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Learn more about this burgeoning bourbon category. Then, distillers spill about the best bottles to add to your collection.
Kentucky bourbon gets a lot of love, and deservedly so.
From legacy brands like Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, and Buffalo Trace to new kids on the block like Bardstown Bourbon Company and Pursuit Spirits, the state produces 95% of the world’s bourbon supply. And these aren’t your standard brown spirits. Kentucky’s cold winters and hot summers, as well as its mineral-rich water, make it possible for the state to pump out some seriously high-quality spirits. And they have the awards to prove it. The fact that three million visitors from all over the world visit Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail every year only tells a stronger story.
All that being said, Kentucky’s neighbor to the west would like to pour you a glass and invite you to try a tasty alternative. Here, distillers are so proud of what they’re producing that they came together to make “Missouri Bourbon Whiskey” its own legally defined class of spirits.
Read on to learn more about how this was written into law, the qualities that make a liquor worthy of the title of a “Missouri Bourbon Whiskey,” and a sneak peek at the future of this budding bourbon region.
The History Of Missouri Bourbon
Just like in Kentucky, bourbon has deep roots in Missouri, where there’s even a town called Bourbon. Home to approximately 1,500 residents, Bourbon is located about one hour southwest of St. Louis. And it comes by its name honestly: back in the mid-1800s, so many railroad workers and settlers met at the general store to drink bourbon from the barrel sitting on the store’s porch that folks started saying they were going to Bourbon when they visited. In time, the nickname became official.
According to Don Gosen, co-owner of Copper Mule Distillery, Missouri had a vibrant distilling industry prior to the start of Prohibition in 1920. Holladay Distillery, the oldest distillery in the state, existed prior to Prohibition and is open to this day.
Missouri is well known for its beer scene thanks to Anheuser-Busch. The strength of that brand allowed the local beer industry to bounce back fairly quickly after Prohibition was repealed in 1933. Missouri wineries “took a little longer; probably until the 1960s to really start their resurgence,” Gosen tells Southern Living. “Distilleries fired back up in the early 2000s. Today, we have more than 45 active distilleries in Missouri.”
What Is Missouri Bourbon Whiskey?
Almost two decades ago, Gosen and some friends began looking for a way to celebrate Missouri’s bourbon legacy while also providing more guardrails to promote excellence across the industry.
“The conversations related to Missouri Bourbon Whiskey began about 15 years ago. I had spent six years in the Missouri legislature, and still had a friend in the government. I called him up and I said, “I wrote a bill for what would define Missouri Bourbon,” thinking it wouldn’t go far,” Gosen recalls. “Well word got out, and several Missouri distillers that I didn’t even know at the time reached out with enthusiasm—and a few edits. Within just a matter of months, it became law.”
Since 2019, Missouri law has specified that “Missouri Bourbon Whiskey” is its own class of spirits. To fit the bill, a spirit must check the following boxes:
- Contain 100% Missouri-grown corn
- Be aged in 100% Missouri-grown oak barrels
- Be mashed, fermented, distilled, aged, and bottled within state lines
Just like champagne must be labeled as sparkling wine if the Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier grapes aren’t grown in that part of France or a wine can’t boast that it’s from Napa if less than 85% of the grapes featured are harvested outside that region, a bourbon can’t be a Missouri Bourbon (capital “B”) if it doesn’t adhere to these practices.
David Weglarz, owner of StilL 630 Distillery, was the president of the Missouri Craft Distillers Guild when Bill 266 was approved by the government, officially codifying Missouri Bourbon.
“For the real whiskey aficionados, they care about who made it, how, and why. We are proud to give genuine, honest answers to that. It’s very important that the consumer understands and enjoys that the entire whiskey was actually made at one distillery in Missouri, using Missouri corn and Missouri barrels. Truth in advertising,” Weglarz says. “One day, we hope to rival Kentucky Bourbon as the quintessential main varieties of bourbon. They just have a century or two head start on the marketing.”
What Makes Missouri Bourbon Different
To be billed as a “Kentucky Bourbon,” a spirit only must be aged in Kentucky for 366 days. Beyond that, the barrel can be moved elsewhere if the distillery chooses. It can also be aged in barrels made from trees grown anywhere. Often, those trees are from Missouri.
“Distillers across the entire world, from Scotland to Japan, recognize and freely admit that the best barrels in the world start right here in Missouri. The world’s largest cooperage, Independent Stave Company, is actually headquartered in Lebanon, Missouri,” Weglarz says.
The geography, geology, and climate in the Ozark Highlands in Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas allow the area to grow white oak trees that are particularly ideal for barrels. The rocky clay soil causes the white oaks to grow slowly, which gives the wood a lot of natural sugars and a very tight grain. In fact, distilleries and wineries all over the world source their barrels from Missouri. Once the barrel is toasted, those natural sugars lend the liquid inside notes of caramel, spice, and vanilla. (“When you have an ace up your sleeve like that, you have to capitalize on it,” Weglarz admits.)
As for the overall differences between Missouri Bourbon Whiskey and other bourbons bottled around the world, Missouri Bourbons tend to be younger (simply due to the youth of the industry) and have more grain-forward flavors. From there, the experience can vary widely, Weglarz confirms. Since all Missouri Bourbons are craft-produced, small batches, single barrels, and experimental varieties are common.
“The flavor is generally rich Missouri corn for the backbone, but then the distillers take it from there as they may lean more rye or wheat or play with barrel finishes. It’s a category begging for exploration,” Weglarz says.
I stopped into his St. Louis distillery, located in a former Hardee’s, and can confirm that all of his meticulously chronicled trials make the space look reminiscent of a genuinely fun science lab.
The price is another spot in which Missouri Bourbon shines. Since it’s somewhat of a sleeper hit in the spirits world at the moment, and because you’re not paying for a highly coveted brand name, you can find some incredible deals as you restock your bar cart.
The Best Missouri Distilleries to Visit
“We’re still a fledgling member of the industry here with Missouri Bourbon, but we’re getting better by the day,” Gosen says.
Awards back up that sentiment as well. StilL 630’s Due Process Five Year Bourbon was just named “Best Cask Strength Whiskey in America” by the American Distilling Institute at the 2026 International Spirits Competition.
If you’d like to sample a variety of Missouri’s best bourbon, swing by during the annual summer Missouri Bourbon Festival or bookmark these notable Missouri distilleries to try during future visits to the state:
Gosen says his home is yours at Copper Mule, too: “We’re located on my wife Jeanne’s family farm. Her great grandpa bought this land in 1908, and we’re still actively farming the property after 117 years,” Gosen tells me, before revealing that mowing hay was on his task list the next day. “The corn we use in our bourbon comes from the farm that my great great grandpa bought here in 1853. I’m living out the dream of owning a business in the same town as my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and great great grandparents,” he continues with a smile. Despite the fact that Missouri bourbon is technically new, “there’s so much pride and tradition here.”
Read the original article on Southern Living
