It’s also not expensive, and the label confirms that it is a good quality product that should not necessarily cost a lot. I’ve heard that they are talking about reintroducing a bourbon version of Early Times soon. I would look forward to tasting that.
With Michter’s, “unblended” means they are trying to alert you to the fact that there are no grain neutral spirits, and by the statement “unblended,” and “American Whiskey” means that is it is not a bourbon. This probably means that it, too, has been aged in used barrels. There is no age statement, so it must have aged for at least four years. This is a $30 bottle of whiskey, so I have a few questions about this product. “Decanted and bottled by” means the producers are rectifiers that purchase whiskey on the open market and then age and process it to their standards, but they have no distillery. The proof is a nice high proof that would be worth a few more dollars, but I would like some more information on the age for it being a whiskey and not a bourbon.
SEAGRAM’S 7, KESSLER
“American whiskey–a blend of distinctive character”
“Bottled by”
80, 80 proof
75% and 72.5% grain spirits
A “blended whiskey” or “whiskey–a blend” is a mixture which contains straight whiskies or a blend of straight whiskies that are not less than 20% on a proof-gallon basis, excluding alcohol derived from added harmless coloring, flavoring, or blending materials, and separately, or in combination, whiskey or neutral spirits. Also, the percentage of neutral grain spirits must be printed on the label for U.S. whiskies.
Sure enough, if you look on the back label of Seagram’s 7 it states “75% grain spirits.” A neutral grain spirit comes from a grain (usually corn, as there is a bigger alcohol yield from corn than from small grains like rye, wheat or barley) that is distilled up to 190 proof. What’s an example of a grain spirit? I’ll bring back a high school or college memory–Ever Clear Pure Grain Alcohol. Ever Clear is made from corn and distilled to 190 proof. As a side note, I also get a kick out of the other words on the Ever Clear label:
DO NOT APPLY TO OPEN FLAME
CONTENTS MAY IGNITE OR EXPLODE
CAUTION!! EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE
HANDLE WITH CARE
NOT INTENDED FOR CONSUMPTION UNLESS MIXED WITH NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
Have you ever been to a party where grain alcohol is being served by your classy host? How do they usually serve it? With a mixture of fruit juices. That hootch is equivalent to putting colors and flavors and sugars into it–much like the peach or strawberries in our moonshine example earlier. You have to soften it up and make it palatable, so you make a blend of juices to do so.
Back to Seagram’s 7. So 75% of this is pure grain alcohol, and 25% is whiskey (which can also be produced up to 190 proof), so you’ve basically got Ever Clear that has been watered down to 80 proof. It must “look, smell, and taste” like whiskey to be a whiskey, so they add caramel coloring, sugars and flavors to get it to look, smell, and taste like whiskey. This is done instantly. And there you have “whiskey–a blend.”
To show you what sugar and coloring can do, in my youth I would make Kool Aid in the summertime. My mom always bought the concentrated pouches that had no sugar added. I always liked the sour sensation the Kool Aid would give me without the sugar, but I could only drink a spoonful. But as soon as I added a cup and a half of sugar to it, I could drink the whole pitcher! Same thing with blended whiskey. It starts out kind of harsh because it’s basically pure grain alcohol watered down to 80 proof. But as soon as you add caramel color and sugar to it, it becomes really smooth. And how do people drink Seagram’s 7? In a seven-and-seven: They mix it with 7UP, which has more sugar and flavor. No wonder it’s so smooth, and no wonder you wake up with a giant headache the next morning from all that sugar!
There is absolutely nothing wrong with drinking blended whiskey. Some people prefer it over other whiskey. But know what it is. Blended whiskey is cheap whiskey by definition. They do not cost much, and they shouldn’t, but there are still some bourbons like Old Crow which cost several dollars less than blended whiskey. I’ll buy Old Crow or Old Charter over blended whiskies when the occasion calls for it. Knowing how to read a label could be saving you money, too!
JIM BEAM, EVAN WILLIAMS, OLD FORESTER, OLD FITZGERALD, WILD TURKEY
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
“Distilled by”
4 years old stated
Some state no age
80 proof.
I don’t have to wonder how these bourbons are made. I know this is a quality stamp since the words Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey appear on it.
Jim Beam states four years of age, the others state no age. I look at the back to see whether they are four years old. If the bourbon is four years old, the age statement is optional. Jim Beam makes four-, five-, seven-, and eight-year-old bourbons. They put age statements on their white labels to distinguish the differences between the bourbons.
Evan Williams, Old Forester, Old Fitzgerald and Wild Turkey do not state an age on their labels. What I assume here is that these are four years old. That’s what the label is telling me, anyway. Some have varying proofs, but the ages are the same according to the labels.
Remember, it takes at least six years to get pronounced vanilla notes. So if you like big vanilla, caramel, maple and ginger flavors, look for something that is at least six years old.
