Bourbon is legally defined as an American whiskey, so it must be made in the United States, but it does not have to come from Kentucky.

Quick Scoop: Where Is Bourbon Made?

  • By U.S. law, bourbon has to be produced in the United States to be called “bourbon.”
  • It can be made in any U.S. state where distilling is legal (for example: Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, New York, California, Colorado, and more).
  • Most bourbon is still made in Kentucky, which is widely seen as the heartland of bourbon production.

A common myth is “real bourbon must be from Kentucky,” but that’s incorrect: the key rule is that it must be made somewhere in the United States and meet the bourbon production standards.

Why Everyone Talks About Kentucky

  • As of recent industry stats, around 95% of the world’s bourbon is produced in Kentucky, thanks to its long history, limestone-rich water, and corn-friendly soil.
  • Towns like Bardstown, Kentucky, market themselves as the “Bourbon Capital of the World” and host many major distilleries and aging warehouses.

Other Places Making Bourbon

  • Before Prohibition, North Carolina was actually a major bourbon center, with hundreds of distilleries operating there.
  • Today, many craft distilleries across the U.S. (for example in North Carolina, Colorado, California, and others) legally produce bourbon that meets the same federal standards.

Core Legal Point

To be labeled “bourbon,” a whiskey must, among other rules:

  1. Be produced in the United States.
  2. Use a mash that is at least 51% corn.
  3. Be aged in new, charred oak containers.

Where exactly in the U.S. it’s made (Kentucky or elsewhere) doesn’t change whether it can be called bourbon, as long as it follows those rules. Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.