From the BourbonGuy Archives: WHAT TO TRY WHEN YOU HAVEN'T TRIED MUCH YET.

Never fear, folks. I am on the mend. But as recently as yesterday, I still had some majorly F’d-up taste buds. And so we take another stroll through the last decade of articles and reviews to find something interesting and informative that you might not have read before. If you were around in 2017, rest assured knowing that new content is coming Thursday. Provided that nothing weird happens in the meantime.

It's not unusual for people to send me an email me with questions about how they can get started on their bourbon journey. Often, they've dabbled, but are looking to get more serious. 

With Bourbon, there are a surprisingly significant number of flavor profiles on the shelf. It's weird. Almost all bourbon is made with the same three or four ingredients: corn, barley, and rye or wheat. And yet, the flavors produced range from floral and fruity to spicy and dry with an entire library of flavors in between.

I'd say that the quickest way to find out what you like is to try different things. But don't jump straight to the top shelf and only buy barrel-strength bourbons with age statements in the double digits. Don't get me wrong. These are probably very fine bourbons. But I wouldn't start there. First, they are expensive. And if the goal is to try as many as you can, it is helpful if you don't have to miss a mortgage payment to do so. Secondly, if you were to take a big swig of George T Stagg unknowingly, you are probably going to sputter and choke and possibly decide that bourbon is not for you.

So, what to do? Well since bourbon has so many flavor profiles, I think that the best idea is to run to the store or your local bar and try some of the delicious, yet affordable offerings out there that show off these distinct flavor profiles. And yes, I've compiled you a shopping list.

Maker's Mark

Due to being owned by one of the largest bourbon producers in the country, this red-headed darling is available at almost every liquor store and bar you'll come across. Made with wheat as its flavoring grain, Maker's Mark is a sweet and soft bourbon. It shows caramel, custard, fruit, and baking spice. It's inexpensive, ubiquitous, and very tasty. This is a great bourbon for trying to decide if you like sweeter bourbon flavors.

1792 Small Batch Bourbon

Produced by the Barton 1792 distillery in Bardstown, KY, this bourbon is a great example of a dry bourbon. Dry bourbon is a little different than dry wine, but it follows some of the same ideas. Namely, that sweetness is not the major flavor component. All bourbon is sweet, to an extent, but I find this bourbon brings a lot more peppery heat to the party. It feels like it evaporates in the back of your throat. This is a good one to see if you like drier bourbons and peppery spiciness. 

Buffalo Trace

When speaking of bourbon, spice can mean two different things. It can mean spicy like the heat of a red pepper or it can mean spicy like the ground spices you put in cookies. In the case of Buffalo Trace, we are talking about the latter. Buffalo Trace bourbon leads with cinnamon and nutmeg flavors before adding in maple and custard flavors. Buffalo Trace is the perfect bourbon to see if you like bourbons that feature baking spice as their main flavor component.

Four Roses Small Batch

Most of the time, floral flavors are a by-product of the yeast used for fermentation. Along with carbon dioxide and ethanol, these little guys create flavor compounds that, if treated nicely, survive through distillation and maturation. Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon is a perfect example of a floral bourbon. Floral and fruity notes start at the nose, mix with sweetness and spice in the mouth and hang around into the finish. If you want to know if you like floral and fruity bourbons, try Four Roses Small Batch.

Wild Turkey 101

At six to eight years old, Wild Turkey 101 is a good example of what some extra time spent in the barrel can bring you. It is filled with the flavors of sweet caramel, ginger, and oak. Think you don't like the taste of oak? Remember that 100 percent of the color and more than 50 percent of the flavor of a bourbon come from the oak barrel it is stored in. Wild Turkey is a complex, yet inexpensive bourbon, and it is a good choice to see if you like oakier bourbons. 

So there you have it. Five bourbons to get you on your way. After you identify what you like and what you don't like about each bourbon, then you can start expanding your horizons. And of course, it goes without saying that you should be taking notes along the way. After you've been at it for a while go back and revisit some of the ones you tried early on to see how your palate has changed. I think you'll be surprised to find out that you now like some of the ones you didn't previously or that you don't care for some of those you thought were favorites. 

