The History of Whiskey Row 18th Century Bourbon

The Art of Distilling Whiskey: A History and Guide to Small Batch Whiskey Row Bourbon

The stretch of Renaissance Revival buildings on Main Street in Louisville, Kentucky, is known as Whiskey Row. From 1850 through Prohibition, Whiskey Row became the trading centre for all spirits distilled in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia. Whiskey from upriver was warehoused and blended with Kentucky whiskey downriver to New Orleans and overland to the West. 

Australia is getting its first taste of Whiskey Row Bourbon!

What is a Good Bourbon  - Whiskey Row is the only pre-prohibition type bourbon in a classy speakeasy or perhaps the Rathskeller Room at the Seelbach Hotel before the turn of the century.

For the first time in Australia, you may savour the same small-batch flavours as those enjoyed by the pioneering forefathers throughout the founding and growth of America’s country’s westward frontier with Whiskey Row Bourbon (American Whiskey), a blend of small-batch barrels.

Whiskey Row Small Batch Bourbon is Kentucky Artisan Distillery’s house brand.

What is a Good Bourbon 

• Brand: Whiskey Row Distillers

• Category: Spirits

• Class: Bourbon

• Type: Straight Bourbon (American Whiskey)

• Origin: USA - Kentucky Straight Bourbon

• ABV/Proof: 40% AVB / 80

• Volume: 750 ml

• Package Size: 750 ml

Who is Kentucky Artisan Distillery?

Kentucky Artisan Distillery is a one-of-a-kind distillery in the world. KAD is a contract distiller and bottler that now houses Whiskey Row Kentucky Straight Bourbon.

As Whiskey Row straight Bourbon  headquarters, a significant portion of the brand’s distilling, bottling, and ageing occurs on-site. In addition, KAD collaborates with Jefferson to make many of its creative Bourbon items a reality. 

Discover more about this partnership and go to our ‘Brands’ page.

Kentucky Artisan Distillery is one of the few distilleries that handcrafts Kentucky Straight Bourbon and spirits from the roots to the bottle. At Waldeck Farm, we contract to cultivate our grains on 700 acres adjacent to our distillery. As a result, our distillery is entirely managed by our distillers, not by a computer. And every bottle that passes through our bottling line is handled by a craftsman.

DISTILLING IS STILL AN ART AT KENTUCKY ARTISAN DISTILLERY - Whiskey Row Bourbon

What is a good Bourbon - Kentucky Artisan Distillery is a one-of-a-kind spot in the world of craft distilleries. A visit to KAD reveals the true essence of Kentucky craft distilling. Our team of distillers, led by our Head Distiller, Jade Peterson, operates Kentucky Artisan Distillery without tech instead of relying on their senses to determine when a small batch is finished. 

Jade Peterson has been a Master Distiller on Whiskey Row for almost a century. Craft distiller at Kentucky Artisan Distillery Jan 2015 - Present · 7 yrs 3 months.

Respecting the art of distilling by honouring tradition, Jade runs our distillery and guides our distilling crew to make the most incredible Kentucky Straight Bourbon possible.

KAD is recreating bourbon as similar to how bourbon was created 200 years ago as a manufacturing facility in the twenty-first century can get.

Whiskey Row Kentucky Bourbon - THE BEST FARM-TO-BOTTLE OPERATION IN KENTUCKY

What is a good Bourbon?

On any warm day during the growing season, you might witness our tractors moving corn or rye picked from a farm just a mile distant on your trip up to the distillery. They come from Waldeck Farm, where we contract to cultivate our grains on 700 acres. 

These grains will be malted, milled, mashed, distilling, maturing, and bottled under the names of some of our favourite small-batch brands (Whiskey Row Straight Bourbon) right here at Kentucky Artisan Distillery, all under our cautious and time-tested procedure. We even repurpose our leftover grain by delivering it to farms in Oldham and Henry Counties to feed their animals.

• PRODUCT INFORMATION Whiskey Row Eighteenth-Century

Whiskey Row is a Blend of Straight Bourbon recipe that follows the early tradition with prominent corn like the early settlers: high corn mash bill, honey hole selection aged in American White oak barrels, that will please any whiskey drinker.

• WHISKEY ROW Eighteenth-Century Tasting Notes

Sweet and crisp flavours distilled from Ohio Valley corn mellowed with the essence of vanilla and caramel, maple syrup, naturally extracted from new charred oak barrels for an authentic honey hole expression. 

• WHISKEY ROW Eighteenth-Century - Process

It is a blend of high corn bourbon and four-grain bourbon from 1-2 distilleries, all of which have their proprietary yeast and mash bills. Aged in oak barrels

• WHISKEY ROW Eighteenth-Century SOURCE

All Single Barrels are at least four years old. 

95% High Corn bourbon. Mash Bill: 99% Corn, 1% Malted Barley. 5% Whiskey Row Four Grain Bourbon. Mash Bill: 67% corn, 12.5% rye, 12.5% wheat, 8% malted barley.

