What is bourbon?

All bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon

We should clear out the definitions of bourbon whiskey. It seems to be the right thing to do. What I love about the definition is that it is not just some agreed upon category by popular use, it is federally regulated in the USA and deviating means breaking the law. (Sorry if I fumble the legal terms. Second language and all):

The Federal Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits, regulated by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) states the following:

§5.22 The standards of identity.

“Bourbon whisky”, “rye whisky”, “wheat whisky”, “malt whisky”, or “rye malt whisky” is whisky produced at not exceeding 160° proof from a fermented mash of not less than 51 percent corn, rye, wheat, malted barley, or malted rye grain, respectively, and stored at not more than 125° proof in charred new oak containers; and also includes mixtures of such whiskies of the same type.

Interestingly, the TTB doesn’t seem to bother with the whole whiskey/whisky thing. I’ll look into that someday.

Further regulations are (from Wikipedia):

Bourbon has no minimum specified duration for its aging period. The exception is straight bourbon, which has a minimum aging requirement of two years. In addition, any bourbon aged less than four years must include an age statement on its label.

Bourbon that meets the above requirements, has been aged for a minimum of two years, and does not have added coloring, flavoring, or other spirits may (but is not required to) be called straight bourbon.

Bourbon that is labeled as straight that has been aged under four years must be labeled with the duration of its aging.

Bourbon that has an age stated on its label must be labeled with the age of the youngest whiskey in the bottle.

In 1964, the United States Congress declared bourbon to be a “distinctive product of the United States”, and it is deeply rooted in American culture and history — which is why I became fascinated with it in the first place. So now that’s out of the way.

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/Erik