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Federal standards issued by Congress in 1964 stipulate that

Summary: Federal standards issued by Congress in 1964 stipulate that bourbon must be a grain mixture made of at least 51 percent corn produced in the United States and distilled to no more than 160 proof with nothing other than water added to the mixture aside from yeast It must also be aged in new charred oak barrels among other requirements The term straight bourbon designates whiskey that has been aged at least two years Distillers have had tremendous success experimenting with the mashbill that s fancy distiller talk for recipe Aficionados like to group bourbons into fancy sounding categories Below a guide to the jargon and producers Mark Twain once said There is no such thing as too much good whiskey Chances are he was referring specifically to bourbon a spirit he was known to adore But what exactly is bourbon whiskey anyway and what makes it so good High Rye Most bourbon mashbills contain corn barley and rye The more traditional ones have 8 to 10 percent rye A few bourbons stand out with a high rye content that makes for a bold spicy flavor Four Roses Single Barrel has the highest rye count of any bourbon on the market at 35 percent Other high ryes include Bulleit Jim Beam s Basil Hayden and Old Grand Dad Flavors can vary Bulleit is the fruitiest of them all Basil who was a pioneering distiller in the late 18th century is the lightest of the Jim Beam Small Batch and has a nice spicy rye bite but it lacks the full body of Bulleit Old Grand Dad comes in three versions 80 proof 100 and 114 that s Basil s image on the Old Grand Dad bottle Both are made by Beam so they are similar in flavor but OGD s three variations of course get bolder the higher you go High Corn Bourbon can be much more than the 51 percent corn minimum many are made from 60 to 70 percent corn But very few exist with a really high corn content Buffalo Trace produces Old Charter with a corn content of more than 80 percent The other main one is from New York s new microdistiller Tuthilltown Spirits which made a splash in the market with its Baby Bourbon made from 100 percent New York corn yes it s legal to produce the stuff outside of Kentucky and aged in new charred wood Whiskeys with a high percentage of corn may come across with extra sweetness Also note that there is a separate and distinct category of corn whiskey these spirits must be at least 80 percent corn and can only be aged in used charred barrels or new uncharred wood Wheaters While most bourbons are made with corn rye and barley a handful of outlaws defy that tradition with a mashbill of corn wheat and barley Whiskey geeks call these wheaters or wheated bourbons This style offers a flavor profile with more pronounced caramel and vanilla and can be described as a tad softer Maker s Mark is perhaps the most famous Others include the many renderings of the Weller label Rebel Yell and any of the Van Winkle bourbons Rebel Yell is the lightest and youngest of the bunch Small Batch No legal definition exists to define small batch Jim Beam s launch of Booker s Baker s Knob Creek and Basil Hayden brought the term to the public mind In general small batch means that a distillery used fewer barrels to make a bottling than it would have with its flagship brand like Jim Beam white label Still this could mean that a distillery culled the choice stuff from 4 barrels or 4 000 Maker s Mark draws on about 19 barrels for each batch Some bottlings such as Noah s Mill or Kentucky Vintage label their bottlings with batch numbers and the dates that the bottling occurred In this case the batch number is an in house number assigned to each dumped batch of whiskey to designate it from another set of barrels that may be dumped mingled and bottled at another time Federal standards issued by Congress in 1964 stipulate that bourbon must be a grain mixture made of at least 51 percent corn produced in the United States and distilled to no more than 160 proof with nothing other than water added to the mixture aside from yeast It must also be aged in new charred oak barrels among other requirements The term straight bourbon designates whiskey that has been aged at least two years Distillers have had tremendous success experimenting with the mashbill that s fancy distiller talk for recipe Aficionados like to group bourbons into fancy sounding categories Below a guide to the jargon and producers Mark Twain once said There is no such thing as too much good whiskey Chances are he was referring specifically to bourbon a spirit he was known to adore But what exactly is bourbon whiskey anyway and what makes it so good High Rye Most bourbon mashbills contain corn barley and rye The more traditional ones have 8 to 10 percent rye A few bourbons stand out with a high rye content that makes for a bold spicy flavor Four Roses Single Barrel has the highest rye count of any bourbon on the market at 35 percent Other high ryes include Bulleit Jim Beam s Basil Hayden and Old Grand Dad Flavors can vary Bulleit is the fruitiest of them all Basil who was a pioneering distiller in the late 18th century is the lightest of the Jim Beam Small Batch and has a nice spicy rye bite but it lacks the full body of Bulleit Old Grand Dad comes in three versions 80 proof 100 and 114 that s Basil s image on the Old Grand Dad bottle Both are made by Beam so they are similar in flavor but OGD s three variations of course get bolder the higher you go High Corn Bourbon can be much more than the 51 percent corn minimum many are made from 60 to 70 percent corn But very few exist with a really high corn content Buffalo Trace produces Old Charter with a corn content of more than 80 percent The other main one is from New York s new microdistiller Tuthilltown Spirits which made a splash in the market with its Baby Bourbon made from 100 percent New York corn yes it s legal to produce the stuff outside of Kentucky and aged in new charred wood Whiskeys with a high percentage of corn may come across with extra sweetness Also note that there is a separate and distinct category of corn whiskey these spirits must be at least 80 percent corn and can only be aged in used charred barrels or new uncharred wood Wheaters While most bourbons are made with corn rye and barley a handful of outlaws defy that tradition with a mashbill of corn wheat and barley Whiskey geeks call these wheaters or wheated bourbons This style offers a flavor profile with more pronounced caramel and vanilla and can be described as a tad softer Maker s Mark is perhaps the most famous Others include the many renderings of the Weller label Rebel Yell and any of the Van Winkle bourbons Rebel Yell is the lightest and youngest of the bunch Small Batch No legal definition exists to define small batch Jim Beam s launch of Booker s Baker s Knob Creek and Basil Hayden brought the term to the public mind In general small batch means that a distillery used fewer barrels to make a bottling than it would have with its flagship brand like Jim Beam white label Still this could mean that a distillery culled the choice stuff from 4 barrels or 4 000 Maker s Mark draws on about 19 barrels for each batch Some bottlings such as Noah s Mill or Kentucky Vintage label their bottlings with batch numbers and the dates that the bottling occurred In this case the batch number is an in house number assigned to each dumped batch of whiskey to designate it from another set of barrels that may be dumped mingled and bottled at another time

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