Not all bourbon comes from Kentucky. While 95 percent of the world’s bourbon is distilled within the Bluegrass State, no law requires the spirit to be produced there. Actually, in the past decade, craft distilleries across the country have cashed in on bourbon’s surge in popularity—though many loyalists still believe the best bourbon is Kentucky born. Bourbon is named after the House of Bourbon, a powerful French dynasty. In response to 1791’s Whiskey Rebellion, George Washington decided to incentivize disgruntled, tax-evading settlers to move southward to Kentucky, then still part of Virginia. The governor, Thomas Jefferson, doled out 60 acres of land to each Pennsylvania transplant who agreed to produce “native corn” (i.e. American whiskey) on their land. Ever...
