Bourbon
Bourbon is the unquestioned king of American whiskey, its production dating back to the 1700s. While bourbon is invariably associated with Kentucky, where 95 percent of all bourbon is produced today, in reality it can be produced anywhere in the U.S. (though only Kentucky Bourbon can include the name of the state on the label). By U.S. law, bourbon must be made from a mash of at least 51% corn; be aged in new, charred oak containers; distilled to no more than 160 proof, entered into barrel at no more than 125 proof, and bottled at a minimum of 80 proof. Contrary to popular opinion, there’s no minimum aging requirement for bourbon, although straight bourbon must be aged for at least two years and cannot have added coloring. One of the most popular spirits in today’s drinking world, bourbon prices have been on the rise as stocks have dwindled — although massive investments in the industry promise to ease those supply pressures in coming years.
Top Bourbon Posts:
Tips, Tricks, and Advice on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail
Top 10 Bourbons Under $20
Buffalo Trace’s Single Oak Project
Heaven Hill’s micro-brand Square 6 expands with the launch of its Wheated Bourbon, joining its High-Rye Bourbon and High-Rye Rye. Like the other members of the Square 6 family, this one’s made at the artisanal distillery located at 528 W Main Street in Louisville, “just steps from the site of Williams’ original distillery founded in…
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Jack Daniel’s whiskey is hardly ever difficult to find, but the brand’s annual Single Barrel Special Release collection is so highly allocated and fervently sought after that it defies those expectations. It also treads the road less traveled in that, aside from their Distillery Series, Jack Daniel’s Special Releases have represented some of the wildest…
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Green River made welcome waves last year in the world of affordable bourbon with the launch of its first eponymous, house-distilled offering, a rye-heavy mashbill, five-year-old bourbon costing all of $35. At Drinkhacker HQ, we were impressed. And apparently, we weren’t the only ones, as Bardstown Bourbon Co. acquired the distillery that summer. For 2023,…
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It seems Jack Daniel’s is capitalizing on momentum after successful releases of their Bonded and Triple Mash whiskeys in 2022, both of which carried bottled-in-bond designations. While on a recent trip to their Lynchburg, Tennessee distillery, company reps told me both releases received better-than-expected responses from consumers and critics alike. Now, the Brown-Forman owned whiskey…
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Based in Colorado Springs, Distillery 291 has recently released Batch 12 of their ongoing E Series, which is their limited release offerings of experimental blends. This comes hot on the heels of the All Rye Colorado Whiskey which we recently reviewed (and have covered various other offerings across their portfolio over the years). Batch…
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It’s been two years since Drew’s review of Stagg Jr. Batch 15, and we’re now taking another spin with the whiskey — RIP to the “Jr.” designation — after a short hiatus. It’s understandable: in the time since Drew’s review, bourbon has, somehow, managed to become even boomier, the average consumer is exceedingly educated, and…
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Milam & Greene’s Unabridged label gets its second installment, although this year there’s no mention of compadres Noah Rothbaum and David Wondrich having a hand in the blend. Master distiller Marlene Holmes says that there’s older stock in this release than in Unabridged Volume 1, but it remains a cask-strength blend of rare casks from…
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Still Austin iterates again this year with a new bourbon, made with red corn and bottled in bond. It’s the first in a line of four bonded whiskeys that will roll out over the next year, this one made with a mashbill of 36% Jimmy Red corn, 34% white corn, 25% rye, and 5% malted…
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Ben Holladay Distillery is keen on putting Missouri on the map among bourbon fans. Their Bottled-in-Bond Missouri Straight Bourbon Whiskey launched those efforts via their own distillate, which was then aged and bottled in Weston (population under 2,000). Now, they’re on the market with their second expression: Another bottled-in-bond bourbon, this time with soft red…
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While Woodford Reserve’s Batch Proof has been an annual release since 2018, we’ve reviewed it only once, in 2020. The whiskey isn’t designed to change dramatically from year to year, however. It’s a mingling of standard Woodford Reserve barrels all pulled into a single batch, then bottled at barrel — or, in this case —…
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