alfredo_buscatti":8bep33h4 said:
I think the argument for a spirit being genuine based on where it was made misses the point. It is by attaining the minimum number of qualities considered to constitute a class that a thing attains the right to be included in that class. Just as excellent champagnes are produced outside of Champagne, so too good bourbons are produced outside of Kentucky.
But, that's the problem, isn't it? If I buy Champagne, I expect Champagne, not a sparkling wine made through méthode champenoise somewhere else in the world. I expect something very specific that intimately involves the terroir of of the grapes, the native wild yeasts, the time-honoured traditions of production, and, yes, even the molds growing on the walls of the caves. An Italian Proseco, a Spanish Cava, or a California sparkling wine isn't the same thing.
It was deemed misleading for California producers to give a sparkling wine a French sounding name, call it Champagne, and sell it as such, so the FTC got involved. Similarly, Burgundy is not a generic red wine sold in a jug, but something produced in a specific area of France. The French have a long tradition of the AOC, and it's important to them. It should be important to the rest of the world, too, to respect that tradition.
I actually find myself on the same side of the fence when it comes to Bourbon, even though it's less clearly defined. Whiskey is a distilled spirit. Bourbon is a specific distilled spirit, made in a specific way, originally from a specific area. Does it all have to come from Bourbon County? That's another question.
Tennessee Whiskey has enough of a unique character that it deserves to be separated from Kentucky Bourbon. They're both brown spirits, but they're different things. I guess the point is that Bourbon is whiskey, but whiskey isn't Bourbon, unless it's made there.
Scotch is made in Scotland. Other countries produce malt whisky, but it's not Scotch. Other countries can produce unpeated pot-still barley and grain whisky, but it's not Irish.
Most of these things are pretty obvious. Bourbon's definition, not so much.
