VIDEO: Bourbon is America’s only native spirit, and around it has formed a billion dollar industry steeped in legacy and tradition. Brought by some of the first immigrants to the newly formed United States and developed to perfection in Kentucky, bourbon was born. In the decades that followed, a collection of ambitious entrepreneurs opened their own distilleries and put their unique twists on the classic formula. These businessmen and women passed down their secrets and recipes to the next generations, creating the bourbon families of Kentucky.
Time held ups and downs for the whiskey dynasties, from the boom of the Industrial Revolution to the devastating impact of Prohibition. By the end of the 20th century, bourbon was booming once again, with sales on the up. But on November 7, 1996, a storm was brewing near Louisville, Kentucky.