BOURBON, WHISKEY, DIFFERENCE?

What is the Difference

between Bourbon & Whiskey?

Quick answer: the way they are made.

On a recent trip to Kentucky, U.S.A., Patrick and I visited the Buffalo Trace distillery where we learned how bourbon was made and how it is different from whiskey. Here are the things that make whiskey bourbon. They are experimenting with other ingredients like oats and malted barley.

First, bourbon has to be made in the U.S.A.

Second, it has to made of at least 51% corn. The rest is either wheat and malted barley or rye and malted barley.

Third, it has be no more than 145 proof at the end of distilling

Fourth, it has to aged for at least 2 years in charred white oak barrels that are used only one. 

Fifth, there are to be no added ingredients, or flavorings.

The Kentucky weather is perfect for aging bourbon, cool during the winter and warm in the summer. Without the cooling and warming at optimum temperatures the aging process does not happen. The word Bourbon came from the French dignitary and the early Kentucky county in which bourbon was originally made. The whiskey barrels were stamped “bourbon county” whiskey when exported.     -Mark & Patrick-