HOW SEASONS AFFECT THE AGING PROCESS

Whiskey Knowledge

Contrary to popular belief, bourbon can be made anywhere in the country. However, the vast majority of bourbon is made smack-dab in the middle of the country's median line, which happens to be Kentucky.

Why? We understand historically why Kentucky made sense. Cheap land, good soil, great water, but today we have the technology to transport or mimic that.

So, why do we still make the majority of our top-end whiskey in Kentucky?

In short, it's the seasons that Kentucky has, and the wide range of temperatures that make it an ideal place to age whiskey.

The Changing of The Seasons

Kentucky has an incredibly diverse climate. The summers are hot, hitting an average of 87 degrees in the summer, and plummeting to an average winter temperature of 35 degrees.

Why would this be significant?

Simply put, the way that the whiskey interacts with the barrels it is aging in.

How Aging Works

When temperatures get hot, the pores in the wood expand and soak up the whiskey into the actual wood of the barrels. That' s why whiskey wood retains such a distinctive whiskey aroma long after the barrel has been dumped.

Alternatively, when the temperature drops, the wood contracts and shrinks, causing the whiskey stored in the wood to slowly push back out into the barrel.

What that does for the whiskey, is allows the whiskey to pierce the wood, interact and break down wood sugars while taking on desirable characteristics and flavors from the wood, including the classic amber color we ' ve come to love.

That' s what makes Kentucky such an ideal place to age their whiskey. The extreme changes in temperatures that Kentucky experiences throughout their year allows the wood to breathe regularly and dramatically throughout the year, meaning the whiskey can penetrate more deeply into the wood at the summer highs, and be more completely returned to the barrel during the lows of winter.

This is why the vast majority of whiskey is aged in Kentucky, even if it is distilled somewhere else.

Whiskey Around The World

Though many of these whiskies are aged in Kentucky, there has been a recent surge of whiskey both made and aged in a variety of climates around the globe.

While many look to Kentucky or Tennessee for some of their favorite pours, many others have become more accepting of the variations that come from other areas as well.

Minute variations in temperature, altitude, or even the chemical composition of the air and the trace minerals it carries can drastically affect the whiskey that is dumped from the barrels.

Each different local creates something entirely new. Even the well-known Jefferson ' s whiskey has a product aged at sea!

You need hot summers and cold winters so the wood can breathe and the whiskey can move in and out of it.

- Master Distiller For Wild Turkey Jimmy Russell