{"id":8680,"date":"2013-04-05T22:00:06","date_gmt":"2013-04-06T02:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=8680"},"modified":"2024-12-04T17:50:16","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T22:50:16","slug":"liquid-corn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=8680","title":{"rendered":"Liquid Corn"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"05<\/a>Linda Burton posting from Frankfort, Kentucky <\/i>\u2013 \u201cIt was used for medicinal purposes,\u201d Fred answered. \u201cIt\u2019s been said there were more sick people in Kentucky during prohibition years than at any other period of time.\u201d This brought a laugh from the group; twenty people gathered for the beginning of a tour of Buffalo Trace<\/i>, a Frankfort bourbon distillery that\u2019s been in business over 200 years. Fred had told us it was a continuous operation \u201ceven during Prohibition,\u201d so of course I asked how they got permission from the federal government to stay open. \u201cThe doctor wrote out a prescription and you dropped by to pick up your pint,\u201d he continued. Ah, so people were after its \u201ccurative\u201d properties! Bourbon whiskey is, by definition, mostly corn, Fred \"05<\/a>continued, and I visualized the rows of corn my Granddad planted; his cornfield stretched all the way from the house to the railroad track. \u201cDon\u2019t put the water on to boil till you head out the door to pick the corn,\u201d Granddad would say, when corn-on-the-cob season finally arrived; he believed it had to be that fresh to be good. So I grew up with corn, the juiciest, sweetest, most delicious vegetable God ever created. And easy to grow. That\u2019s why American pioneers (British-French-German-Irish-Scottish-Welch) planted it as they moved westward across the Alleghenies after the Revolutionary War, into \"05<\/a>the vast open farmlands that eventually became Kentucky. The soil was rich, the sun was warm, and the corn grew. Now think about it \u2013 how much corn can you eat, or feed to your animals, and then, how much corn can you sell? Roads were bad back then; shipping was costly, and timing was a factor. Turn it into a liquid; that was the profitable answer. And so bourbon whiskey was born. <\/p>\n

How did the name \u201cbourbon\u201d come to be associated with the corn whiskey from Kentucky? A logical bit of fate, really; go back in time to October, 1785. That\u2019s when Bourbon County was formed; named after the French House of Bourbon, in gratitude for the assistance Louis XVI gave during the American Revolutionary War. This land was originally part of the French province of Louisiana; then it became part of Virginia. When the Commonwealth of Kentucky was created from Virginia in 1792, Bourbon County\u00a0then became\u00a0a large county in Kentucky (that territory is now divided into 34 Kentucky counties).<\/p>\n

But back to the \u201cbourbon whiskey\u201d name. The farmers shipped their whiskey in oak barrels with their location \u201cBourbon County\u201d stamped on the side; during the long trip down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, the whiskey aged and took on a distinct mellow flavor \"05<\/a>and amber color. It was a sensation in Europe; it reminded the French of a good cognac. It was known as \u201cbourbon whiskey\u201d from there on; a true American creation, Kentucky made.<\/p>\n

Today thirteen large distilleries produce over 99% of the whiskey made in the United States; Buffalo Trace<\/i>, where I\u2019m standing today, is one of them. Bourbon whiskey can be made anywhere, but the unique ingredient Kentucky offers is pure limestone-filtered water. Legally, the Federal Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits (27 CFR 5) require that bourbon made for US consumption must be:<\/p>\n