Kentucky's most famous export is without question its Bourbon. You know the names... Woodford Reserve, Makers Mark, Wild Turkey, Evan Williams, Jim Beam and other relatives of Old Granddad. Bourbon is a big part of Kentucky's heritage as early settlers found that converting corn and other grains into whiskey was a good way to pay the frontier bills. Bourbon got its name from one of Kentucky's original counties. Whiskey was shipped in oak barrels, bearing a Bourbon County stamp, down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Soon bourbon and whiskey were synonymous. In 1964, Congress declared bourbon as "America's Official Native Spirit." Among the traits of what defines a whiskey as a bourbon is it must contain at least 51 percent corn and aged in oak barrels. The spirit is usually aged between two to eight years before being bottled and sold. With 95 percent of the world's bourbon distilled and aged in Kentucky, The Kentucky Bourbon Trail was established in 1999 as a way to promote bourbon tourism among the distilleries in the region. More than 2.5 million visitors from all 50 states and 25 countries have gotten an appreciation, if not a taste, of bourbon on The Trail in the last five years.
Editors Note: The Anna Across America tribute blog is pleased to introduce a distinguished new photo contributor, Dr. Thomas Troland of Lexington, Kentucky. Dr. Troland is a popular physics and astronomy professor at the University of Kentucky, a self-educated connossieur of Kentucky bourbon, a card-carrying member of the Anna Fan Club, and, now, photographer of the "stars". Welcome, Tom, to the Dr Pepperazzi.