All language subtitles for [English] Straight Up Kentucky Bourbon (FULL MOVIE) [DownSub.com]

CHRIS MORRIS: I was at a whiskey
festival in Edinburgh, Scotland,

and a little lady
walked up to me

and said, "This is Scot,
I am so proud

of the Scotch whiskey industry,
it's heritage and what it's meant

to our country.

Why aren't you Americans
as proud of your bourbon?"

I can only tell her, "Ma'am,
that's a long, long story."

FRED NOE: The state of Kentucky,
the vast majority of it is dry.

And that always amazes people
when I'm out around the world

when I tell 'em 95% of the world's
bourbon is made in Kentucky,

and in 75% of the state,
it's illegal to have a drink of whiskey.

♪ Come down off
of that mountain

♪ Come down
all you men ♪

MATTHEW LANDAN:
Bourbon is the quintessential

defining aspect
of Kentucky culture.

It is at every Kentucky event,
whether it's the Kentucky Derby,

or it's at a get-together
watching March Madness,

it's always present.

There's a long, long culture and history
that kind of wraps itself around Bourbon

and Kentucky.

I think, in general, westward expansion, most
of our sort of beautiful literature, art,

some of our famous cities.

All owe them maybe a small part,
or in sometimes a large part.

It's the Kentucky bourbon.

You're drinking history
when you drink bourbon.

Bourbon is as part of the Kentucky
character as anything I can think of.

JIM RUTLEDGE: People recognize,
that know Kentucky,

"Oh, you're from Kentucky,
Kentucky bourbon."

It's not Thoroughbred horses,
it's Kentucky bourbon that's putting Kentucky

on the map globally.

We took whiskey,

evolved it from
the Celtic style,

the Scotch-Irish style

and evolved it into, what is today,
the last style of whiskey

to emerge from the culture
and that is bourbon whiskey.

The impact that the bourbon industry
has had on Kentucky has been...

I don't even think
you could measure it.

The state textbooks
will talk about slavery,

talk about tobacco, coal,
will cover the history of the Commonwealth.

But they don't mention
bourbon.

Like we don't exist.

The thing is bourbon is part
of what Kentucky's all about.

MICHAEL VEACH: You know,
the first Constitutional crisis

was the whiskey rebellion, prohibition
was another huge, important part of

American history.

ERIC GREGORY: There's something about
bourbon and whiskey that brings tales of

the Wild West,
the frontier or the pioneer,

the pioneer settler,
like we had here in Kentucky.

And it's just very authentic, and I think
that's what some of the mystique is about it,

'cause it has such
a rich history and heritage.

Probably happened
about 200 years ago,

Kentucky was known for the water,
the limestone water in this region.

BILL SAMUELS: There's only one
limestone shelf in the country.

And it's right
in the middle of Kentucky.

JIMMY RUSSELL:
You got to have that hot summer months

where that bourbon can go
out in that wood and age.

Then, the winter times,
you got to cold-water extract,

that barrel's got to breathe,
it's got to move in and out of that barrel.

If it went in the barrel and stayed,
it would never age.

Or if it never went into the barrel,
it'll never age,

it'll be just like moonshine.

If you go too far north,
south, east or west,

or even go out
of the state of Kentucky,

you really start changing how
your whiskey starts aging.

When bourbon first started out,
it started out as just as a whiskey,

and to convert the excess corn
into something that wouldn't spoil

and that you could
sell for hard currency.

RICK BELL: To get cash, you had to render
your excess grain, your excess corn

into a product.
It started out as a side product.

It wasn't why
they were raising their corn,

they could just raise
so much corn here,

that they could not...
The surplus was so great,

you couldn't afford to
transport it back to where

the population centers were,
which was in the East Coast,

and it served as
a substitute for cash.

We didn't have national banks,
we didn't have standardized currency,

it was more a
trade-based world.

RUTLEDGE: The first tax that was
ever levied in the new country

was on distilled spirits the farmers who
were making, and a lot of them rebelled.

The rebellion didn't last long
and after the rebellion,

many of them moved
to the western frontier,

which was Kentucky
or Tennessee, or Indiana.

CHUCK COWDERY: The people who
settled in Kentucky were distillers,

they came here to plant grain, they found
that the grain that grew the best was corn.

So they were immediately
distilling from corn

which was not unheard of,
but not that common.

The Scotch/Irish came here
because Patrick Henry,

Governor of Virginia...
First Governor of Virginia,

was giving away free land.

And he just happened to set court
houses up inside the lime stone shelf,

two of the three of them.

So the people settled around the
court houses because that was easy,

and lo and behold,
what they found was they were making

better whiskey here
in Kentucky using corn

than they were with rye
back in Pennsylvania.

Sometimes, when their other
crops weren't unable to sell,

or they had excess corn or whatever
the situation might've been,

producing Bourbon, or spirits,
might have been a lifesaver for those folks.

Historians say certainly
in the very first year,

the settlement of Harrisburg, whiskey
was being produced because it was vital

to society, it was medicine, it was exchange,
it was keeping grain from spoiling,

it was just part of life.

VEACH:
As people expanded west,

they brought with
them everything they needed.

And this included stills.

MAN: The still was one of the most
tangible pieces of real estate

these families owned, it was the something
that the first son would inherit.

You see that in deeds
and you see it in wills.

But if you grow corn,
especially in a frontier environment,

you're limited to the number
of things you can do with it.

And distilling it
was one of them,

and distilling it was good,
because it preserved it and so and so forth.

Even though corn's harder to work
with than these other grains,

took a lot of perseverance
to distill from corn.

You know, the frontier life
was a very harsh one.

It was working from
sunup to sundown.

Clearing fields, planting
fields, harvesting fields,

taking care of livestock,
slaughtering livestock,

building fence rows.

Whatever it took,
you work from sunup to sundown.

And when you got up in the morning,
you were still sore from the previous day.

So what would you do?
You would start with a little shot of whiskey

to help ease
the aches and pains.

LUBBERS:
Let's not forget that George Washington

was one of our country's
first distillers,

and one of the reasons he
became a distiller

wasn't because he was
passionate about making whisky,

but as an ex-general,
as an ex-president,

when he retired and went
back to Mount Vernon,

he knew that every soldier in the
Calvary got a daily ration of whiskey.

And he saw another
income stream,

so he hires a Scotsman
by the name of James Anderson,

who makes his whiskey for him,
but he has those contracts and he sells it.

Dams and bridges and canals
that are built

all feel the same way,
you attract people through whiskey

and say,
"This is an incentive for you to come here."

Social gatherings
were the thing.

And you would gather
at your local tavern,

or you would gather
at a barn raving

or a cabin raving or
a wedding or a funeral

and someone would
bring a jug.

But the whiskey that
started being traded

and it was shipped
on rafts, generally

in the spring of the year
when spring rains,

and creaks would rise,
and they'd be able to float it to the rafts

down to the Ohio River.

Down the Ohio river,
down to the Mississippi to New Orleans.

New Orleans is
a French colony.

What are they drinking?
They're drinking French brandy.

What makes French Brandy different
from our American whiskey?

It's been aged
in charred barrels,

has been since the 1400s.

Let's age our whiskey in charred
barrels to make it taste

more like French Brandy,

and when they did,
people started buying it.

In some ways, that's the most unusual thing
about Bourbon, about American whiskey.

It's the only type of distilled
spirit in the world

that must be aged
only in new barrels.

Two Frenchmen,
come from the Armagnac region of France,

came to the United States,
in order to set up trade with New Orleans.

