Bourbon rules
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 11:35 am
A good friend of mine who is a whiskey connoisseur was in town for a visit and tried some of my AG Cherry Smoked Bourbon (60% corn, 30% 2-row cold smoked with cherry, 10% rye malt, D-47). It's still young, only about 3 months on oak now, but he enjoyed it. He told me 3 things:
1) needs more complexity (I'm guilty of being picky with my cuts)
2) overall tastes like a high quality commercial spirit but needs more time on oak to pull more tannins/goodies
and 3) This isn't bourbon, it's corn whiskey.
Note #3 perplexes me. I didn't argue with him because he is paid to host tastings and events and usually knows his stuff... But he justified himself by saying that Bourbon by law needs to be aged at least 2 years. Corn whiskey on the other hand he said, is basically a young bourbon.
Now I've always understood that corn whiskey needed to be at least 80% of the grain bill... and mine is 60%. And I though the minimum 2 years on oak was just for 'straight bourbon', not regular ol' bourbon.
I did visit Corsair this past summer and while on the tour, one of the employees told me they don't call their whiskeys Bourbon because they only age most of them for 10 months in 15-30gal barrels. SO there is another claim there to back my buddy up.
But I am confused. If it can't be called bourbon, and it can't be called corn whiskey, is it just whiskey then? Or is he wrong and bourbon can be aged for less than 2 years so long as the corn makes up 51+% of the bill?
What's the word around HD? Is my recipe a bourbon, or just a whiskey?
1) needs more complexity (I'm guilty of being picky with my cuts)
2) overall tastes like a high quality commercial spirit but needs more time on oak to pull more tannins/goodies
and 3) This isn't bourbon, it's corn whiskey.
Note #3 perplexes me. I didn't argue with him because he is paid to host tastings and events and usually knows his stuff... But he justified himself by saying that Bourbon by law needs to be aged at least 2 years. Corn whiskey on the other hand he said, is basically a young bourbon.
Now I've always understood that corn whiskey needed to be at least 80% of the grain bill... and mine is 60%. And I though the minimum 2 years on oak was just for 'straight bourbon', not regular ol' bourbon.
I did visit Corsair this past summer and while on the tour, one of the employees told me they don't call their whiskeys Bourbon because they only age most of them for 10 months in 15-30gal barrels. SO there is another claim there to back my buddy up.
But I am confused. If it can't be called bourbon, and it can't be called corn whiskey, is it just whiskey then? Or is he wrong and bourbon can be aged for less than 2 years so long as the corn makes up 51+% of the bill?
What's the word around HD? Is my recipe a bourbon, or just a whiskey?