Taste will dictate what you personally consider a superior whiskey. However, knowing the options available to you when it comes to the very best small batch bourbon might give you a list of award-winning brands you'd like to try. The annual competitions that rate whiskeys entered by hopeful distilleries give bronze, silver, gold, and double gold medals to the winners.
To be classified as bourbon, a whiskey must be from a mash at least 51% corn. It must be aged in new, charred, oak barrels. It must be at least 80 proof and be made in America. These are federal regulations and generally-accepted international agreements. Kentucky is where almost all bourbons are made (some are made in Tennessee, like Jack Daniels); distillers say the state's iron-free water filtered through limestone which is the key to success.
The evolution of this product of the American South is unclear. A Baptist minister supposedly began the charred oak barrel aging process. A distiller named James Crow gets the credit for creating the sour mash process, and Jacob Spears, another distiller, is credited with naming his corn whiskey 'bourbon.' The name, which is that of the French royal dynasty of colonial times, may have been taken from a Kentucky county or a famous street in New Orleans.
Bourbon-lovers are as poetic as wine connoisseurs when it comes to describing the flavors of a particular distillation. They speak of hints of caramel, new-mown hay, French toast, and the muskiness of a cigar box. A good corn whiskey is smooth, even if it's well over 100 proof. Flavor starts with the sour mash, and the aging process in charred oak barrels add both flavor and color to the finished product.
Although the law requires a minimum of 80 proof, none of this class gets to competition level. Aging is also optional, although two years is considered the minimum and anything under five must be so labeled. Small batches are usually nine or more years in the barrel. The 'smalls' are made with fewer barrels of spirits - to give greater quality control - with Maker's Mark at twenty being on the high side and Dickel Barrel Select (a Tennessee product) being made with fewer than ten.
People take their bourbon-drinking seriously. Although it is used in cocktails like the Manhattan and the Whiskey Sour, many drinkers prefer it neat. Others have it over ice or with a splash of 'branch water' (fresh from the creek in the old days.) The Mint Julep is famous as a summer-time highball in the Bluegrass State.
Annual competitions bring international judges together to evaluate whiskeys of all sorts. The San Francisco World Spirits Competition judges chose the Pappy Van Winkle 15-year Old (a 'wheated' variety) the best of a field of 11-year-plus bourbons, granting it a double gold award in 2013. The panel of judges at the 2014 Chicago International Competition gave top honors in the bourbons category to Knob Creek 9-year Old.
The only way to find your favorite is to try some of the best-known brands. Taking the judges' recommendation is a good way to start. In addition, knowing what happened in the annual competitions makes good conversation when you get together with other bourbon lovers.
To be classified as bourbon, a whiskey must be from a mash at least 51% corn. It must be aged in new, charred, oak barrels. It must be at least 80 proof and be made in America. These are federal regulations and generally-accepted international agreements. Kentucky is where almost all bourbons are made (some are made in Tennessee, like Jack Daniels); distillers say the state's iron-free water filtered through limestone which is the key to success.
The evolution of this product of the American South is unclear. A Baptist minister supposedly began the charred oak barrel aging process. A distiller named James Crow gets the credit for creating the sour mash process, and Jacob Spears, another distiller, is credited with naming his corn whiskey 'bourbon.' The name, which is that of the French royal dynasty of colonial times, may have been taken from a Kentucky county or a famous street in New Orleans.
Bourbon-lovers are as poetic as wine connoisseurs when it comes to describing the flavors of a particular distillation. They speak of hints of caramel, new-mown hay, French toast, and the muskiness of a cigar box. A good corn whiskey is smooth, even if it's well over 100 proof. Flavor starts with the sour mash, and the aging process in charred oak barrels add both flavor and color to the finished product.
Although the law requires a minimum of 80 proof, none of this class gets to competition level. Aging is also optional, although two years is considered the minimum and anything under five must be so labeled. Small batches are usually nine or more years in the barrel. The 'smalls' are made with fewer barrels of spirits - to give greater quality control - with Maker's Mark at twenty being on the high side and Dickel Barrel Select (a Tennessee product) being made with fewer than ten.
People take their bourbon-drinking seriously. Although it is used in cocktails like the Manhattan and the Whiskey Sour, many drinkers prefer it neat. Others have it over ice or with a splash of 'branch water' (fresh from the creek in the old days.) The Mint Julep is famous as a summer-time highball in the Bluegrass State.
Annual competitions bring international judges together to evaluate whiskeys of all sorts. The San Francisco World Spirits Competition judges chose the Pappy Van Winkle 15-year Old (a 'wheated' variety) the best of a field of 11-year-plus bourbons, granting it a double gold award in 2013. The panel of judges at the 2014 Chicago International Competition gave top honors in the bourbons category to Knob Creek 9-year Old.
The only way to find your favorite is to try some of the best-known brands. Taking the judges' recommendation is a good way to start. In addition, knowing what happened in the annual competitions makes good conversation when you get together with other bourbon lovers.
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