Kentucky Bourbon Trail

   At Mammoth Campground in Yellowstone, Russ invited me over for some afternoon bourbon. He brought out a bottle of Seagram's 7.
   "That's very kind of you," I said, " but, you know, Seagram's isn't really bourbon."
   "Oh, that's just a technicality," he said.
   He was right. Still, it is a very important technicality--or set of technicalities, in fact. By proclamation of Congress, bourbon is "America's Native Spirit." So what makes it distinct not only from Seagram's but every other liquor?
   All whiskey is the distilled beverage made from a mash (or recipe) of grain, water, and yeast--the same ingredients as bread. By US law, whiskey is defined as grain spirit distilled at less than 190 proof (95% alcohol by volume). Above 190 proof, it is grain neutral spirits "without distinctive character, aroma, taste or color." When water is added to reduce the proof to 80 to 100 or so, it becomes vodka.
   Flavor is inversely proportionate to the proof because distillation removes the chemical ingredients--congeners--that create flavor. Some congeners are pleasant, some not. One of the responsibilities of the master distiller is to determine precisely where to draw the line. Distill slightly longer and you remove the unpleasant congeners but you also lose some of the desirable ones. It's all a matter of balance and taste. Bourbon is distilled to no higher than 160 proof and barreled at no more than 125 proof.
   The distillation process is quite simple in theory--any bootlegger can do it with very basic equipment. But it is very complex if your aim is to produce distilled spirits that are flavorful and, more importantly, safe. Ethanol is what makes liquor pleasant. Methanol can kill you. More detailed information is readily available at the library or on the Internet if you are curious.
   Better yet, you might take the Kentucky Bourbon Trail that includes the major distilleries between Louisville and Lexington. In recent years, distilleries have become tourist attractions and have evolved from the almost strictly industrial complexes they were when Shirley and I first visited. They all have tasting rooms where you can sample their products and ask questions as well as tour the production and aging facilities. You shouldn't count on visiting more than two a day so either plan on several days that may be consecutive or divided among multiple trips. We managed to do the Trail twice by visiting a couple distilleries on our way south and a couple more on our way back north. Spring and fall are quite lovely in Kentucky. Bourbon comes from magnificent horse country. The horses love it. So will you. (Google Kentucky Bourbon Trail for distilleries that participate and their locations.)
   Probably the most interesting thing we learned is that the distillate at any given facility is all the same quality when it comes off the still. The difference between a $20 bourbon and a $100 bourbon has nothing to do with the cost or quality of the ingredients that went into it. All of the difference is attributable to how long it was aged and where in the warehouse, or rick house, it was stored, whether or not it was filtered and the proof at which it is sold. There are dramatic differences in temperature and humidity--that you will actually feel on a tour--that affect the way the whiskey matures. A barrel aged on an upper floor of an outside wall on the south side of the building will be amazingly different from one on the ground floor north side or tucked away in the center of the building where it is insulated from minor fluctuations in the weather.
   Jim Beam, for example, makes the world's best selling bourbon--its standard White--as well as the longer aged Black label, plus the offshoots Distiller's Cut, Devil's Cut, Single Barrel, Bottled in Bond, and Double Oaked. Then there are the premium brands such as Jim Beam Signature, Basil Hayden, Knob Creek, Baker's, and barrel proof Booker's. The thing is, they all come from exactly the same grain recipe or mash bill.
   To be called straight bourbon, the whiskey must meet certain legal requirements.

