The history of bourbon
Bourbon is a set of rules as much as a drink: mostly corn, new charred oak and nothing added. Each rule has a story behind it. Here is how frontier whiskey became the bourbon on the shelf today.
Settlers brought stills and found corn
Scottish, Irish and German settlers carried distilling skills to North America in the eighteenth century. In the east they made whiskey from rye. As settlers moved west over the Appalachians into Kentucky, they found corn grew far more easily. A farmer could not easily ship tonnes of grain over mountains, but a barrel of whiskey kept well and was worth far more per kilogram.
So corn whiskey became a frontier currency. It was usually drunk young and rough, much like early Scotch.
A tax caused a rebellion
In 1791 the new United States government taxed domestic spirits to pay off war debts. Farmers in western Pennsylvania, for whom whiskey was a main source of cash, refused to pay. Tax collectors were attacked. In 1794 President George Washington led a militia to put down what became known as the Whiskey Rebellion.
The episode pushed some distillers further west into Kentucky and Tennessee, where the corn was plentiful and the government felt distant.
The name probably came from a county and the casks from necessity
Bourbon County was created in 1785, when Kentucky was still part of Virginia. It was named after the French royal house that had backed the American Revolution. Whiskey shipped from the area down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers came to be known as bourbon. Historians still argue over exactly how the name stuck, so treat any single neat origin story with suspicion.
The charred barrel has its own legends. What is clear is that whiskey spent weeks in casks on the river and arrived darker and smoother than it left. Charring the inside of new oak casks became the standard practice. It caramelises sugars in the wood and gives bourbon its vanilla, toffee and deep amber colour.
Fraud led to the first quality laws
In the late nineteenth century plenty of whiskey on sale was neutral spirit coloured and flavoured to look aged. Honest distillers lobbied for protection. The Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897 created a guarantee: whiskey from one distillery, one distilling season, aged at least four years in a government bonded warehouse and bottled at 100 proof, which is 50% ABV. Our guide to straight bourbon and bottled in bond explains the label today.
The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 followed. In 1909 President William Taft settled a long argument over what could be called whiskey and what had to say blended or imitation.
Prohibition nearly ended it
National Prohibition ran from 1920 to 1933. Most distilleries closed. A few were licensed to sell whiskey on doctor's prescription for medicinal use. When repeal came, the industry had to restart with little aged stock and many skilled people gone. We cover that period in Prohibition and American whiskey.
After repeal, federal standards set out what bourbon must be. In 1964 the US Congress recognised bourbon as a distinctive product of the United States.
Bourbon slumped then found a premium audience
Bourbon did well in the decades after the Second World War. By the 1970s American drinkers were turning to vodka and lighter spirits. Bourbon sales fell for years. Distillers responded in the 1980s and 1990s with premium bottlings: single barrel bourbon drawn from one cask, small batch bourbon blended from a limited number of barrels and older, higher strength releases.
Those bottles gave bourbon a new reputation among drinkers who had treated it as a cheap mixer. The cocktail revival of the 2000s helped too, since classics such as the Old Fashioned and the Manhattan were built on American whiskey. Demand for aged bourbon then outran stocks in some years. That is a familiar pattern in whisky: a product that takes four or more years to make cannot react quickly when fashion changes.
The rules that define bourbon today
Under US federal rules, bourbon must be:
- Made in the United States from a mash of at least 51% corn.
- Distilled to no more than 80% ABV (160 proof).
- Put into new charred oak containers at no more than 62.5% ABV (125 proof).
- Bottled at no less than 40% ABV (80 proof), with no added colour or flavour.
There is no minimum ageing for plain bourbon, but straight bourbon needs at least two years. Despite the myth, bourbon does not have to come from Kentucky, though most of it does. Because the oak must be new, every used bourbon barrel goes on to age something else, often Scotch, Irish or Indian whisky.
Taste the corn and the new oak
Pour a bourbon next to a Scotch matured in ex-bourbon casks. In the bourbon you should find sweet corn, vanilla and caramel from the fresh char. The Scotch carries a gentler echo of the same notes, because its cask has already given up much of its flavour. Keep measures small, add a splash of water to open each one and drink water between sips.
Common questions
Does bourbon have to be made in Kentucky?
No. Bourbon must be made in the United States, but any state will do. Most bourbon is made in Kentucky.
What makes bourbon different from other whiskey?
At least 51% corn in the mash, new charred oak containers and strict limits on distillation and barrel entry strength. No colour or flavour may be added.
What is bottled-in-bond bourbon?
Whiskey from one distillery and one distilling season, aged at least four years in a bonded warehouse and bottled at 50% ABV, under an 1897 law.
