Now that we are a week or more into September, its my responsibility, rather my honor as The Bourboneer to remind you this month is National Bourbon Heritage Month. As we know, bourbon is our country’s distinctive and native spirit. So in 2007, with much gratitude to Senator Jim Bunning’s (KY) resolution, S. 294, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to declare September as the National Bourbon Heritage Month. In all actuality, resolution S. 294 was a bill to support the 1964 Act of Congress which originally proclaimed “bourbon” as “America’s Native Spirit.”

Senate Resolution S. 294, in essence, asks all Americans to show their patriotism by just sitting back and enjoying some good ol’ bourbon, or new bourbon if that’s your preference (responsibly of course). The goal of the bill, and by design the month of September, is to celebrate bourbon as our national drink by keeping tradition alive along with it’s heritage prosperous. As The Bourboneer, I can proudly say that such requests are kept and honored every month of the year, but more so in September. Maybe it’s a corresponding celebration of the kids returning to school? Any how, bourbon just seems a little more delicious in this month than others, if that’s possible.

As my 2016 contribution in paying homage to this most outstanding of months, I am “forcing” myself to enjoy bourbon each of the 30 days of September. This doesn’t mean that I finish a full drink daily, but an offering, “a wee dram” maybe, will do. Remember, doing shots and getting hammered by drinking bourbon is a crime and truly an affront to the tradition of what our native spirit is all about. If this is your personality, however, I suggest doing so with characterless vodka. Lord knows there’s plenty of that crap to go around. That was my public service announcement for the day. Now back to the matter at hand. To up the ante on my self-imposed competition, I plan on sampling a bourbon from as many different states as I can. Challenge accepted! (how dare anyone ever call me selfish). So as of September 7th, here is where I stand (fortunately, for my neighbors and family, I have relied on my own supply of bourbon for this week, but much like the Buccaneer*, tomorrow  I plan on raiding their stores. What?…Don’t judge me! This is a scientific study requiring test subjects for the betterment of all society):

9/1/16 – Kentucky (Knob Creek), 9/2/16 – Colorado (Tin Cup), 9/3/16 – Tennessee (Jack Daniels – Tennessee whiskey), 9/4/16 – Illinois (Koval), 9/5/16 – Alabama (Clyde Mays), 9/6/16 – California (Cyrus Noble), 9/7/16 – Virginia (Belmont Farms), tomorrow 9/8/16 – New York (my neighbors Hudson Baby bourbon).

* Buccaneer as defined by The Bourboneer article “What type of Bourbon Drinker Are You?” (See previous post in archives).

Bourbon enjoyed while writing this article: See above.

References: http://www.wikipedia.com, “National Bourbon Heritage Month.”