• It must be made in the USA--but not necessarily Kentucky. The well-known traditional bourbon distilleries are there but in recent years there are small distilleries popping up everywhere. Craft bourbons tend to be expensive--not because they are better but because small distilleries do not have economies of scale that reduce production costs. It takes a lot of money to start a distillery and then you have to wait for an absolute minimum of two years before you can sell your bourbon and begin getting some of that money back. Meanwhile, however, you might make vodka because it is not aged and has by definition "no distinctive character, flavor, or aroma." Vodka sales can begin immediately.
• The grains included in the bourbon mash must be at least 51% corn. Typically corn content is in the 70% range. One of the original motivations for distilling was to preserve and make more portable the farmer's grain. It is much easier to transport a barrel of whiskey than the wagon loads of grain it took to make it.
• The flavoring grains, about 20%, are either rye or wheat--just as in bread--with rye producing a more robust flavor and wheat a more delicate one. Malted barley accounts for about 5-10% and provides the enzymes that convert starches to sugars and promote fermentation.
• The yeast is a remarkable source of a range of flavors in addition to its role in fermentation. Think of the importance of the starter in the production of a particularly delicious sourdough bread. There is another similarity. "Sour mash" bourbon is made by taking some of the used mash from one batch and adding it the the new mash so that there is continuity and consistency from batch to batch--just as sourdough starter is passed down from bread batch to bread batch.
• The distilled product must be aged in new charred oak barrels. (Sorry, Russ, this part especially is not just a technicality.) The barrel itself is responsible for a huge proportion of the flavor as well as the color in the final product. The charred interior of the barrel provides a natural filtration that helps tame some congeners as the whiskey expands and contracts in and out of the oak with natural changes in temperature. Used barrels have given up most of the wood sugars and tannins that contribute to the flavor of bourbon so they are sold to distilleries in Scotland and Ireland where they produce whisky that is lighter, less sweet and not as robust as bourbon.
• To be called a straight bourbon it must stay in those barrels for at least two years. If the bourbon is less than four years old, the bottle label must say how long it was aged. So, if there is no age statement you know the youngest bourbon in the bottle is at least four and may have been mingled with older bourbon to achieve the desired flavor profile. Standard bourbon is typically four to six years old. Premium bourbons may run seven to 12 years or more. Sometimes much more. But bourbon can be over-aged and become too woody for many tastes.
• As bourbon ages some of it evaporates through the pores and seams of the oak barrel. So, after aging, a 53-gallon barrel will have less than that--sometimes much, much less. About 10% is lost the first year as new wood absorbs some of the bourbon. About 4% is lost each of the next 8 years. The barrel continues to lose about 3% each year after that. So, one reason that 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle costs so much is that there is only about 14 gallons left out of the 53 gallons that were put in. The loss is called the "angel's share." I think the angels get cheated because most of what they get is water. You know from your high school chemistry that a water molecule is a lot smaller than an ethanol molecule. The net result is that the proof of the bourbon in the barrel tends to rise over time as the ratio of water to alcohol changes. Barrel strength bourbons often run into the 120 to 130 proof range. And because alcohol is a carrier of flavor compounds, barrel proof bourbons always have more intense, concentrated flavor than standard 80 proof whiskey. And they need to be handled with proportionate care when sipping. 
• The Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897 was passed in response to the adulteration of whiskey by unscrupulous dealers and bar tenders who added water to stretch it. If you were lucky, that was all they added. Some added "flavorings" that were both disgusting and dangerous. BIB bourbon had to be aged at least four years in government supervised warehouses and sold in sealed bottles to assure the consumer they had not been tampered with. 

    In the last ten years or so, there has been a dramatic increase in demand for America's Native Spirit. Some brands once readily available have become both more expensive and harder to find. Some have gone away altogether or had their age statements removed because there was not enough stock to meet demand. Elijah Craig, for example, was once a 12 year old bourbon and Knob Creek was 9 years old. Now they are a mingling of bourbons from several years that match fairly closely the old flavor profile. At the same time, increased interest has produced an expansion in the range of products available--small batch, single barrel, barrel proof, secondary aging in wine casks after the bourbon meets all other requirements, for example.

The Beam visitor center was once this modest looking farm house on the property. Now there is a high-tech facility that dispenses your allotted tasting sample when you insert a key card.

Black used to be sold as "double aged"; i.e., 8 years old compared to Beam White that is 4 years old. Now it is just "extra-aged." Whatever that means. Distiller's Cut is unfiltered. Filtering prevents the cloudiness bourbon can take on when ice is added. But it also takes out some of the congeners that contribute flavor. The difference is very, very subtle but bourbon geeks tend to like unfiltered.

A step up from regular Beam is Knob Creek made in small batches instead of the millions of gallons they make of white label. (Beam fills about a half million 53-gallon barrels a year.) Another step up from Knob Creek is KC Single Barrel--the smallest possible batch--and bottled at 120 proof. And a step up from that is KC Single Barrel that has been specifically selected by Master Distiller Fred Noe for the Bourbon Women Society.

And a step up from that is Booker's that comes in a fancy-schmancy wood box. It is sold undiluted and unfiltered for those who prefer their bourbon just as it comes straight from the barrel.

