Kentucky, USA
After leaving Austin, TX, from surprising my cousin for her birthday, I went to no other place than the home of Mohammed Ali! After nearly missing our connecting flight in Charlotte, we finally touchdown in the great metropolitan area of Louisville a little after 10:30 pm.
Kentucky, truthfully is the home of many things, something that caught me off guard at first. What else is it the “home” to, you ask? Well, to name a few; the Kentucky Derby horseback racing (obviously), college basketball, Louisville slugger baseball bats, moonshine, and BOURBON!!
“You don’t need no teeth for drinking Bourbon”
Kentucky is responsible for making up 95% of all bourbon everywhere, making bourbon tours a popular spot when in the bourbon country of Kentucky. Rather than going to a large distillery, we decided to go to a smaller, family-owned farm. Once we arrived there, we found out that a person from a previous tour made a Tik Tok about this distillery.
Back in 2010, 127 acres were purchased to open what we know today as, The Three Boys Farm. As a tribute to their children, the father wanted to name the Farm after his triplet sons. Two years later, in 2012, the family-owned distillery began its first round of distillation.
There are more bourbon barrels than people in Kentucky. In fact for every 2 barrels, there is 1 one person.
Things you probably did not know about Bourbon:
All bourbon must age in a white oak barrel. What is most interesting is that Kentucky law states that a barrel is only allowed to be used once. That means once the barrel is opened after the aging period, it is not allowed to be reused for another batch. The reason for this is that as the bourbon ages, it begins to pick up wood notes from the oak barrel, if it was used again, the second batch would not taste proper since the wood would already be saturated. Don’t worry though, the barrels can still be used for aging tequila or the storing of other goods like beer, tobacco, and coffee.
Between the first year and the second year of being in the barrels, 14% evaporation occurs, meanwhile every subsequent year will have an evaporation level of a mere 7%. The purpose of evaporation is to increase the proof of the bourbon inside. Once the bourbon has aged for 10 years, it is no longer necessary to keep it barrel as there will be no additional changes occurring.
All whiskey is bourbon, however not all bourbon can be whiskey. Bourbon has a particular chemical makeup for it to possess the necessary sweetness. For bourbon to be officially called “bourbon,” it must be at least 51% corn. Since corn is a sweet grain, the more corn that is introduced in the mixture, the sweeter the bourbon will be. The majority of distillers use between 65% to 75% corn.
Nothing can be added to the bourbon during the distilling process besides water. All flavorings are natural, coming from the grains themselves and the charred oak barrels.
The Ohio River naturally filtrates through the limestone shelf. Kentucky sits right below the self, thus making the Kentucky water the most purified water source in the country. Since bourbon is made of water and grains, having all impurities filtered beforehand ensures that there is nothing that will bring bitterness to the bourbon. Hence why the saying goes, “the best bourbon begins with the best water”
