America's Native Spirit

• Closely associated with the rolling hills of Kentucky, bourbon is named for an old, large county where some of the first Kentucky whiskies were set to port, which was in turn named for a French family of nobles who helped the American colonists during the Revolutionary War.
• According to a 1964 resolution of the U.S. Congress, bourbon, “America’s Native Spirit,” must be made in the United States, and it must consist of a minimum of 51 percent corn (maize), though most contain more than 70 percent.  It must be aged in new charred oak containers, distilled to 160 proof or less, barreled at 125 proof or less, and bottled at no less than 80 proof.
• While bourbon can be aged in new oak containers for any period of time (seconds, for that matter), it must be aged for a minimum of two years in order to be labeled “straight bourbon,” and only water may be used to cut bourbon during any part of its creation.
• Chris Morris, master distiller at Woodford Reserve, says premium bourbon is not unlike fine wine. “It should be so complex that it requires multiple samplings to ascertain what flavors it presents the palate,” he says. “It should exhibit a good representation from the five areas of bourbon flavor: sweet aromatics, spice, fruit, wood and grain.”