Spirits Explained
Greg Horton, ReserveBar Spirits Contributor
Toast to magical moments
with our collection of holiday favorites.
Like any historic spirit, the stories that surround Bourbon are integral to the experience and enjoyment of this uniquely American whiskey. Much of the story is already known, but we dug up some fun facts that are true, and in some cases, definitely maybe true.
A Baptist minister, Elijah Craig, is credited with being the “inventor” of Bourbon, and we’re not here to dispute that, but it’s worth noting origin stories abound. It’s likely people were making early versions of Bourbon before Craig, but it seems that Craig really was the first to age his whiskey in charred oak barrels, a method that is now a universal part of the Bourbon-making process.
Buffalo Traces Distillery is older than the United States. Hancock Taylor and Willis Lee established the Frankfort, Kentucky, operation in 1775. Kentucky didn’t become a state until 1792.
Another first is Old Forrester’s boast that they are the first Bourbon to be sold in sealed, glass bottles. Named for Dr. William Forrester, the Bourbon was originally batched from three different distilleries by founder George Garvin Brown, and it was his idea to put the spirit in glass bottles to guarantee quality.
Yes, Prohibition was problematic for Bourbon production, but six distilleries around the U.S. were granted medicinal licenses to continue to produce whiskey, including four Bourbon distilleries: Buffalo Trace, Brown-Forman, Four Roses, and the largest producer at the time, American Medicinal Spirits. As Sazerac president Mark Brown told CBS News, “So there was us (Buffalo Trace), three others, and Al Capone, supplying the nation with all the whiskey.”
Heaven Hill’s River of Fire is one of the worst fires in U.S. history, and it occurred on November 7, 1996. The fire started in a warehouse, and thanks to the flammable contents of the barrels, jumped from warehouse to warehouse, eventually consuming more than 100,000 barrels of Bourbon. Firefighters reported flames 20 stories high, and a “river” of burning whiskey that ran a foot and half deep.
Bourbon isn’t limited to Kentucky. Other states produce it – they simply have to follow the federal guidelines – and Tennessee is one of those states. The primary difference between Tennessee and Kentucky Bourbon is that Tennessee whiskey is made via the Lincoln County Process, filtering the product through sugar maple charcoal.
Kentucky law levies a five cents per $100 in value of Bourbon stored in barrels in rickhouses. While it’s a relatively low charge, state counties are dependent on the tax revenue, and in a state where 95 distilleries produce nearly three million barrels per year, that’s a substantial amount of revenue.
File this one under definitely maybe true: Kentucky Owl’s “Confiscated” series is named for the 1916 seizure of the distillery by federal agents immediately before Prohibition took effect. The whiskey in barrels was allegedly destroyed by a fire shortly after, but Bourbon historians insist the whiskey had been removed by organized crime prior to the fire.
Speakeasies rose to prominence during Prohibition, but the practice of selling spirits without a license was first documented as a “speak easy” – at least in official news sources – in McKeesport, Penn., in 1889 in reference to a local saloon.
Bourbon has been present in pop culture for decades, too, and the song “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” popularized by old school rocker George Thorogood, was actually written and recorded by Blues artist Amos Milburn in 1953.
Knob Creek produced the first ever television ad for Bourbon in 2014, and it aired in April of that year. It was part of a “Bookerisms” campaign named for whiskey legend Booker Noe.
Bourbon has been featured in films as long as we’ve had movies, and one of the most iconic shots is of Keanu Reeves as John Wick drinking Bourbon as a painkiller – and because it’s delicious – with the Blanton’s bottle front and center of the shot.
Like many quotes on the internet, Mark Twain’s famous comments about whiskey and cigars are hard to substantiate. But we know that this luminary of American literature did love beer, cigars, Scotch, and yes, Bourbon. He is alleged to have remarked: “If I cannot drink bourbon and smoke cigars in heaven, then I shall not go.”
President Teddy Roosevelt loved Mint Juleps so much that he used the White House grounds to grow his own mint. Who doesn’t love growing their own ingredients?
As for U.S. Presidents, only Harry Truman exceeds Roosevelt, because he’s alleged to have started his mornings with a shot of Bourbon. We don’t necessarily recommend that, but we understand.
This is only scratching the surface of the legend and lore behind that illustrious bottle of bourbon you’ve been enjoying. There is surely no lack of intrigue in the true, and kind-of maybe true-ish, stories that have helped shape today’s great American spirit.