The Official Spirit of America. 1789 is one of the most significant dates in history. It is the year, obviously, the French Revolution kicked off with the nation's peasants demanding 'Liberté! Egalité! Fraternité! and led to the rolling of the heads of the French ruling class. Rather wonderfully, it's also the year that America emancipated the name Bourbon from the French and began distilling the whiskey that would soon become the official spirit of the United States. History's funny like that.Precisely 235 years later, bourbon is having a big boom all around the world, its popularity never more in full swing. From highprofile celebrity brands to bestselling bottles, famous drinkers to high volume sales, bourbon is the next renaissance in spirits, following hot on the heels of the premium gentrification of rum, vodka, tequila and gin.The Little Book of Bourbon is America's official spirit distilled into more than 175 shots of boozeinfused facts, stats, trivia, history, tips, recipes, a