Ten Suggestions for Bourbon Beginners from Chuck Cowdery

[pmsummer]

Nice baseline.

Ten Suggestions For Bourbon Beginners.

You don't have to start with Jack and Jim if you don't want to, and you shouldn't start with George T. Stagg or Pappy 23, even if you can. Here are ten bourbons, each from a different distillery or recipe, that should give you a good introduction to the bourbon landscape. (They are in no particular order.)

1. Maker's Mark. (Beam Inc.) The brand that made the others possible by showing that you can successfully position bourbon as a quality product on par with any of the world's great distilled spirits. Wheat rather than rye in the mash makes it sweeter and milder than a typical bourbon but it has enough depth and richness to satisfy sophisticated sippers.

2. Knob Creek. (Beam Inc.) Launched more than 20 years ago and the leader in its segment, Knob is Jim Beam juice aged for nine years and bottled at 50% ABV. It has a thick, smoky flavor with touches of anise, clove, and bitter lemon, and finishes surprisingly clean.

3. Woodford Reserve (Brown-Forman) The picturesque distillery in Versailles, Kentucky, uses Scottish-made pot stills but your bottle contains both bourbon made there and at the company's conventional distillery near Louisville. Rich, warm vanilla fudge with plum and white pepper.

4. Eagle Rare Single Barrel (Sazerac) It's ten-years-old, 45% ABV, and single barrel, all packed into a beautiful bottle. The whiskey has a huge mouth feel, lots of caramel and vanilla, with a hint of licorice.

5. Bulleit. (Diageo) It's a family name, pronounced like the projectile. It's bourbon, so mostly corn, but not shy about its rye, containing about twice as much of that spicy and flavorful grain as any other bourbon, giving it an earthy sharpness on top of a silky corn base. No age statement, 45% ABV.

6. Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage. (Heaven Hill) If you want to taste the best whiskey Parker and Craig Beam made in any given year, this is the place to find it. It varies from year-to-year and barrel-to-barrel, but always has a hearty flavor with plenty of tobacco and dark fruit, with a hint of mint. Nine-years-old, 43.2% ABV.

7. Russell's Reserve Bourbon. (Campari America) Named in honor of veteran Master Distiller Jimmy Russell, this bourbon is 10-years-old and 45% ABV. It offers rich, buttery caramel overlaid with earthy pipe tobacco, cumin, lemon, and black pepper, and is probably the best introduction to the Wild Turkey family.

8. Ridgemont Reserve 1792. (Sazerac) Made at the only distillery within the city limits of Bardstown, the self-proclaimed Bourbon Capital of the Known Universe, it is eight-years-old, 46.85% ABV, with a full, round, sumptuous body and slightly nutty flavor that comes from the high percentage of malt in the mash.

9. Four Roses. (Kirin) Known as yellow label to distinguish it from the single barrel and small batch expressions, it is full beneficiary of the distillery's unique practice of making and mixing together ten different bourbon recipes. No age statement, 40% ABV.

10. Weller 12-Year-Old. (Sazerac) Often in short supply, and with good reason, it substitutes wheat for rye like Maker's and Old Fitzgerald, but with a lot more wood time. Good thing, because the wood tannins balance a sweetness that might be too much without them. Bottled at 45% ABV.

If you've already had all these, congratulations. You're no longer a beginner.
Posted by Chuck Cowdery

http://chuckcowdery.blogspot.com/2012/05/ten-suggestions-for-bourbon-beginners.html

 

[stereocuuple]

we have 3 of those here most of the time.

 

[Texun1]

we have 3 of those here most of the time.

Well... whats the address?

 

[pmsummer]

Jack is not a bourbon - since it it made in Tennessee and not Kentucky and it is a sour mash style.

Bourbon HAS to be barreled and aged in Kentucky. It also has to be mostly corn (min 51%). Out of the still at 180 proof, it has to be diluted with water to 125 proof to go into the barrels. The barrels have to be new charred oak barrels.

There are many rules about Bourbon....

Being from Kentucky is not one of them.

 

[pmsummer]

The legal requirements for Bourbon whiskey.

Also from Wikipedia...

Tennessee is home to other major bourbon producers, though three of the four main producers don't call the finished product bourbon. Jack Daniel's is a notable example. But the methods for producing Tennessee whiskey fit the characteristics of bourbon production, and "Tennessee whiskey" is legally defined under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and some other laws (such as the law of Canada) as the recognized name for a straight bourbon whiskey produced in Tennessee. Some Tennessee whiskey producers point to their use of the Lincoln County Process, a charcoal-filtering process, to draw a distinction between Tennessee whiskey and bourbon. But many bourbons are charcoal-filtered (for example, Ezra Brooks Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey and Old Heaven Hill), and not all Tennessee whiskey producers use the Lincoln County process (for example, Benjamin Prichard's Tennessee Whiskey). The U.S. regulations defining bourbon do not prohibit the Lincoln County process, even if the process is used, the legal definition under NAFTA defines Tennessee whiskey as bourbon.

 

[pmsummer]

I was not quoting wikipedia but from a class I took in bourbons (remembering all the little points) at a wine conference last fall. It was taught by a professor of consumer products (specialty bourbons).

http://www1.american.edu/ted/kentuckybourbon.htm

http://www.straightbourbon.com/faq.html

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/tex...v8&view=text&node=27:1.0.1.1.3.3.25.2&idno=27 Federal Registry - just for fun!

If he told you that bourbon must come from Kentucky, he was mistaken, as the sources you quote make clear.

 

[jimfet]

I've had 7 of them. Knob being my favorite.

 

[finnbow]

Nice list. I'd somehow wedge Buffalo Trace into that list, probably instead of Bulleit or Four Roses Yellow Label. With regard to the Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage, I'm not overly fond of their latest, the 2002. Far too much wood in my view. The 2000 was far better, and the 2001 was somewhere between the two. I hope they reverse the apparent trend.

 

[whoaru99]

Being from Kentucky is not one of them.

Yes, apparently a common misconception. Was just listening to a radio show about a micro distillery in Wisconsin that is going to be putting out some small batch bourbon. Same thing came up but the distillery folks quickly put it to bed that bourbon is not specific to Kentucky.

 

[cubby01]

My wife just yesterday brought home a bottle of Russell’s Reserve 10 Year Bourbon. I think she thought she was getting the Russell's 6 YO Rye, which we both like. Anyway, it was not what I expected. Nose is good, but there is an off taste I can't put my finger on. Odd thing is straight up it's not so bad but with a bit of water (pure filtered) where it spreads the flavors out a bit more there is a distinct something that's almost wanting me to take it back and complain. Could it be an off batch? I doubt it but I had some cheap swill in my day but nothing that hit me quite that way. Maybe it's me. I'll give it another try in a few days.