Bourbon Whiskey - Geographic Origin

Geographic Origin

On May 4, 1964, the United States Congress recognized bourbon whiskey as a "distinctive product of the United States". Bourbon may be produced anywhere in the United States where it is legal to distill spirits. But most brands are produced in Kentucky, where bourbon production has a strong historical association. Iron-free water that has been filtered through the high concentrations of limestone, unique to the area, is often touted by bourbon distillers in Kentucky as a signature step in the bourbon-making process.

It has been reported that 97% of all bourbon is distilled and aged somewhere near Bardstown, Kentucky. which is home to the annual Bourbon Festival held each September, and has been called the "Bourbon Capital of the World" by the Bardstown Tourism Commission and the Kentucky Bourbon Festival organizers who have registered the phrase as a trademark.

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail is the name of a tourism promotion intended to attract visitors to six distilleries in Kentucky: Four Roses (Lawrenceburg), Heaven Hill (Bardstown), Jim Beam (Clermont), Maker's Mark (Loretto), Wild Turkey (Lawrenceburg), and Woodford Reserve (Versailles).

Tennessee is home to other major bourbon producers, though three of the four main producers don't call the finished product bourbon. Jack Daniel's is a notable example. But the methods for producing Tennessee whiskey fit the characteristics of bourbon production, and "Tennessee whiskey" is legally defined under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and some other laws (such as the law of Canada) as the recognized name for a straight bourbon whiskey produced in Tennessee. Some Tennessee whiskey producers point to their use of the Lincoln County Process, a charcoal-filtering process, to draw a distinction between Tennessee whiskey and bourbon. But many bourbons are charcoal-filtered (for example, Ezra Brooks Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey and Old Heaven Hill), and not all Tennessee whiskey producers use the Lincoln County process (for example, Benjamin Prichard's Tennessee Whiskey). The U.S. regulations defining bourbon do not prohibit the Lincoln County process, even if the process is used, the legal definition under NAFTA defines Tennessee whiskey as bourbon.

Bourbon also has been made in California, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia, and most likely in other U.S. states as well.