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Larceny Barrel Proof, A123

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Welcome to January folks. Sure, I know that it’s almost half over, but as far as I’m concerned January starts when Heaven Hill drops the first of their three-times yearly batches of Larceny Barrel Proof and Elijah Craig Barrel proof. I always look forward to these releases. Any why might that be, you ask? Because they’re always delicious. And it is nice to look at things that you know are going to be tasty. Since it is the first drop of the year, let’s go over a little basic info as to what this is.

Born as an offshoot of Heaven Hill’s Old Fitzgerald line of wheated bourbons, Larceny bourbon uses wheat instead of rye as the “flavoring” grain. In this case, Heaven Hill tells us that the recipe is 68% corn (remember to be bourbon it needs over 51% corn in the mash bill), 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley. This release being barrel-proof means there is no water added to the batch. They dump, blend, and bottle at whatever strength it comes out of the barrel. Now, of course, that sometimes leads to a very hot product. The first batch of this was so hot that I was worried as to what they were trying to accomplish. In the intervening years, it has calmed itself a bit.

Speaking of different batches if you run across this in the store, how do you know which batch you have? Heaven Hill has nicely given us the key to knowing what is in our hands as we hold that bottle of the precious liquid. The batch code is made up of three parts. The first part is a letter, A, B, or C. This corresponds to if it is the first, second, or third batch of the year. The second part is a number, to this point it has always been 1, 5, or 9. This is the month of the year the release came out. The final part of the code is made up of the final two digits which indicate the year. So in this case A123 means it is the first batch of the year and it was released in January of 2023. Simple.

But unless this is your first time learning about the Barrel-Proof releases from Heaven Hill (in which case: welcome! the bar is in the corner. pour yourself something nice), you actually just want to know how this one tastes. So let’s dig in.

Larceny Barrel Proof, A123

Purchase Info: This sample was provided by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $59.99.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.00

Details: Heaven Hill’s wheated mash bill (68% corn, 20% Wheat, and 12% malted barley). 6-8 years old. 62.9% ABV.

Nose: This is a caramel bomb on notes of oak, vanilla, and a hint of wintergreen.

Mouth: Very warm but not uncomfortably so. Notes follow the nose with caramel, oak, and wintergreen.

Finish: Warm and on the longer side of medium length. Strong cinnamon candy notes.

Thoughts: Normally if I see this on the shelf I pick it up because it is delicious. However, I don’t usually get too bent out of shape if I don’t run across it because in this market Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is usually easier to find. This time however, I really hope that my local store gets their hands on a bottle because if I see this one, it is coming home with me. This might be my favorite release of Larceny Barrel Proof yet.

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From the BourbonGuy Archives: Ask Arok... A Question About Barrel Proof

So, yeah. I’m still sick enough that I don’t have the brainpower to write. Also, my taste buds are still mighty screwed up, so tasting accurately just isn’t happening. And that totally sucks. But I’m getting better every day, so don’t feel too bad for me. Instead of giving you no content, I’ve decided to repost an educational article from way back in 2015. Guessing not many of you were around for this, so hopefully, it is good info or at least entertaining info.

A few days ago, I got an email from Tom asking about barrel proof.

Hi Arok…
I need a little clarification. I just received a bottle of "Booker’s” in a nice box, as a gift. The label says single barrel 127 proof. It aroused my curiosity. Then I read that Garrison Brothers have a new release "Cowboy Bourbon" @ 134 proof (not for the faint of heart)....! I thought to be "Bourbon.” whiskey had comply with certain criteria one of which is that it couldn't be barreled at higher than 125 proof … what’s the story here? 
Thanks for your help.
Tom

Tom asks a great question. To answer it, we need to dig a little into the science behind aging. While it is true that bourbon can’t be barreled at higher than 125 proof, that is only true for the liquid going into the barrel. What happens after that is up to nature. 

Let’s take a look at what happens during aging. Three basic things are going on: extraction of flavor, chemical reactions, and then the interaction with the surrounding environment (which is where Tom's question comes in). So to look at each in turn: 

Extraction of flavor: Alcohol is a solvent; like all solvents, it loves to dissolve things. In the case of bourbon, what is being dissolved are all the caramel and vanilla flavors that burning a piece of oak allows the alcohol access to. This happens pretty quickly in the grand scheme of things. It’s why you can get something that tastes like “bourbon” at six months or less in a small barrel. It doesn’t taste exactly like the large, mainstream bourbons, but it has a lot of the same characteristics. At this point, it is a wood extract, much like the vanilla extract you’d find in your kitchen cupboards. Only in this case, we have wood flavors dissolved in the alcohol, not vanilla bean flavors.

