After horses, Kentucky’s best-known commodity is probably bourbon whiskey. That distinction has been well earned.

The state's association with distilling spirits goes back as far as 1775 and the first permanent white settlements.

From those early days to the present, Kentucky's connection with bourbon and distilling only continues to grow.

Recognized as a distinctly original American product by Congress in 1964, bourbon is composed of a fermented mash consisting of at least 51% corn and smaller amounts of wheat, rye, and barley, along with yeast and limestone water. Bourbon is distilled no more than 160 proof and aged in charred oak barrels.

The importance of bourbon and distilleries to the state's history is noted on a number of highway historical markers, and thus are explored in this themed tour.

Here are highlighted some of the oldest and most famous names and places affiliated with Kentucky's distillery history.

Many of the historic structures that supported the spirits industry still survive.

In other cases, only remnants remain.

We hope that you will use this tour—the information and images—to learn about Kentucky's unique relationship with bourbon and other distilled spirits and how they have impacted the state's past and present, and will shape the future.