Woodford Reserve offered a Christmas gift set that included a crystal glass with the bourbon. In addition to WR, Brown-Foreman produces eight iterations of Old Forester. 

Standard Wild Turkey is sold at 81 and 101 proof. Rare Breed is a mingling of 6, 8, and 12 year old bourbons at 114 proof. Kentucky Spirit is a single barrel bottled at 101. Master's Keep is 17 years old and 86.8 proof. Good ol' 101 is probably most popular. 

Russell's Reserve is from barrels personally selected by Jimmy Russell and his son Eddy who have between them more than 100 years as master distillers. Regular Turkey is a mingling of 6 to 8 year old whiskies. RR is 10 years old. 

One of the tricks warehousemen have to learn is how to roll the barrels way back into a rack so that all the bungs end up at the top of the barrel. The "angel's share" is enough bourbon lost, they don't need any more leaking out.

At Maker's Mark, you may be invited to hand dip the signature red wax on your own personal bottle.

Heaven Hill produces a wide variety of very popular bourbons. Evan Williams, for example, is second only to Beam White. They also make several bonded bourbons including both rye and wheated varieties. Plus a number of limited releases highly prized by bourbon aficianados.

Their visitor center has also gone upscale.

On the right is 94 proof, 12 year old Elijah Craig. The brand is no longer aged 12 years but Heaven Hill is maintaining the flavor profile by combining bourbons from several different years. On the left is Elijah Craig Barrel Proof at 134.2 proof.  No problem at all with its flavor profile.

The ten barrels here represent the 10 different bourbons derived from two different mash bills and five yeast strains. Standard Four Roses Yellow Label contains a little each of all ten. The Small Batch is a mingling of four. The Single Barrel has, obviously, only one variety. But you can get Limited Edition single barrel releases of each of the ten varieties.

We think the old Four Roses offices are prettier.

Buffalo Trace, of course.

Buffalo Trace flagship bourbon on the right. The premium brands are represented here by Blanton's single barrel and Colonel E. H. Taylor small batch.

Blanton's, the original single barrel bourbon, comes with little horsie stoppers in a different pose for each letter in "Blanton's." (Except for the apostrophe of course.) My collection is not complete. Yet.

The label includes hand-written information on the date the bourbon was dumped or removed from the barrel, the barrel number, the rick or row location the barrel resided while aging and the warehouse it came from. Blanton's is from Warehouse H--a prime location. Quite a pedigree. Sort of an Ancestry.com for bourbon. On one of our visits to Buffalo Trace, Shirley was invited to join the production line and afix the labels for Blanton's bound for Japan.

Another premium bourbon from Buffalo Trace is Stagg Jr. That "Jr." part is to distinguish this 8 to 9 year old  from its big brother, 15 to 17-year-old George T. Stagg. Both are uncut (barrel proof) and unfiltered. Robust!

Representative wheated bourbons--those with wheat rather than rye as the flavoring grain. Weller and Van Winkle come from Buffalo Trace. Both shown here are excellent and, coincidentally, 107 proof. Antique is part of the Weller line that includes high end, unfiltered and uncut William Larue Weller named for the first distiller to make a wheater. Also Weller 12 year old, and Special Reserve with no age statement. The Van Winkle line includes super, ultra premium Pappy Van Winkle iterations aged 23 years, 20 years, 15 years, and 12 years plus Old Rip at 10 years. You might hear a liquor store clerk say that 4 to 7 year old Weller Special Reserve is the same recipe as Pappy Van Winkle--which is true. And therefore it is the same bourbon at a lower price--which is not even close to true. Ignore this and any subsequent recommendation he may make.

Wheated bourbons from other distilleries include Maker's Mark in several iterations and Heaven Hill's Larceny, Old Fitzgerald series, and Rebel Yell series.

A Glencairn nosing glass is specifically designed to funnel delicate aromas to your nasal receptors. Just remember to breathe in through your mouth while smelling your bourbon to avoid damaging sensitive sinus membranes. Typical aromas include vanilla, caramel, toffee, honey, citrus peel, coffee, and cooking spices--cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper. Sometimes cocoa or dark chocolate and leather. A fine bourbon is complex and full bodied. Or, as Shirley says, "There's a lot going on here!"

By the way, the tiniest bit of water can change your bourbon dramatically. It is not just dilution but a chemical change far too complicated to go into here. So, try you bourbon neat and then add just two or three drops of water.