Chemical Reactions: This is a function of time. Certain things happen to that extract as time passes while it is in the presence of oxygen. Molecules break down and recombine into tasty combinations that give a well-matured whiskey a lot of the tasty flavors we associate with it. How does that oxygen get into the barrel? A properly constructed barrel is very good at keeping liquid inside but, luckily, isn’t so good at keeping air inside (or outside). 

This brings us to the answer to Tom's question: interaction with the environment. In general terms, if you were to look at both the ethanol molecule and the water molecule, you would notice something. The ethanol molecule is much larger. As such, the water molecule can more easily pass through the grain of the oak being used in the barrel. This means that two things can happen: 

  1. In a hot environment, such as the upper floors of a rick house in Kentucky, water and ethanol evaporate. The water passes through the wood, but the alcohol stays behind. As such, the alcohol per volume of the liquid goes up as the volume of liquid goes down due to the water escaping. This is why a barrel-proof bourbon such as Bookers or Stag can be higher in proof than the liquid that originally went into the barrel. 

  2. Just the opposite happens in a cool, moist environment, such as the bottom floor of a rick house with a dirt floor. It’s cool enough that there isn’t as much evaporation happening, but the air going in and out of the barrel, being moist, is bringing water into the barrel. And so the total alcohol by volume goes down as the volume of water goes up. This is why the first Wild Turkey Master’s Keep, even at 17 years old, can be barrel-proof at well below the proof that it went into the barrel.

Of course, this is just a simplified version of the science behind aging. People with degrees in more than art probably can give all the charts and more specific reasons behind these processes, but this is how it was explained to me. 

Do you have a bourbon question you'd like answered? Just shoot me an email or leave a comment below.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, posters, and more.

From the BourbonGuy Archives: Handcrafted? Yes.

So, yeah. I’m still sick enough that I don’t have the brain power to write. Nor do I have the taste buds to taste accurately. Which totally sucks. But I’m on the mend so don’t feel too bad for me. Instead of giving you no content, I’ve decided to repost an educational article from way back in 2015. Guessing not many of you were around for this so hopefully it is good info or at least entertaining info.

IMAGE: Tasting glass with cover to prevent evaporation used in Maker's Mark tasting panel circa 2014.

In the last few months there has been a lot of news regarding the lawsuits alleging a misuse of the term handcrafted by members of the bourbon producing community. And on the face of it, it almost sounds legit. The lawyer alleges that something can’t be hand made if it is made in a giant computer controlled factory. If you didn’t know anything about whiskey, that argument might make you believe that the lawyer was onto something. To many people, handcrafted means that there is at least a little skill, a bit of human touch involved in making the product. (To others who are a bit more cynical it is a marketing term that has long since lost all meaning to reasonable folks.) So the lawyer tries to convince people that he knows what he is talking about, because computers.

What this lawyer either doesn’t understand or is betting that a judge doesn’t understand is that there is a very large difference between distillate and whiskey. If Jim Beam, Makers or any other bourbon maker were bottling distillate there might be a case to be argued. Might. 

You see distillate is a product that could conceivably be very tightly controlled by people who know what they are doing and, yes, with computers. But bourbon is a natural product. It goes into a barrel and sits there for a good long time. And the longer it sits, the more influence the barrel has in the finished product. But just as each tree is different, so too is the infusion of each tree. The bourbon. Because at a basic level that’s all bourbon is. An infusion of charred new oak by a grain based alcohol solvent.

And yet, the bourbon from each batch tastes so close to the same that if you didn’t have them side by side you’d never know the difference. Or for most people, even if you did. So how does that happen? Well, bourbon manufacturers have a tasting panel. It could be one person, it could be many. And they do quality control. They make sure each batch tastes like the reference sample that they are aiming for within tolerances. And if they are off, they fix it by adding another whiskey until it is right.

Let’s look at an illustration. For this example we are going to pretend that oak changes a distillate’s color instead of flavor. Mostly because it is easier to visualize color than flavor.*

We’ve got three barrels we are using to make whiskey. One produces a light orange color, one a pink color and one a teal color. If you mix all of these together in equal amounts you will get a brown color. And so you’ve got your first batch of bourbon.