They built a mill
and a warehouse

at the falls
of the Ohio.

They had an ample opportunity to buy
whiskey cheap, as people would unload

their flatboats into the Terrascan brothers'
warehouse

and wait for the river to rise,

and I think they were the ones that actually
started putting it into charred barrels,

and letting it age,
and then sending it down to New Orleans.

Which, the trip to New Orleans itself,
would aid the aging process

as the whisky would slosh through the barrel
increasing the interaction between the oak.

RUTLEDGE: That was made in Bourbon County,
Kentucky,

but it was a good corn whiskey,
people began to ask for this

and the barrels that were going down there
had a big "B" on it for Bourbon County.

The legend has it, it's named Bourbon because
of flat boats bringing this whiskey down

from Maysville,
it had invoices of Bourbon County.

Now the problem with that is that
there was very little legal trade,

and you don't invoice
your illegal trade.

There is also the fact that the first
mention of bourbon was not till 1821.

Now by the 1820s,
you start having steamboats making the trip

between Pittsburgh
and New Orleans.

You have the steamboats making the trip,
instead of becoming a 9-month or year-long trip

to New Orleans and back.

It's a 3-month trip.

Now, you're on that steamboat
and you're returning home.

You go up
to the bartender

and say, "I really like that whisky
I was drinking in New Orleans,

give me some of that whiskey I got
was drinking off of Bourbon Street.

Give me some of that Bourbon Street
whiskey or eventually, Bourbon whiskey."

The bartenders on these steamboats are
going to start to make sure they have it,

and as the steamboats ply up and down
the Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri rivers,

they're spreading
the word of bourbon.

Going down the Ohio river
by flatboat,

or even getting to
the Ohio river,

you would take your flatboat and you
would put it in the Kentucky river

or the Salt River and the Big Sandy River,
or whatever,

and float it down
to the Ohio river.

Then float down the Ohio river, to the
Mississippi, and on down to New Orleans.

This is a long
and dangerous trip.

You had Native Americans
in the 1770s and '80s and '90s

on both sides of the river
who were willing to remove

your goods and your scalp.

'Cause your scalp was worth a lot of
money to the British up in Detroit.

But once you got
down there,

you sold your goods.

And you sold your flat boat, because you
weren't going to try to row that flat boat

back up the Ohio,
Mississippi rivers.

You had two choices,
you can catch ship in New Orleans

or you could walk back up
the Natchez Trace.

And when I say walk,
yes, you could ride a horse.

As a matter of fact, legend has it, that's
where the horse industry in Kentucky comes from,

is that once they made these trips,
if they were going to come back up

the Natchez Trace, they would buy
the fastest horse they could get,

because once again, it was a very dangerous
trip, because you had Native Americans

and bandits willing to separate
you from your cash and your scalp.

So if you had a faster horse than anyone
else, you had a better chance of getting away.

Bourbon spread on the rivers,
I don't think there's any question.

It didn't go upstream
so much until later.

The steamboats is responsible for
spreading the bourbon culture as anything.

This product got to be popular and all of
a sudden you could start sending it up

to Saint Louis or sending
it up to Minneapolis,

or sending it down
to New Orleans.

Without steamboats taking our product
in the 1800s down the high river

to the ports in New Orleans
along the way,

we would not have the bourbon
increases that we did.

The river made Louisville
a town.

Steamboat made Louisville
a city.

And it was the steamboat era
and steamboat technology

that revolutionized America, and went
into trains and went into inner urbans.

VEACH:
So it was the early highway system.

When you did trade, it was much easier
to float things down these rivers

than it was to try and haul
it back over the mountains.

I think a lot of the farmers started
adopting the lessons of technology.

WES HENDERSON: The early guys
were limited a lot

by the technology that
was available to them.

You start to see some progression
towards innovation in terms of

flavors and taste profiles,
I don't mean flavorings.

I mean flavors...

And taste profiles of bourbon,
and trying to do things

a little different there.

It's not the chemist that come up with it,
but it's the guys who just want

to try out something
a little different.

Try a different grain,
try something different,

try to age it
a little differently,

try it on the top.

I think that that sense of innovation has
marked that industry very, very well.

During the Civil War,
the armies sought out whiskey as medicine

as they went from
distillery to distillery.

The Union Army came through Kentucky
on their way to fight major battles,

fell in love with the liquid
and after the war was over,

they decided they needed some more,
and they placed orders to buy some.

They were incredibly popular
pharmaceutical drugs

and some were patent medicines
and some were straight.

But what we forget is that the civil war
produced something like 400,000 morphine addicts.

Because they used morphine
as the only painkiller,

but the only other painkiller
was whiskey.

You had this post-Civil War era America
and as those folks aged and went away,

the acceptance of alcohol as
a benefit to your health...

There was a reason why we say,
"To your health," when we give a toast.

It is seen as a healthy thing and was
certainly seen in those days as a cure.

VEACH: Every war that the United
States has fought, with one exception,

has been paid for
by a whiskey tax.

You know, the Whiskey Rebellion
tax was created to pay for

the Revolutionary War debts.

When we went to war
with Britain again in 1812.

In 1814, they brought back the
whiskey tax in order to pay for it.

It was eliminated after 1817, it comes
back in 1861 to pay for the Civil War.

Anytime you get a big demand for whiskey and
it becomes more expensive because of taxes,

you see these big companies
that want to make it cheaper.

And back then, they were just making what
we would call everclear or vodka today,

and adding prune juice,
cherry juice, tobacco juice,

iodine for color and slappin'
the word whiskey on it.

I mean, it was terrible,
some of this stuff had no age on it at all,

it was just nutrigrain alcohol
with shoe polish in it,

and maybe a little sorghum,
or a little bit of honey to give it flavor.

Well, that didn't sit well with
some of the distillers in Kentucky,

so they got together,
they passed the Bottled-In-Bond Act of 1897.

It was really the first legislation
in this country that guaranteed

the quality of a product and
set standards for a product.

It's very, very specific.

Not only does it have to be
a minimum of four years old,

it has to be exactly
100 proof in the bottle.

You have to list the distillery it
comes from, and it can only come

from one distillery.

It must be from one season,
so it's like a vintage, if you will.

They started putting the ingredients
right on their label, by law,

and it said 50%
alcohol, 100 proof.

So the first Consumer Protection legislation
in the history of the United States

doesn't have to do with
the safe labeling of our food,

as the Pure Food and Drug Act,
nine years later in 1906.

It was about whiskey.

Bourbon is responsible for
the Pure Food and Drug Act,

and bourbon is responsible for
trademark and trade name development.

In fact, the brand name comes
from...

As Federal law, that required the heads
of barrels to be stamped or burned

with the brand name.

When they started
putting whiskey in bottles,

when they started selling it by the bottles
rather than just barrels of whiskey,

that really gave a reason to
put the producer's name on it.

What was so interesting then,
the Federal government was directly involved.

They had the regaugers. Every time you
knocked the button out of a barrel,

there was a guy from
the Alcohol-Tobacco tax,

and they were there to make sure that
none of the employees were taking it,

and that what came out of the barrel
went into the bottling process.

American whiskeys are by far the most
restricted whiskeys in the world.

You have Scotch, Irish, Canadian,
they have restrictions,

but nothing's restricted
like American whiskey.

And then you have
Bottled-in-Bond

which is the most restricted
of the most restricted

whiskeys in the world.

I think the major players
in bourbon history,

like Col. W. H. Taylor, Jr.
welcomed taxes...

