Bourbon and Kentucky

Wednesday night on PBS I watched the second half of a documentary, "Bourbon and Kentucky: A History Distilled.'' It told how it came to be that a type of whiskey called Bourbon became popular and made primarily in Kentucky. The availability of fresh, clear water and corn contributed to this development, and the name came from the enthusiasm about France and its role in supporting the American Revolution in the immediate post-revolutionary period: an enthusiasm that also begat the name for the town of Louisville (Louis was the name of the French king - his family/dynastic name was Bourbon). The story of the development of Bourbon apparently overlaps with the general early (post-contact) history of Kentucky, history Stephanie has read about in "O Kentucky!" and that I mentioned in "Locust Grove." Among other things, apparently some of the early Bourbon producers were refugees from the Whiskey rebellion on the East coast. Someday - probably without Vincent, maybe without the dog, perhaps with visitors - we'd like to tour some of the half a dozen Bourbon and other whiskey distrilleries within a hour or so from here (Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill, Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, Wild Turkey, Woodford Reserve). (One of them is in the same town where I went to a convent for a church session retreat in January, and, in fact - geographically - Kentucky's Catholic heritage and whiskey heritage seem to coincide a lot.) It'd be a different way to explore Kentucky than going on college visits (which Vincent and I are doing (our last of?) today. I also hope to catch the first half of the documentary Monday. (Pictured above is Senator Hillary Clinton - campaigning two months ago, in the week before the KY presidential primary - at the Maker's Mark distillery, near that convent, in Loretto, KY.) (Also - on the KY Bourbon Trail - see: http://www.kybourbon.com/english/pages/main_frame.html )