tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082156144028140004.post8889796607638761585..comments2024-03-13T04:04:32.568-07:00Comments on Sku's Recent Eats: State Whiskey Law: Kentucky & Californiaskuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00487419662314518931noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082156144028140004.post-29823069634487824162013-05-30T16:20:45.517-07:002013-05-30T16:20:45.517-07:00EllenJ, thanks for the comments. You raise some i...EllenJ, thanks for the comments. You raise some interesting points.<br /><br />First, I've heard the "year and a day" rule before, but it doesn't appear in the law, which just says the that the whiskey must age for "not less than one full year." It may be that a year and a day is how people talk about it, but technically, it appears that a year and 30 seconds would fulfill the requirement.<br /><br />As to moving barrels from other states, the law only applies to whiskey "produced in Kentucky," so depending on how they interpret "produced," it's not clear that there would be any restriction at all on whiskey distilled elsewhere and then brought into the state, though they may well have interpreted as you describe.<br /><br />The specific statute can be found <a href="http://www.lrc.ky.gov/krs/244-00/370.PDF" rel="nofollow">here</a>.skuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00487419662314518931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082156144028140004.post-31253621188255887512013-05-30T16:11:53.986-07:002013-05-30T16:11:53.986-07:00Every state has its own alcohol beverage laws, not...Every state has its own alcohol beverage laws, not just California and Kentucky. In fact, in Kentucky (and elsewhere) alcohol regulations are written on the county level! I'm not positive about this, but I believe that there are more dry counties in Kentucky than wet! As with California, many of these state and regional ordinances conflict with federal law. One can only imagine the level of potential graft that might accompany such discrepancies.<br /><br />The California laws are just... weird. But then again, that's California. It's probably not alone, either. This topic ought to bring out lots of distillers' and bottlers' nightmares about trying to distribute and label their products in different states.<br /><br />As for Kentucky's requirements for calling a bourbon "Kentucky Bourbon", it's actually one year and one day. However, you are neglecting a very important point. Nowhere in the law does it state that the whiskey has to be aged for its FIRST year in Kentucky. It's perfectly legal to distill and age bourbon whiskey (or purchase existing stock) in, say, Indiana, for three or four years, and then move it to a warehouse in Kentucky for a year and a day and label it "Kentucky straight bourbon". I don't want to pop anyone's fantasy balloons (well, yes, actually I LOVE doing that) but this is commonly done, much more often that industry folks will admit publicly. EllenJnoreply@blogger.com