September is Nationwide Bourbon Heritage Month, which supplies us an excuse to spend a full 30 days ingesting bourbon, speaking about bourbon, and dipping into the ol’ mailbag to reply bourbon-related questions.
We’re typically requested concerning the variations between bourbon and whiskey, when the truth is that bourbon is whiskey. It’s only a specific subset of the class, and one which’s ruled by a strict algorithm. Let’s talk about.
What Is Bourbon?
Fortunately, the record of issues you need to do to your whiskey to be thought-about bourbon is fairly simple. In line with the U.S. Federal Authorities, it should be:
- Produced in the US
- Manufactured from a grain combination (mash) that’s at the very least 51% corn
- Aged in new, charred oak barrels
- Distilled to not more than 160 proof (80% ABV)
- Entered into the barrel for getting older at not more than 125 proof (62.5% ABV)
- Bottled at a minimal of 80 proof (40% ABV)
To be able to be thought-about a “straight” bourbon, it should be aged for at least two years, and comprise no added coloring, flavoring, or different spirits blended in.
That’s just about it. We now have the strictest authorized necessities right here within the States, however elsewhere on the planet it’s type of a crapshoot. In most European nations, for instance, almost any whiskey produced within the US might be marketed as bourbon.
What Does “Bottled in Bond” Imply?
“Bottled in Bond” is a reasonably old-timey label affixed to bourbons that meet sure, barely extra particular necessities than these listed above. The time period comes from the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897, which sought to manage high quality and forestall using adulterants in whiskey, a rampant apply on the time.
For a bourbon to be labeled as bottled in bond, it should be:
- The product of 1 distillation season (January to December)
- The product of 1 distiller at one distillery
- Aged in a federally bonded warehouse (underneath authorities supervision) for at the very least 4 years
- Bottled at exactly 100 proof.
Whiskeys aside from bourbon—like rye whiskey, for instance—can be bottled in bond, so long as they’re produced in the US.
What Is Tennessee Whiskey?
Lastly, there’s an offshoot of bourbon that’s value mentioning right here: Tennessee whiskey. Tennessee whiskey almost all the time meets the authorized necessities to be labeled as bourbon, however resulting from a mix of branding (Jack Daniels would by no means deign to name itself a bourbon) and state delight, it hardly ever is.
In line with Tennessee regulation, Tennessee whiskey should additionally endure one thing known as the “Lincoln County Course of” previous to coming into barrels for getting older. This includes filtering or steeping the whiskey in maple charcoal chips, a technique initially developed by the Jack Daniels distillery. Whereas that is strictly enforced in-state, there’s no federal regulation that acknowledges Tennessee whiskey as its personal class.
So, there you’ve it. Bourbon isn’t some mystical kind of booze that solely a choose few households in Kentucky could make—it’s simply American whiskey made principally from corn, and aged in new American oak barrels. Easy and scrumptious.
Photograph: Wikipedia
