Bourbon: An Origin Story
When Gia and I talk with people about bourbon, we get a lot of very similar questions - Is bourbon a whiskey? Isn’t bourbon only from Kentucky? Are there different kinds of bourbon? Who invented bourbon? So I thought it would be good to share this curious, somewhat accidental, and very American ‘origin’ story.
Whiskey is defined as the distilled product of fermented grains. Bourbon is a distinct type of whiskey - part of a global family of spirits that includes Scotch Whisky (they leave the “e” out on purpose), Irish whiskey, Canadian whiskey, Tennessee whiskey, and most recently Japanese Whiskey. All bourbon, by law, must be made with at least 51% corn. Bourbon mash bills also will typically include a small amount of malted barley, with the rest comprised of either rye or wheat (or sometimes both rye and wheat).
We have Thomas Jefferson to thank for the importance of corn in bourbon, although it was not intentional. In the late 18th century, while Jefferson was governor of Virginia, he would offer sixty acres plots of land to farmers willing to grow corn. This western portion of Virginia later petitioned, in 1792, to become the great state of Kentucky. 60 acres of corn yields much more corn than any farmer’s family would consume on their own. These farmers grew their corn with the intention of bringing it to market as a cash crop. However, the infrastructure of our country at that time was understandably not well developed, and so there were real challenges for farmers to grow, harvest and transport their crops to market in time before it would spoil. Any farmer that had corn at risk of spoilage knew they could simply distill that corn into whiskey, store it in barrels, and sell it at market sometime later without the risk of loss. This practice of farmers ‘moonshining’ was not driven by a desire to avoid taxes or high price liquor, it was done as a necessity to save and preserve the value of their crop.
Now, once their corn had been distilled, it would be stored in wooden barrels, ready to ship to market. The barrels were most commonly made with White American Oak, which is what is required by law today for aging bourbon. Wine had been stored in French Oak barrels as far back as the Romans in the first century AD. White American Oak was very similar to French Oak (some would argue even better) and it was quite plentiful throughout the eastern United States. So, while it wasn’t necessarily the law at the time that whiskey must be stored in oak barrels, it was common knowledge that oak was the best vessel for storing wine and other spirits and it was a readily available resource.
At this point in our story, two additional coincidental conditions occurred that helped to shape Bourbon further into the wonderful modern spirit we know today. First, in the early 1800s, oak barrels were used to store and transport many, many types of commodities (flour, grains, salted meats and fish, water, nails, beer, spirits, whale oil – the list was endless). Farmers would acquire these used oak barrels for the storage of their whiskey, but they understood the barrels needed to be purified due to the wide range of former contents that occupied those barrels, as well as the need to eliminate any bacteria or contaminants that would foul the whiskey. So they charred the interior of these barrels to sanitize them.
The second condition was time. There were no trucks or trains to transport these freshly filled charred oak barrels. Farmers would bring whiskey-filled barrels to market primarily by riverboat, and in Kentucky, that meant transporting the barrels north to an Ohio River port. Steam-powered riverboats traveled from northern Kentucky, west along the Ohio River, and then south to access the global market via New Orleans, with many stops along the way, including Cincinnati, Louisville and Memphis.
During this journey, which would take many months, an interesting transformation occurred within those charred oak barrels as they lazily made their way south. That crystal clear corn-based whiskey, also known as ‘white dog’, sloshing around the interior of those barrels, gradually gained an increasingly amber-brown hue and developed some very favorable flavor traits along the way. The charcoal-lined interior served to mellow the whiskey, smoothing out its harshness and ‘heat’. The sugars, which had been caramelized by the charring process, as well as the tannins and lipids in the oak, were infused into the whiskey as well. When those barrels finally made it to New Orleans or ports beyond, they would often sit unopened for many more months, or even years while the whiskey continued to age. The longer that whiskey sat in its barrel, the more it gained in both color and flavor.
When those aged barrels were finally opened and tasted, the clear whiskey that went into the barrel had been transformed into a beautiful, sweet-smelling, smooth and mellow, caramel-colored, toasted marshmallow flavored whiskey. It was still high proof of course, so it packed a punch, but with a little water or ice added, or mixed in a ‘daisy’ cocktail for ladies, it was quite delicious. It quickly became the rage up and down the river route, and in New Orleans.
Of course, Rue Bourbon, or Bourbon Street, in the French Quarter, is the most famous street in New Orleans. And many people think that American Bourbon was somehow named after this street. However, historians believe the more likely story is due to its county of origin - Bourbon Kentucky. Bourbon county was named such after an aristocratic French family, aka the “House of Bourbon”. The whiskey produced in this northern Kentucky county was stored in barrels labeled “Bourbon County” and had the longest distance to travel before arriving at port in New Orleans. That lengthy journey by river meant the whiskey spent more time in its barrel before arriving in New Orleans, and thus gained more color and flavor, than other barrels that would have boarded the riverboats further downriver. Bar owners in New Orleans observed that their patrons preferred the darker more flavorful Kentucky whiskeys, and so they would ask their suppliers to stock them with those Bourbon County barrels. Eventually, this was shortened simply to Bourbon.
All of these factors combined in a perfect scenario to produce what we know today as a uniquely American whiskey.
