Education : Bourbon

Father's day weekend, we decided to do Bourbon for our Education!

A little more education: We are going to try to feature either a grape or a wine region each week at our stores. We will give you some background information on the grape or region and feature a wine that highlights what we are featuring. We will taste that wine on Saturday at all four of our locations. We will post it here in our blog and send it out in our emails - click here to sign up for our emails

I have started a new label "Education" that you can hit to read all the education articles (see the right column under the heading "labels".

Bourbon 
Bourbon whiskey is a type of American whiskey – a barrel-aged distilled spirit made primarily from corn (though each distillery has its own recipe featuring corn, barley, wheat and rye). The name of the spirit derives from its historical association with an area known as Old Bourbon, around what is now Bourbon County, Kentucky (which, in turn, was named after the French House of Bourbon royal family). It has been produced since the 18th century. While it may be made anywhere in the United States, it is strongly associated with the American South in general, and Kentucky in particular. For a whiskey to be legally labeled as bourbon it must meet the following requirements:

• Must be made from a minimum of 51% Corn
• Must be made in NEW charred oak barrels.
• Bourbon has no minimum specified duration for its aging period. Products aged for as little as three months are sold as bourbon.
• Bourbon that has been aged for a minimum of two years, and does not have added coloring, flavoring, or other spirits may (but is not required to) be called straight bourbon.
• Bourbon that is labeled as straight that has been aged under four years must be labeled with the duration of its aging.
• Bourbon that has an age stated on its label must be labeled with the age of the youngest whiskey in the bottle.

As stated above each distillery and specific bourbon has their own formula some have a high rye content resulting in a spicier flavor, some feature a higher wheat content thus a softer sweeter flavor while others follow the more traditional formula of mostly corn with small amounts of barley and rye and use the type of barrel and position in the warehouse to influence the flavor of the bourbon. Stop by and taste which formula best matches the father on your list.

Basic Bourbon "Styles"Classic Bourbon Recipe: 70% Corn, 15% Barley and 15% Rye
Baker’s
Knob Creek
Elijah Craig
Evan Williams
Jim Beam
Booker’s
Wild Turkey
Old Crow

Bourbon with higher Rye content
Buffalo Trace
Eagle Rare
Woodford Reserve
Basil Hayden’s
Bulleit
Four Roses
George T. Stagg
Old Forester
Old Grand-Dad
Early Times
Wild Turkey
Evan Williams

Bourbon with higher Wheat Recipe:
W.L. Weller Reserve
W.L. Weller Antique
W.L. Weller 12 Year Old
Maker’s Mark
Old Fitzgerald
Rebel Yell
Van Winkle

We will taste a bourbon from each category this weekend at our Forsyth location on Saturday from 11am-4pm