This is a product that is distinct to the United States. It is protected here. It has to come from
the 50 states, but it does not have to come from Kentucky. Greetings people of Earth, Brad Jaffe
here, your host. We're going to go through a brief overview of what bourbon is, so let's get to it.
Despite the fact that, yes, 95% of the bourbon that we are drinking today does
come from the Bluegrass state, it can come from anywhere and now it is being made.
In all 50 states, we're talking about a spirit that is distilled from 51% or more corn. The
other 49% can come from any number of cereal grains. That usually includes rye, barley,
wheat, sometimes even sorghum, millet. But the most common combination is 51% or more corn,
usually closer to 60 to 65% than a little bit of rye for added spice and a little bit of barley,
which actually helps activate the fermentation process. It serves as a catalyst. Now,
once you're fermenting them, you're creating something called a mash bill that's usually
around 5 to 7% in alcohol after it's been left to ferment for two, three, sometimes four days.
And when we get to the distillation part in the production of bourbon, you cannot go higher than
80% alcohol in distillation. That's 160 proof. So that some of those flavors of the grain are
carried through in distillation and when you get the distillate, you are left with something that
is very, very clear - By the way, there is no color to it. All that color is coming in the
next process, which is maturation. Then when it enters the barrel, it cannot enter the barrel
at above 62.5% alcohol. That's 125 proof and it must enter barrels, very importantly here,
that have never been used before. We call that virgin oak. Usually that oak is charred.
And there's a number of reasons for that. Historically, some of those
reasons have to do with the barrels that were available in the 17 and 1800s were
maybe used to carry some more fragrant and pungent things, say fish or food products,
any number of food products. So you'd have to char those barrels, really burn them to get rid
of those underlying flavors that were existing before. Nowadays, we do it more as a tradition,
but also because we're accessing when we char that oak, some incredible vanilla and caramel
notes and cinnamon, all those top notes that you associate with some of your favorite bourbons.
But there's no specification of how much time it actually needs to spend in wood. So I know
of a producer in California that literally passes their whiskey through wood barrels for 10 minutes,
I believe it is. So it says aged in wood for 10 minutes and that still qualifies as being American
whiskey. Bourbon, same thing. It just needs to literally touch wood. It could be for 10 seconds
and it would still qualify. The difference is when you see straight whiskey, straight bourbon, you
know that it needs to be spending a minimum of two years in these wooden barrels. Actually, it became
law in 1938 that American whiskey, specifically bourbon and also American rye have to use these
barrels that have never been used before. BUT. It is still a somewhat ecologically minded
process, because these barrels are only used once for bourbon or for rye. Afterwards they are reused
and have many different lives in other parts of the world, in Scotland, oftentimes in Ireland,
any other part of the world where they're making whiskey or rum or even craft beer.
So these barrels live many, many different lives. But they started off holding bourbon.