Town Branch, our bourbon. Bourbon whiskey has a long and varied history. Whiskey production uisce beatha abbreviated down into whiskey, was brought across from Europe by the Scottish and Irish settlers. They first came to Maryland and Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th Centuries. There they used the same techniques that they had developed in the highlands of Scotland using barley and wheat. Soon, however, they started to use Indian Corn (maize) to produce their whiskeys. When the Continental Congress came into being, in order to pay for the War of Independence, they levied a tax on whiskey. The feisty Scots and Irish objected to it. This led to the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791 – 1794. As a compromise, non-other than George Washington gave them an incentive: move across the Ohio River to Kentucky, which at that stage was still part of Virginia. There in return for them paying a levy on their whiskey, each distiller/farmer will be given 60 acres of land in which to grow Indian Corn. They chose the Bluegrass Area, and the surplus of alcohol they made they sold as whiskey.
Many of them settled in Bourbon County. In order to transport the whiskey they were transported in casks down the Mississippi River down to New Orleans where the new spirit was welcomed by the French, who at that time still owned Louisiana. Coming from Bourbon County, every cask was stamped Bourbon, and hence the name came into being.
Why use charred casks? They found that the coopers would char the barrels to make them pliable. Indeed, I remember my uncles doing precisely that, building a barrel around a central fire and pulling the staves together to create the barrel. Others, however, say that it was for a totally different reason. They say that the Reverend Elijah Craig, of Bourbon County had actually ran out of barrels and the only barrels he had left over were those which had been used for pickled fish. So he charred the barrel to get rid of the aroma of fish. But whatever the reason, as the whiskey traveled down to Louisiana, it picked up some of the flavors and congeners from the barrels, and these became very well appreciated.
It was also interesting that the 60 acres of land was given by the then Governor of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson. The definition of bourbon, however, was never really laid down as the legal definition, unlike (4:50) and tequila. It wasn’t until 1964 that Congress decreed that the legal definition of bourbon would be 51% maize (Indian Corn) matured for at least three years in charred casks made from new oak. The state of origin was not stipulated, but it is only Kentucky that is allowed to put its name on a bourbon label. So, Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey has its own unique situation.
Today, we have the birth of a Lexington bourbon. Today, we have something now that is at the end of the bourbon trail. Today, we have the rise of Town Branch.
Whiskey, the abbreviation of uisce beatha, Gaelic for "water of life." How do we rate a whiskey? Whiskeys are rated in four ways:
Today, Town Branch Whiskey, a bourbon from the first distillery to be inducted into the Kentucky Distillers Association since1880, is now with us.
Why the name Town Branch? Town Branch, the Town Branch River, is synonymous with Lexington, Kentucky. Indeed within one year of the founding of Lexington the James Pepper Distillery was established in 1780 quickly followed by other distilleries Henry Clay, Henry Gilbert and Company, Ashland Distillery Company and William Tarr was set up in 1879. Little did we know that you would have to wait over 100 years for the Lexington Distilling Company to be founded. So the town branch is intended to bring back part of the history and mystique of our town of Lexington. Perhaps through the town branch we may in fact now get away from being one of only two major cities that do not have a river going through it. Enjoy the Town Branch and let’s bring Lexington back to life.