What is Bourbon?
by Cameron Thompson
As much as I love my career teaching people about whiskey, it was not a drink that I fell in love with from the first sip. It was a long hard struggle to acquire the taste of what has become one of my favourite beverages. A two year struggle to be exact and it was bourbon I wanted to explore, bourbon whiskey that is. Even today it is my favourite style of whiskey.
Yes, it's true that bourbon is a spirit made from fermented cereals that is aged in an oak barrel. A whiskey! There are five main regulations which govern what makes a bourbon a bourbon, leaving the rest to be called American whiskeys. We will talk more about these regulations later in this article.
I have done a lot of research with this issue trying to find out who was the first person to create this drink called bourbon. I have narrowed it down to two people that influenced this movement starting with Dr James C Crow and the Reverend Elijah Craig.
It was Elijah Craig in 1789 that started making his whiskey from corn (maize), rye and some barley malt, and he really could be accredited with making the first batch. What resulted was a new wave of whiskey making through the states. It was not until a fire in the early 1800 in Craig's Cooperage that the use of charred barrels was considered.
We do not know whether Craig was trying something new or attempting to clean up some old barrels that were used to store fish. Either way they did not realize for many years that these charred oak barrels would create heightened tastes of caramel and enhance the spice through the whiskey.
Railways transported barrels of whiskey all over American and into Canada. These barrels were all government stamped stating their origin. As most of the whiskey was produced in this little region called “ Bourbon County ”, it was adopted as its nickname. People started saying “Here comes more of those bourbon barrels”. In 1964 the American Federal Government recognized that bourbon whiskey was in fact a distinctive product and passed a resolution protecting it under law.
The 5 main regulations are:
- Made from only grain, water and yeast and a minimum of 51% corn
- Distilled and aged in the USA for minimum of 2 years
- Aged in a brand new white oak barrel
- The barrel must be charred on the inside
- Minimum 80 proof (40% abv)
The charred barrels on the inside played an important part in the overall final taste of the whiskey. The barrel is burnt on the inside up to 1cm in depth. It uses a very intense heat and the process lasts less than 20 minutes. All the natural sugars that sit in the oak are caramelized. Kentucky in particular has a very hot climate which causes these barrels to swell in the summer. The new spirit in the barrel is drawn into the wood and moves around and sits on the caramel. In the winter time as the barrel contracts all the spirit is pushed back over the caramel into the middle of the barrel. It is during this process that bourbon receives the majority of its sweetness.
We receive some amazing bourbons in Australia and it is a great drink to explore. Our country has a thirst for many types of beverages but I am always amazed at the shear volume of bourbon we consume. It is incredible to think this country of 20 million people is the second largest consumer of bourbon in the world, per litre. We have an amazing array of domestic bourbon and an ever increasing amount of premium bourbons to sample. And I say try them all!
Go out and have a look at this mouth feel whiskey but make sure you drink it with a smile on your face, as this is the essence of whiskey.