Category: This Round’s Mine

In case you didn’t know, National Bourbon Day was celebrated on June 14. In Kentucky, the day sees celebrations cheering the most American of spirits, though most gatherings are small, subdued and at bars where one visits regularly on Friday. 

Distilleries mark the day with clever cocktails at their visitor experiences, as do the state’s growing number of solid cocktail bars. Elsewhere, however, and especially outside of larger cities Kentucky cities, bourbon cocktails are lacking.

I know, clutch the pearls! Many Kentucky barkeeps haven’t mastered even the basics of bourbon cocktails. Order an old fashioned at many bars, office parties or wedding receptions here and you’ll get a hapless rendition of the easy-peasy, three ingredient standard. It’ll be 90-proof (or less) bourbon, some cane simple syrup, and a muddled fruit mass of an orange slice and a shockingly fake red maraschino cherry (stem still attached). 

On National Bourbon Day I visited Churchill Downs with friends. The old fashioned our server brought me copied what I described above, only it was worsened with a jolt of dilutive soda water. At arguably the world’s most famous horse racing venue and in a pricey suite—in Louisville, Ky., of all places—that’s what I got.

Last year at a high-level Kentucky whiskey industry event I requested a Manhattan. When the genial “bartender” merely poured me bourbon on the rocks, I asked about the vermouth and bitters. “I don’t know about that,” she said. “Can you tell me what to put in?” I settled for whiskey on the rocks. 

Unacceptable.

Want to make a Kentucky bartender laugh? Ask for a mint julep. Some will say, “Where do you think you are? Churchill Downs?” And for the record, never buy a mint julep at Churchill Downs. It’s the most horrid iteration of that classic and simple drink.

Again, unacceptable in Kentucky and especially amid the bourbon boom.

Arguably, none of this is surprising. Though we’re celebrating our national spirit on National Bourbon Day, why isn’t more of it consumed here? Each year in the U.S., 77 million cases of vodka are sold. Compare that to roughly 30 million cases of American whiskey—a number likely to be surpassed by tequila’s current 26 million cases.

When I travel the country, I regularly see many bars featuring walls of white spirits only speckled by bottles of American brown goods. Airport bars and decent chain hotel bars are especially guilty of this. No wonder so many us travel with bottles of whiskey.

I get it. Regular bourbon and rye drinkers see liquor store shelves sagging beneath the weight of so many bottles and brands that we assume American whiskey is more popular than it actually is. And yet vodka aisles, with far fewer selections, create vastly more sales than whiskey brands.

I hear you, Bourbon & Banter fans, “But bourbon’s much better than vodka.” I heartily agree. And it’s that truth which excites me for the future of National Bourbon Day. Someday, I hope it’ll be worth celebrating when more people have caught on to the good stuff, the flavorful brown spirits that people crave, collect and talk about with their friends. (Anyone ever go to a friend’s house and see a host excited about that new vodka he discovered, waited in line to get or paid a steep secondary market price for? Nope.) People will realize that three-ingredient cocktails like the old fashioned and the Manhattan are easy to make, worth the extra effort and interesting when you try them with different whiskeys. And even some might take a little pride in knowing that their whiskey was made in America. When that happens, I’ll drink to that with a proper old fashioned based on the recipe below.

THE OLD FASHIONED

INGREDIENTS

• 2 ounces bourbon or American rye, at least 100 proof
• 2 teaspoons of Demerara syrup, 2:1
• 3 dashes of Angostura bitters
• 2 dashes orange bitters (Regan’s or Scrappy’s preferred, though Angostura will do)
• A tiny pinch of salt
• Orange peel

PREPARATION
Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass, add ice and stir until chilled.

Strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice, express orange peel skin side facing the drink and drop into glass. Let the drink chill for an additional minute and serve.

U.S. distillers and consumers are rightfully proud of the strictness of our nation's rules governing bourbon. They make clear where and how it can be made, aged and bottled like no other country in the world.

But after tasting hundreds of bourbon iterations in my career, the consistency of them many is becoming as concerning as comforting. Some days, I wonder if too many are just too similar, especially when I see so many parallels in my tasting notes (and others’) for reviews and barrel picks. That consistency is born of at least a few things:

• The sensory limits of my (and others’) palate(s)
• Historically tight guardrails around bourbon production
• The sheer volume of the same whiskeys sourced by non-distilling producers (NDPs)

Let’s address each separately.