• WHISKEY ROW Eighteenth-Century AV/PROOF

40% ABV / 80 PROOF 

Where can Trade Buy WHISKEY ROW Eighteenth-Century Kentucky Bourbon

Kentucky Bourbon: Whiskey Row Eighteenth-Century is exclusive to 3two1 Drinks Distributors. 

Trade enquiries welcome contact 3two1 Drinks for a pricelist or speak to National Sales Manager Jimmy Houston on 

Phone Number 0422 418 803 | jimmy@3two1.com.au

History of Kentucky Straight Bourbon - 

Bourbon (/bɜːrbən/) is American whisky, a barrel-aged distilled beverage mainly derived from corn. The French Bourbon family is the inspiration for the name, while the exact source is unknown and kept in aged oak barrels.

Kentucky Straight Bourbon was first made around the 1850s

Other options include Kentucky’s Bourbon County and New Orleans’ Bourbon Street. Unfortunately, Kentucky’s etymology wasn’t clarified until the 1870s, decades after “Bourbon” was coined in the 1850s.

Bourbon has been distilled since the 18th century. Bourbon can be made anywhere in the United States, but it is most closely associated with the American South, specifically Kentucky.

The History of Bourbon (Americas Native Spirit).

History. There likely was no single “creator” of bourbon, which grew into its modern form in the late 19th century. Whiskey can be made from virtually any grain, and Europeans have been maturing whisky and charring single barrels for improved flavour for generations.

Bourbon accounted for over two-thirds of the $1.6 billion worth of distilled spirits exports from the United States in 2014, bringing in wholesale market revenues for distillers of $2.7 billion.

What does the term “Bourbon” mean? To begin, here are a few more specifics:

• Most “purists” will tell you it has to come from Kentucky for a whiskey to be correctly designated as a bourbon. Others will claim it must be American. It doesn’t matter what state it originates from as long as it’s American. (As indicated above, we weren’t kidding about being America’s Spirit - Congress has officially designated Bourbon as America’s Native Spirit, so there’s that.) Although most bourbon is made in Kentucky, it can come from anywhere and still be considered bourbon.
• The mash (a blend of fermentable grains) used to make bourbon must include at least 51% maize. The other 49 per cent is commonly a blend of barley, rye, or wheat.
• Bourbon must be aged in new American oak barrels (whereas many types of whisk(e)y, such Scotch whisky, are often aged in barrels that have previously held wine, port).
• Bourbon must be 125 proof or higher when it enters the barrel and 80 proof or lower when it exits the barrel.
• For bourbon to be indeed bourbon, the distiller must prove the Whiskey to a specific level by adding only water at the very end (compared to Scotch, where caramel colouring is a common additive).

According to the American Distilled Spirits Council, bourbon and Tennessee whisky brought approximately $3.6 billion in revenue to American distilleries in 2018. (Tennessee Whiskey, a closely related distilled liquor).

Bourbon was designated in 1964 by the United States Congress as a “distinctive product of the United States”. Therefore, all bourbon sold in the United States must be manufactured with at least 51% corn and be held in charred oak barrels that have never been used before.

Bourbon and Its Many Uses

• A Mint Julep

As well as in simple mixed drinks like the Manhattan and Bourbon Smash (as well as other whiskey-based concoctions), bourbon is also used as the base for more complex cocktails like the Old Fashioned and Whiskey Sour (a variation on the whisky sour), and the Mint Julep (a whiskey-based concoction with mint leaves). In addition to its culinary uses, bourbon has also been used medicinally in the past.

Bourbon  can be found in some confections such as a banana bourbon syrup for waffles, a chocolate cake flavour, or in fruit-based desserts like grilled peach sundaes topped with salted bourbon-caramel or brown sugar shortcake with warmed bourbon peaches.

It is an optional component in numerous pie recipes common to American cuisine, notably pumpkin pie, where it can be mixed with brown sugar and nuts to produce a sweet and crunchy topping for the creamy pumpkin pie filling.

Bourbon mayonnaise goes well with various kinds of food, but it works particularly well with grit cakes, Kentucky chilli, and grilled flank steak.

Is there a connection between Bourbon and French Aristocracy?

Today’s bourbon  can be traced back to a French royal family through an indirect lineage. Their surname? Bourbon. The Bourbon dynasty dates back to the middle of the thirteenth century and includes such notables as Louis XIV (also known as “The Sun King”) and Louis XVI (also known as “The King Who Got Freakin’ Beheaded”). 

It’s worth noting, however, that bourbon was not named for a member of the French royal family. Instead, Bourbon County in Kentucky, where the sweet elixir was (and still is) made in the nineteenth century, is more than likely the inspiration for the Spirit’s moniker.

Old Bourbon County

Bourbon County was founded in 1785 from a piece of Fayette County, Virginia, and named after the French House of Bourbon, in gratitude for Louis XVI of France’s help during the American Revolutionary War.

Bourbon County, Virginia, formerly encompassed 34 of Kentucky’s 120 current ones, including Bourbon County.

Old Bourbon was the name given to the more extensive area in the future. Bourbon became part of the new state of Kentucky was admitted to the Union in 1792.