Bourbon has always been a story of grain, wood, and time. But in 2025, a quiet revolution is taking place—one that doesn’t start in the rickhouse or the still, but in the soil. Across Kentucky and beyond, distillers are rethinking what it means to make a truly authentic bourbon. They’re asking questions that go deeper than proof or age: Where did our corn come from? Who grew it, and how was the land treated? Does the soil itself shape the flavor in the glass? This new wave of