At Least Congress Can Agree On One Thing – Bourbon
A unanimous vote rarely happens when congress is working on various bills. Trying to bring the two sides together, including each senator in the United States being involved, the best chance is with bourbon. In the year 2007, the senate unanimously voted to pass a bill declaring September to be our National Bourbon Heritage Month.
To honor this occasion, here are some bourbon facts that ought to bring appreciation to the sharp brown liquor.
1) Serious Regulation for Bourbon
Another bourbon fact, in order to aid distilleries in maintaining consistent color and flavor over many, many batches, Irish and Scotch whiskey are supplemented with additional flavoring and coloring. Yet, bourbon is subject to laws forbidding these additions. The bourbon fact of this liquor, is that the bottle is the same as what is in the barrel, along with additional water in order to maintain the proof level. The regulations concerning bourbon, which are much more strict than other liquors, require that it be processed using a minimum of fifty-one percent corn and aged in new oak barrels which have been charred.
The rules earned this liquor known as bourbon, a reputation as being “honest”. There is no way to cheat when it comes to bourbon~the drink is exactly what was originally distilled.
2) Scotch May Also Contain Some Bourbon
The second bourbon fact is that since it must be aged in the new barrels, the distilleries cannot reuse the barrels. In lieu of that, many are shipped to Scotch distilleries giving them another opportunity to age more spirits. When shipped overseas, many gallons of bourbon, most estimates range at about 3 to 5 gallons, stay trapped in the oak barrel wood.
3) Where does the name “Bourbon” Originate
One may guess that the name bourbon comes from Bourbon County in Kentucky or a nearby location. This may be true, but I don’t advise arguing with a local Kentuckian over this bourbon fact. A number of historians think that Bourbon is named for Bourbon Street in the famous city of New Orleans, where the Kentucky whiskey was sent down the Mississippi River for trading.
4) Many Bourbons Do No Claim an Age
When it comes to Scotch whiskey, it is mainly standard practicing to boast about the number of years this spirit has aged. Bourbon is a horse of a different color. When this spirit ages, it increases in color and flavor as it travels into and out of the oaken barrel. The speed it travels has everything to do with the climate during storage. Since Kentucky has extreme heat in the summer, much hotter than Scotland and bourbon distillers claim that it ages about 3 4 times faster due to this bourbon fact. It has been suggested that it reaches a peak within 9 to 12 years and is considered to be young by the standards of the Scotch.
One more reason: many batches of bourbon arrive from blending batches ranging in age by various numbers of years. Since a claim of age must reflect the newest of the batch of whiskey, it can seem to be misleadingly young.