Who is the typical bourbon drinker? Judging by the marketing for most whiskeys, a safe guess would be a white man, of middle age, and Southern by birth or at least aspiration. It could be a blond woman in full Kentucky Derby pastels, holding a mint julep .

Many people would probably not picture someone like Samara Rivers, because African-Americans like her are almost completely absent from bourbon marketing.

That’s why Ms. Rivers founded the Black Bourbon Society, a national organization for African-American whiskey fans that since its creation two years ago has grown to more than 4,700 members. In late April, Ms. Rivers led 35 of them on a weekend tour through Kentucky, beginning with private tastings at distilleries like Woodford Reserve and Buffalo Trace and ending with a Sunday brunch in Louisville, where they honored the history of black horse jockeys.