But then you go to make you second batch and you realize that what came out of the second batch of barrels are not the same colors as the first three barrels. So you need to go find barrels that will make this batch of whiskey as close as you can get to the first batch. In this case what you find is that if you mix a different pink, a lime green and a light purple together you will get a brown that is extremely close to the initial batch. So close you couldn’t tell the difference.

One more example, this time we want to make a lot of whiskey. So once again based on our reference sample, we mix and match until we find that if we take 6.5 parts of light orange, 6.5 parts of pink, 6 parts of teal, 4.5 parts of the other pink, 5 parts of lime green and 5.5 parts of light purple we once again end up with almost the exact same brown as our sample.** 

In each of these examples we are trying to match that initial reference sample. And in each case the art, the skill, the human touch comes in while taking the different results you get from many different barrels and mixing them together to get a consistent result that matches the reference. You may argue that distillate can be computer-made in a factory but to me, bourbon qualifies as handcrafted.

The Maker's Mark tasting panel. Shot in September 2014 while on the Beyond the Mark tour.

*They are in mason jars because this idea came from a bourbon 101 presentation I used to do where I would invite volunteers to mix a color based on a reference sample to show this very topic. All of the colored waters were stored in mason jars and that shape just stuck in my mind.

**Don’t believe me? Take the illustrations into photoshop, sample the colors and mix them in the same proportions. It works.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, posters, and more.

Eight & Sand Blended Bourbon Whiskey

I’d like to thank Gregory + Vine for providing this sample to me with no strings attached. All notes and thoughts are my own.

I came to a realization over the course of the last month. In this country, blended whiskey has a bad rep. And for good reason. Most of it is crap. Two things crystalized it for me. The first is that I’ve been getting a lot of comments on an old post that reviewed Kentucky Gentleman. In case you were blissfully unaware, Kentucky Gentleman is a blend of 51% bourbon and 49% Grain Neutral Spirits. Yet, it is labeled as “Kentucky Gentleman Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey.” Sadly some of the commenters didn’t bother reading the next line on the label which describes the components of the blend. Let’s just say they were unhappy with their purchase. On the other hand, I also had people saying I was a snob because I didn’t like it so…yeah.

But the other thing that crystalized the bad reputation that blended whiskeys get was the sample I received of Eight & Sand, a Blended Bourbon Whiskey from the folks at MGP in Indiana. MGP makes damn fine whiskey. Yet, I saw ”blended” on the label and even though the label explicitly said “No GNS or coloring added,” I still felt a moment’s hesitation when I poured my first glass.

Eight & Sand is a Blended Bourbon Whiskey which, according to labeling regulations, means that it is at least 51% Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The other 49% can be almost any other spirit, but is usually GNS. So yeah, it was that other up to 49% that worried me. They must have been expecting questions like this though because when I asked I was very quickly assured that the non-bourbon portion was composed of rye whiskey, corn whiskey and light whiskey (in case you are curious, light whiskey is whiskey that has been distilled to higher than traditional whiskey’s 160 proof limit but lower than the 190 proof limit which would render it neutral grain spirits. It is then aged in used or uncharred new containers). So this is an all whiskey blend.

The Eight & Sand blend creation actually reminds me a lot of the way many Canadian Whiskies are created. Canadian Whiskies often start with a delicate “base whisky” which is similar to US Light Whiskey. To that they blend in “flavoring whiskeys” made from other types of grain: rye, malt, bourbon-style corn whisky, etc. (but never GNS). Our Neighbors to the North rely on (and acknowledge) their blenders to make a particular whisky what it is. They form an idea or feeling they want to capture or evoke and blend the whisky to that. Which is why I say that Eight & Sand reminds me of a Canadian Whisky in some ways. Sure, in Eight & Sand’s case, the base whiskey is bourbon. But they also set out with the idea to showcase their four primary whiskeys (Bourbon, corn, rye, and light) and then blended a whiskey that can show off what can be done with them.

Eight & Sand Blended Bourbon Whiskey

Purchase Info: I was graciously provided a 750 mL sample from Gregory+Vine for review purposes. Suggested retail price is $29.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Details: 44% ABV. Blended Bourbon. No GNS or coloring added. A blend of Bourbon, Rye, Corn and Light whiskeys.

