Taste will dictate what you personally consider a superior whiskey. However, knowing the options available to you when it comes to the very best small batch bourbon might give you a list of award-winning brands you'd like to try. The annual competitions that rate whiskeys entered by hopeful distilleries give bronze, silver, gold, and double gold medals to the winners.
By legal definition, bourbons are made from mashes - often sour, or infused with a 'starter' from an earlier fermentation - that are more than 50% corn, have been aged for at least two years in charred oak barrels, and be at least 80 proof. Traditionally considered an exclusively American product, the whiskey most often will come from Kentucky, where iron-free water seeps through limestone to give superior results. Some well-known whiskeys are not from Kentucky, however, like Jack Daniels, which is made in Tennessee.
The history of this kind of spirit is shrouded in time. Some believe a pioneer Baptist minister, Reverend Elijah Craig, was the first to use a charred oak barrel for aging. Jacob Spears, an early distiller, was the first known person to give his corn whiskey the name of 'bourbon'. The name may have come from the New Orleans street named after the French royal dynasty.
Just like wine descriptions, evaluations of fine bourbons are poetic. Connoisseurs speak of 'overtones of hay, caramel, and French toast', and a trace of the cigar box. Textures are smooth, even though the whiskey may be well over 100 proof. Taste comes partly from the mash, partly from aging, and partly from the charred barrel, which also deepens the color of the originally clear distillation.
Bourbons come in 80 proof varieties, but these never make the top ten list. 80 proof is the minimum, according to federal regulations, but there is no upper limit. Small batches are made using a limited number of barrels of whiskey; Maker's Mark is made in twenty-barrel lots, while many others require ten or less. Dickel Barrel Select and Four Roses Select are two other well-known, limited-edition bourbons.
People take their bourbon-drinking seriously. Although it is used in cocktails like the Manhattan and the Whiskey Sour, many drinkers prefer it neat. Others have it over ice or with a splash of 'branch water' (fresh from the creek in the old days.) The Mint Julep is famous as a summer-time highball in the Bluegrass State.
Annual competitions bring international judges together to evaluate whiskeys of all sorts. The San Francisco World Spirits Competition judges chose the Pappy Van Winkle 15-year Old (a 'wheated' variety) the best of a field of 11-year-plus bourbons, granting it a double gold award in 2013. The panel of judges at the 2014 Chicago International Competition gave top honors in the bourbons category to Knob Creek 9-year Old.
The only way to find your favorite is to try some of the best-known brands. Taking the judges' recommendation is a good way to start. In addition, knowing what happened in the annual competitions makes good conversation when you get together with other bourbon lovers.
By legal definition, bourbons are made from mashes - often sour, or infused with a 'starter' from an earlier fermentation - that are more than 50% corn, have been aged for at least two years in charred oak barrels, and be at least 80 proof. Traditionally considered an exclusively American product, the whiskey most often will come from Kentucky, where iron-free water seeps through limestone to give superior results. Some well-known whiskeys are not from Kentucky, however, like Jack Daniels, which is made in Tennessee.
The history of this kind of spirit is shrouded in time. Some believe a pioneer Baptist minister, Reverend Elijah Craig, was the first to use a charred oak barrel for aging. Jacob Spears, an early distiller, was the first known person to give his corn whiskey the name of 'bourbon'. The name may have come from the New Orleans street named after the French royal dynasty.
Just like wine descriptions, evaluations of fine bourbons are poetic. Connoisseurs speak of 'overtones of hay, caramel, and French toast', and a trace of the cigar box. Textures are smooth, even though the whiskey may be well over 100 proof. Taste comes partly from the mash, partly from aging, and partly from the charred barrel, which also deepens the color of the originally clear distillation.
Bourbons come in 80 proof varieties, but these never make the top ten list. 80 proof is the minimum, according to federal regulations, but there is no upper limit. Small batches are made using a limited number of barrels of whiskey; Maker's Mark is made in twenty-barrel lots, while many others require ten or less. Dickel Barrel Select and Four Roses Select are two other well-known, limited-edition bourbons.
People take their bourbon-drinking seriously. Although it is used in cocktails like the Manhattan and the Whiskey Sour, many drinkers prefer it neat. Others have it over ice or with a splash of 'branch water' (fresh from the creek in the old days.) The Mint Julep is famous as a summer-time highball in the Bluegrass State.
Annual competitions bring international judges together to evaluate whiskeys of all sorts. The San Francisco World Spirits Competition judges chose the Pappy Van Winkle 15-year Old (a 'wheated' variety) the best of a field of 11-year-plus bourbons, granting it a double gold award in 2013. The panel of judges at the 2014 Chicago International Competition gave top honors in the bourbons category to Knob Creek 9-year Old.
The only way to find your favorite is to try some of the best-known brands. Taking the judges' recommendation is a good way to start. In addition, knowing what happened in the annual competitions makes good conversation when you get together with other bourbon lovers.
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