A new article in Country Living magazine calls Maysville the “unrecognized birthplace of Kentucky bourbon.” The story identifies Maysville as one of 10 small towns across the country that are great places to visit. Caroline Reece is the director of Main Street Maysville. She said at the very least, there’s a case to be made that the river city is where bourbon began its journey.
“All the bourbon had to come through Lexington Road. And Lexington Road led into Maysville, which led into the Ohio River, which is how it got to Virginia. And you know, the southern states, or the northern states, or Louisiana.”
Reece said the first advertisement for bourbon was printed in Maysville in 1821. Maysville also has Old Pogue Distillery, which Reece said has been operated by six generations of the Pogue family and is the second-oldest in the state.
“If you want an authentic experience, you come here, go to old Pogue, and you are sitting on the same porch sipping the same bourbon that they did in 1821.”
Maysville is also a stop on the B-Line – northern Kentucky’s version of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Georgetown and Woodford County also lay claim to the title “Birthplace of Bourbon,” while Bardstown bills itself as the “Bourbon Capitol of the World.”
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