Right.

and welcomed regulations,
so that he could set his bourbon apart

from the rectifiers.

So they finally had to say,
this is what bourbon is.

And that's when they
defined it to be 51% corn.

It has to be distilled no higher than
160 proof, it can't be put in the barrel

any higher than 120.

This had a huge effect on the straight
whisky industry up to prohibition.

Prohibition is a peculiarly
American experience,

and they did refer to it then and
still do as the noble experiment.

American was undergoing
a huge,

cultural change

at the end of the 19th century

into the early 20th century.

Population centers were moving from
rural America to urban America.

And the people
who- The abolitionists,

and woman's suffrage movement and the
prohibition movement were all the same movement.

It was all the same people

and just started advocating
for each thing in turn.

What changed and really brought about
this was when they shift the emphasis

from drinking alcohol
to the saloon.

From the 19th century,
to the Industrial Revolution, when people

were going
into factories,

and right outside every factory
was a street full of saloons,

where they would all go on lunch hour and
all of those saloons gave free lunches.

They would have a buffet,
and sometimes, very good,

and the food was all free,

but you had to pay
for the liquor.

Now the belief at the time, which to some
extent was true, was that the typical laborer

or the typical working man would basically
drink and gamble all of his earnings

and nothing ever
got home to the family.

This lead to a lot of backlash
against the saloon.

The Anti-Saloon League
was saying

saloons were dens of evil
where not only drinking

but gambling and
prostitution were going on.

But the real reason for not liking
the saloons was more political

than anything.

You had these images coming out of
the cities of corrupt Irish saloons,

that are running
political machines.

And German beer gardens on Sunday afternoons,
where people got out and drank beer,

they weren't home
praying,

they were playing music and singing,
having fun on a Sunday afternoon.

There was a prohibition party,
a political party.

And for 70 years,
they were the third largest political party

in America.

The moment just keep growing and
growing and it became politically,

especially in rural communities, it became
politically smart to identify yourself

with the prohibition party.

They began to take over
a lot of states,

and most of the South,
before prohibition,

most of the southern states
were already dry.

Prohibition was voted in
in Maine, in the 1840s,

and then back out
and then back in,

and it would go into different states
and it may last ten years and go out.

When the bill came up to vote,
it was nowhere near close. It was 171 to 34

in favor of prohibition.

Kentucky was the third state
to ratify the amendment.

We were already- 105 of 120
counties were already dry.

Prohibition passes in a record quick
amount of time and the nation goes dry.

The city lost over 8,000 jobs,
the next day in the newspaper,

there were
25 distilleries closed.

It was roughly 2,000 folks. There was
1,000 people worked in the cooperages.

They lost their work,
they lost about a dozen breweries.

Prohibition really hurt the industry,
because you had basically

15 years where there
was not any production.

But then, like
local advertising agencies,

people who printed
the labels,

all of those jobs
you don't associate...

Along with half the crews
on the steamboat,

and roughly a third of the crews
that worked on the trains.

That's what we shipped.

Prohibition was very hard
to enforce.

If you had a basement load
of whiskey before prohibition,

there was nothing
anybody could do about it.

You could drink everyday, there was
nothing illegal about drinking alcohol.

A lot of people think that it was
illegal to drink, but it was not.

It was illegal for us as
manufacturers to manufacture,

sell or transport
alcoholic beverages.

It was legal though if you
owned whiskey or liquor

before prohibition,
you could still drink that

all through prohibition.

Plus whiskey was still a very
important part of the pharmaceuticals

of the day.

But you could buy
medicinal whiskey.

Speakeasies kind of pushed those
laws and pushed everything,

because it's like, "Okay,
if it's legal to drink,

I can have friends over to this location,
to my house,

and I can have
people drink."

Oh, well, the speakeasies
were... In some cases,

they were, saloons closed the door one
day and the next day they reopened.

You would go there,
you wouldn't just invite anybody in.

So many times,
they had a little peep hole

or a little trap door,
and you had to check if somebody had

the right password
or knew somebody before,

because they didn't want the
government agents to come in

and shut them down.

A lot of times
it was a fiction.

A lot of times,
everybody knew there was a bar there.

LUBBERS: If they had a bunch
of bottles behind the bar,

and it looked like
they were selling it,

they had shelves that would drop
down and all that would disappear.

So all the evidence was
gone and if you stood there

with a drink in your hand,
that's not against the law,

"I just had a couple
of friends over."

You know, there were studies
that say that people actually

increased the amount of alcohol
they drank during prohibition.

There were more speakeasies than there
were bars before prohibition in New York.

But that was part
of the appeal.

I think that was part
of the attraction.

I think people enjoyed
breaking the law.

VEACH:
Prohibition could not have happened

if they had not passed
the Income Tax Amendment.

Because before
the income tax,

the whiskey tax was paying for
about half of the Federal budget.

Very few of the local police officials or
courts really believed in prohibition,

and they enforced it
as loosely as possible.

But it was a Federal institution and
so you had Federal agents coming down

often, if not in opposition
to the local cops,

they weren't getting
much cooperation.

Mayor LaGuardia,
he was never for the prohibition law.

So he didn't tell
his local police and all that,

he said,
"Don't bother anybody."

And so not every government
official was behind this law.

So, it must've been
an unbelievable time.

The government decided
they needed to maintain,

they used this term, "Strategic
reserve of whiskey in the country."

And in 1921, there were about 60
million gallons put back in reserve,

in barrels.

By 1927, the strategic reserve had
gotten down to about 17 million barrels,

they had drawn out
that much.

And the government realized if
we didn't start replacing it,

then we were going
to be out of it in four years.

So they issued, I think it was
originally ten, that got consolidated

down into seven distilling
licenses in America.

And these were legal,
they go back into operation.

Of the seven companies,
six were located in Louisville.

AL YOUNG: We sold whiskey under the
Four Roses label during prohibition,

which kind of provided a good segue
into becoming a powerhouse bourbon

after the repeal of prohibition.

When it comes back
to being legal in 1933,

bourbon whiskey's
an aged spirit,

you can't just, okay, it's legal now,
we'll start making it

and selling it.

It takes four years,

to get a good, aged
product out there.

So it takes a lot of effort for the
bourbon to even get re-established

at the end
of prohibition.

And just about the time
they're beginning to do that,

the Second World War comes along
and you have war time prohibition,

because the industry had to
make alcohol for the war.

The bourbon distilleries in
World War II, they were

required
to start making alcohol

for the production
of neoprene, for rubber.

And they all put in
distillation columns to do that,

so they were limited on the
amount of bourbon they could make

versus the amount of alcohol they
had to make for the war effort.

1941, we get
into World War II.

Folks,
we need you to make high proof alcohol

to make smokeless gunpowder and
different synthetics for the war effort.

So they do that,
they get the contracts from the government

to make high proof alcohol

to do that,
so they did their part even though,

they didn't get paid for that, they could've
made more whiskey and made more money

selling the whiskey
that they sold.

But they did what everybody did
during World War II, you did that.

GREGORY: Every time there's been a war, we've
turned to the alcohol and spirits industry

to help fund that war.

Every chapter from the whiskey
rebellion to the prohibition

and here it is,
70-80 years later,

and we're still talking
about prohibition,

it was such
a fascinating chapter

in our history that Kim Burns
is doing documentaries on it.

Who'd have ever thunk it?

But after prohibition,

was the industrialization of the bourbon
and the whiskey industry where...

