Bourbon County, Kentucky, the Bluegrass part of the state where thoroughbreds skip over lime stone caves, was once home to over 1500 distillers. Now there are none. Though to be honest, this is more the fallout of political subdivision of the original and much larger county of the same name, than from any failure to hold the drinking attention of Kentuckians. Furthermore, whiskey started out as a 100% rye based distillation in Colonial America, then moved to corn, wheat, blends of all three, and now is at least 51% corn, with mash and rye. Again, this is more a media fact than any major shift in the spirit itself. A 100 books on whiskey, and even more websites, mostly all with good information, can answer the 1000s of questions you might have on history, cutlure, process, and taste. Thumb through some and find one that speaks to your level of interest. That's not what this site is about.
No whiskey fan is going to agree to or like what I am about to say, BUT: all American whiskies taste similarly.
Because: 1)they are all made similarly and 2) by law are all aged in new charred barrels. The low end stuff - $25/750 ml and below - is all hot from alcohol that overwhelms the barrel aging, while the good stuff - over $45-80/750 ml -taste like the barrel. The differences stem mostly from how long the raw whiskey stays in the barrel: low end ones stay about 2 -ish years, more expensive ones stay about 8-ish. Both will have older whiskies blended in with the base, the stated year is simply the minimum age. At the high end you can't go wrong - match some flavor idiosyncrasy that you like with a price point, and go.
You can substantiate my claim of sameness for yourself. You will need 6 bottles of whiskey, or 6 friends with one bottle each, or a well stocked watering hole. Believe me it's worth the effort in the long run. Here's what you'll need:
* Georgia Moon Corn Whiskey [unaged corn]
* Corsair Wry Moon [unaged rye]
* Death's Door Whiskey [unaged wheat]- this one can be a bit difficult to find
* Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon [aged corn]
* Rittenhouse Rye [aged rye]
* Bernheim Wheat Whiskey [aged wheat]
For the last 3 there are clearly other options but you can't go wrong with these for drinking AFTER this test.
Now: set up 6 shot glasses in 3 pairs -
- in one pair pour a shot each of Georgia Moon and Evan Williams;
- in the next pair, a shot of Wry Moon and Rittenhouse; and
- in the 3rd pair a shot each of Deaths' Door and Bernheim.
Now taste one pair at a time: this will allow you to taste the pure spirit versus the aged spirit. In itself very revealing. Finally taste the 3 aged spirits along side each other to determine how much the barrel aging overrides everything else. Sure there are differences among wheat, rye, and corn, but no more so than you would find among 3 Napa Valley Cabernets, or 3 types of Central American coffees. They are there, but not enough to get bent out of shape over - or pay exorbitantly extra dollars for There is a book out currently, The 12 Bottle Bar I believe it is called, whichi purports, quite accurately I think, that a very decent drinking life can be built around 12 bottles of liquor. Said author takes two leaps, by leaving OUT tequila, and yes, bourbon. I'm just saying - there are many enjoyable evenings spent with monied and/or obsessed friends drinking a half dozen different bourbons as if they were cru burgundies. But in the long run, when simply needing a shot in the arm after a long day, nothing beats a well made drink, and for the most part bourbon doesn't lend itself well to this venture. Just sayin' . . . .
But, as you begin your search/collection of bourbons, check for things like -
STRAIGHT WHISKEY - NOT blended with neutral grain spirits
SINGLE BARREL - bottled from a single barrel that is one among a select number of barrels generally stored in the optimal center of the warehouse
PROOF - the percentage of alcohol in the bottle times 2 which ranges from 80, the standard for Bourbon, to 126 which is the barrel strength, meaning it is bottled uncut with water. the higher the proof, the hotter the feel in the mouth. NOTE: Higher proofs stand up better to mixing with non-alcoholic beverages like juice.
AGE - Quite frankly, in my mind, the single most critical aspect - it is quite linear: the older the better, AND after a certain point, Different - the barrel finally gets to the chemistry of the spirit and begins to make something quite worth the time - for me the benefit starts to kick in at about 12 years.
Whiskey is all about the new oak charred barrels it is aged in, the water used to cut it, and the hand of the distiller in choosing barrels to blend together. Keep that in mind and it will be much easier to wend your way through the forest of options. Before you run out of money!
Below
1's are core bottles you should seriously consider as beginning stock: you won't outgrow them and they won't embarrass,
2's are ones to add so as to provide some real adventure, and
3's are those you keep out of sight of small children [breakage] and casual acquaintenances [premature consumption].
- Sazerac Rye [1]
- Evan Williams Single Barrel [1]
- Michter's Small Batch Unblended American [1]
- Angel's Envy [1]
- Four Roses [small batch or single barrel] [1]
- Death's Door Whisky (unaged wheat, white) [2]
- Cyrus Noble Small Batch [2]
- Clyde May's Small Batch [2]
- OYO Michelone Reserve Wheated [2]
- Bernheim Original Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey [2]
- Black Maple Hills Rye 15-23 yr old [3]
- Parker's 10yr Wheated Mashbill Bourbon [3]
- Rittenhouse 23yr old Straight Rye [3]
American Whiskey is on the rise currently, coming to market faster than you can notice, let alone sample. My experience so far is that they are offering nothing new. In fact, most are buying their bourbons from the old guard producers, and then blending. It is simply no longer possible to open a whiskey distillery, produce for a dozen years to accrue the stocks necessary to blend even an entry level product.
Reference Rule #1 of american whiskies: They all taste similarly. So your money is best spent running down the increasingly older and more expensive ones that the old guard distillers are putting out. Eventually, the money you spend on that bottle will far outweigh the benefits of buying every new item that comes out.
Some of these are already linked to reviews. For those not, Go to the Bourbon Enthusiast or Spirits Review for concise commentary and info on these bottlings.
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