Stat of the Day

There's More Bourbon Than People in Kentucky

Flickr/Leyla.a
Caitlin Dickson 10,249 Views Jun 22, 2011

Bourbon is so hip these days. All the young people are drinking it, the Associated Press reports, creating a "boom" for the burgeoning bourbon industry. This is good news for Kentucky, the source of "95 percent of the world's bourbon." In fact, there is so much bourbon coming out of Kentucky right now, that the number of barrels storing the stuff--4.7 million to be exact--surpasses the states population of 4.3 million people. To keep up with the young folks' high demand for bourbon cocktails, Kentucky distiller Wild Turkey just opened a "new $50 million facility" which, according to the Associated Press, is "among the most ambitious of projects for this industry clustered in central Kentucky's rolling hills where distilleries have spent at least $150 million in one of the bourbon sector's biggest expansions since Prohibition." So what's behind this "bourbon boom"? The Daily Mail suggests Mad Men is responsible for making bourbon cocktails cool again. So let's hope the folks at AMC get their act together and bring this trend-setting show back soon, for Kentucky's sake. 

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at cdickson at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

Topics: ,
Related Articles   More by Caitlin Dickson

Red Wine Research Fraud; The Tiniest Frog in the World

Evolutionary Evidence Suggests We Descended From Rats

Baboons Can (Almost) Read; The Baby Boomer Generation Will Die Alone

 

178 Atlanta District Teachers and 38 Principals Helped Students Cheat

Twitter Townhall Not Going as Planned?

Elsewhere on the Web

User Comments

Please type your comment and click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be prompted to log in or register

  • The Atlantic Wire on Twitter
  • The Atlantic Wire RSS Feed
  • The Atlantic Wire iPhone App