These same waters created the extensive river systems that conducted the business of whiskey to markets downstream. And when the whiskey was identified by the then-huge county it shipped from, it happened to get named for the French royal family which had proven so useful in the recently concluded war of revolution. Bourbon was born. The last ingredient in Bourbon's formula is also unique to America. To this day, the American forestry industry ranks among the most productive in the world.
Vast, trackless forests greeted early settlers; it was said a squirrel could travel from the Atlantic to the Mississippi without ever touching ground. And that squirrel would have had plenty of acorns on the way, so common were oak trees in those northern, soon-to-be-united States. Thus new oak barrels were relatively easy to come by. In Scotland, by comparison, forests had long been depleted and turned into, among other things, the Royal Navy; additionally, the higher latitude of that country was not quite as well suited to oak as to pine and other conifer species.
So while European whiskey traditions hinged on used oak barrels, Bourbon could benefit from the rapid maturation of a readily available, affordable new barrel. That new oak barrel was the final piece of a solution to a puzzle that has vexed distillers for ages: how to make high quality aged, brown spirit in a short amount of time. Make no mistake, distillers in Scotland, Ireland, and America circa were not aging their whiskey for long years.
Whiskey at that time would have been rather different from the year-old single malts and the bonded Bourbons we enjoy today. That said, four years of aging is rather too young for Scottish pot-stilled malt, which typically wants twice that long in the cask. France at that time had been making well-aged brandies from the Charente and other regions for the better part of a century-but Cognac, and its cousins Armagnac and Calvados, require perhaps ten years in wood before reaching a level of seriously good quality.
And French oak, while of outstanding quality, is expensive to work into barrels, compared to American white oak. Bourbon can be delicious at just four years, and at eight years of age-which is whisky adolescence, at best, in Scotland-it can drink like a world classic. Thus in America, distillers chanced upon one of the great serendipities of drink: plenty of malleable, affordable white oak trees just waiting to be planed into staves at one of many water-powered sawmills, and corn, a native grain well-adapted to a hot climate and with many times the productivity of barley, that moreover yielded a robust distillate that could stand up to the rapid aging curve of a new oak barrel.
And once such captains of industry as E. Taylor revolutionized the whiskey trade in the s, the efficiencies of American whiskey increased even more as distilleries grew to the size of small factories. Perhaps because Bourbon comes by its quality and deep color in a few short years, its producers did not see the need to take shortcuts.
Indeed, in the face of a sea of "rectified" whiskey blended and colored and adulterated in any number of ways, E. Taylor and others at the end of the 19th century were pushing measures to restrict the definition of whiskey to the pure article.
The Taft administration was among the first governments to weigh in on this debate, and further regulations and legislation in the s and have resulted in considerable legal restrictions upon Bourbon. Basically, American straight whiskeys are among the most protected spirit in the world.
Compare the following brown spirits:. This is not to diminish the greatness and glory of Cognac and malt Scotch; both are clearly first ballot hall-of-famers in the world of spirits. But Scotches are routinely treated with caramel coloring to make a pale, young whisky appear like an old one, which additive is sometimes plainly evident in the flavor.
Canadian whisky permits, in addition to coloring, the outright addition of "flavouring," up to 9. Not so American straight whiskey, which rates among the purest spirits in the world; indeed, it is the only one which has the built-in quality control of a new barrel every time. Here, then, are the regulations for straight American whiskey, including Bourbon, excerpted directly from the standards of definition contained in the Code of Federal Regulations. Mouseover the bolded words for the most relevant parts.
The regulations above will clear up most, but not all, of the myths and misconceptions that surround Bourbon. Bourbon can be mixed with a number of different flavours. There are some amazing innovations happening in the bourbon industry, which lend themselves to exciting mixed drinks.
A julep made with fresh mint and lots of ice is superb, and showcases bourbon in an interesting way. Bucks are great — cocktails made with bourbon, fruit, lemon and ginger beer. Strawberries work well, as does pineapple. After dinner, I like coffee and neat whiskey.
A classic — much like a negroni, but made with bourbon in place of gin. Subscriber club Reader offers More Good Food. Sign in. Back to Recipes Pumpkin recipes Butternut squash See more. Back to Recipes Chicken slow cooker Veggie slow cooker See more. Back to Recipes Cheesecakes Cookies See more.
If you're not someone who drinks a lot of brown liquor, the difference between bourbon and whiskey might not seem all that apparent.
After all, both bourbon and whiskey are brown liquids—they look about the same. And to add to the possible confusion, if you just refer to bourbon as whiskey, you wouldn't be wrong. Bourbon is a type of whiskey, much the way that champagne is a type of wine. So all bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. What makes bourbon distinct from other whiskeys is the way it is manufactured and aged. All whiskey is spirit made from fermented grain and then aged in barrels.
But the kind of grain and the kind of barrels determines the variety of whiskey. Per the American Bourbon Association , in order to be classified as bourbon, a whiskey needs to be distilled from a mixture of grains, or mash, that's at least 51 percent corn. That corn gives bourbon its distinctive sweet flavor.
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