In today’s restaurant and bar scene, with both fancy ice programs and water sommeliers, clearly people have begun to appreciate the finer aspects of H20’s role behind the bar or at the dinner table. But, water plays an even bigger role elsewhere, before it’s ever frozen into those perfectly aesthetic, slow-melting ice spheres, or bottled up for exorbitantly priced sales all on its own. Water sources, and their unique and distinctive attributes, have a huge impact on the specific flavors and qualities of spirits from around the world.

Water & Whiskey

A great place to begin a global journey in search of the importance of water sources for spirits is in Kentucky. While the development of the burgeoning whiskey industry in Kentucky hundreds of years ago had more to do with farming, the limestone water is what made the whiskey particularly good to begin with, and what kept the industry rooted there.

Kentucky’s limestone water supply provides minerals to the water, filters out certain undesirable compounds, and also affects pH levels, which plays a key role in the distillation process. Step into any distillery in Kentucky and “limestone” will be a prominent player in that particular brand’s story.