Bourbon on the Rocks (© Photographer: Ben Heys | Agency: Dreamstime.com)

If you’d like to better understand the special appeal of America’s great native whiskey, Eric Asimov of the New York Times has written a wonderful article on the trend among distillers to produce high-end and superpremium bourbons.

According to Mr. Asimov:

If you love whiskey but haven’t thought of bourbon as being in the same league as a good Scotch, Irish and even, these days, rye, you owe it to yourself to give it another try. A well-made, well-aged bourbon offers a gorgeous spectrum of flavors, beginning with a distinctive sweetness that can, depending on the distiller’s aim, turn spicy and peppery with clear fruitiness, or mellow into a creamy caramel toffee with highlights of citrus.

Most bourbons come from Kentucky, but bourbon can be made anywhere in the United States as long as it is blended from grains that are at least 51% percent corn and stored in charred new oak containers. When aged in the oak containers for at least two years it qualifies as straight bourbon whiskey. Filter it through charcoal and it becomes Tennessee whiskey.

Mr. Asimov had a panel of tasters evaluate 25 bourbons. They found them to be of excellent qualitiy. Their first selection was No. 1 bourbon, Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 20-Year-Old. It seems aging can be particualry helpful when it comes to making a fine bourbon.

If you’d like to read the informative New York Times article cited above go to: Bourbon’s Shot at the Big Time