The Bourbon Bizz!!!

Bourbon is America's own spirit,steeped in time from as much as 300 years ago, dating back to some of the early settlers, this unique American product has continually evolved and been refined over the past 200 plus years.

The first settlers to bring their whisky traditions to this country were Scotch/Irish of Western Pennsylvania. Although whiskey was produced throughout the colonies (George Washington himself even turned his hand to the distillation of said whiskys), with these settlers the bourbon legacy begins.

To help finance the revolution, the Continental Congress put a tax on the distillation of whisky. So infuriated were the settlers that they refused to pay and tax levied. To restore order among the ensuing "Whiskey Rebellion" of 1791 to 1794, Washington was forced to send the Continental Army to quell the uprising.

This turned out not to be a far more daunting task than was first perceived and save the government from a potentially embarrassing political situation and to avoid further difficulty with some of the more hard line elements in society, a settlement was agreed, giving incentives for those who would move to Kentucky, the significance of this is that the early whisky was made primarily from rye, this was about to change with their move and "Bourbon" would be born.

Thomas Jefferson who was the Governor of Virginia at that time, offered pioneers sixty acres of farm land in Kentucky if they would build a permanent structure and raise "native corn" it was also surmised that no family could eat sixty acres worth of corn a year and it was too perishable to transport for sale so the genius behind the idea was simple the corn were turned into whiskey, both problems would disappear. This corn based whiskey, which was clearly distilled, would become "bourbon" only after two coincidentally related events happened.

In the Western part of Virginia, the then county of Kentucky, was subdivided in 1780 and again in 1786. One of these subdivisions was named Bourbon County, after the French Royal House. Kentucky became a state in 1792 and Bourbon one of its counties.

In 1783 It is documented that Evan Williams might have been the first commercial distiller in Louisville although nothing has yet been proved, The legend goes that Evan Williams was a penny pincher and used old barrels to transport his whiskey to market in New Orleans. He charred the barrels before filling them, thus after his whiskey made the long trip to market, it had "mellowed" and taken on a brown color.

In 1964, a congressional resolution protected the term "Bourbon" and only since then has the product been defined. The basic elements of Bourbon are that they must be a minimum of two years old, distilled under 160 proof, and be made from a mash of at least 51% corn. It must be aged in charred new oak barrels. 99% of Bourbon Whiskey comes from Kentucky.

The next stage of Bourbon development is how the elements of production, storage, aging and bottling are handled, If the mix of small grains in the mash changes, or the yeast strain used is different, the product changes also. Many distill and age their whiskey at a different proof, Some crack the corn and some roll it.

There are those that pay attention to every detail from the growing and preparation of the grain to the proper rack house barrel rotation. In all premium bourbons you can find a unique point of difference and it is these subtle differences in the end product that make all the difference.

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