Bourbon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2010 census, the population was 19,985. Its county seat is Paris. Bourbon County is part of the Lexington–Fayette, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bourbon County is the remnant of what was previously a much larger Bourbon County, established as part of Virginia in 1785, and comprising what are now thirty-four modern Kentucky counties. The area later became known as Old Bourbon in reference to its historical expanse.