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“I have never in my life seen a Kentuckian who didn’t have a gun, a pack of cards, and a jug of whiskey.”

—US President Andrew Jackson

TRUE OR FALSE: Bourbon can be made only in Kentucky.

If you answered “true,” you’re not alone. You’re also wrong. But don’t feel bad; I’ve encountered plenty of people who firmly hold that conviction—including bartenders in Kentucky who should know better. The truth is, you can make bourbon in any state, as long as it’s one of the United States of America. The confusion is easy to understand, however, as Kentucky produces all but about 5% of the bourbon in the world.

Now let’s further test your knowledge of bourbon with a short multiple-choice quiz. Yes, you in the back with your hand up: how can I help you? The introduction said there wouldn’t be any tests? Well, no one really reads the introduction, do they? If you did, I’m sorry. I lied. Ahem.

The correct answer to all three: d. Don’t be offended, by the way—I don’t mean that you don’t know the answers to these questions; I mean that I don’t.

The truth is, despite what you may have read or heard elsewhere, nobody knows for sure who “invented” bourbon, or when or how it got its name. People were too busy just trying to survive back then to write much down. What we do know is that people have been making bourbon in Kentucky since before there even was a Kentucky, when the land that is now the Bluegrass State was part of Virginia.

What follows are some other things we know—or our best guesses. Much of this information was gleaned from bourbon historian Michael Veach’s excellent book, Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey: An American Heritage; The Kentucky Encyclopedia, edited by John Kleber; the Kentucky Bourbon Timeline, commissioned by the Kentucky Distillers’ Association; and interviews with Brown-Forman Master Distiller Chris Morris, who conducts a Bourbon Academy several times per year at the Woodford Reserve Distillery.