Kentucky vs Tennessee
The two American whiskey states, and the legal and process differences behind the labels on the shelf.
Kentucky
Bourbon's bluegrass heartland
Full profile →Tennessee
Charcoal-mellowed and proud of it
Full profile →- Country
- United StatesUnited States
- Character
- Limestone-filtered water, blistering summers and freezing winters — barrels breathe hard here.Wooded hollows and cave springs; sugar-maple charcoal smoulders beside every stillhouse.
- Style
- Caramel-vanilla bourbon from new charred oak: high-rye spice, wheated softness, everything between.Bourbon's smoother cousin — charcoal-mellowed, rounder, banana-and-caramel sweet.
- Distilleries
- 93
- Where to start
- Ignore the hype lists — 'bottled in bond' on a Kentucky label is the quiet mark of honest, well-aged bourbon.Dickel's aged Bottled in Bond releases are the insider's Tennessee — critics' darlings at half the hype.
Every figure above is read from the Atlas entry for each, so this page stays in step with them.