Nose: Mint, cinnamon and caramel.

Mouth: Bubblegum, mint, and cinnamon spice.

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Lingering cinnamon, clove, bubblegum and mint.

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Thoughts: If you had handed this to me with no explanation as to what it was, I would have said it was a pretty tasty bourbon. Knowing that this is a blend, it really shows of the MGP blender’s skill. I mentioned above that the process to create this was similar to the process used in Canadian Whisky. The reason I thought of that is that during our tasting, this reminded me a lot of a really good Canadian Whiskey. I’m thinking something from Wiser’s.

In fact, it shows my biases that when I saw the suggested retail price was roughly $30, I baulked a little. It seemed odd to charge that much for a Blended Bourbon. Yet if someone had handed me this same whiskey and told me it was Canadian, I would have thought the $30 price tag was ludicrously low. I would have bought three or four bottles before they '“wised up.” I guess what I am saying is that you should probably give this one a shot. It is quite good and well worth the asking price.

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Ask Arok: Single Barrel is not the same as Barrel Proof

I got a comment on my last post (Rebel Yell Single Barrel) from MadHatter: 

Which begs the question: If this is a single barrel and unless the barrel contents were exactly 50 abv, why did they water it down to 50 abv?

I like this question. Not just because I know the answer, but because it is always good for me to remember that the audience for this site is not just experienced connoisseurs of bourbon. There are a bunch of people reading this who are just starting out on their bourbon journey. And to them, I say: "Welcome! The bar is in the corner, pour yourself a drink of something nice."

So let's break down MadHatter's question. The way I see it there are two parts:

  1. Is this really a single barrel bourbon and was the barrel proof exactly 100° proof?
  2. Why would they dilute it to 50% ABV if it didn't come out of the barrel that way?

So let's address the first part. I can tell you all with reasonable confidence that the Rebel Yell Single Barrel is actually a single barrel product. Not only because it says it on the label, but because last year I had bourbon from two different barrels side-by-side and though similar, they were noticeably different from one another. Also, I can assure you that the contents of the barrels used for Rebel Yell Single Barrel were almost certainly not all exactly 100° proof, because that would take a string of good luck that is pretty inconceivable. But just for the sake of completeness, I reached out to the company for comment. The following is from Head Distiller John Rempe by way of my contact at their PR agency:

"Yes, Rebel Yell Single Barrel is a legitimate single barrel bourbon. ... [We] dump each barrel independently and cut it to 100 proof, it is not a barrel proof product."

There now that the conspiracy theorists are satisfied (I kid, I kid... conspiracy theorists are never satisfied) we can move on to the second part of the question. But before we do, let's just lay out an underlying fact: single barrel bourbon and barrel proof bourbon are not the same thing, they are separate descriptors. Though there is no legal definition of either, they are generally held to mean the following: 

  • Single Barrel Bourbon: The product of a solitary barrel of bourbon, that has been dumped independently from other barrels, and then bottled as its own product.
  • Barrel-Proof Bourbon:  Bourbon that has not been diluted with water before bottling. 

Yes, some single barrel products are released at barrel strength. Jack Daniel's has one and most of the Four Roses Single Barrel private picks are barrel-proof. But most single barrel bourbons are not released at barrel-strength. Just think of Blanton's at 93 proof, Jim Beam Single Barrel at 95 proof, Evan Williams Single Barrel at 86 proof, Four Roses Single Barrel at 100 proof, Old Forester single barrel at 90 proof...I could go on and on, but I won't. Let's just keep it simple and say that a single barrel bourbon does not have to be barreled at barrel proof.

But as to why Luxco (and every other major producer of Kentucky Bourbon) dilutes their single barrel products? For the same reasons as they dilute all their other products. They either think it tastes best at that proof or they can make more money at that proof. More than likely it is some combination of the two. It tastes good at 90 or 100 proof and they can get more bottles out of a barrel that way. There may even be some tax incentives to bottle it at non-barrel strength. I can assure you, whiskey dilution makes a huge difference in the taste of the final product and companies that are trying to put out a premium product do not undertake it lightly. 

Do you have a bourbon question you'd like answered? Just get in contact with me using one of the icons in the sidebar to submit one. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll try to find it from someone who does.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!