Bourbon
National Bourbon Month – 5 great US whiskey brands to get to the heart of September
Sep
From festivals to bourbon bars to flash sales, September’s National Bourbon Month is designed for celebration
September is National Bourbon Month in the US, which puts all eyes not on the US nation but on Kentucky, the natural home of this sweet and much-loved whiskey. There’s debate over how official this month actually is at the national level, but as far as whiskey marketing is concerned, it’s happening and they’re running with it.
Drop into Kentucky any time this month and you’ll see what many consider to be the nation’s drink being celebrated in bars, retail centres and festivals. And why not? Surely, a whiskey as dominant as Bourbon deserves its month in the limelight.
This most famous of whiskey categories has a long and character-filled history. Legally, it can be made anywhere in the US, but Kentucky is its heartland. It’s also where you’ll find the major bourbon brands and their owners: Sazerac, Beam Suntory and Brown Forman, among others.
Here are five bottles from our shelves and the brands that build them to help you celebrate National Bourbon Month.
WOODFORD RESERVE
Woodford Reserve Double Oaked
Owned by Brown Forman, Woodford Reserve is another small-batch bourbon brand that excels in distillation, marketing, distribution, and global reach.
It has been operating at the same north-central Kentucky site since 1812, using a combination of pot and column stills. Although there have been occasional closures, the distillery buildings are considered among the oldest of their type in the US.
Woodford produces a wide range of beautifully packaged bourbon, malt and wheat whiskies, with lots of special editions and once-off casks, to keep even the most avid fan focused on the brand.
This bottle, the Woodford Reserve Double Oaked, is an 86.4 proof (43.2% ABV) classic bourbon finished in a second charred and toasted oak barrel to extract even more soft, sweet oak character.
On the nose, it has lots of dark fruit, caramel, and wood. The palate is rich and complex, containing layers of vanilla, hazelnut, fruit, and spice.
PAPPY VAN WINKLE
Pappy Van Winkle 20 YO 2015
Pappy Van Winkle has grown into a rockstar whiskey in the US. By limiting its volume and where it can be bought, its owners at Sazerac have harnessed everything that is great about marketing a whiskey: rarity, enhanced demand, and mystery.
Each year, on October 1st, US drinks distributors are told how many bottles of this year’s Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve they will receive. Produced by the Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery, the actual date it lands on shelves could be anytime between that date and early December. In that short window, the distribution companies start to wrangle who gets what across the vast network of stores in North America.
This bottle is a 20-year-old 90.4 proof (45.2 ABV) bourbon from 2015. By definition, it’s a collector’s item, not least because it can’t normally be bought outside the US. But also because it is well-regarded among fans.
They celebrate its natural honey, copper colour, and dominant caramel and spice flavours. It’s very sweet, with rich dark fruit layers and malt. The finish is described as long and extremely satisfying, with wood notes throughout.
Eagle Rare Bourbon
Eagle Rare 17 2020
Eagle Rare was created in the 1970s as a 101-proof 10-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon. It’s had a few different owners but now sits comfortably in the Sazerac stable. Unusually, it makes two age variants—the original 10-year-old and a 17-year-old, both distilled and matured at Buffalo Trace Distillery. There are also 20- and 25-year-old special editions.
This 17-year-old bottle is from 2020 and is made with a mash bill from three US states: Kentucky corn, Minnesota Rye, and malted barley from North Dakota are used to create this 101-proof (50.5% ABV) bourbon.
As with all bourbon, it’s matured in new American oak, which conveys all the spice and vanilla that wraps up all bourbons. However, this bottle also comes layered with lots of tobacco, citrus, and molasses – each a product of its 17 years in wood.
Colonel EH Taylor
Colonel EH Taylor Barrel Proof 2020
The Colonel title attached to the EH Taylor brand is honorary and refers to the standing of a Kentucky Colonel despite the great man’s lack of military attachment. EH Taylor was a determined and repeat distillery founder. He set up some seven distilleries during his career, with the OFC, which became today’s Buffalo Trace, being the best known.
The Colonel EH Taylor brand is a top-shelf iteration of the standard Taylor brand distilled at Buffalo Trace in Frankfort, Kentucky. It’s a small-batch release series bottled directly from the barrel, and the bottle featured here, Colonel Eh Taylor Barrel Proof 2020, is one of its landmark labels.
Released at 130.3 proof (65.15% ABV), it’s an extra-matured 18-year-old that comes heavy with the aroma of berries, caramel and vanilla, leading to a palate rich in sugars, spice and heavy oak.
BOOKERS BOURBON
Bookers 10 25th Anniversary edition
Perhaps one of the youngest bourbon brands has the strongest pedigree. Distilled and matured at the Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, it was created by Booker Noe, a grandson of Jim Beam himself. A lifelong whiskey maker, Booker Noe was master distiller at Jim Beam from 1965 to 1992 and created this signature brand in 1988.
A rare and small-batch release, Booker distils just a small number of batches each. This bottle was created to mark the 25th anniversary of the brand’s creation in 2014. With a mash bill of 77% corn, 13% rye, and 10% malted barley, this 130.8 proof (65.4%) bourbon is a surefire collector’s item and perfect for National Bourbon Month.
With a numbered release in the thousands, this spicy and flavour-packed bourbon makes the best use of its ten years in oak. Using a new charred white American oak barrel, it’s a sweet vanilla bomb with a viscous texture and lots of nuts, wood, and spice that last through the finish.
Click here to view more of bottles to mark National Bourbon Month
