When artist Jared DuCote sets up at outdoors expositions with his oil paintings of bourbon bottles displayed alongside more expected depictions of waterfowl and gundogs, he describes the reaction like this: “People stop to look at the dogs, and then the guys will check out the bourbon still lifes and say, ‘I’d totally buy that.’”
DuCote, who is forty-five and resides in San Antonio, has been pursuing art since he spent after-school hours sketching in his father’s sign shop. And though his trajectory to becoming a professional sporting artist includes no formal training, he’s become highly respected in the field, as evidenced by being named Ducks Unlimited’s Artist of the Year in 2024. It wasn’t until around that same time that he began applying his skills to still lifes of bourbon bottles. “I’m a big bourbon guy and have plenty of bottles,” he says. “An artist named Thomas Arvid does wine bottles, and I stepped back and thought it would be cool if someone painted a bottle of Blanton’s or Pappy in a hyper-realistic style.”
Hyper-realism is a hallmark of DuCote’s work, whether he’s depicting the subtle ripples in a pond or in a Glencairn. “That’s where I’ve always pushed myself, to make it as real as possible,” he says. “At shows, people think my paintings are photos, and I love that compliment.”
When composing a bourbon still life, DuCote can turn to his own robust collection, as in the painting titled My Favorite Things that features casually arranged bottles from Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill, Old Forester, and Woodford Reserve. “My wife thinks I have about fifty bottles,” he says with laugh, “but truthfully, it’s more like three hundred.”
He’s also begun accepting commissions for bourbon paintings, many of which are destined to hang above clients’ bars or bourbon cabinets. “For the longest time, all my commissions were family portraits or dogs,” he says. “When this came around, bourbon enthusiasts started wanting paintings of bottles they love. I’m working on four bourbon commissions right now.” Depending on size and level of detail, such commissions typically run $2,500 to $12,000 and can require eight weeks to complete, though DuCote admits he once spent five months nailing the intricacies of a Waterford rocks glass.
Given the two primary subjects of his work, does DuCote recognize the thematic connection between hunting game and hunting rare bourbons? “Absolutely,” he says, noting that his own golden retriever is named Whiskey. “As a true bourbon and Scotch guy, it’s always in the back of my head no matter where I go—what’s the price on that Blanton’s Gold, what can I walk out of the store with? A lot of the gentlemen into the sporting lifestyle have a bottle stowed away somewhere.”
Steve Russell is a Garden & Gun contributing editor who also has written for Men’s Journal, Life, Rolling Stone, and Playboy. Born in Mississippi and raised in Tennessee, he resided in New Orleans and New York City before settling down in Charlottesville, Virginia, because it’s far enough south that biscuits are an expected component of a good breakfast.
