Last year I was planning on making 4 different Bourbons but ended up focusing in only on my Wheated Bourbon, Green Diamond, which I think I have nailed down now. viewtopic.php?t=94460 This year I will be picking up some of the projects I skipped and first one out is Yellow Diamond (I am sure you see a theme here...
)My idea with Yellow Diamond is a more classic Bourbon with rye and barley malt being the flavor components along with a 72-75% proportion of corn. I am planning to experiment a little with nixtamalized corn in this recipe, but in this thread I wanted to focus on the other grains. This Bourbon should have a traditional but not overwhelming rye taste to it and I am planning to use pale rye malt along with two barley malts to create some barley character to back up the rye - English Maris Otter malt and Extra Special malt from Briess. But what about oats?
I know oats is a background player and I want to include oats to add warmth, mouthfeel and maybe a tad of crackers/bisquit. I want it to be noticed although not flavor dominant, if it ever could be? Oats is a very discrete fellow. Here's the basic recipe I am thinking of:
74% Corn
8% Rye malt
10% Barley malt
8% Oats
For the oats, I have been planning a 50/50 mix of flaked oats and Golden Naked oats from Simpson's. Golden Naked oats is a crystal malt and is quite characterful in beer, but not sure about how it will do inside a Whiskey.
Do you think the 8% oats portion is going to be enough to provide the mouthfeel and warmth? Or will the rye and the barley malt totally conquer the flavor profile? I've been tinkering with this recipe on and off for a while, especially the rye vs oats proportions. Love to hear your thoughts.