If we (I'm including myself here) are going to continue learning about American whiskey, there needs to be some focus on Bourbon. It's the preeminent American made spirit after all. Now remember, Bourbon whiskey does not need to come from Kentucky. However, according to the Kentucky Distillers Association, 95% of the country's (and by extension the world's) output does comes from the state. Personally I have doubts that statistic is still accurate with all the craft distillers popping up, but it's likely not far off either.
As mentioned in Bourbon or Rye? early American whiskey was more often than not Rye, from a distillation of primarily rye grain. Following Prohibition Bourbon, made primarily from corn, became dominant. Together, these facts made me think of two questions. Why is almost all Bourbon (still) made in Kentucky specifically? And why corn?
After looking into it there appears to be no clearly established history of the development (for example there's no confirmed 'creator') of Bourbon, instead it happened more organically. Post Revolution Americans began to push westward over the Allegheny/Appalachian mountains in earnest. A lot of these first settlers were recently immigrated Scots and Scots-Irish (Protestant northern Irish) who would've brought with them knowledge of distilling and aging spirits. Making whiskey, as we know it, originates with Celtic (generally regarded to be Irish) monks in the Middle Ages and has been part of the culture in Scotland and Ireland ever since. There were a number of reasons for large levels of immigration from this part of the world, including the Highland Clearances. In the freedom of the American west, these people would've been largely left to their own devices.
As for corn, that originates with the 1776 Virginia Corn Patch and Cabin Rights Act. Due to how the early colony and then state boundaries were drawn (often no initial western border and sorted out over time), Kentucky was originally part of Virginia. This act gave 400 acres in what is now Kentucky to settlers who would do two things: build a cabin and plant corn. It turned out to be a great place to grow corn, with rich and fertile soil. At this point we had a bunch of people in one particular area who knew how to make whiskey and who were producing a ton of corn. It's should be no surprise what happened next.
Well obviously they started distilling what they had. Not only was it a superb place to grow corn, it has wonderfully clean water due to huge limestone deposits that operate as a natural filtration system. The weather in Kentucky works great for the aging of spirits too. The heat and humidity of the summer results in more rapid aging than you see in the British Isles and the drastically different seasons force the barrels to expand and contract, allowing the whiskey makers to squeeze more from the wood. And then their whiskey turned out to be quite popular.
So after getting started in the 18th century, and continuing through the 19th, there was a growing industry in the state where increasingly knowledgeable distillers utilized the soil, water, and climate to make whiskey from corn. These combined conditions made it essentially exclusive to Kentucky. After Prohibition in the early 20th century killed a ton of the competition (and nearly the Bourbon makers as well), Bourbon really took off. The whiskey makers there showed both resilience and ingenuity (such as the sour mash process) to first grow and then survive. It also really shouldn't be surprising that the sweeter Bourbon became more popular than the drier, spicier Rye whiskey.
As for 'Bourbon,' there appears to be competing accounts for how the whiskey got its name. Clearly everything goes back on some level to the Bourbon dynasty of kings. Here in America there's Bourbon street in New Orleans (long part of French Louisiana), where much of the whiskey was sold. There's current Bourbon county in Kentucky, though very little spirit is produced there. What makes most sense to me is that most of eastern Kentucky, way back before it was further divided, was all originally considered 'Bourbon county.' Then for decades afterward it was commonly referred to as 'old Bourbon' and was the place where most Kentucky whiskey was produced. So what came out of 'old Bourbon' became 'Bourbon' and 'Bourbon' became the name for all corn whiskey. Or so we can best guess. Again, this appears to have happened over time.
A lot of this is conjecture, though a gradual adoption of methods and terms makes sense. The Corn Patch and Cabin Rights Act seems to be the linchpin getting everything started. Who first called it Bourbon whiskey and who first started selling the aged corn whiskey here in America doesn't matter that much in the grand scheme of things. What matters is that it's here and it's great.
With that I'll say adieu.
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