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A brief guide to Bourbon Article

By: Mathew Tinkham Click author's name for more of his/her articles

Bourbon is a spirit deeply set in American culture. The drink evolved and developed with the history of the country, becoming the popular libation it is today. In this article we will look at a few delightful bourbons including Knob Creek, Maker's Mark, Van Winkle and Four Roses, all of which can be purchased from the online whisky store Master of Malt.

The Scotch-Irish brought whiskey with them to America. Many of them settled around Pennsylvania and the Northern States. There were a great number of distillers and a heavy alcohol tax, imposed in 1791, caused a great deal of consternation. The tax, which was largely to raise government funds, was particularly hard-hitting on the small scale producers ? larger scale distillers, George Washington included, received a flat tax rate.

The taxes were so high many distillers struggled to survive. Small scale civil protest developed until 1974, when armed rebellion broke out. After this, the US Government, for the first time since the US Constitution, used military force against its own citizens. These riots were known as the Whiskey Rebellion. Several men were imprisoned and two of the men were given death sentences, though these were repealed by George Washington on the grounds of one being a ?simpleton? and the other being ?insane?.

The tax eventually forced the distillers to flee to the southern states. A number of the distillers settled around Kentucky, where they benefited from the 1779 Cabin Rights and Corn Patch Law - a law which allowed any man to have 400 acres of land so long as he used it to grow maize and built a house upon it. Farmers quickly filled the state, and it was not long before they learnt that distilling the corn to produce whisky was a far more profitable practice. They began to ship the whiskey down the various waterways, including the Mississippi river which took the corn spirit to New Orleans.

Barrels to be transported would be stamped with their place of origin. There was one plot in what is now Kentucky called Bourbon County, named for the French Royal Family. Customers receiving spirit that originated there would ask for ?that whiskey from bourbon?. And so the name was born.

So this is what led the corn-base of bourbon. Corn brings a lot of flavour to the whiskey, and by law must account for at least 51% of the mashbill. The mashbill is the selection of grains used in American whiskey distillation. Of the four main grains used, corn imparts mellow, gentle sweetness and earthy spice. One example is Knob Creek, which is a small batch 9 year old whiskey produced by the Jim Beam Company. Knob Creek is named for the area where Abraham Lincoln spent his childhood. The whiskey has a spicy note with notes of toasty oak and caramel. The palate is full, soft and nutty with dark spices.

Rye is often used in the production of bourbon. Rye is a hardy grain and it brings a full body and supple character to a whiskey. It proffers plenty of spice and dark, peppery fruits. Four Roses is a a good example of a bourbon with a good quantity of rye present. Four Roses bourbon enjoys a maturation of around 5 to 6 years and has notes of fruity, dark honey and plenty of spice.

Rye is occasionally replaced with wheat by some distillers. Wheat is a much softer grain, which imparts a smooth body and a sweet flavour. A delicious wheated bourbon is Maker's Mark, a small batch bourbon. Small batch is a term created by Jim Beam's Booker Noe, and it refers to bourbon produced on a very small scale. Maker's Mark offers notes of honey and coffee and sweet oak.

Barley is the final grain used in the production of bourbon. Barley is also the only grain used in the production of single malt Scotch. In much of America it is easily grown and was first brought over by the Scotch-Irish settlers. It proffers cereal notes, lots of biscuity flavours and sweetness with rich complexity. One sterling example is the well-aged Van Winkle 12. It is produced at the Buffalo Trace distillery and offers notes of buttery, juicy cereals, biscuity notes and honeyed smoke.

Each of these is a delicious example of how the various grains affect a bourbon. These are all great value whiskeys and are definitely worth trying, from the toasty, rich and nutty Knob Creek, to the spiced, darkly fruity Four Roses, through the supple, gentle sweetness of Maker's Mark to the biscuity, thick Van Winkle 12. These are all available online at the Master of Malt.

Article Source: ABC Article Directory

About The Author: Mathew Tinkham has been tasting malt whisky for over 20 years. One of his favourites at the moment is Tomatin whisky, a single cask single malt whisky.