You had to have a lot
of capital to come in

and open a distillery from scratch or to
bring one back from being mothballed.

Now you throw on top of this the late
'60s or early '70s,

a generation that said we're
not gonna trust anyone over 30,

and we're not gonna drink
what our parents drink

which was whiskey.

They started experimenting with
products such as vodka and tequila.

Vodka and gin and rum
and blended whiskeys,

they were the dominant
players of the day.

And they're a lighter style.

So the bourbon distilleries got
together and say, "Well, if people want

lighter styles, we're going
to make our product lighter."

So they take it from the Bottled-in-Bond's,
of the 100 proof,

and they lower it to 86 proof.

Almost every whiskey
you see back then

and straight whiskeys
says 86 proof.

And, to this day,
when you kill something,

and it killed that segment of
the bourbon straight whiskey.

When you kill something or do away with it,
you've 86'd it.

JULIAN VAN WINKLE: And one the favorite
things we like to tell people is that...

People say, "Why don't you
bottle it at 90 proof

or 86 proof, like all
the other distilleries?"

They said, "Why ship all that
water all over the country?"

So, he'd come up with stuff like
that which would be a lot of fun...

The American public
now had choices.

They didn't just have
to drink whiskey.

Bourbon was strong
up till the early '70s.

You young people
come along,

you started drinking
that white goods,

your gins and vodkas
and things like it.

And a lot of the bourbon distilleries
hurt their sales at that time.

Things start declining
and it gets really bad

by the mid 1980s.

Light was better,
everything light.

This healthy lifestyle,
but light, light, light.

And it's only
in the end of the 1980s

into the 1990s

that you start seeing
products such as single barrel,

malt batch, extra aged
products.

Creating interest

in whiskey again,

and the market's starting
to level off.

And we see something I had thought was gone,
cigars came back,

cigar festivals,
big smokes.

Steak houses were established. Now we had
a number of wonderful steakhouse chains

across the country.

Red wine became popular,
craft beer show up.

Single malt scotch.
All of a sudden Americans are drinking,

eating, smoking big,
rich flavor.

And that begins an interest
in the return to bourbon,

because bourbon is rich, elegant,
big compared to the light.

What lead to this boom is
that it's a boom only because

it went so low.

There had to be
a transformation,

there had to be a modern age of bourbon,
or it was not going to survive.

So it's really...
it's two different phases,

there's the birth
and there's the rebirth.

RUTLEDGE: The thing that began
to turn our industry around,

back in the mid-late '80s, early '90s was
the introduction of premium bourbons.

And the focus on premium bourbons,
premium single barrel bourbons,

premium small batch.

We as an industry really
didn't do that much different,

began to point out and showcase how
good we were with these premiums.

Elmer knew about

Albert Blanton going into
the warehouse

and selecting single barrels
for parties

and, you know, special guests
and things like that.

And that concept, the idea
is really what

started premium bourbon
selections.

I think it was just
kind of waiting to happen,

um, I'm guessing that we've taken
some of the single malt market,

those drinkers and pushed 'em
over to our side,

or they enjoyed
both of 'em now.

You know, the only thing I can do is go
back to that congressional resolution

in 1964,

and say that as
a result of that

and being a distinctive
product of the United States,

bourbon could be made
anywhere in the Untied States.

And now, you've got distilleries
springing up throughout the country.

When I started, basically it was
a southern gentleman's drink.

Men got off work
in the afternoon down south,

went to their favorite bars,

they got their cigars and
cards and went to the backroom

and started playing cards.

Now, it's become a worldwide drink and the
ladies really got big into bourbon business

now all over the world.

I think what happened

in the last 10, 15, 20 years has
been that a generation came up

that didn't know they weren't
supposed to drink bourbon.

It seems like
there's a lot of younger people

consuming bourbon,
where it used to be kind of an older...

Old man's drink.

Bourbon is not just being
consumed by 55 plus,

you know, folks that
are 55 years or older,

which is the age
of the general demographic.

We're seeing folks down in their
30s and middle 20s or whatever

that are enjoying
bourbon as well,

so the reach of our demographic
is expanding.

Social media and the ability
to communicate so easily,

globally, and for somebody in Japan
know of what we're talking about here.

There were bulletin boards on AOL,
on CompuServe and, you know,

those services that also
had a lot of bourbon content.

So the Internet's
been very important

in terms of people being able to
communicate with other enthusiasts.

There's a desire for
a return to tradition,

authenticity and craft.

And I think bourbon
really represents that.

People are looking for,
you know, extra aged,

different proofs, the stories
that are behind these products.

Education, I think,
is what's made bourbon grow,

and people are not scared
of bourbon anymore.

I think people who have...
Have gotten into it,

have gotten into it
for the same reasons I did.

A fascination with
the culture, the history.

I really do think the... The reason
bourbon sales are continuing to grow

is because the customers
are demanding quality.

When they go out and spend
their hard-earned money,

they've got a $20 bill
in their pocket,

what is the best-quality spirit
they can for their $20?

I think it's how you, as an individual,
feel about the flavor as you taste it

is what makes bourbon so unique.

No bourbon is better
than another bourbon.

Some bourbon is...
Are just simply more expensive

because less is produced.

So, be thoughtful of that
when you're drinking it.

The bottle that costs you $10
can sometimes just be

as memorable as the one
that costs you $1,200.

There are so many factors
that have really

come together here that have
made bourbon where it is now.

The cocktail culture
is certainly one of them.

MORRIS: As this mixology culture,
this bartending culture

is spreading to Europe,

where they didn't
make cocktails,

now they're starting to
in France and Germany,

certainly Great Britain has
really embraced the cocktail,

and again,
you make cocktails with bourbon.

The taste is in, uh,
thanks not only to the distillers,

but thanks to the...
The regional chefs

that we have
around the country.

The reemergence
of the cocktail culture,

much of that utilizes bourbon.

Then there's the fact that bourbon
tastes better than it used to taste.

Mad Men has been credited
both with the cocktail revival

and with the American
whiskey revival,

since so many of those cocktails
where made with bourbon and rye.

Cocktails, bars, I mean,
it's just kind of like fashion.

It's a...
It's a revolving scene.

We had kinda gotten away
from the idea of

a lot of
great-tasting cocktails

in the 70s, 80s and early 90s.

People just were kinda ordering a
lot of the same old boring things,

and, you know, with mid-2000s
bars of the New York and Chicago

and San Francisco opening up
and starting to do

the kind of speakeasy style... Style of
cocktail, you know, started to educated people

of what's actually out there,

and, you know, the whole rebirth
of the cocktail culture.

It's been a great thing
for the industry.

JARED SCHUBERT: It's really nice
that the bartenders, especially,

the working class people
in the restaurant industry

have attached themselves to,
what I believe,

is a working class product

and brought it, really,
back to the forefront

of being really
incredible whiskeys.

It's not just
for an older palate.

Young... Young people
enjoy bourbon,

and they're drinking it
neat and straight and... Some...

And, obviously, cocktails also,

but, uh, lot of people
that start drinking bourbon,

you know, they're not just mixing
it with Coca-Cola or whatever.

They're having it on some ice

or just putting it in a cocktail.
So, it's a good cocktail.

The old-fashioned, for example,
has become a drink of choice

of the next generation
from what I've heard.

Uh, and it started originally at
Pendennis Club here in Louisville.

When you go to a bar,
you've got a creative bartender

that wants to make a good cocktail for
you so you'll come back to his bar.

