age

[Rocky_Creek]

One of the best ways to figure out the effects of aging whiskey in charred oak barrels is to try a range of different whiskies from one distillery. And this is easily done with the various readily available ones from the Heaven Hill Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky.
Raw un-aged whiskey is called 'white dog'. Heaven Hill has a product called 'Georgia Moon' which is nothing more than their white dog watered down to jar proof. It comes in a mason jar. This raw corn liquor is very close to what you might get from your local moonshiner.
Next we have 'Mellow Corn', a 2 year old corn whiskey that was aged in used cooperage. If you eyeball it, you'll notice the mellow straw color, whereas the white dog was clear. This straw color comes from aging in the barrel.
Then we'll add 2 more years of age with the 4 year old 'Henry McKenna'. Aged in new charred white oak barrels, this can now be called straight Bourbon whiskey. You can see the deepening of the color to light amber in this one, and taste that the finish of the whiskey has smoothed out considerably.
OK. Now on to the 7 year old 'Evan Williams'. Again the color is deeper, to the point of being a classic amber. The flavor is also deeper and more complex and the finish is much more refined.
At 12 years of age is Elijah Craig. Its color is a deeper amber with glinting ruby highlights. The flavor has become powerfully robust, and the nose has much more complexity. The finish is long and powerful as new flavors arrive.
Just for grins, you could also toss the 10 year old Evan Williams Single Barrel and the 18 year old Elijah Craig single barrel into the mix. These are both very unique bourbons with their own special merits.
The unifying element between all these whiskies is that they are all made from the exact same recipe. Yep. Heaven Hill has but one bourbon mashbill that Carl Beam brought with him when he was hired by Heaven Hill, right after Prohibition ended. It's been the same to this very day. Carl's son Parker Beam makes it the same way his daddy did, as will Parker's son, master distiller in training Craig Beam, when he takes over the distillery.
So there you go. From birth to 18 years of age. The same sour mash bourbon recipe made in the very same still and by the very same master distiller. All very different, due to aging in the barrel and the rackhouse location of that barrel.

[Hillbilly Rebel]

I've tasted Georgia Moon, the legal whiskey. It doesn't taste like what is made in the "private distilleries" that I have occassioned. Might be the difference between straight corn and sugar whiskey, but I figger its the difference between the commercial continious distillation process producing high alcohol content, little flavor verus the mountain moonshiner producing his product for quality, not quanity, and at a lower proof that doesn't cook all the flavor out of it. Any way, that's just my observation and thoughts. By the way, I emptied the quart jar that Georgia Moon came in and put something in it a lot closer to what the name implies. Good camoflage.

[Rocky_Creek]

You got to figure that most of the people writing these articles never tasted anything illegal. I should have editedThat comment but I posted it for comparison pourposes. I'm fixing to age something that makes "Georgia Moon" the commercial product taste like gasoline, matter of fact it does.

[TRANSPLANTED HILLBILLY]

Amen to that Rocky Creek. I ain't been at it long but mine bettern dat.

Cousin Rebel, I do the same camo thing when I what to take some somewhere. Got a Georgia Moon, Moutain Moonshine, clear and oaked(from my home state), and a little brown jug that had pure corn likker (the name eludes me right now) from missouri in it. That pure corn ain't half bad. Gonna look for the VA made stuff next time I get that way.

[Hillbilly Rebel]

Yeah, rather than just pouring out the Georgia Moon, I tried to give it to my brother-in-law to drink, but even he wouldn't drink it. Fooled hell out of me! Transplanted Hillbilly, we talked about Georgia Moon and I reconized Mountain Moonshine to be made in West Virginia and sold only in West Virginia and Tennessee, (and maybe Ohio?), but I've never tried it. I live only spitting distance from both West Virginia and Tennessee, but never thought to ask for it. What's your opinion on it?

[Virginia Gentleman]

Thanks for the post, Rocky. That's a good article. I've said it before, Evan Williams single barrel is one of my favorites and a hell of a bargain as far as single barrels go. Usually can get it for about $16 around here.

Hillbilly, the Va. stuff is OK but nothgin to get excited about. Called Va. Lightening, made in Culpeper. I do like their Copper Fox, soaked on applewood and aged in oak.

Haven't tried the West Va. "legal" shine yet. So far mine is better than all of them.

I had a "cherry mash" the other day from a local fella, what a great flavor!

[TRANSPLANTED HILLBILLY]

Rebel, I'm with the gentelman on this one. Like I said I ain't been at this long and mines bettern theirs. The oaked stuff that MM puts out is a little better than the white. I have put the bottle contents in runs as feints and the resulting product was way better than the store bought stuff. Must have been the attention to detail in the mashing . I just like to acquire the bottles for camo purposes and to make me feel a bit better about the stuff I'm makin'.