JACK DANIELS, GEORGE DICKEL, PRICHARD’S
Tennessee Whiskey
Old No. 7, Old No. 8
“Distilled and bottled by”
80 proof
Tennessee Whiskey is not a designation in the Standards of Identity, so Jack must follow all the rules of whiskey but not of bourbon. Jack uses the same basic rules of bourbon regarding grain bills and distillation. They distill to 140 proof, so that’s well under 160. They use new charred-oak barrels. The big difference is what is called the “Lincoln County Process” of aging and leaching the whiskey off the still through a 10-foot column of maple charcoal. Gravity propels the whiskey to drip down through the charcoal into the barrel. It takes a whole week to get this done.
Jack Daniels uses new barrels to get as much flavor out of the wood as possible in the time that they age. If they used a previously used barrel, they would have to age the whiskey longer than the four to five years they do. The “No. 7” on the label is not an age statement. Even folks at their distillery aren’t sure what it really means. I know this because I was watching the History Channel one night and on came a show about whiskey. They were at the Jack Daniel’s Distillery, which was fascinating, but the representative for the distillery said that no one at the distillery had any idea what Old No. 7 stood for. The first thing that came to my mind was, “Dude, you’re on the History Channel! Make some shit up at least!”
Old No. 8 for Dickel Tennessee Whiskey is a fine tradition, and they produce good whiskey. But it is not bourbon by their design and tradition in Tennessee. I don’t see anything on the website about what Old No. 8 Stands for, but my guess is that it is a play on Old No. 7 from Jack, which would be really hilarious since Old No. 7 means nothing.
Apart from Jack Daniels, George Dickel and Prichard’s are the only other Tennessee Whiskies. They do it slightly differently, but still in that same style. Mr. Prichard is also using white corn to mirror the style of the Tennessee whiskies made in the 1800s in the Volunteer State.
OLD GRAND DAD, HEAVEN HILL, OLD FITZGERALD, OLD BOURBON HOLLOW—BOTTLED IN BOND
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
“Bonded – Bottled in Bond”
“Distilled by”
All are 100 proof
No age statement
We know by definition that these are at least four years old and exactly 100 proof, from one distillery and from one season.
The 1,000,000th barrel produced after prohibition by the Sunny Brook Distillery in front of one of the bonded warehouses. (Photo courtesy of the Louisville Convention and Visit
ors Bureau)
A NOTE ON SMALL BATCH
There is no definition of small batch of single barrel in the TTB’s Standards of Identity. “Small batch” is a term that was first coined by legendary distiller Booker Noe in 1987 with the introduction of Booker’s Bourbon a few years after Elmer T. Lee came out with Blanton’s Single Barrel in1984. Booker’s “small batch” became a designation that was supposed to mean it was not a single-barrel bourbon. I like to say, it’s a “mingle” not a single.
A single-barrel bourbon is agreed upon that it’s bourbon bottled up from only one barrel. That barrel and its location in the rack house are sometimes noted on each bottle. Small-batch bourbons are taking more than one barrel (no agreed upon amount) from certain places in the rack house and then mingling those barrels for a consistent flavor profile. Conversely a single-barrel bourbon can taste different from barrel to barrel, and that’s the magic of single-barrel bourbon. We don’t make batches of bourbon since we use continuous column stills, so the small batch is at the end where you take selected barrels from the distiller’s “sweet spots” of the rack house.
The definition of small batch can differ from distiller to distiller. Now Parker Beam at Heaven Hill introduced Elijah Craig around the same time as Booker’s, and he defined his Small Batch Bourbon as a batch of 70 barrels or less. Because Booker and Parker are cousins, and both buddies with Elmer T. Lee, it’s probably a logical assumption that they were picking each other’s brains without really telling each other completely what they were working on. So even though Small Batch Bourbons are not distilled in small batches, it still defines the category. So small batch is kind of like an oxymoron, like peace keeper missile. Oxymorons that I came up with on my own include vodka tasting, vacation Bible school, mild heart attack, and Fox News.
KNOB CREEK 9-YEAR, ELIJAH CRAIG 12-YEAR, PAPPY VAN WINKLE 23-YEAR, RUSSELL’S RESERVE 10-YEAR
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
“Distilled and bottled by”
Small-batch
Aged 9 to 23 years
100, 94, 95.6 and 90 proof
These all have the four foundation words, so there’s the quality stamp. Every drop in that bottle is at least as old as the age that is stated on the label.
“Distilled and bottled by” shows that they are each controlled by their own standards. Some state “small batch,” which has no definition, but was coined to differentiate it from a single-barrel bourbon. It’s a mingle of barrels.
I’m left with few questions, if any, about these bourbons. I know how they are made, where they are made, and how long they have been aged. But there is a risk in putting an age statement on a bourbon label. If the demand for that bourbon outpaces the supply of barrels that are in a warehouse, you might see a shortage or outage of a product until the next lot of barrels reaches maturity.