He's not gonna give you
an inferior spirit.

At least, he shouldn't
if he wants you to come back.

I think it's kinda funny and foreign,
almost, the bartenders around here.

'Cause we're used to...
Just drinking it with a shot and a beer

and, you know,
maybe an old fashioned or a Manhattan,

but not getting too...
Too busy with the cocktails we make.

You know, we really enjoy it
in the pure form.

That's why we're seeing
this huge surge in visitorship.

We've... We're hosting
twice as many visitors this year

as we did five years ago.

And we believe
that five years from now,

it will double again.

And that energizing,
it's a hell of a lot of work.

But when you get to do work better
than it's ever been done before,

and when you get
to connect with people

that are so energized
by what we do,

that's pretty inspiring.

But now, it's gained
such momentum with...

With things like

the Bourbon Trail
and the bourbon festivals.

In 1999, the distilleries were looking
at ways to promote Kentucky bourbon

because we had just come off
of the immediate downturn,

and we were trying
to start ramping up

the single barrels,
the small batches.

They looked to see what was going
on in California wine country

and Scotland
with the Whisky Trail,

and, so, you know, we've got this great
number of distilleries right here

within a few miles of each other
in Central Kentucky.

Why don't we create a tourism
experience around that?

So, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail
was born that year.

This whole Bourbon Trail,

I think it's caught
people by surprise.

I mean, we're talking something,
like, 700,000 visitors a year, and...

And just here,
during the Speakeasy Programme,

the people that
I have come through,

who are doing all eight
or nine of the stops now.

It's takes three or four days.
You don't just, uh, you know...

They're not located
all side-to-side.

They're all over the simple part of
the state and here in Louisville now.

And now, you know,
15 years later,

we're getting 600,000, 700,000,
800,000 visitors a year,

and it's, truly, one of the hottest
tourist attractions in the country.

I think the Kentucky Distillers'
Association and the Bourbon Trail have had

a huge impact economically

on a lot of areas because of the
distilleries as they build visitor centers

and hire people to work
in those visitor centers.

The Kentucky Distillers'
Association is a non-profit trade group

that was actually found in 1880,

when about 32 distilleries
got together, uh,

and pretty much decided
they're tired of paying taxes,

or, at least, higher taxes.

So, they met at Louisville Golf
House and formed a trade association

and have been
working together ever since.

They help with...
With many things.

They help with the lobbying
and all that...

The business of the...
Of... Of the business.

The programs that
we have put in place

as an organization
to market our category,

specifically the
Kentucky Bourbon Trail,

the Passport Program
have been invaluable

to the success of our industry.

And we're coordinated and work
together to make the pie bigger.

To promote bourbon tourism,

to promote the defining elements
of Kentucky's culture,

which bourbon's
a big part of that.

Of course, the individual brand companies
are responsible for themselves.

We're responsible to promote
and grow with reserve.

But having a partner like the
Kentucky Distillers' Association

certainly makes it a lot easier

in some aspects
of this modern world.

Bourbon's a tremendous investment
for the Commonwealth of Kentucky

because the spin-off factor
is so high.

Just a couple of years ago,
for every bourbon job that was created,

another three jobs
were created down the line.

That's cooperage,
or trucking, hospitality,

a whole number of industries
that have now

kind of become niche markets
for the bourbon industry.

COFFMAN: It supports almost 16,000
people in the state of Kentucky.

This is from farming industry,
transportation, logistics,

storage, packaging,
labeling, manufacturing,

just your operators,

from fermentation
into distillation.

So, it's really turned in
quite a big driving force.

It's the people
who serve it in the bars

and the people
who are driving the bus

that takes you to the distilleries
when you buy that tour.

All these industries
are coming to Kentucky

and it's having
an incredible impact,

especially in
the local communities,

where you've got locally-sourced grains now,
farmer's impact.

You've got, you know,
some distilleries

even growing their own
multi, barley, rye...

Another distillery
is talking about setting up cows

and having cattle
as a side business. So...

Yeah, it's a great investment
for the Commonwealth.

We spend a lot of time developing
relationships with the farmers,

you know, on a day-to-day basis.

So, we... We, actually,
go visit these farms,

we talk to these guys
that are growing corn for us.

That's what you do,
you stick with your partner.

I mean, like,
the folks at Independent Stave,

they've been making barrels
for 100 years.

DeMossville family,
they've been connected with us

here at Beam

for all that time,

and, you know, they make a good barrel.
We use their barrels.

Their barrels
make our product what it is,

we know when them trucks
come in with their barrels.

We don't have
to worry about the barrels.

That's the least of our worries.
Same way with Vendome.

There's one company in Kentucky, Vendome Copper
& Brass Works, very well know in the spirits

and the brewing industry
for their copper-works.

NOE: Yeah, they've
been the still,

that's the backbone
of the distillery.

I mean, that's where you take
the beer running through that

and turns it into the white dog

and then separates the alcohol
from the... The beer.

If you want to buy a still,
you want to buy from people

who've built
the largest stills in the world

for the largest and most successful
bourbon companies in the world.

They make very big stills,
72-inch diameter,

columns all the way down
to small 50 gallon pot stills.

HARLEN WHEATLEY: They've built
a couple of our stills,

they're one of the best.
They've got a lot of history.

It's kind of the same thing. They've got a
lot of history and legacy in the business.

They've got a lot of expertise
and they do a pretty good job.

NOE: You got a problem with your still,
you talk to them

and they help you work it out.

They... They know their stills.

You know what you're getting when you go to
a group like Vendome Copper & Brass Works.

They're extremely
important players,

and they are respected
all over the world,

uh, for what they do and they
are the best at what they do.

Uh, they've really come into
a very niche market.

On the craft side, it's really
a booming enterprise right now.

About ten years ago,
we started to see a...

Just a little hint
of these micro distilleries,

these craft distilleries
start now.

And, um, while at that time, we didn't
quite know where that might lead to,

we... We thought that
there might be

a little bit
something there

and, sure enough, you know,
probably, you know,

five years ago or so,
it really started hitting me.

And I think the craft
distilleries here have thrived

because the bigger distilleries are here...
and vice versa.

I think that a lot of people have
just got into the bourbon business,

with all these craft distillers.

And I don't know how many are gonna
be around in 5 or 10 years, but

it's a great fun business to get into,
but it does take deep pockets if you're gonna

put whiskey down
for years and years and years.

GREGORY: The craft guys will tell you, I
would hope and I believe they would tell you,

that the industry has embraced them and
done everything they can to make sure

they survive. This session,
the big distilleries were helping us

get a bill passed to reduce
the craft licence fee.

So that craft distilleries didn't
have to pay as much as they did.

'Cause $3,000 a year is what the
distillery license is in Kentucky.

And that may be nothing
to Jim Beam,

but that's a whole of money
to somebody just starting up.

When they can spend that on

corn, or advertising,
or brand building or something like that.

STEVEN BESHEAR: And we've created a
tour similar to the bourbon tour,

and the bourbon trail for the
smaller craft distilleries,

and it is now taking off, and it is
starting to attract a lot of visitors

into our state.

The small distillers, the micro distillers
have not made a dent in volume.

They're still so small that the volume
that they contribute is meaningless.

But in terms of the sheer buying

they've been hugely important.

But each of them must think they
have something recommendable.

So, I think that these people
that do this

have all got to be fairly adventuresome and
believe they're gonna produce something

that's superior to other
149 brands.

Most of the craft distilleries
that started here by 2010 or 2011,

are now on their first
or even second expansion phase.

