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Monday, April 8, 2013

Non-Kentucky Bourbon


Those of us who know bourbon get tired of constantly correcting the enduring myth that bourbon has to be made in Kentucky, but nothing has been a bigger blow to that myth than the craft distilling boom.  Ten years ago, if you wanted to show someone an example of a non-Kentucky bourbon, you had to find a bottle of AH Hirsch or Virginia Gentleman.  Now, in any good liquor store, you will likely find numerous examples of non-Kentucky bourbon.

Of course, there are many craft distilleries, and they don't all make bourbon, but in 2013, you can buy bourbon distilled in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

In addition, there are craft distilleries planning to sell bourbon distilled in Georgia, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Maybe now people will get that bourbon doesn't have to be made in Kentucky.


8 comments:

  1. You may be able to buy bourbon made in all of those states but you can't buy any bourbon in 2012.

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  2. Wait, it's not 2012 anymore? Crap! I was just about to get in my 2011 taxes.

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  3. I don't understand, I bought a lot of bourbon in 2012.

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  4. 1512 out of San Francisco, CA released their first bourbon a few months ago. I haven't tried it yet, so no comment on quality.

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  5. Palm Ridge Reserve states that they make a "Florida Bourbon-style whiskey." Perhaps bourbon but not quite.

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  6. Anon at 3:01, I'm surprised they even bothered to teaspoon it. These days, distilleries will put "produced and bottled" or "made and bottled" on a label without having done anything but bought it.

    Anon at 7:11, thanks. I didn't know they had already released it.

    Anon at 12:41, the phrase "bourbon-style" makes me shudder.

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  7. Hmmmm. Reading the rules, it says that whiskeys blended together must be of the same type, so to be called "bourbon," both would have to be bourbon to begin with. Mixing bourbon and wheat whiskey would seem to prohibit it from officially being called bourbon.

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