♪ As we reported last night, tariffs targeting bourbon are on hold for now.

>> The U.S. and Canada agreed yesterday to put tariffs on pause for at least 30 days.

Canada was prepared to put a hefty tax on imported bourbon.

Urban is big business in Kentucky.

The governor's office says the industry accounts for more than 9 billion dollars in economic output each year and supports more than 23,000 jobs across the state.

The Kentucky Distillers Association is commending leaders of both countries for suspending tariffs.

The group's president Eric Gregory said, quote, We look forward to permanent agreements that will enable Kentucky bourbon to be enjoyed internationally, unquote.

Talk of tariffs Com at a pivotal time for one of the state's signature industries.

The Kentucky Distillers Association says 95% of the world's bourbon supply is made right here in Kentucky with 100 licensed distilleries in the state.

Kentucky Edition sat down with the leaders of new riff distilling and northern Kentucky to learn how it's standing out and adapting to challenges.

And the bourbon industry.

>> I remember sitting around the dinner table with my dad and 2009, 2010 and he had this crazy idea along with J airs men are co-founder to build a distillery in northern Kentucky.

They decided let's do this.

Let's build a distillery and resurrect the tradition of distillation and bourbon making in northern Kentucky.

And so the vision was to be more of a go to a star in northern Kentucky.

>> There were people when we announced this who wondered, why can't why are you moving back home to Louisville?

That's where the bourbon is.

And he KET this is as this region, northern Kentucky, greater Cincinnati.

It has very untapped for for something like bourbon and bourbon tourism down in Bardstown in Louisville.

There's distilleries on every walk quite literally, you know, there's nothing up here.

We were the bigger fish in the in the smaller pond.

We KET we couldn't forecast what this region would be like in 20 years.

There was nothing here on the riverfront.

There are no hotels.

There were no steak houses.

>> It was not the development that we see now on the river banks and the Bellevue in Newport and Covington forecasting future trends.

And what is desirable and where it is desirable is is a challenge.

The rise of cannabinoid drinks did not exist when we were starting to with.

And so how many people choose to engage in that and instead of a bird.

But I think bourbon will stick around.

Just fine.

But those are just some of the challenges that we face.

You know?

>> It's it's a interesting time.

>> In the world of bourbon.

>> There are more distilleries in Kentucky than there ever have been there.

More distilleries and the nation than there ever have been.

And we have more.

We have.

>> 3 barrels aging per person per resident here in the state of Kentucky.

Currently, that's a lot of a lot of ALS.

So it's a it's a time of needing to distinguish ourselves from the back of the bottle kind of encapsulate it says a new roof and an old tradition.

We make sour mash whiskey.

>> We use equipment very similar to the past distilleries to.

>> The column here.

Still the Doppler all copper things like that.

What we give ourselves freedom to be very different.

If we are new.

>> Another important principle to us was that when we were releasing new riff whiskey, we wanted to make sure that it was completely all produced bottled and aged here.

New We have I call it our secret weapon.

We have in the Louisville Aquifer under the distillery.

So that means that we have water running from Kentucky from a little more inland and cut into Kentucky route right where where, where we're standing right now.

Our distillery to the Ohio River.

We run the entire distillery on that Olivia Aqua for its very, very hard water and very mineral rich water.

And so we feel that that mineral rich water makes our whiskey so good.

Even at such a young age, it's a generational >> process to really get to the bottom of what a good distillery is like making whiskey at any rate, something that has to age.

We're proud that we were sharing so much about our process and about who we were and social media went crazy.

You know, all the bourbon forums and on the bourbon groups wanted to try new red and it was all over, read it.

And it was all over the Internet.

>> And that helped propel us from a little start-up.

Brandon, Kentucky to a national and even international brand.

>> A new rift products will be available.

And retailers across the country by the end of the year, the distillery has been at the northernmost point of Kentucky's bourbon Trail since 2014.

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