Six years back, a distillery decided to throw out the rulebook on how bourbon gets made. The folks at 15 STARS Fine Aged Bourbon had a straightforward question: what happens when you swap regular corn for the kind that pops?
It wasn't just curiosity driving this decision. The team behind 15 STARS also runs Black Jewell Popcorn, a family operation that's been growing heirloom colored corn for years. They grow red kernels, white ones, blue, and black. These aren't your average corn varieties pulled from a seed catalog.
What Makes This Corn Different
Most corn planted across America gets chosen for one reason—it grows a lot of it, fast. Farmers and distillers pick varieties engineered to maximize yield and cut costs. It's practical, but flavor takes a back seat.
Heirloom corn follows different rules. These varieties have been around for generations, protected from the genetic modifications and breeding programs that turned corn into an industrial commodity. The natural characteristics stay intact—the oils, the sugars, the subtle flavors that got bred out of commercial strains decades ago.
"We set out to use our proprietary heirloom colored corn varieties, the very same red, white, blue, and black kernels that we sell through our family brand, Black Jewell Popcorn, to create bourbons with more depth of flavor," the distillery explains.
The Mashbill Breakdown
The technical side of bourbon production comes down to the mashbill—the recipe of grains that goes into the barrel. For their First West Small Batch and Toasted Oak expressions, 15 STARS settled on 70% corn, 18% rye, and 12% malted barley.
That corn percentage isn't negotiable in bourbon. Federal regulations require at least 51% corn to earn the name, but most distilleries push well past that minimum. The 70% mark gives corn enough presence to drive the flavor while leaving room for rye's spice and barley's sweetness.
What sets this mashbill apart isn't the ratios—it's which corns fill that 70%. The red, white, and blue varieties each bring something different to the barrel. Red corn tends toward richer, deeper notes. White corn keeps things lighter and cleaner. Blue corn adds earthiness that commercial corn can't match.
From Field to Bottle
The distillery doesn't just throw different colored kernels together and hope for complexity. The process involves careful selection, blending, and what they call "flavor proofing"—adjusting proof based on taste rather than hitting an arbitrary number.
This approach challenges standard industry practice. Many distilleries proof their whiskey to specific percentages for consistency and shelf appeal. Numbers like 80 proof or 100 proof show up repeatedly because retailers and consumers recognize them. But 15 STARS built their process around what tastes right, even if that means landing at an unusual proof point.
Tasting the Connection
The distillery suggests something most bourbon drinkers probably haven't tried—pairing their whiskey with popcorn. Specifically, popcorn made from the same heirloom corn that went into the bourbon.
Their Native Mix Kernel Pouch contains red, white, and blue popcorn. Pop it fresh, pour a glass of their bourbon, and taste the same corn in two completely different forms. The popcorn shows what those kernels taste like raw. The bourbon reveals what happens after fermentation, distillation, and years in charred oak.
It's not a gimmick. Tasting the base ingredient alongside the finished product gives a rare glimpse into how distilling transforms grain. Most bourbon drinkers never taste the corn that made their whiskey. They might see a field on a label, read about non-GMO grain on a marketing sheet, but they don't connect those kernels to what's in the glass.
The Flavor Priority
Throughout their production, 15 STARS keeps circling back to one principle: flavor comes first. "Whether by our heirloom corn mash bills, blending, or flavor proofing, we always prioritize flavor in our bourbons," they note.
That statement sounds obvious—who wouldn't prioritize flavor in a spirit meant for sipping? But in practice, flavor often gets balanced against other concerns. Efficiency matters. Consistency matters. Meeting price points matters. Using readily available ingredients matters.
Heirloom corn costs more than commercial varieties. It yields less per acre. It requires more careful handling. For a larger distillery, these factors would kill the idea in a planning meeting. For a smaller operation connected to their own corn supply, it makes the difference between another bourbon on the shelf and something genuinely different.
The Six-Year Mark
The distillery marked its sixth anniversary recently, still relatively young in an industry where age carries weight. Some bourbon brands trace their lineage back 150 years or more. Six years barely registers in that timeline.
But six years matters for another reason—it's long enough to see results. The first barrels filled in those early days have matured. The experiment with colored corn has moved from theory to bottles on shelves. Whatever this approach produces, it's not speculation anymore. It's whiskey people can buy and taste.
The time frame also suggests the team stuck with their unusual plan despite the easier path of switching to standard corn. Six years gave them plenty of chances to cut costs, boost efficiency, or compromise on the original vision. They didn't take those exits.
Beyond Marketing
Every craft distillery tells a story about their special process, their unique location, their secret techniques. Some of these stories hold water. Others are creative ways to stand out in a crowded market.
The heirloom corn angle could slide into pure marketing territory—colorful kernels photograph well, the popcorn connection makes for good press. But the distillery's position as an established popcorn producer gives it credibility. They weren't scrambling to find a story after deciding to make bourbon. They had decades of experience growing these corn varieties before a drop of whiskey ever touched a barrel.
Black Jewell Popcorn existed long before 15 STARS bourbon. The corn came first. The whiskey followed. That sequence matters because it suggests genuine expertise with these grains rather than a branding exercise.
What This Means for Bourbon
One distillery using popcorn corn won't reshape the industry. The major players will keep buying commercial grain by the ton, making excellent bourbon the way they always have. The market has room for both approaches.
But smaller distilleries watching 15 STARS might start asking similar questions about their ingredients. If corn variety changes bourbon's character this noticeably, what about rye? What about barley? What about yeast strains, water sources, or barrel selection?
The craft bourbon wave of the last 15 years mostly focused on age statements, proof points, and finishing techniques. Fewer distillers looked at the grain itself. That's starting to shift. Heritage grains, heirloom varieties, and grain-to-glass traceability are entering the conversation.
Six years ago, the team at 15 STARS Fine Aged Bourbon asked a simple question about better corn making better bourbon. The answer, sitting in bottles now available on shelves, suggests they were onto something. Whether that answer appeals to traditional bourbon drinkers or converts new ones, time will tell. But the question itself—what if we started with better ingredients—remains worth asking.
