It is fitting that the true American spirit – bourbon – is celebrated on Flag Day. Both represent something uniquely American.
So today I would suggest is a great time to have a nip of bourbon. It doesn’t matter if it is in a cocktail, on the rocks, or neat. If you don’t wish to partake of anything alcoholic, you could still use bourbon to make a great tasting sauce as the alcohol will evaporate as you cook it leaving you with the wonderful flavor of bourbon.
I hesitate to even say this out loud but I probably have one too many bottles of bourbon in my collection. I know the Complementary Spouse would agree. I just can’t help myself when I see an interesting bottle that is not overpriced.
So tonight, after we get home, I think I will have a sip or two of the Parker’s Heritage Cognac Finished bourbon. It was the 5th edition of the special blendings of bourbon by the late Parker Beam who was the Master Distiller for Heaven Hill. What good is it to have a special bottle of bourbon if it just sits on the shelf lonely like an old dog waiting for its owner to give it some attention instead of playing with the new puppy.
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.
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 thelabel 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.
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”.
(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!
National Bourbon Day was yesterday. Sad to say my tipoff was an email from Liquor Barn which is a large chain in Kentucky. I apologize for not keeping up with the calendar to alert you to such a momentous day!
To make up for it, here is a good video put out by NBC News. I’m kind of shocked that NBC actually put together a decent story but it was. It talks about craft distilling, sourced whiskey, bourbon marketing, and the half-truths put out regarding the various brands of bourbon.
The key words to keep in mind are “distilled by”. If it doesn’t say that on the label, it is probably sourced whiskey. “Produced by”, “bottled by”, “made by”, and other words are marketing tools used to confuse the buyer into thinking the people behind the brand name on the label actually distilled the whiskey. It is probably from MGP in Lawrenceburg, Indiana or one of the other major distillers in Kentucky who had some excess production.
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