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#whiskey-201
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Barley Information
Here’s a little information I got from our distiller regarding Barley: As for barley: there are two kinds, 6-row and 2-row. There is hardly any 6-row grown any more, most everyone is switching to 2-row. I believe that back in the day 6 was considered “better” but there has been so much work on 2-row that it’s the predominant one now. One of the issues with 6-row is that the heads are so heavy, they can cause the plant to fall over in the field (called “lodging”) which obviously ruins the grain. So we get essentially 100% 2-row. There are different strains (Thoroughbred, Cascade, loads of others) that have been bred to be better for malting. Growers can manage the crop to influence that too. It used to be that the malting companies produced primarily for the brewing industry and we got the leftovers. (Fred Noe told me once “we get the floor sweepins”) Nowadays though, they are giving us a lot more attention and really working to get us the performance we need. Note that there is no GMO
by bernie5 viewswhiskey-201barleybourbon-production - news
Federal Tax Strip Information
Tax strips are the blue (if exported), green or red strips that go up the side of the neck and over the cap and will either say U.S. Internal Revenue or Bureau of ATF. If it says ATF on the strip then your bottle is from 1977 – 1985. If it mentions the IRS then it’s pre-1977. We can break it down to smaller chunks of time thanks to tax strip changes over the years. 1934-1944: Weight/Proof Marks on ends, no “Series” near Eagle’s feet. Upper-left edge reads “US Internal Revenue” 1945-1972: Words “Series” and “111″/”112″ added near Eagles feet. Upper-left edge reads “US Internal Revenue” 1973-1976: Volume markings removed from ends of Tax Strip. Upper-left edge reads “US Internal Revenue” 1977-1983: No Volume markings. No “Series” or “111″/”112″ near Eagle’s feet. Upper-left edge reads “Bureau of ATF” 1982 the words “Tax Paid” and “Distilled Spirits” were removed and replaced with simply “Distilled” and “Spirits” on the bottom of the strips. Green Bottled in Bond strips were discontinued
by bernie4 viewswhiskey-201bourbontaxtax-stripswhiskeywhiskey-tax-strips - news
Gold Dust & Bricks of Gold
Bourbon hounds love it when they come across a store that has an Elijah Craig Barrel Proof on the shelf, just sitting there. Or a couple Blanton’s, Weller 12, or Kathleen’s Batch of Booker’s available with “no strings”; just up there on the top shelf as if they were waiting there just for you. And then there’s the folks that automatically cruise the top shelves to look for “gold dust” as I call them, or in locked cases in the front of stores. Most all distilleries have “gold dust” in varying rare offerings. Its what people want, we just don’t have enough of them, but that’s really what makes them special is their rarity. As a result, we don’t have to sample them in our tastings, they’re going to sell on their own. My tastings are designed to tell a story. In my Evolution Of Bourbon Tasting, we taste unaged corn whiskey with Georgia Moon to show the genesis of American Whiskey. Then it evolved in to aged corn whiskey that illustrates how that unaged corn whiskey was put in to barrels. I
by bernie5 viewswhiskey-201american-whiskeybargain-bourbonsbourbonevan-williamsheaven-hill-distillery