Bourbon industry booms despite economic recession

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Gov. Steve Beshear says Kentucky's bourbon industry has undergone its largest expansion since prohibition over the past two years, despite an economic recession that proved bothersome to most other employers in the state.

Beshear unveiled an economic impact analysis Thursday that showed the bourbon industry "a very bright spot" that helped Kentucky weather the global economic crisis.

The analysis found that bourbon production has increased 50 percent since 1999, an increase of more than 330,000 barrels. The distilling industry now employs about 3,100 people with an annual payroll of about $246 million. The industry also creates some 6,000 spinoff jobs in places that supply corn, produce wooden barrels or transport the bourbon. Those jobs produce additional annual payroll of $167 million.