The history of Bourbon Whiskey in Kentucky
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Location: Kentucky, United States
Surname/tag: Kentucky
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Origins of Bourbon
The history of bourbon, the United States's only original spirit, and the early distilleries and pioneers.
- How Kentucky became the bourbon capitol [1]
A law, colloquially known as “corn patch and cabin rights” , provided 400 acres land ownership to those settlers who erected a home and planted corn before 1778.
By the late 1700s Kentuckians were shipping whiskey down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans. The whiskey was shipped from Limestone, a riverside port in Bourbon County, Kentucky, and was soon known as ‘that whiskey from Bourbon’. Eventually, just the word bourbon would suffice. Whiskey was often prescribed for its medicinal qualities and was used to barter with the native Americans for food, fur, and sometimes land.
The first Catholics to move to central Kentucky were 60 families from Maryland who were led by Basil Hayden. They arrived just as the first bourbon makers began making bourbon whiskey. They quickly got involved in making this new spirit. The whiskey families associated with the Maryland migration include the Beams, Boones, Cecils, Dants, Haydens, Mattinglys, Medleys, Pottingers, Wathens, Wheatleys, and Willetts. They mostly settled in Nelson, Marion, and Washington County.
- One historical marker (#2295, Paris) reads:
BOURBON WHISKEY/JACOB SPEARS
Named after Bourbon Co. because of quantity and quality of whiskey produced within its borders. Made from a fermented mash of at least 51% corn, with less wheat, rye, or barley, yeast and limestone water. Distilled at no more than 160 proof and aged in charred oak barrels. In 1964, Congress recognized bourbon as a distinctly American product.
BOURBON WHISKEY/JACOB SPEARS
(Reverse) Stone Castle, 1 mile south, built 1790 by Thomas Metcalfe for Jacob Spears. A Pennsylvanian who settled in Paris, he was innovative farmer & one of first distillers of bourbon whiskey. Still standing on this farm are a springhouse and a storehouse for his bourbon whiskey. It is the most complete distiller’s complex still in existence today.
This marker was dedicated on June 28, 2009.[2]
* In the Bourbon County 1810 census, there were 128 distilleries listed, a total production of over 146,000 gallons of whiskey valued at over $48.000. Every community in Bourbon County had at least one large distillery, making Bourbon whiskey.
From The History of Bourbon, Scott, Harrison and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky. Edited by William Henry Perrin. Chicago: O L Baskin & Co. 1882. [3]:
"From the very earliest settlement of the country, the manufacture of whisky has been numbered among its in- dustries. The pioneers made whisky for the purpose of finding a market for their surplus grain. Since the day of the little log distillery, with a capacity of a few barrels per week, the business has grown and increased with the growth and development of the countrj-. It is a significant fact, that of all the early manufacturing industries of Paris and Bourbon County, that of whisky alone has kept pace with the time. The hemp factories, the cotton mills, etc., are gone, and few of the present generation can point out the sites where erst they stood, but the distilleries are more flourishing than ever before."
Page 65
"It is not known at the present day, with any degree of certainty, perhaps, who started the first distillery in the county, or in what year the business was begun. Collins has the following upon the subject : " The first distillery in Bourbon County was near where the manufactorj' of W. H. Thomas stood in 1869, and was erected about 1790, by Jacob Spears, and others from Pennsylvania. Two negroes cut down the trees and hauled them to the distillery, while Mr. Spears cut the timber into suitable sizes, distilled, went to mill, and also attended a fine stallion he had brought with him. Others claim that Capt. John Hamilton, who run away from Pennsylvania on account of his participation in the ' whisky insurrection,' distilled in this region before Spears." We do not know if this is true, but no doubt it is, that the business commenced at least that far back. Emanuel Wyatt operated a small distillery in a very early day on land now owned by C. M. Clay ; Benjamin Bedford also had a distillery very early. Robert Owen built a small distillery in the present precinct of North Middletown in 1806 ; and in what is now Centerville Precinct there were several distilleries built in early times. Thus the business was inaugurated in different parts of the county, and has increased and expanded to its present dimensions. An old gentleman informed us that those were the days of " honest whisky," when a bushel of grain would make two gallons of whisky that would retail at 25 cents a gallon. Then there was not so much red tape connected with making whisky as there is at present ; " Uncle Sam " was not an interested partner as he is now, and anybody and everybody who felt a desire to do so were permitted to make it in the light of the sun, instead of having his operations veiled in " moon- shine." But without dwelling longer upon the early manufacture of the article, we will devote a little space to the business as conducted at the present day. " 18:27, 18 June 2023 (UTC)18:27, 18 June 2023 (UTC)~~
Harrison County
In Harrison county are 30 distilleries, which manufacture annually about 50,000 barrels of whiskey, much of it of quality unsurpassed in the world. The manufacture of, and trade in, this whisky constitute the greatest business and wealth of Harrison county.[4]
Marion County
- People
George Washington Dant J W Dant
Nelson County
Nicholas County
Washington County
African-Americans and bourbon production
Black Americans in Bourbon Brian West, the creative mind behind Black Americans in Bourbon, says, “It’s not just one man that’s responsible for the story of bourbon. It’s many people, and I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that those who were enslaved were really instrumental in carrying the burden of having to harvest the crops, having to mash the grains, and after slavery worked in the distilleries patching, fixing the leaks and putting on the labels.”[5]
Myths and Legends
- Myth: Elijah Craig invented bourbon. [6]
- Myth: John Ritchie was the first pioneer to make sour mash whiskey in Kentucky [7]
- Jacob Beam [8]
Sources
- ↑ https://www.history.com/news/how-kentucky-became-the-worlds-bourbon-capital
- ↑ https://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/418
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/cu31924081311676/page/65/mode/1up?q=Distillery
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/collinshistorica02coll/page/322/mode/2up?q=Whiskey
- ↑ https://www.cuisinenoirmag.com/the-black-heritage-of-kentucky-bourbon/
- ↑ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elijah_Craig
- ↑ From the Filson Club is the story "Benjamin Linn...John Ritchie...John Gilkey and a story of an early distillery in Kentucky" dated Jan. 7, 1895 by M.L. Coomes. BIOGRAPHY of JOHN RITCHIE Sr.
- ↑ Wikipedia, Jim Beam Bourbon
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