So, they're doing
something right.

It's also a good pressure valve,

especially from a tourism standpoint
for the bigger distilleries.

Because now if you go
to a big distillery

and there's an hour
or two hour wait,

there's probably a good chance that there's a
craft distillery withing 10 or 15 miles away

that they can go visit and then come
back and visit the bigger distilleries.

So, the craft distillery
gets the benefit, and

you don't have angry people waiting around a
big distillery trying to get in to a tour.

They're selling very small volumes
but they've made a huge difference

in terms of what people are talking about,
what people are thinking about,

what people are buying
and tasting and trying.

What they're seeing
when they go into the stores.

So suddenly, there's
a lot more excitement about...

about the category.

It's gonna be a great supplement

and support for
the bigger distilleries, and

it all goes together.
And they're all working together.

That's what's so great here, is that
they all realize, both large and small,

that they're success depends
upon all of them promoting

what is great about Kentucky
and that is Kentucky Bourbon.

I don't think there's
any other industry in the world

where competitors within the
market are such close friends.

Truly, not because somebody's talking to us,
or we're in front of a camera.

Not another business in this world that can
come close to the camaraderie shared by,

not just within a distillery,
within a plant, but within our industry.

It amazes people how the bourbon
guys we're always together,

giving each other a hard time,
or sneaking up trying to

pull somebody's ear or do something.
Jimmy Russell's always sneaking up on me,

grabbin' hold of my ear,
telling me, "Straighten up, boy!"

If you ever go to the bourbon festival
in Bardstown, Kentucky, in September,

you'll see how close the all of us are,
and how we work together.

We do anything we can
to help each other out.

The need for bonding,
the need for co-operation,

is very important because you all
have to watch each other's back.

The sales guys,
they're pretty competitive, but

the distillers,
we're all buddies.

We have a lot of fun,
we enjoy being with each other,

and would do anything
in the world for each other.

Most of the big guys, they open up
their arms and say, "Come on, guys

be part of it." And,

we want you to succeed
just like we've succeeded.

If anything in the world
went wrong in distillation,

or if a distillery lost a pump or a motor,
and if we had it,

we'd lend to them in a heartbeat,
just to keep running.

I mean, I wouldn't hesitate to call Makers'
Mark and ask them a question.

Or talk with Chris Morris over
at Woodford Reserve or anybody.

And if they needed a piece
of equipment for example,

and we had it and we can spare it, we'd loan
to them, never ask a question about it.

In 1996, we had a catastrophic fire
that destroyed... The heat lighting

struck one of the rickhouses,

and there happened to be
70 mile an hour winds that day

and it spread from rickhouse to rickhouse,
and by the end of the day,

there were seven warehouses
on fire.

They lost seven warehouses,

and the first thing we all did,
the other seven distillers...

Let is know what you need, how we can help,
'cause it put a big hole in their inventory.

Our distilleries burned down,
we gotta make whiskey tomorrow,

we got employees,
we got people with families, with kids.

We wanna make whiskey for them
but we lost 100,000 barrels.

We all stepped up,
to them 'em, immediately.

We were making bourbon for 'em.

Selling barrels,
doing whatever we can do to help 'em.

We made our whiskey
on their stills for three years

until we got our new facility
in Littleville, Kentucky.

I think everyone one of us feel

we are all in the same boat.
We're producing an American spirit that,

we should be proud of that,
and everybody gets along really well.

Well, you know, we all know each other.
We've known each other for years.

Lot of us have been
in the business a long time.

When we add a new distillery
to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail,

we just did that with Stitzel-Weller.
The historic Stitzel-Weller's removal,

and there at the announcement,

you had representatives from every
distillery there cheering them on.

Where else you're see that
in any other industry?

That your competitors are there congratulating
you, applauding you for success.

We're on the same team, and
we help each other and in turn,

the whole industry benefits
because of that.

I had no idea how friendly
these guys were to each other.

And, you get the master
distillers in a room together,

you better get the waiters on
pretty deep,

'cause they start cutting on each
other and kiddin' on each other,

it could be stand-up comedy.
It really could.

I think that the producers,
especially at that level,

the family members,
we get along real well.

We even have a secret handshake,
I can't tell you about it, but

we have a lot of stuff
in common.

Kentucky is based on family.

Families are very important here
and families are very strong here.

There were lot of families out there
that were involved in the industry,

that played an important role
in the industry.

The Browns, the Wathens, the Medleys,
the Beams, the Dans, the Van Winkles.

BESHEAR: The families that started
the different types of distilleries,

a lot of them are still in
the same hands.

Or, there are still
family members working there.

We got or grandson or "itty" son
here with us now.

Bruce just started to work
for us just now, so,

he'll be the fourth generation
of the Russell's

working here at
The Wild Turkey Distillery.

It does seem to be a generational
thing for those established

and older distilleries.
And even for those that are new,

they tend to be branches of
those older families.

Some people say that The Bourbon
Family Tree grown straight up.

BESHEAR: You will have fathers,
grandfathers, even great-grandfathers

working and have worked at the
same distillery over the years.

It is a big family business
and it is a big family.

STEPHEN:
We started this and we now

can hand the opportunity down
to the next generation.

Something that I did not have.

That I had to start this
to be able to hand it off.

I'm really proud of that,

and I'm happy to do that,
and I hope that

they will continue,
not just my footsteps, but

many footsteps before us.

Beams are the
prominent ones now,

because they're the ones that
seemed to have survived mostly.

There were Beams in almost
every distillery in Kentucky.

They had been a family that had
developed the art, figured it out.

They would go from distillery to distillery,
and that's

kinda like a journeyman
or a master distiller

who would and solve problems
for people.

We have my great-grandfather and my
grandfather's notes and recipes.

So, I've studied those,

see how that works with
modern techniques.

It's been a learning experience
for me.

The entire industry
used to be family tradition,

hand me down from grandfather to

to his son, to his son,
to his son...

pass it on down
through family history

and learning the process
by route.

I really feel, making whiskey,
making bourbon, making rye,

all these are an art.

It's your impression on the
product that you want to taste...

The product that you want coming off
is the taste that you're striving for.

WHEATLEY: Some distilleries basically use
a master distiller in public relations,

but at Buffalo Trace,
we're a little bit more traditional. We do...

a little bit of everything.

I'm responsible for
production of the whiskeys,

and anything distilled.

Today's master distillers
are rockstars.

Which harkens back
to James Pepper,

and Colonel Taylor.

And some of
the earlier distillers.

As a prerequisite,
we're generally old.

It takes a while to get here,
you can't go to school to learn

to be a distiller.

The sheer amount
of technical know how,

that is required
it's really stunning.

They deserve what they get
because they're putting out...

It's a volatile product.

It's a combination
of science and art.

It's the art, I guess,
that I love the best.

That's learning
to use the senses.

The sight and smell,
and taste and touch, and...

to smell and taste, knowing

if something
is going to be right or not.

Perhaps a problem
with something.

A distiller is interested in
making it continually consistent

in flavor and quality, and

...in public acceptance.

When something
goes a little astray...

Not sure quite what
it is in fermentation...

A particular fermentation
problem.

We can... Easier to figure it
out, and what caused it,

how it happened, and prevent it
from happening again,

or, at least,
if it happens again,

we know how
to get out of it.

It's interesting that
they have applied

massive modern
technological advances

to what was
traditionally a craft.

But if you ever
get a chance

to go down to our plant at
Bernheim down on 17th Street,

go in the control room.
You'll think you're in NASA.

