Although historians remain divided on exactly when bourbon was invented and where the name even derives from, we do know that Evan Williams opened the first commercial whiskey distillery in Louisville in 1783 — even before Kentucky was an official state — and that the 1800s were a booming time for the offbeat brown .
Started in 1885, Owensboro-based Green River is the 10th oldest distillery licensed in Kentucky. Resurrected in 2014, the new Green River line features both classic and innovative recipes.