous vodka ventures backed by famous names is deep and wide. What distinguishes the better ones is authenticity — the sense that the person involved actually drinks the product, actually cares about the category, and has enough credibility in their own field to lend the endorsement real weight.
MacIntyre has that. MacIntyre from Oban, Argyll, said he had developed a taste for the drink which is produced in Kentucky, and there is nothing in his public profile to suggest that claim is manufactured. He is a working-class Scotsman from a golf town on the west coast of Scotland who crossed the Atlantic to compete at the highest level of professional golf, spent increasing amounts of time in the American South, and found himself drawn to a spirit that is deeply, unmistakably American. That is a story that resonates — not because it is constructed, but because it is recognizable. Many Americans have had a version of the same experience in reverse: traveling to Scotland, tasting a dram in a drafty pub overlooking the North Sea, and understanding for the first time what all the fuss is about.
PGA Tour-winning Scottish golfer Bob MacIntyre is bringing Scotch and Bourbon fans together under one consistent spelling of whisk(e)y, with an "e," for Elijah Craig. It is a line that doubles as a mission statement, and it works because both sides of the argument have earned their place in it. The Scots made whisky a global phenomenon. The Americans — specifically a Baptist preacher from Virginia who settled in Kentucky — charred a barrel, waited three months, and changed the course of spirits history. The least two traditions that owe each other so much can do is agree on how to spell what they both love.
Whether the vote settles anything is beside the point. The conversation itself — loud, good-natured, backed by good bourbon — is the whole campaign. And as September rolls on and American bourbon takes its annual turn in the spotlight, there are worse ways to spend the month than pouring a glass of Small Batch, raising it toward whatever side of the Atlantic you happen to call home, and letting the debate continue exactly where it belongs: at the bar.
