Whiskey 101
American Whiskey can be grouped into two main categories, Bourbon and Rye . All Whiskey is made of a ‘mash bill’ consisting of cereal grains (rye, wheat, corn, barley and malt). The mixture of these grains is referred to as the ‘mash bill’.
Rye whiskey uses at least 51% rye grain in their mash while bourbon uses at least 51% corn in their mash bill. Think of rye bread vs corn bread. Rye whiskey has a spicier more aggressive flavor and bourbon (corn) has a sweeter more mellow flavor. Bourbon has a few more rules, it must be made in America, it cannot enter the barrel at higher than 125 proof, nothing besides water can be added to lessen the proof (no colorings or additives, found in Canadian and Scotch whiskey.
Bourbon also must be aged in a new, charred oak barrel. This dates back to when bourbon was first being made in America by Scottish settlers who brought their whiskey making techniques with them. Their relatives worked in cooperages making barrels, in an effort to promote their family businesses they passed into law that a new barrel had to be used each time bourbon was made. All other whiskeys would reuse the barrels, as the barrels are expensive, but in America we decided to use a fresh barrel every single time a batch of bourbon was made. This worked fine when bourbon was being made at a few thousand barrels a year but now that bourbon is one of the most popular spirits in the world we have an extreme excess of one time used bourbon barrels. These barrels can not be used to make bourbon a second time so they send them off to Scotland, the Caribbean and Mexico to age scotch, rum and tequila respectively.
Here are our current favorites:
Bourbon: Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon
Rye: Michter’s US1 Rye Whiskey
Leave a comment and let us know your favorite!