It's highly controlled and it's
a major manufacturing operation.

With this kind of...
this romantic image

that we have of it being
a rural product

but, in fact, when
you see it being...

You know, really run...
When you see...

When they really run it,
it's impressive.

COFFMAN: Probably your biggest
hurdle you're going to have

to get into the business

is the capital expenditure
you have to put out.

It's very capital-intensive.

There are definitely a lot

of barriers to entry
in this business.

Not just economic barriers,

but getting distribution
is not always easy.

Getting the funding
or the financing

to build the distillery
is not easy.

Not everybody can understand
the dynamics there.

You're going to wait two,
three, four, eight years

before you start seeing
any money come back.

You're not for sure
how that thing

is going to turn out
four years from now.

So you've got to have
a tremendous

amount of confidence,
you know,

in your own production,
or if you're starting out

using contract production,
and you're curating barrels,

you've got to know
what you're doing there.

Because the end result
can be disastrous

if you don't know
what you're doing.

These are not just "Make it
today, sell it tonight" vodka.

This is... We have to...
This is 10 years old.

This is four years old. We have
to think about this stuff.

RUTLEDGE:
Long-range planning...

better words for it
is "long-range guessing."

And it's a bet...
I'm not even sure

if the term "educated
guess" is good.

A lot of this
business is luck.

It just kinda happens,
and the way it happens...

There's nothing very scientific
or planned about it.

All this whiskey's got to age.
And so everyone is looking four, five, six,

seven years down the road,

and trying to figure
out, you know,

how much they need
that far down the road.

I mean, that's a tough job.

A lot of people make
four-year-old bourbon.

And we make also
a four-year-old bourbon.

But, still, that's four years
from now. You have to,

you know, project the sales
and what your plans are.

STEPHEN: We only can make
a very limited amount.

So I know that, no matter
what I make,

there'll be a demand for it.

It's a crap shoot, knowing what
to make the most of.

It's an educated guess.

But right now there's
no way to guess that big.

I mean, there's no
capabilities...

We're running our
distilleries wide open.

All we can get out,
get in the barrel.

We've already made
our bourbon for 2037.

So you say, six, eight, ten.

I tend to go six, eight,
10, 15, 20 and 23.

So I've already looked at 2038,

and what we need for 2038.

But the ageing factor,

I mean, yeah, if you knew
that rye was gonna be this...

I mean, we always
made rye whiskey,

but not a lot of it,
because it wasn't a big seller.

But, like, overnight,
all of a sudden,

rye whiskey's
the hottest thing going.

We've got some,
but we don't have

as much as we could sell
if we had more.

If we'd have known
Kentucky bourbon

was going to sell
as much as it is,

and become as popular
as it is today,

we'd have made a heck
of a lot more of it

six, eight, 10 years ago.

It's either going to be
too much or too little.

You're not gonna
be right on the money.

You know, that's not
the way that works, so...

So you have to make
adjustments along the way.

This year we made so many
barrels for 2037.

And as we go, we'll
kind of follow the trend

and monitor it, and see
how things go.

You know, for
the next 23 years.

You're kind of looking
into your crystal ball,

and trying to keep
up with demand,

and nobody saw
the spike in demand.

You can figure a slight
demand increase...

When you're getting
spikes of 25,

30, 40% a year on products,

there's no way
to calculate that.

If you were that smart,

you ought to go
buy Powerball tickets.

One of the things
from year to year,

you always want if you're
going to have enough corn,

and then the price of corn...

I've seen it be
as low as a dollar and a half

to as high as 8 dollars
and a half a bushel.

So then there's
been years of drought.

Then you wonder how you have
to go out and hustle a bit more,

trying to find the corn,
and not only that,

but the quality of corn.

If we want something
really good in a bottle,

we're fighting a battle,

an uphill battle
that can't be won

unless we start off with
the best raw materials.

The only speed bumps
typically you'd have

with any kind
of distillation system

is going through
the bureaucratic hoops

that you have
to sometimes,

both with the Alcohol, Tobacco
and Tax Trade Bureau

or the state.

DAVID FLOYD:
I submitted a request to the LRC,

Legislative Research
Commission,

that we form
a Bourbon Trail Caucus,

made up of members
in the legislature,

Senate and House, who were...

who represented a county

where bourbon was produced.

The Bourbon Trail Caucus
was formed specifically

to advance the Bourbon
industry in Kentucky

in as many ways as possible.

It's been a great partnership
with founding families

of the industry
and the companies

that are partnered with them.

You're not going to find
a better corporate citizen

in Kentucky than a bourbon
distillery, quite honestly.

I do a lot
of charitable events.

Eddie does a lot
of charitable events.

Anything we could do
to help out any community,

and charitable events
and all, we'll do that.

It gives us a great feeling
to be able to donate something

to charity and give back
to the communities.

Brown-Forman gives
millions of dollars every year

to the arts community
in Kentucky.

Nobody has done more
than Bill Samuels for education.

He raises money
for education efforts

and the Heart Association,
everything else.

It's not just about bourbon.

It's about trying to give back
to the commonwealth

which has been
so good to all of us.

Heaven Hill, Four Roses,
all of them.

It's fantastic. I mean,
they really and truly

care about Kentucky.

They have continued to hire and
we have doubled that workforce

just in the last two years.

GREGORY: That means more jobs
and more tax revenue

coming back in Kentucky,

which means more corn purchased
by local farmers,

which means more money
for education,

which means more
good-paying jobs here.

And just, you know,
keep that path flowing.

The average salary is $90,000,
or a little more than

$90,000 a year,
and that's a great salary

for anybody raising a family.

JAMES KAY:
And I think that lawmakers across the state,

even those
in conservative areas,

are welcome to the aspect
of us growing this industry,

and building bourbon
as not only something

that's part of our heritage,

but something that is going to
be a strong part of our future,

and particularly
our economic future.

I think that's because
more and more legislators,

despite the constituents
they have,

are coming to understand
that bourbon

is the signature industry
for Kentucky.

I think that everybody
in every part of Kentucky

recognizes the importance

of having
a strong bourbon industry

and our laws reflecting that.

We generate a whole lot
of money in tax revenue.

About 60% of every
bottle of bourbon

goes to taxes and fees
of some kind.

There are seven different taxes
on every bottle

before it even
reaches your lips.

And two of them are what's
called the "ad valorem" tax.

We call it the "barrel tax"
here in Kentucky.

For every year
that a barrel of bourbon

is ageing in a warehouse,
it's taxed.

Part of the reason why
an 18-year-old bottle of,

let's just say, Elijah Craig
is more expensive

is because
it's been taxed 18 times

while the product evaporates.

You know, so we pay a lot
of money in tax revenue.

Kentucky, unfortunately,
is one of the most

heavily taxed liquor taxes
in the country.

The... The taxes that we
pay on those ageing barrels

almost overwhelmingly go back
to fund local education,

and that's $12-$14 million
a year and growing,

'cause it's based on the number
of barrels we have in Kentucky.

Not only has bourbon
brought new attention

to the alcohol laws which
are fairly outdated in Kentucky,

but also, it involves tourism

and other aspects of economic
development and improvement.

So as the bourbon industry
is booming,

it's creating a lot of issues

that we, as lawmakers,
need to address.

A few years ago there was a big
trend in some New York bars

where they were
vaporizing alcohol

with devices and trying
to get a high that way.

