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A fact to nail down right off the bat when finding the dividing line between these two spirits is that ... all bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. To explain — whiskey is a catch-all term for spirits distilled from fermented grain mash; this can include any combination of grains — think corn, rye, barley, and wheat. Bourbon is a subcategory of whiskey with distinctive details. According to the American Bourbon Association, for whiskey to earn the bourbon label, it must contain at least 51% corn in its grain mix. Additionally, it needs to be: distilled to...

Whiskey purists will likely try and demean you if you drink anything on the rocks or with a little water. They want you to sip it straight, unchilled. That’s patently ridiculous. Yes, some whiskeys are crafted to be taken neat. But even the super svelte whiskeys out there will likely bloom in the glass with a few drops of water or a single rock. Moreover, a good bourbon on ice can actually lead to a whole new set of flavors. Which is some cool chemistry, when you think about it. What happens is twofold. One, the bourbon materially changes when...

(Last Updated On: June 9, 2023) NATIONAL BOURBON DAY | JUNE 14 On June 14th, National Bourbon Day recognizes the Official Spirit of America. Like Scotch, Cognac, and some other spirits, Bourbon must meet certain standards and be produced in a specific geographical region to earn its name. Bourbon is a whiskey that can only be called by the word when it is distilled in the United States. For a distiller to legally label their whiskey as “Bourbon,” they must meet specific criteria. #NationalBourbonDay The whiskey must be 51 percent corn. The distiller must story the whiskey in new (not...

SALEM, Ore. -- The Oregon Department of Justice is opening a criminal investigation into allegations that senior officials in the state's alcohol regulatory agency violated ethics laws by diverting rare, sought-after bourbons for personal use, the state attorney general said Friday. The officials said they were paying for the whiskey, which can cost thousands of dollars a bottle, but they allegedly used their knowledge and connections at the commission to obtain the products, according to an internal investigation by the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. The practice had purportedly been going on for many years and involved not only state...

Infowars host Alex Jones is creating his own bourbon called “Conspiracy.” According to famed whiskey expert Fred Minnick, Jones’ bourbon was approved by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) two weeks ago. Minnick is a judge on the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, World Whiskies Awards and is the former lead American whiskey reviewer for Whiskey Advocate. “This just in. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is starting a bourbon called ‘Conspiracy,’ to which the TTB gave federal label approval two weeks ago. Thoughts?” Minnick tweeted. Minnick added that it is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon and will hit stores...

Last year's release is going for up to $1,000 on the secondary market.Russell's Reserve 13-Year-Old BourbonRussell's Reserve When you think of exorbitantly expensive and frustratingly elusive bourbon, the usual brands come to mind: Pappy Van Winkle, Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, Old Forester Birthday Bourbon. But Russell’s Reserve, part of the Wild Turkey family, has made its mark on the world of extreme bourbon fandom with the second release of its highly coveted 13-year-old expression. Russell’s Reserve 13-Year-Old Bourbon is the oldest age statement offering from the brand, and people went crazy for it when it first came out last year....

IOGRAPHIES LISTS AMAZING FACTS STORE Songs about Bourbon BY ERICA PALAN APRIL 15, 2021 ThinkStock THINKSTOCK It's way past happy hour, but it's not too late to celebrate an important moment in the history of alcohol. On this day in 1789, Elijah Craig first produced whiskey from distilled maize in Bourbon County, Kentucky. So settle down, turn up the volume and raise a glass to Kentucky and corn. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer Famously covered by George Thorogood, this call-and-response song was originally written by Rudy Toombs and recorded by Amos Milburn in 1953. Whiskey Bar "Alabama Song (Whiskey...

I can only speak for myself, but after the historic awfulness of 2020, I’d appreciate a gift of great whiskey wrapped up in a bow. I suspect I’m not alone. So I made sure my annual tradition of suggesting several bottles for the holidays was undertaken this year with extra rigor and, of course, adhering to stringent social distancing guidelines for my team of tasters to sniff, sip, and banter our way through the 30-plus candidates to land on this final list of 16. As always, there’s a range of styles, prices and origins, from Europe to Asia, Kentucky, Philly,...

Revealed: the truth at the bottom of a bourbon shot Scientists discover that spilt Jim Beam has forensic value. Share Tweet A drop of American whiskey evaporated to form a distinctive web-like pattern of solutes. Adapted from ACS Nano 2020 By Barry KeilyThe mark of a particular bourbon, it turns out, is not its taste, nor its price-point, nor even the clever design on its label.No. Scientists have now demonstrated that what truly distinguishes a drop of Bulleit from a drop of Knob Creek, or a snifter of Jimmy B from a slurp of Wild T is the mark it...

Once you age an Old Fashioned or martini for 60 days, you’ll never go back.... __________________________________________________________________________________________________ If you want a truly exceptional cocktail at home, you might need some patience. How does 2-3 months sound? If you’re barrel-aging your cocktails, the extra time might be worth it. You’ve probably seen (or ordered) a barrel-aged drink at one of your city’s finer cocktail establishments. These aren’t just drinks thrown into the same casks that will up a distillery’s warehouse; these are tinier, often countertop-sized vessels that can imbue your drinks with a unique character. “In a barrel, the cocktail tends to...

