Bourbon whiskey is strongly associated with the American South and with Kentucky in particular. As of 2014, distillers' wholesale market revenue for bourbon sold within the U.S. was about $2.7 billion, and bourbon made up about two-thirds of the $1.6 billion of U.S. exports of distilled spirits. Distilling was most likely brought to present-day Kentucky in the late 18th century by Scots, Scots-Irish, and other settlers (including English, Irish, Welsh, German, and French) who began to farm the area in earnest. The origin of bourbon as a distinct form of whiskey is not well documented. There are many conflicting legends and claims,
Irish whiskey Irish whiskey Irish whiskey ( or "uisce beatha") is whiskey made on the island of Ireland. The word "whiskey" is an Anglicisation of the first word in the Gaelic phrase, "uisce beatha", meaning "water of life" (modern Irish: "uisce beatha", Scottish: "uisge" "beatha" and Manx: "ushtey bea"). The phrase was a translation of the Latin term aqua vitae, which was commonly used to describe distilled spirits during the Middle Ages. Peat is rarely used in the malting process, so that Irish whiskey has a smoother finish as opposed to the smoky, earthy overtones common to some Scotches. There are notable