In 1874 a barkeeper from St. Louis working in the French Quarter of New Orleans came up with an idea for a new kind of cocktail. Just 24 years old at the time, Martin Wilkes Heron took a barrel of whiskey and refined its contents by adding to it fruit and spices such as peaches, oranges, cinnamon and vanilla.

Initially, he called his creation “Cuffs + Buttons”, playing on the name “White Tie and Tails”, a very popular drink of the time. In 1885 he decided to inspire a bit more local patriotism with his drink and named it “Southern Comfort”. This was a wise move because sales increased so dramatically that from 1889 on his liqueur was bottled in Memphis, Tennessee. He was also granted a U.S. patent for his recipe in 1998.

In the span of only four years the flavoured whiskey from the South won two gold medals for quality and fine taste, one at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris and the other at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (World's Fair) held in St. Louis in 1904.

Martin Wilkes Heron died in 1933 just a few months after the end of Prohibition during which time production had been shut down. The Fowler family purchased the recipe for Southern Comfort and gave the bottle a new shape and label. When the film adaptation of Gone with the Wind was released to the cinemas in 1939, a concoction called “Scarlett O’Hara” (with lime and cranberry juice) was marketed as a tribute to the female lead character. The cocktail became world famous, boosting sales figures of Southern Comfort to unprecedented heights. After the end of World War II Southern Comfort went on a trip around the world: The cornerstone for international sales was established in Great Britain.

The publication of a party recipe book (“Southern Comfort Party Book”) shows that the Southerner is not just a good drink with ice and lime, but can also serve as the basic ingredient for dozens of excellent drinks. A century after its creation the liqueur with a rich history was being sold in over 50 countries. It is now made by Brown-Forman Corporation and distributed to over 100 countries.

Southern Comfort was originally a cocktail based on whiskey, but today it is made from neutral grain spirits with additives such as sugar and colouring along with extracts of whiskey, peaches, oranges and spices such as cinnamon. For Southern Comfort Reserve (40 percent alcohol content) 8-year-old bourbon whiskey is used instead of neutral grain spirits.