Whether you like bourbon, scotch, whiskey, you will not be able to put this book down until you have read all 262 pages of everything about whiskey over and over again. Lew Bryson covers it all from what is in whiskey, how it is made, what are the detail flavors, content, chemistry, and what causes them. He covers all the best brands, aging and what makes them all different. Such an unbelievable resource for finding your favorite whiskeys that you will keep it close by...I read some of it every day!

GUTHRIE, Okla. - Two people were arrested after a traffic stop of a stolen car revealed the two had a rattlesnake, radioactive uranium, and an open bottle of Kentucky Deluxe. Stephen Jennings is charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, transporting an open container of liquor, operating a vehicle with a suspended license, and failure to carry security verification form. Rachael Rivera is charged with possession of a firearm after a former felony conviction. The traffic stop was made at 11 a.m. in a Guthrie neighborhood because the tag was expired. Jennings was in the driver's seat, Rivera in the...

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Two barrel warehouses at a Jim Beam aging facility burned for hours overnight in Kentucky. WKYT reports the facility caught fire at around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. One warehouse caught fire, which then spread to a second warehouse. Roughly 45,000 barrels of bourbon were in one of the burning warehouses. Officials said it’s possible the fire was caused by a lightning strike. VERSAILLES, Ky. (WKYT) - Multiple crews are on the scene of a major fire at a bourbon warehouse facility. Massive fire at a Jim Beam warehouse facility in Woodford County Woodford County Emergency Management Director Drew...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Thousands of whiskey barrels crashed into a massive heap Friday when a large section of a decades-old storage warehouse collapsed at a distillery in the heart of Kentucky bourbon country. The damaged warehouse at the Barton 1792 Distillery in Bardstown held about 18,000 barrels, and it appeared that up to half the barrels inside were affected, the distillery’s owner said. “We are assessing how many of the impacted barrels can be recovered,” said Amy Preske, a spokeswoman for Sazerac, a Louisiana-based spirits company. “A mix of various distilled products at various ages were stored in that warehouse.”...

BARDSTOWN, Ky. — A building collapse at the Barton 1792 distillery in Bardstown sent thousands of bourbon barrels crashing to the ground. Bardstown fire officials said the collapse happened at Barton 1792 after 11 a.m. Friday. Nelson County Emergency Management spokesman Milt Spalding said about 9,000 barrels of aging bourbon were affected. The building houses about 20,000 barrels of aging bourbon.

A New Hampshire distillery is marketing a new craft bourbon containing an unusual flavoring ingredient -- beaver secretion. Tamworth Distilling and Mercantile announced the release of Eau De Musc, an 88-proof bourbon selling for $65 per 6.7-ounce bottle. The high-end spirit is flavored in part by scent oils from the castor sacs of beavers from New Hampshire. "It's aromatic, very distinct. It's leathery, rich, slightly fruity in a non-traditional sense. With the whiskey, it really works in quite well," Tamworth distiller Matt Power told the New Hampshire Union Leader. The scent oils, known as castoreum, are actually found in a...

BERLIN — The European Union will hit back at the heart of the United States, slapping tariffs on products like Harley-Davidsons, Kentucky bourbon and bluejeans, if President Trump goes ahead with a plan to place tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, the president of the bloc’s executive arm vowed on Friday. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, made the remarks to the German news media in reaction to the proposed tariffs. Mr. Junker said the plans to tax the American goods, produced in the home states of key Republic leaders, had not yet been finalized, but amounted to treating...

MIDDLETOWN, Ky. (WDRB) -- It's the newest take on the bourbon experience: luxury ice. The chilly business venture is barely a year old, but several big name distillers are already taking notice. It's Kentucky's proudest beverage. The flavor, the aroma and the way we enjoy our bourbon is a science. That's why the folks at Kentucky Straight Ice say what we put into the glass with it should be too. "You're getting ice that melts three to four times slower than your standard ice cube," says Rich Finck, President of Kentucky Straight Ice. This allows consumers to enjoy bourbon longer...

After 150 years, Jack Daniels has finally revealed that a slave was behind the world-famous recipe of America's most popular whisky. Until now, the story told was that a white moonshine distiller named Dan Call had taught his young apprentice, Jasper Newton 'Jack' Daniel, how to run his Tennessee distillery.

Not content with having the best whisky in the world, Suntory Holdings Ltd. plans to take its whisky out of this world and into space. The Japanese brewing and distilling company said this week it would send a total of six samples of its whiskies and other alcoholic beverages to the International Space Station, where they will be kept for at least a year to study the effect zero gravity has on aging. According to a spokesman at the company, the samples, which will be carried in glass flasks, will include both a 21-year-old single malt and a beverage that...