Why Does So Much Bourbon Hail From Kentucky?

The state of Kentucky is known for many things: horse racing, bluegrass music, and the critically-acclaimed Appalachian TV crime drama "Justified." But perhaps above all, it's known for bourbon. Few liquors are as closely associated with a state as bourbon is with Kentucky. (Maybe Tennessee and its whiskey, but we'll get to that in a second.) You don't often hear about Minnesota bourbon, or about a neat new bourbon distillery in Montana. In fact, Kentucky so thoroughly dominates bourbon production that over 95% of all bourbon is made in the state. Why is that? It has to do with corn, oak, and history.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no rule that says bourbon must be made in the state of Kentucky. In fact, North Carolina once produced more bourbon than Kentucky. That being said, there are plenty of rules about what can legally be called bourbon. According to the Federal Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits, bourbon must be, among other things, made in the United States, made from a grain mixture that's at least 51% corn, and aged in barrels made of white oak that haven't yet been used to age other spirits. Unfortunately, these rules don't always prevent subpar bourbon from being made in the state.

So why Kentucky? Well, partly because it's where a lot of Scottish immigrants went. The practice of fermenting grain and distilling it into alcohol wasn't invented by the Scottish, but the particular manifestation of that practice that resulted in whiskey did originate in what is now Scotland. (They have scotch to show for it.) When Scottish people, drawn by the promise of the New World, settled in America, they brought their whiskey-making with them. For various reasons, including the long history of Native American's cultivating corn in the region, they gravitated towards the less-settled parts of the American frontier, including what is now Kentucky. They also settled in Tennessee, which is one of the reasons why Tennessee whiskey is not at all dissimilar to bourbon.

Grains like wheat and barley weren't especially well-suited for Kentucky's sweltering summers. Corn, on the other hand, thrived in such an environment, and so the whiskey makers started to use that as their mash of choice. Kentucky also had plenty of oak trees, which was very convenient for when barrels were needed to transport the liquor long distances. It's all wonderfully serendipitous, and it all leads to the Jim Beam that sits on your bartender's shelf.