Rebecca Ruth and the Invention of the Bourbon Ball: A Frankfort Story

Ask a Kentuckian to name the state's signature candy and you will almost always hear the same answer: the bourbon ball. It is a creamy center with real bourbon, dipped in dark chocolate and topped with a pecan. Dozens of confectioners make one today. The first came from a small family candy company in Frankfort, and its story is as Kentucky as the candy itself.

Two teachers and a closed hotel bar

In 1919, Ruth Hanly and Rebecca Gooch were substitute teachers in Franklin County. A Kentucky Historical Society account says their pay was as low as $40 a month. They had earned praise for the chocolates they made as Christmas gifts, and they decided to try candy for a living instead. At a time when few women started businesses, and before women had won the right to vote, they founded Rebecca-Ruth Candy.

Their first kitchen was an unusual one. Prohibition had closed the barroom of the Frankfort Hotel, and the two women rented it, dipping chocolates on a marble slab they called "Edna's Table." That slab would turn out to be the most durable thing in the business.

Widowhood, the Depression and a fire

Ruth married Douglas Booe and left Frankfort for a time. Her husband died not long after their son John was born, from injuries suffered in World War I. In 1929, Rebecca Gooch married and sold her half of the company to Ruth, who returned to Frankfort as sole owner just as the Great Depression arrived.

Sales collapsed to candy sold by the piece. Ruth used the slow months to experiment, and one creation from this period, the Mint Kentucky Colonel, became a favorite. Then, in 1933, fire destroyed her home and factory. She lost her supplies, equipment and money. Only Edna's Table survived.

According to the company's own history, every bank in Frankfort turned down her loan request. A housekeeper at the Frankfort Hotel, named Fanny Rump in the company's account and Franny Rump in the Historical Society's, lent her about $50, and she started over.

"A sip of bourbon and a bite of chocolate"

The idea for the bourbon ball surfaced during Frankfort's sesquicentennial celebration in 1936. The company credits a visiting dignitary, Eleanor Hume Offutt. As the story is usually told, she remarked that the two best tastes in the world were a sip of Kentucky bourbon and a bite of Ruth's chocolate. Family accounts differ on the details. VinePair notes that one of Ruth's grandsons has credited Kentucky Gov. Ruby Laffoon instead. All agree on what happened next.

Ruth spent two years working out how to blend bourbon into a candy filling. The process remains a secret. In 1938 she introduced the bourbon ball, and it quickly became her best seller. It still is.

Sugar rations and a growing legend

World War II brought a new problem: sugar rationing. The business did not receive the rations it needed, so loyal customers and friends saved their own sugar rations and coffee tins and gave them to Ruth so she could keep making candy. A Kentucky historical marker credits her business savvy with carrying the company through the factory fire, the Depression and wartime rationing.

Ruth retired in 1964 and passed the business to her son, John Booe, who expanded the factory and added other liquor-filled chocolates. In 1997, John sold the company to his son Charles. Ruth died in 1973 at 82. In 2020, the company says, Sarah Booe became vice president, making Rebecca Ruth a fourth-generation family business.

Visiting the marker

Kentucky Historical Marker #2192, "Ruth Hanly Booe (1891-1973)," stands at 112 E. Second Street in Frankfort. It was dedicated on Oct. 28, 2005, on what would have been Ruth's 114th birthday. It calls her the inventor of the bourbon ball and the Mint Kentucky Colonel. If you are traveling the Bourbon Trail, it is a short detour through the capital and a fitting stop for anyone with a sweet tooth.

Tasting the tradition

You can still taste the original. Rebecca Ruth Bourbon Balls come in boxes from two pieces to 32. The small sizes make easy stocking stuffers, and the large ones suit an office party.

The candy Ruth invented has inspired many interpretations. Distillery-branded versions include Evan Williams Bourbon Balls, Buffalo Trace Bourbon Balls and Maker's Mark Gourmet Bourbon Balls. To taste several side by side, try the Mini Bourbon Ball Flight, a sampler tower that includes Rebecca Ruth. Browse the full bourbon balls and chocolates collection for more.

A century after two teachers rented an empty barroom, the bourbon ball is one of Kentucky's best-loved gifts, all from a single marble slab that survived a fire.