Bernie Lubbers

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Happy National Bourbon Day

June 14, 2021 by 1 Comment

June 14th is, in addition to Flag Day, National Bourbon Day. It is a celebration of a distinctly American spirit which actually can be distilled in any US state – not just Kentucky.

That said, Kentucky still produces the overwhelming majority of bourbon distilled. This infographic from the Kentucky Distillers Association shows just how much bourbon has boomed from 2009 to 2019. I’m sure it would be even more if not for the pandemic.

While many bars and restaurants were suffering from COVID-19 restrictions in 2020, sales of bourbon (plus rye and Tennessee whiskey) generated $4.3 billion in gross revenue on sales of 28.4 million 9-liter cases. Manoj Uppal of Barrett Liquors in Louisville, KY said his sales were up 15% last year.

Each spring day resembled a weekend, and the rush at times left him without some brands, he said. But customers unable to find their favorite spirits didn’t leave empty handed. “They ended up buying something else,” he said.

To get an idea of the growth in offerings since January 1, 2020, I checked the label approvals by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. There were 1,457 labels approved for straight bourbon meaning it was aged for at least two years in a new, charred oak barrel and was not blended with neutral spirits. In addition, another 19 labels were approved for bottled in bond bourbon. The latter is one of my favorites as it is at least four years old, 100 proof, from a single distillery, and distilled in one distilling season.

Bernie Lubbers, the Whiskey Professor, explains why he is such an advocate of bottled in bond bourbon.

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124th Anniversary of Bottled In Bond Act

March 3, 2021 by 2 Comments

March 3rd marks the 124th anniversary of Congress passing the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897. It was one of the first consumer protection laws passed and preceded the Pure Drug and Food Act by almost a decade.

When the 54th Congress passed this act, they set standards for distilled spirits that had to be met in order to qualify as “bottled in bond”. While we tend to think of bottled in bond as it refers to bourbon, there are rye, corn whiskey, and apple brandy bottled in bond spirits as well.

To be qualify as bottled in bond, the distilled spirit must:

  • Be bottled at 100 proof
  • Aged for a minimum of four years
  • Distillation must be from one distillery only
  • It was distilled in one distilling season (fall or spring) only
  • The name of the distiller must be on the label
  • Must identify the bottling location if different from the location of the distiller or distillery
  • Only pure water could be added

If a distilled spirit met those qualifications, a green stamp was put on the bottle as a measure of its quality. The law had very strict penalties for counterfeiting these stamps. This law in now codified in the Code of Federal Regulations under Title 27 CFR 5.42.

The Whiskey Professor, Bernie Lubbers, is quite the fan of BIB bourbons and whiskies. He calls it, “the most restricted of the most restricted whiskies!”

So, for that matter, am I! At last count, and I could be wrong on this, I think I have 10 or 11 different bottles of bottled in bond bourbon and corn whiskey. To the great consternation of the Complementary Spouse, I’m always on the lookout for a new one – even though it would take me years to finish the bourbon I have on hand.

Probably the most famous, at least in the movies, is J.T.S. Brown BIB. It was the bourbon that Fast Eddie Felson wanted in the The Hustler.

So on this, the 124th anniversary of the Bottled in Bond Act, let us lift a glass filled preferably with something bottled in bond to Congress actually getting something right for once.

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Happy Bourbon Day

June 14, 2019 by

It is fitting that both Bourbon Day and Flag Day are being celebrated on June 14th this year. What distilled spirit is more identified with America than bourbon? If you said rye, I would point out that most Canadian whiskey is called rye.

One of the most significant legal developments in the history of bourbon was the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897. It said that only domestic distilled spirits that met certain qualifications could use the terms “bond”, “bonded”, “bottled in bond”, “aged in bond” or similar phrases. This told the consumer that the whiskey, bourbon, or other spirit that they were buying was what it said on the label. They weren’t getting some neutral spirit with added coloring and tobacco juice added for “flavor”.

This was codified into Title 27 CFR 5.42. Section 3 states:

(3) The words “bond”, “bonded”, “bottled in bond”, “aged in bond”, or phrases containing these or synonymous terms, shall not be used on any label or as part of the brand name of domestic distilled spirits unless the distilled spirits are:

(i) Composed of the same kind of spirits produced from the same class of materials;

(ii) Produced in the same distilling season by the same distiller at the same distillery;

(iii) Stored for at least four years in wooden containers wherein the spirits have been in contact with the wood surface except for gin and vodka which must be stored for at least four years in wooden containers coated or lined with paraffin or other substance which will preclude contact of the spirits with the wood surface;

(iv) Unaltered from their original condition or character by the addition or subtraction of any substance other than by filtration, chill proofing, or other physical treatments (which do not involve the addition of any substance which will remain incorporated in the finished product or result in a change in class or type);

(v) Reduced in proof by the addition of pure water only to 100 degrees of proof; and

(vi)Bottles at 100 degrees of proof.

In addition to the requirements of § 5.36(a) (1) or (2), the label shall bear the real name of the distillery or the trade name under which the distillery produced and warehoused the spirits, and the plant (or registered distillery) number in which produced; and the plant number in which bottled. The label may also bear the name or trade name of the bottler.

Bernie Lubbers, the Whiskey Professor and brand ambassador for Heaven Hill, is a true believer in Bottled in Bond bourbon. So much so that he has it tattooed on his arm and his license plate reads “Stay Bonded”. He and fellow writer Fred Minnick explain it in the YouTube video below. Bernie is the author of Bourbon Whiskey: Our Native Spirit which is an excellent book in my opinion and Fred is the author of Bourbon Curious: A Simple Tasting Guide for the Savvy Drinker which is another great book on bourbon. I both in my collection.

So when you get home from work tonight, pour yourself a nice bourbon or mix a cocktail with bourbon and then sip it while looking at your flag. Better yet, make it a bottled in bond bourbon!