What is Bourbon Whiskey?

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Slow Puffs

Slow Puffs

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Since I am collecting whiskies, I soon discovered that there seem to be more whisky brands than I expected. So I have tried to narrow my selections.

I am still puzzled over the phrase "Bourbon Whiskey".

Is Bourbon Whiskey only distilled in Kentucky? I have Woodford Reserve, Jim Beam Black, Knob Creek. All say bourbon whiskey. I've never opened any of them.

Apparently Jack Daniel's is not considered a "bourbon".
 
Bourbon must be all of the following:

A sour mash whiskey ("sour" as in "sourdough," meaning they hold over a yeast culture from prior batches)
Made with more thatn 50% corn in the mash
Aged in new oak barrels for no less than 3 years
Made in Bourbon Co., KY.

Because it's such a narrow definition, the dirty secret is that most brands of bourbons are made by the same few companies.

(For purposes of trade, other sour mash corn whiskeys like JD are tarriffed as bourbon. Al Gore Sr. is to thank for that confusion... or so complain some of my Kentuckian friends.)
 
Thanks Doc,

I quickly realized that I had better narrow my collection choices.

I thought I would choose Bourbons in the USA for one of the focuses, but I didn't want to get overwhelmed. They are not readily available up here. I'll stick to Kentucky distilleries.

I have discovered that if you follow the family tree of most whiskies, you'll find they are owned by big corporations somewhere in the world. Many of the Irish whiskeys are owned by French corporations.

Beam seems to label many Bourbons but who owns Beam?

 
Some giant global brand owns Beam, and everything the Beam-Noe family once made (if they hadn't sold off the branding already.)

Two quick revisions to those standards as above, as I do more research.

Those new oak barrels are charred on the inside.
There's requirements for proof before barreling.
Turns out there's no aging requirement... after 2 years you get to call it "straight" bourbon, but as long as goes into the right barrel, it comes out "bourbon." But my guess is, if they're required to be *new* barrels every time, there's some incentive to age for some meaningful amount of time, rather than wasting the wood.
 
No requirement to be made in Bourbon County..
The requirement is that it is made in Kentucky.
 
puros_bran":uapc1wo0 said:
No requirement to be made in Bourbon County..
The requirement is that it is made in Kentucky.
Click to expand...
Ah, I stand corrected. Booze with place-names is always tricky that way. Champagne is still fiercely protected as a legally-controlled branding. What is and isn't "Tequila" got relaxed maybe two years back.
 
To the best of my knowledge its always been just "made in ky"

And its specifically White Oak bbls.. :-D
The used bbls are huge resellers to the rum,tequila, and scotch producers.
 
The confusion on your part might be because ALL of Kentucky was Bourbon County Virginia when the first Bourbon was produced .
Ole Tommy Jefferson granted 60 Acres to anyone that would build a permanent home and grow native corn on said 60 acres.. 60 Acres of liquid corn travels to market alot better than 60 Acres of shuck corn.
 
Just came home with some Wild Turkey.

I hesitated on Jim Beam... Cherry :shock: Seems like that one is a aromatic.

BTW... what do they mean by "sour" mash ?
 
There is a fine article on bourbon on Wikipedia. It likely will tell you more than you ever wanted to know...it did me :lol!:
 
There is only one real answer to your question and that is...... Delicious! Have a shot and you'll understand.
 
Added Maker's Mark to the collection giving me a total of 5 bourbons. I have yet to break any of them open.

 
Wild Turkey 101 is my goto bourbon. Recently picked up a liter of Kirkland Signature 103 proof 8-yr bourbon at Costco and it is pretty good juice especially for $20 per bottle. Comes from Beam and Co. but not sure what it was originally destined for, possibly Knob Creek or another mid-range product.
 
I work for a distributor and here's the different American bourbon/whiskey that we have. There's quite a few to choose from and not all are created equally.

Bourbon
Ancient Age
Bellows
Benchmark
Cabin Still
Elmer T Lee
Evan Williams
Ezra Brooks
Fighting Cock
Firefly Sweet Tea Bourbon
Four Roses
Heaven Hill
Henry McKenna
Jim Beam
JW Dant
Makers Mark
Mattingly & Moore
Old Charter
Old Crow
Old Grand Dad
Old Fitzgerald
Old Taylor
Parker's Heritage
Rebel Yell
Ten High
Van Winkle
Virginia Gentleman
Weller
Wild Turkey

Single Barrel Bourbon
Blanton's
Buffalo Trace
Eagle Rare
E.H. Taylor
Elijah Craig
Evan Williams Single Barrel
Four Roses
Knob Creek
Trybox Series
Rock Hill Farms
Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit

Small Batch Bourbon
Baker's
Basil Hayden's
Booker's
Four Roses
Jefferson
Knob Creek
Small Batch
Wild Turkey Rare Breed
Wild Turkey Russells Reserve

Straight Wheat Whiskey
Bernheim

Straight Rye Whiskey
Jefferson
Jim Beam
Old Overholt
RI 1 Rye
Rittenhouse
Sazerac
Temple Ton
Trybox Series
Van Winkle
Wild Turkey

Corn Whiskey
Georgia Moon
Mellow Corn

American Blend Whiskey
Bellows
Calvert Extra
Carstairs
Death's Door
Guckenheimer
Imperial
Jim Beam
Kessler
Philadelphia
Phillips Union
PM Blend
Southern Host
Whyte & Mackay
Wilson


 
Of course there are more brands than what I have listed but this is just the list of the ones that we carry. I usually haul close to 45,000lbs of the stuff around the state of NY in a tractor trailer on a daily basis.
 
I'm a blended guy, VO mostly.
But, I always wanted to try some Four Roses if only because that is what Fast Eddy Felson drank in "The Hustler". Can't say I've seen it in any Maryland shops.
 
Fats: Preach! Go down and get me some White Tavern whisky, a glass, and some ice.

Eddie: Preacher! Go on down and get me some bourbon. J. T. S. Brown. No ice, no glass.

Classic movie,,, :D
 
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