WOODFORD RESERVE, BULLIET, MAKER’S MARK, BUFFALO TRACE, FOUR ROSES
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
“Distilled by”
Small batch
No age statement
90.4, 90, 90, 90, 90 proof
You don’t have to worry about quality with the four foundation words. We know the bourbon in the bottle is at least four years old since there is no age statement. But with many small-batch or other handmade bourbons, their stocks are limited so they often mingle ages. If you mingle bourbons from four to eight+ years old, you get a unique flavor profile. Some call this “bottled to taste.” They are not trying to mislead you about the age of the bourbon, but they are most likely trying to keep themselves from running out of older whiskey and not being able to supply the demand. If there is an age on the bottle, that number must reflect the age of the youngest bourbon in the mix. If you don’t state an age, the youngest bourbon has to be at least four years old. So the distiller can use younger bourbons with the same flavor profile to continue the run if they run out of the older stock, as long as the youngest is at least four years old.
Bourbon with ages on the bottle aren’t “better” than those without ages, but remember, if you like big vanilla or other barrel notes in your bourbon, age statements might be more important for you.
CORNER CREEK, ROWAN’S CREEK, JEFFERSON’S RESERVE, POGUE MASTER’S SELECT
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Small batch
“Distilled in Kentucky, bottled by”
No age statement
88, 100.1, 82.3, 91 proof
These are quality products with the four foundation words. But the language “distilled in Kentucky” means that it was not distilled by them. This tells you that they are rectifiers. This means that they are buying the bourbon from one of the distillers that sells on the open market. What are they doing to make it “their” bourbon? Look for age and proof.
There is no age statement, so we can assume that the bourbon in the bottle is at least four years old. It could also be a mingle of ages, but we are going by the label here. Then note the proof. For additional information, you can check the “necker labels” that often dangle from the bottles or check the companies’ websites. In many cases this can give more information than the label. But remember, there are not the same strict laws on neckers or the web that there are for the label itself.
Make no mistake, I would love to be a rectifier and have my own bourbon. It’s a way for passionate people (some who are descendants of famous whiskey distillers) to continue or start a bourbon legacy. Distilleries cost millions of dollars to build and maintain, so rectifying is a great way to get into the business. I just like as much information on the label as I can get.
BLANTON’S, FOUR ROSES, HANCOCK’S, SINGLE-BARREL BOURBONS, NO AGE STATEMENT
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
“Distilled and bottle by”
Single barrel
No age statement
93, 100, 88.9 proof
ELIJAH CRAIG 18, EAGLE RARE 10, SINGLE BARREL WITH AGE STATEMENTS
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
“Distilled and bottled by”
Single barrel
Proof
18 years old, 10 years old
Single barrel means that all the bourbon from one barrel is bottled at one time. Because every barrel in a rack house can have a slightly different taste, distillers usually list on the label or necker the location of each barrel from which they pulled the bourbon. If you find that you consistently like high-storage or low-storage barrels, you can go for that single barrel over another. Or you might enjoy the varying flavor from barrel to barrel. That’s the magic of single-barrel bourbon. And that explains the difference between “small batch” and “single barrel.”
If no age is listed, all you can assume is that it has been aged for at least four years. With small-batch and single-barrel bourbons that have no age listed, I look for “distilled and bottled by.” I’d like to know that I’m dealing with a distiller and then I can assume they are bottling to a flavor profile. An example of this is Buffalo Trace with their Blanton’s and Hancock’s brands—it is important to know which warehouse the bourbon was pulled from since they age different labels in different warehouses to get a certain flavor profile. You also want to check the proof and see how much water has been added after the aging process. When the age is stated, I get a very clear idea of what to expect from the taste.
Now let’s check out some straight rye whiskey labels. Rye whiskey has to be at least 51% rye, and all the other rules are exactly the same. Check out wheat whiskey. There’s only one, Bernheim Wheat Whiskey. It has to be 51% wheat and follow all the same laws.
STRAIGHT RYE WHISKEY
Rye brings a range of spice notes, including pepper, nutmeg, clove and cinnamon, which are all intensified during the aging process. Think of eating a piece of rye bread.
JIM BEAM RYE, OLD OVERHOLT RYE, SAZERAC RYE, (RI)1 RYE
Look for state of distillation, if any
Straight Rye Whiskey
“Distilled and bottled by”
Age
80, 80, 90, 92 proof
RITTENHOUSE RYE BOTTLED IN BOND
Straight Rye Whiskey
Bottled in Bond means at least 4 years old, from one distillery, exactly 100 proof, and all from barrels from one season (January-December of one year)
“Bottled by”
100 proof
Rye whiskey has to follow the same laws as bourbon. Rye indicates that the whiskey must be made from a fermented mash of at least 51% rye instead of corn. That’s the difference between it and bourbon. Less corn and more rye means that the spirit will be less sweet and have more spice to it. Some of the companies (and this is just my opinion) leave off “Kentucky,” even if they are distilled there, to tie their product to the history of the classic Pennsylvania or “Monongahela” rye whiskies.
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