1. When I see many repeats in my tasting notes, I have to ask, “Am I not able to discern the nuances of every bourbon I taste?” Frankly, I don’t think so, but I am, after all, a survey panel of one. Even at 59, I’m learning and discerning more about everything I smell and taste, whether it’s the endless array of flowers and plants I smell on long walks, the wide range of foods I cook and buy or the large number of alcoholic beverages I drink. The adventure remains fresh to me.
2. The guardrails around bourbon ensure consistency via the rule-bound combo of corn, malted barley and primarily rye or wheat. Of course, yeast plays a huge role, as do cask choices and rickhouse locations and rick placements. But if you can imagine giving chefs such a limited market basket from which to create a whole menu, you can see how narrowly restricted American whiskeys are.
3. Now, to sourcing. It’s always existed and always will. But I believe increasingly homogenous whiskey is a real and concerning impact. Sure, skilled blenders improve on and minimize those basics, but it’s truly difficult to blend your way to a radically different product when your source materials are shared by others. Even if it’s well blended and you get a better bourbon, it’s still a bourbon like many others.

Do I think secondary cask aging can create differentiation? Absolutely for some. Excellent and nuanced examples are Tumblin’ Dice, Angel’s Envy’s 2023 Cask Strength Bourbon, its Cask Strength Rye finished in Sauternes and Toasted Oak Barrels, and Bardstown Bourbon Co.’s Amrut-Finished Cask bourbon, to name only a few. But some others that resort to merely double oaking or a short rest in a Cabernet cask don't always match up.

There's also a growing problem of a common age of so much sourced whiskey on the market: 4 to 6 years old. Many single barrels I’ve helped pick over the past several years are at that age and bearing similarities so easily discerned that there's little unique about that pick.

I get it: Sourcing works to get lots of brands launched. There’s definitely a place for it. But have we reached the tipping point at which there’s too much of it?

My palate is leaning toward yes.

Ever read the Irish Liquor Lawyer’s blog? It’s regularly interesting, especially to sorts like me who know little about being a lawyer. (Respecting my long-held personal aim to avoid needing lawyers has left me underinformed about their work.) In a May 22 post titled, “Barbarians are at the gate,” the writer mentions what many of us have read: that beverage alcohol may soon face persecution similar to that suffered by the tobacco industry decades ago.

Like the writer, I’ve read a lot lately about Neo-Prohibitionists who, along with the World Health Organization (WHO), claim that no amount of alcohol is safe or acceptable for a healthful lifestyle. Part of me wants to ignore such nonsense, but the writer, who’s an attorney, makes clear that certain lawsuits underway could open doors to legal action that would leave alcohol producers vulnerable to crippling litigation similar to that endured by tobacco producers.

As awful as the Coronavirus pandemic was, it’s hard not to love some of the lifestyle changes it created. One I’m helping continue is making and drinking cocktails at home.

My wife and I always made cocktails for each other and our guests, but we, like so many cooped up in 2020, knuckled down to master drinks that required more care and effort than our favored classic three-ingredient concoctions. We spent money on amendments such as amari, bitters and liqueurs and made drinks for friends that, in a few cases, nudged them to up their home cocktail game. Liquor.com became a treasured resource back then.

It’s widely discussed that sales of American whiskey are softening in 2024, but is bourbon’s boom moving toward a bust?

Hardly. The trouble is, too many won’t ignore the self-appointed sages in social media who interpret this decline as bourbon distillers …

• ignoring the past and positioning themselves for a glut.
• reaping what they sowed for raising prices on once-affordable standards.
• soon being forced to cut prices and convince drinkers to buy more.
• for selling bulk whiskey to allow too many NDPs to enter the business and swell supply beyond demand.

Here’s one fact to grasp: This perceived sales slump is exemplary of the rollercoaster ride that affects every large industry. Good days see profits rise, bad days see them plummet. One company grabs market share long-held by competitors, and another responds with a celebrity-backed bottle that becomes inexplicably popular. Or … everyone faces a once in a lifetime global pandemic.