Will Eating Bourbon Balls Actually Give You A Buzz?

Bourbon balls, a classic Southern sweet, are known for their distinct barrelled flavor, but will this dessert give you a buzz? In short -– not likely. These no-bake desserts, often rolled in powdered sugar or dipped in chocolate, combine bourbon, crushed wafers, some type of nut, and sugar.

While bourbon balls contain genuine bourbon, the amount per serving is usually minimal. A standard recipe calls for about three or four ounces of bourbon to make between 24 and 36 servings (one ball equates to one serving), resulting in a low dosage of alcohol.

To put this into perspective, a typical neat serving of bourbon (no ice or mixers) is around two ounces. With only four ounces of bourbon distributed across so many balls, each contains less than 0.1 ounces of the liquor, well under the standard drink in the United States (which has about 0.6 ounces of pure alcohol or 1.5 ounces of liquor). You would need to eat half a batch, roughly 12 to 18 bourbon balls, to consume the equivalent of a single shot of alcohol -– and that's a lot of noshing in one sitting.

To err on the side of caution, these desserts should not be served to children or those who are pregnant, as the alcohol is not partially cooked off, unlike in something like a bourbon pecan pie, brioche donuts with a bourbon glaze, or a pecan, bourbon, and cane syrup ham recipe where the heat burns off some alcohol. While the alcohol content in a single bourbon ball is minimal, it is important to remember that factors such as body weight, metabolism, and whether you've consumed any other alcohol can influence tolerance.

The origins of bourbon balls can be traced back to a time when bourbon production was a blossoming industry in Kentucky. Namely, Ruth Hanly Booe, previously a substitute teacher, was the first person to create bourbon balls at her candy shop Rebecca Ruth Candy in Frankfort, Kentucky during the Great Depression.

Though Booe was dubbed the founder of the bourbon ball, the idea to combine candy and bourbon was suggested by Eleanor Hume Offutt in 1936 — who was elected as the President of the Woman's Democratic Club of Kentucky soon after. For two years, Booe worked to perfect this newly inspired recipe, and by 1938, she was ready to sell. Though the following year World War II began, Booe's success did not fall short, as many customers would supply their own sugar and tins to get their hands on these spiked chocolates when the government refused to give her business sugar rations.

Nowadays, some bourbon ball recipes come without chocolate at all — made with different nuts and cookies as a base, many without Booe's characteristic Southern pecan on top. You'll find they come in a variety of flavors as well, like peach, mint, ginger, cinnamon, and even spicy cayenne.