And as soon
as we heard about it,

we went to the legislature
and immediately passed a bill

to ban those in Kentucky.

Bourbon's made
to drink and enjoy.

It's not made to get drunk
and do these things with,

it's something
you sit down and sip on,

enjoy the flavor
and taste of it.

I mean, when we were into
our NASCAR and Indy car racing,

one of the big programs
we did was our drivers...

We went on college campuses
in the areas of the track

and talked to the kids.

I said, "Hey, you know,
practice drink smart."

"Drink responsibly."
That's what it's all about.

I don't think the stories get enough
credit for what they do in responsibility

and measure. I mean,
they're all doing multi million dollar

advertising campaigns to, you know,
think smart, drink smart.

We practice, you know,
what we call 'drink smart'.

Which, you know,
we always say,

if you're not
old enough to drink, don't.

As a bar owner, it's always right there.
Right there.

That, hey, you're responsible for
the people you serve drinks to.

I don't think anybody
want to feel responsible for

some kind f horrific accident
to one of their friends.

Or to a stranger.
It doesn't matter.

It's our job as producers
to make sure that

that we adhere to
the guidelines that are...

our own industry has created.

We done a great job of creating
advertising guidelines

and other guidelines that ensure
that we don't advertise in front of

people that are underage,
or put ourselves in situations where

we're exposing our product needlessly to
people that aren't of age to consume.

Our products are
meant to be used

where they're supposed to be.
Not abused.

'Cause it's like anything.
Too much of anything is not good.

And we want to make sure that people
who use our product use em' correctly.

And make sure that
we don't cause any problems.

And I think one of the most
important things about...

the new generation
of bourbon connoisseur

and the new customer of bourbon,
particularly in Kentucky is that

this is a new generation.

And while bourbon has been
around a long time,

people are enjoying bourbon
in many different ways

and I think we're being
more responsible,

as a new generation
of bourbon drinkers.

I take it very seriously as a
first-responder, as a father,

and just as a citizen.

As alcohol education
has improved in this country

over the course of
the last 40 years,

you're finding more responsible drinkers,
for the more part.

Particularly in Kentucky
when it comes to bourbon.

Bourbon industry right now
in on a big incline.

We're still growing
worldwide.

It's not gonna die
anytime soon,

it's not gonna ever die,
I don't think.

This century, so far,
it's been unbelievable growth.

'Cause people overseas
are just discovering bourbon.

And so, they're just on
the very beginning.

Bourbon industry is on fire.

Not only domestically
but globally.

So, think about the world's population,
it's significantly larger.

Especially, people that
can afford a drink.

And them bourbon's market share compared
to scotch is still quite small.

So, the future for bourbon
is quite bright.

I think, the industry
is gonna continue to grow.

It's growing greater than...
than we've anticipated.

And I'm not talking about a business,
so much it is, the emotional stand point

of bourbon as an entity
in the state.

I think there's a lot of upward growth
in terms of the numbers of people

that are gonna visit Louisville.

Visit Kentucky
and go to distilleries.

I honestly don't think
that the bubble will burst.

I think this is a legitimate trend.
I don't think it's a fad.

You always wonder when's
it gonna, you know, end.

I don't see it ending
any way soon.

I think the bourbon industry
is definitely here to stay.

We've been around for long and I know
we're not going anywhere. I don't think.

We're sitting on more
bourbon barrels right now.

Over 5.3 million.

That's the largest inventory
since 1977.

We filled 1.2 million
barrels last year,

which was our highest
production since 1970.

We're, literally, making it
as fast as it is selling.

I mean there's some distilleries
that are have shortages.

Even temporary shortages
because the demand is so great.

So, we're all, kind of,
racing right now to

invest in double operations and
capacity and build new warehouses

It's kind of chaotic but that's part
of the uniqueness about bourbon.

You can't just make
this stuff overnight.

We've got more bourbon stored in the
state of Kentucky than we do people now.

There's gonna be a lot of great whisky
to be tasting in the next ten years.

There's gonna be a lot of
cool bottles coming out.

And the industry will stay true to its
values of quality and authenticity,

in this unique
american heritage.

It's a unique American product
and we embrace that, we love it.

We love the role that
it plays in our social lives.

I just think it's a tradition,
you know, people love that around here,

they're very proud
of things like that.

So, I think, it's just
a thing that binds...

binds this area together.

That makes me, sort of, proud that there's
an industry that has really come back

from the death now

to the popularity
that it has today.

Bourbon and whisky is truly
an American drink.

And being in Kentucky,
where it was founded,

bourbon was founded
and everything,

is just a great, fantastic
thing for the state.

Bourbon for Kentucky
is just...

it's part of
the soul of the state.

It came with statehood
and it's been here ever since.

It's impossible to imagine
Kentucky without bourbon.

It wouldn't be Kentucky.

You wouldn't even be able to call it that.
We'd have to call it something else.

I mean, it's impossible
to imagine.

Bourbon is a part of
our history and our heritage.

And who we are as a state.

And that's mainly because of
the people in the industry

and the people who have
come up and helped

make bourbon what it is
since our inception.

A lot of people
that are here have

moms that have worked here,
dads that have worked here,

grandfathers that
have worked here.

And are just, kind of,
carrying on their tradition.

And I think people feel that
when they're here

and they understand
the kind of weight,

the fact that the things
that you're doing today

are for products from
10, 12, 15 years from now.

It's something that withstood
the test of time. It'll be here.

Been here forever
since the United States,

and it's gonna be here,
it's not going anywhere.

You enjoy your bourbon.
You eat and you relax.

You know, it's many things
to many different people.

Bourbon is a...
bourbon adds grace to your life.

I don't understand
people who drink...

vodka or the neutral spirits.
I don't want the neutral.

I want the spirit
to have some character

that I get to borrow
for a little bit.

There is no bad bourbon, you know,
there's just a difference of opinion.

There's so much to learn
and so much to find out.

And I think we're actually
in the frontier

of what bourbon is
and what it can be.

It's a proud time
to be a Kentuckian.

There's nothing quite like
Kentucky bourbon.

Kentucky bourbon built Kentucky
and Kentucky built bourbon.

Bourbon is for all seasons
and for all the people.

To me, bourbon can be
described in two words.

Uniquely Kentucky.

Bourbon's American.

And I think it's something
that's been there forever

but people are re-discovering
how great it is.

I'm glad we didn't cave.

The mountain came to Muhammad,
they all came to us.

Welcome.

♪ Brent Pappy made whisky

♪ Way out on the hue
with corn mash and sugar

♪ In an old copper steal

♪ He made his living
outside the law

♪ Only three days
Man, that stuff was raw

♪ Times have changed
and the old stillers gone

♪ We're still making whisky
but it's bottled and bought

♪ Now it's much smoother
and no longer wrong

♪ Aged in on barrels
and the price is really low

♪ It's a family tradition
200 years old

♪ You call it whisky
we call it gold

♪ It's always been good
but it's finer each year

♪ Good ol' Kentucky bourbon
sweet angel tears

♪ Good ol' Kentucky bourbon
sweet angel tears

♪ Sweet angel tears
like cold walking high

♪ Drink pappy's whisky
from days gone by

♪ It's covered in taxes
but still made for you

♪ Call it what you like
it's good ol mountain dew

♪ It's a family tradition
200 years old

♪ You call it whisky
we call it gold

♪ It's always been good
but it's finer each year

♪ Good ol' Kentucky bourbon
sweet angel tears

♪ Good ol' Kentucky bourbon
sweet angel tears ♪