-LRB- Mental Floss -RRB- -- It 's hard to walk down the aisle of a liquor store without running across a bottle bearing someone 's name . A costumed reveler at a Captain Morgan party celebrates the rum named after the 17th century privateer . We put them in our cocktails , but how well do we know them ? Here 's some biographical detail on the men behind your favorite tipples : 1 . Captain Morgan The Captain was n't always just the choice of sorority girls looking to blend spiced rum with Diet Coke ; in the 17th century he was a feared privateer . Not only did the Welsh pirate marry his own cousin , he ran risky missions for the governor of Jamaica , including capturing some Spanish prisoners in Cuba and sacking Port-au-Prince in Haiti . He then plundered the Cuban coast before holding for ransom the entire city of Portobelo , Panama . He later looted and burned Panama City , but his pillaging career came to an end when Spain and England signed a peace treaty in 1671 . Instead of getting in trouble for his high-seas antics , Morgan received knighthood and became the lieutenant governor of Jamaica . Mental Floss : 5 drinking stories that put yours to shame 2 . Johnnie Walker Walker , the name behind the world 's most popular brand of Scotch whisky , was born in 1805 in Ayrshire , Scotland . When his father died in 1819 , Johnnie inherited a trust of a little over 400 pounds , which the trustees invested in a grocery store . Walker became a very successful grocer in the town of Kilmarnock and even sold a whisky , Walker 's Kilmarnock Whisky . Johnnie 's son Alexander was the one who actually turned the family into famous whisky men , though . Alexander had spent time in Glasgow learning how to blend teas , but he eventually returned to Kilmarnock to take over the grocery from his father . Alexander turned his blending expertise to whisky , and came up with `` Old Highland Whisky , '' which later became Johnnie Walker Black Label . 3 . Jack Daniel Jasper Newton `` Jack '' Daniel of Tennessee whiskey fame was the descendant of Welsh settlers who came to the United States in the early 19th century . He was born in 1846 or 1850 and was one of 13 children . By 1866 he was distilling whiskey in Lynchburg , Tennessee . Unfortunately for the distiller , he had a bit of a temper . One morning in 1911 Daniel showed up for work early and could n't get his safe open . He flew off the handle and kicked the offending strongbox . The kick was so ferocious that Daniel injured his toe , which then became infected . The infection soon became the blood poisoning that killed the whiskey mogul . Curious about why your bottle of J.D. also has Lem Motlow listed as the distillery 's proprietor ? Daniel 's own busy life of distilling and safe-kicking kept him from ever finding a wife and siring an heir , so in 1907 he gave the distillery to his beloved nephew Lem Motlow , who had come to work for him as a bookkeeper . Mental Floss : The many myths of Jack Daniel 4 . Jose Cuervo In 1758 , Jose Antonio de Cuervo received a land grant from the King of Spain to start an agave farm in the Jalisco region of Mexico . Jose used his agave plants to make mescal , a popular Mexican liquor . In 1795 , King Carlos IV gave the land grant to Cuervo 's descendant Jose Maria Guadalupe de Cuervo . Carlos IV also granted the Cuervo family the first license to commercially make tequila , so they built a larger factory on the existing land . The family started packaging their wares in individual bottles in 1880 , and in 1900 the booze started going by the brand name Jose Cuervo . The brand is still under the leadership of the original Jose Cuervo 's family ; current boss Juan-Domingo Beckmann is the sixth generation of Cuervo ancestors to run the company . 5 . Jim Beam Jim Beam , the namesake of the world 's best-selling bourbon whiskey , did n't actually start the distillery that now bears his name . His great-grandfather Jacob Beam opened the distillery in 1788 and started selling his first barrels of whiskey in 1795 . In those days , the whiskey went by the less-catchy moniker of `` Old Tub . '' Jacob Beam handed down the distillery to his son David Beam , who in turn passed it along to his son David M. Beam , who eventually handed the operation off to his son , Colonel James Beauregard Beam , in 1894 . Although he was only 30 years old when he took over the family business , Jim Beam ran the distillery until Prohibition shut him down . Following repeal in 1933 , Jim quickly built a distillery and began resurrecting the Old Tub brand , but he also added something new to the company 's portfolio : a bourbon simply called Jim Beam . Mental Floss : A bourbon FAQ 6 . Tanqueray When he was a young boy , Charles Tanqueray 's path through life seemed pretty clear . He was the product of three straight generations of Bedfordshire clergymen , so it must have seemed natural to assume that he would take up the cloth himself . Wrong . Instead , he started distilling gin in 1830 in a little plant in London 's Bloomsbury district . By 1847 , he was shipping his gin to colonies around the British Empire , where many plantation owners and troops had developed a taste for Tanqueray and tonic . 7 . Campari Gaspare Campari found his calling quickly . By the time he was 14 , he had risen to become a master drink mixer in Turin , Italy , and in this capacity he started dabbling with a recipe for an aperitif . When he eventually settled on the perfect mixture , his concoction had over 60 ingredients . In 1860 , he founded Gruppo Campari to make his trademark bitters in Milan . Like Colonel Sanders ' spice blend , the recipe for Campari is a closely guarded secret supposedly known by only the acting Gruppo Campari chairman , who works with a tiny group of employees to make the concentrate with which alcohol and water are infused to get Campari . The drink is still made from Gaspare Campari 's recipe , though , which includes quinine , orange peel , rhubarb , and countless other flavorings . For more mental_floss articles , visit mentalfloss.com