The Costco Connection

By Fred Minnick

BOURBON IS AMERICA’S most alluring spirit, glimmering with russet hues and offering a vanilla and caramel bouquet of aromas. It’s also as American as baseball and apple pie.

Fifty years ago, Congress declared bourbon to be distinctive to the United States, effectively giving it geographic labeling protection from other countries, such as Mexico, which had a distillery selling “bourbon” at discounted prices until the early 1960s. Nowadays, the U.S. federal law defines bourbon as whiskey produced in the U.S., not exceeding 80 percent alcohol by volume (160 proof), from a fermented mash of not less than 51 percent corn and stored at not more than 62. 5 percent alcohol by volume (125 proof) in charred new oak containers.

But bourbon is so much more than a legal definition. With 95 percent of it made in Kentucky, its roots are buried in the Bluegrass State, but many smaller distillers, such as Finger Lakes Distillery in New York and Balcones in Waco, Texas, are also making delicious bourbon.

No matter where it’s made, bourbon is influenced by five sources of flavor: grain, water, fermentation methods, distillation and maturation. The two most identifiable flavor contributors are grains and maturation.

Grains

Much as corn syrup sweetens countless candy bars, corn gives bourbon its caramel and vanilla base. In what’s called the mash bill, corn is mixed with the common secondary grains wheat and rye.

Bourbons with wheat as the secondary grain are referred to as wheated bourbons, such as Maker’s Mark. Just as wheat bread yields a different flavor profile than rye bread, wheated bourbons taste slightly sweeter and less spicy than bourbons using heavy doses of rye.

Higher-rye bourbons include Blanton’s, Woodford Reserve and Bulleit. These bourbons typically warm the palate with fun notes of cinnamon and baking spices.

When hosting a private tasting class, I ask the crowd to pick a flavor: caramel or cinnamon. If they prefer caramel, I start them with wheated bourbon, usually Maker’s Mark, because wheated bourbons’ caramel notes tend to be stronger. For cinnamon lovers, I recommend the higher-rye bourbons, especially Bulleit and Woodford Reserve, because, in addition to the caramel and vanilla, the cinnamon gracefully expresses itself.

Maturation

After bourbon makers put the clear distillate (it looks like vodka) into a new charred oak barrel, the wood interacts with the liquid, chemically changing its color and filtering out unwanted flavors. The wood also gives bourbon the majority of its flavor, including smoke, coconut, coffee and mocha notes.

As the bourbon sits in the barrel, about 3
to 5 percent is lost every year to evaporation,
a process referred to as the “angels’ share.” If
the barrel has a leak, more than 15 percent a
year could be lost until the leak is filled.

In the best-case scenario, the average barrel loses about half of its whiskey before bottling. In the worst-case scenario, the barrel completely leaks all of the precious whiskey. Thank goodness leaky barrels are rare, but bourbon makers must take the angels’ share into account when forecasting demand.

The bourbon you buy today was conceived several years ago. In the case of bourbons at Costco, they are anywhere from four to 12 years old. Most bourbons don’t carry age statements on the label, but older doesn’t always mean better. Maker’s Mark averages six years old and Kirkland Signature™ Small Batch Bourbon ages seven years; both consistently win palates over older bourbons.

As for which one you’ll like, well, you’ll have to taste to find out. I recommend tasting them all. Responsibly, of course. C

Fred Minnick is the “bourbon authority” for the Kentucky Derby Museum and author of

Whiskey Women (Potomac Books, 2013; fredminnick.com).

Bourbon: A fine
drink for the ages

The Costco Connection

Costco carries a variety of fine bourbon, including;Kirkland Signature Small Batch Bourbon, in;select; warehouses where spirits are available. For a list of locations, see the “Beer, Wine & Spirits Locator” on Costco.com (click “The Costco Connection,” then “Resources” at the bottom of the page).;Selection and; availability;will vary by location.