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Remember: No matter what your reason, or how you choose to enjoy Bourbon Heritage Month, do so responsibly!
September is “Bourbon Heritage Month.” And unlike all those fake, PR-driven holidays you see in your Twitter feed, this one is real and carries a governor’s signature. Last week, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear declared September to be Bourbon Heritage Month in the Commonwealth.
“Kentucky’s thriving Bourbon operations continue to burnish the Commonwealth’s reputation worldwide for quality, excellence, and tradition,” Beshear said. “In addition, as one of our signature industries, Bourbon is a key driver of economic activity, attracting tourists, providing jobs, and luring millions of dollars in investment. It is a privilege once again to raise a glass and proclaim September ‘Bourbon Heritage Month’ as we toast our timeless craft.”
Okay, enough of that political gobbledygook. Let’s get to the 10 reasons you should celebrate Bourbon Heritage Month even if you don’t live in Kentucky.
10. Bourbon has opened doors for women.
Bourbon whiskey distilleries hired women in the late 1800s to bottle their products. How many other industries hired women back then? Not many. Today, women practically run most of the bourbon parent companies.
9. You're supporting American farmers
Bourbon distillers were using corn long before the corn went cold. Bourbon must be made from at least 51% fermented corn mash, and most distillers use rye as a secondary grain. Traditionally a catch crop, rye is grown primarily in the North to meet the demand for American whiskey production.
8. Kentucky serves bourbon, but bourbon also serves Kentucky.
This is a great state, but there are still a lot of potholes. Bourbon covers schools and improves general infrastructure. Bourbon generates $2 billion in gross national product annually, provides 9,000 jobs with $415 million in annual payroll, and produces $126 million in tax revenue each year.
7. Barrels of fun.
Once upon a time, the barrel turned into used to move the whole lot from gunpowder to fish. Nowadays, coopers basically make barrels for the alcohol industry. Due to federal regulations, bourbon manufacturers can simplest use a brand new charred oak barrel once.
After that, they promote them to Scotch manufacturers, Tabasco, brewers, winemakers, and others. The bourbon barrel’s complete lifestyles tiers from fifty-five years to 80. When they retire from storing things, bourbon barrels are reduced to 1/2 and used as flowering pots.
HISTORY OF BOURBON HERITAGE MONTH
Dating lower back four hundred years, American Whiskey hooked up itself as an essential issue withinside the financial development, and cultural shaping withinside the records of america. It all commenced while English colonist George Thorpe filtered the first-ever batch of corn whiskey in Virginia. The founder of our outstanding country, George Washington, persevered this lifestyle of distilling and operated the most important whiskey distillery in Virginia, withinside the country’s early years.
It is broadly believed that Elijah Craig is the Father of Bourbon. In 1789, Craig concocted bourbon with the aid of using maturing the prevailing corn whiskey, or moonshine, in oak barrels. Popular as this idea is, many argue that bourbon changed into now no longer invented with the aid of using someone person, and alternatively advanced over time.
Even aleven though America’s distilling history commenced earlier than the country changed into founded, bourbon changed into declared as a completely unique made of america in an act of Congress in 1964. Federal regulation states that bourbon should be produced withinside the United States, incorporate at the least 51% corn, and mature in freshly charred oak barrels for at the least years.
In 2007, a decision changed into surpassed with the aid of using the U.S. Senate, putting forward September as National Bourbon Heritage Month. Every year, bourbon fans come collectively to realize the records, craftsmanship, and milestones of the bourbon industry.
It’s no surprise that Bourbon Heritage Month is one of our favorite times of the year, and while this year may seem a little different than years past, there’s nothing stopping us from celebrating all that Bourbon has to offer.
Bourbon Heritage Month 101
The celebrations began in 2007 when the US Senate declared September National Bourbon Heritage Month. Presented by Republican Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning, it urges all bourbon lovers to responsibly and respectfully celebrate this love throughout the month of September.
Bill S.RES. 294 cemented the creation, culture, and craftsmanship of the bourbon industry as a proud chapter in the picture book of American history and underpinned a 1964 act of Congress that declared bourbon “America’s Native Spirit”.
Whether you’re celebrating Bourbon Heritage Month for the first time or you’re a seasoned pro, we look forward to seeing you over the next 30 days. Grab a drink and scroll down to see what we have in store for this year’s celebration and how you can be a part of it.
Once you’ve entered our sweepstakes, load Download your #30DaysOfBourbon calendar and when you’ve stocked up on bourbon, we encourage you to share this page with all your friends and invite them to join the fun. After all, just like drinking bourbon, it’s better to win cool bourbon prizes with friends.
All of us at Buy Bourbon Shop thank you for joining us and we look forward to doing it all year to spread the gospel of Bourbon with you all month long.
6. Two words: Jimmy Russell.
September 10 is Wild Turkey’s longtime master distiller’s 60th anniversary. Russell, an iconic bourbon legend, built Wild Turkey and continues to strut into bars with a bottle of Wild Turkey as if he was 25. He’s one of bourbon’s genuine characters.
5. It’s a good value.
You’ll find good bourbon in the $15 to $25 range.
4. There are plenty of limited editions to try.
Distillers are making some of the greatest bourbons in history right now. Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch and Single Barrels, Parker’s Heritage, and the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection are great limited editions that never disappoint and are great collector’s items.
3. It’s great in cocktails.
I’ve never met a bartender who didn’t like bourbon. Of course, I’m a bourbon author, so maybe the bourbon haters just ignore me. Bourbon is the most-versatile brown spirit known to man. (Again, I’m a little biased.)
2. The field is full of exciting new guys.
For the longest time, large distillers owned the bourbon market and little guys dared not release a bourbon. Today, in part because of the craft distillery movement, the smaller guys are making exciting new bourbons. Western Kentucky’s MB Roland, Illinois’ Few Spirits, Texas’ Balcones, New York’s Finger Lake, and New York’s Tuthilltown Spirits mash, ferment, distill and age a new crop of bourbons that are winning over palates.
1. Bourbon country makes an amazing vacation.
Even if you don’t drink bourbon, you’ll fall in love with the Kentucky bourbon distilleries. Touring Kentucky’s bourbon distilleries leads you into warehouses built in the 1800s, where the aromas of caramel and fresh oak fill the air and take you down winding roads with thoroughbreds behind black fences. Bourbon is more than just a drink; it’s a bucket-list vacation.
