For my birthday this year my girlfriend surprised me with a trip planed to the great state of Kentucky, the purpose to explore the famous Bourbon Trail. When we left I knew that I liked bourbon, but when I came back I couldn’t help but thoroughly love it.

 

Bourbon is at times surrounded by fact and fiction. Seeing as how I went on tours of distilleries that were owned by major corporations, I am sure that I heard a little fiction that was geared to help the promotion and sale of each respective distilleries product.  However there were also some things that they all agreed on, one of them was that bourbon is a distinctive product of the United States of America.

 

On 4 May 1964, the United States Congress recognized Bourbon Whiskey as a "distinctive product of the United States." The Federal Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits (27 C.F.Rv5.22) state that bourbon must meet these requirements:

• Bourbon must be made of a grain mixture that is at least 51% corn.
• Bourbon must be distilled to no more than 160 (U.S.) proof (80% alcohol by volume).
• Neither coloring nor flavoring may be added.
• Bourbon must be aged in new, charred oak barrels. (the white oak is often sourced from Missouri)
• Bourbon must be entered into the barrel at no more than 125 proof (62.5% alcohol by volume).
• Bourbon, like other whiskeys, may not be bottled at less than 80 proof (40% alcohol by volume.)
• Bourbon which meets the above requirements and has been aged for a minimum of two years, may (but is not required to) be called Straight Bourbon.

 

 

The Myths –

 

Bourbon can only come from Kentucky.

 

Bourbon can be made anywhere in the United States, however there are a few things that give Kentucky a distinct advantage.

One advantage of Kentucky's geography is the limestone breaks down overtime to form massive caves. The springs which flow from these caves provide iron-free water sources for the bourbon process. The Mammoth Cave in southern Kentucky is just one example, with the deepest passageway of any natural formation in the world. It is this combination of filtering, pure water, and rich agricultural conditions which make Kentucky the prime geographical location for production within the United States.

The second advantage would be the climate and the four seasons that Kentucky experiences. The cold winters and hot summers allow the bourbon the contract and expand in the charred oak barrels during the aging process. This allows the bourbon to pick up more of the vanilla and caramel nuances from the caramelized sugars of the wood.

 

 ‘The White Dog, White Lightning, or High Wine is colorless, odorless, and tasteless” quote taken from a tour guide at Jim Beam

Simply not true, and that made no sense to me when I heard that. If you are fermenting corn, rye, barley, or even wheat, certainly some of those characteristics are going to carry through. However being able to taste the “White Dog” was not easy. In fact the only place that offered a sampling was Maker’s Mark. When I took a whiff I smelled exactly what I expected it to GRAIN, then when I tasted it, well one word came to mind, GRAIN!  Jim Beam had one thing right it is colorless, but other than that they lied.

What to be said about the “White Dog”, well it was absolutely delicious, and a huge eye opener. There are certain characteristics that came through, yes the grain, but also the yeast strain used helped to give slight notes of apple and apricot.

 

The basic steps to producing bourbon

 

 

The fist step in the process is to take corn, and grind it into meal. The mal is mixed with water (in Kentucky’s case limestone water) and then cooked at a high temperature in the mash tub. This was reminiscent of cooking grits or polenta. The distillers lower the temperature of the mash and add in ground rye for the “second cooking”. Again the temperature is lowered and barley is added to the mix for the “final cook”. Finally, the mash is allowed to cool to prepare it for the fermentation.

 

 

 

 

 

The second step involves yeast (the strains will differ from distillery to distillery), the yeast is added to the mash so that fermentation may occur. During the process of the fermentation the natural sugars from the grain are consumed by the yeast, the sugars are converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide. This process also produces its own heat and this heat can be seen rising from the tubs. The tubs are traditionally made from cypress wood; however the industry seems to be converting to stainless steel tubs. After three or four days the mash is ready for distillation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third step involves distillation, the process in which all spirits are made. The alcohol is separated from the mash by using heat. Once the alcohol is converted to vapor it is collected and cooled and then converted back to a liquid form. This produces what is known as the “low wine”, and once the mash is no longer needed the remains are generally donated to the local farmers for animal feed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fourth step involves another round of distillation; this produces a higher proof spirit,

the product is now crystal clear. The “high wine” or “white dog” is produced the same way as the low wine, but in smaller stills. The spirit is now ready for the aging process, but as I said earlier is quite tasty on its own. I have no doubt that the good people of Maker’s Mark cut the white dog with water, but I was truly grateful for the taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the fifth step the distillers place their beloved white dog in their new charred oak barrels and store them, until the master distiller deems them ready to be bottled and sold for our consumption. Depending on the producer this can take as many as 2 to 15 years. The one thing that some of them agreed on were the ideal age was ten years. Distillers and bourbon aficionados claimed that bourbons that were aged over ten years would take on too much a woody flavor from the barrels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bourbon trail was a great experience and one I plan on partaking in again. Once I went to see first hand the amount of pride, tradition, care, and history that is involved I found myself hooked. The people who around this every day are clearly passionate about what they do, and were more than happy to share their own thoughts and stories surrounding this “distinctive product of The United States”. Unfortunately for Katie and I we did not get to see Buffalo Trace, or Woodford Reserve (so no free t-shirt, boo!). I will say that out of the 5 that we did see, Maker’s Mark was our favorite by far.

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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