Can You Believe This is Kentucky’s Official State Drink?

I love learning new things about Kentucky. In fact, I worked to put together a list of interesting facts about our lovely state which you can read if you keep scrolling. My search was for "official" facts. Like, the official state bird, official state flower, official state animal, etc.

I've always wondered how they decide on these answers because sometimes they really don't make sense. For instance, Kentucky's official state drink. If this were a Jeopardy, I would have pushed my buzzer to answer immediately, "BOURBON!" and I would have been wrong.

Would you believe the official drink of the Bluegrass state is...milk?

What in the world? OK, so I know we have Kentucky dairy farms. Some of the best milk I've ever had is Kentucky Proud, but we aren't necessarily known as a state for our milk. Wisconsin is known as America's Dairyland. It and California are the top milk-producing states in the U.S.

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Apparently, this came about in 2005 when a state senator and dairy farmer from Hopkinsville proposed State Senate Bill 93 to make milk the state drink. It passed and a statute proclaimed, “milk production and the manufacture of dairy products are major contributors to the economic well-being of Kentucky agriculture.”

But...it just doesn't "fit" does it? Plus, it isn't special to Kentucky. Twenty-two other states have milk as their state drink. You know what the other 49 United States can't brag about? Producing 95% of the world's bourbon whiskey, according to the Kentucky Distiller's Association. That's a whole lotta revenue and a whole lotta jobs!

Kentucky is just naturally made to be the best at bourbon. We were born this way. The climate, the limestone-rich water, fertile soil for growing corn, are all ingredients you can't just find anywhere. I learned all of that and more on a tour of the tenth-oldest distillery in Kentucky, Owensboro's Green River Distilling Co. 

Merch company and Bluegrass State awesomeness promoters, Kentucky for Kentucky tried to petition for a change from milk to bourbon as Kentucky's state drink, but they did not reach their goal. I think it might be time to start it again! Would you sign it? If so, vote on our poll below: