While Kentucky suffers through some dastardly, nasty, unrelenting ice and snow, Bourbon lovers know that these temperature extremes help make for some great bourbon.

Temperature variation is what makes Kentucky Bourbon special. Kentucky gets very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. A variation of 100 degrees in twelve months is common.

The mash sitting in barrels throughout Kentucky is contracting out of the charred white oak barrel bringing with it some caramel flavor and some reddish/amber color.

Soon the hot weather return, the mash will expand back into the wood barrel and the process is repeated for at minimum a couple years, usually longer.

As Kentuckians suffer through another winter of extreme cold and ice – give your two fingers of bourbon an extra swirl in your glass and say silent a “thanks” to the Bluegrass State.