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This is the first in a series by Zachary Pearson, Kindred Cocktails Editor. Read them all: Bourbon, Bourbon After the Act, Bourbon: What it is ... and isn't, Making Bourbon, Who Makes My Bourbon, Producer Capsules., Finding the Good Stuff, Tasting the Good Stuff, Neat, Mashbills, Geeky Information and Resources.

Bourbon whiskey has a storied, often apocryphal history, with interesting main characters, complex governmental regulations and a variety of subtypes, each with their own flavor profile. I'll tell a bit of this story, along with some tips for finding and recognizing older or important bottles of Bourbon on liquor store shelves. ;

A lot of foundational stories are only to be taken at face value. And yet there’s a deep history of pioneer families who started out making whiskey as part of the homesteading experience and with enough generations, some of their descendants are still manning stills throughout Kentucky.

While the main focus here will be on Kentucky Bourbon whiskey, much of this information applies to other grain whiskies made in other states as well. Delicious rye whiskey abounds, and a few intrepid people make spirits from wheat or other exotic grains.

So pour a glass of the stuff and sip it as you read.

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Recent Additions

Aztec Death Whistle — Mezcal, Ancho Reyes chile liqueur, Orange liqueur, Fernet Branca, Orange peel
Bid Farewell — Bourbon, Fernet Branca, Allspice Dram, Bitters, Vanilla syrup
Live Wire — Vodka, Drambuie, Coffee liqueur, Lemon juice, Espresso, Lemon
Capri — Aperol, Luxardo Bitter Bianco, Soda water, Pineapple juice, Lime juice, Mint
Life from the Loam — Añejo rum, Herbal liqueur, Bitters, Peychaud's Bitters, Cultivaro Amaro, Lemon peel

Recent Discussion

Re Aztec Death Whistle, 1 day ago stirred commented:
Fierce. Enjoyed it, but next time will try with 1/2 oz. Ancho Reyes.
Re B.C.M., 1 week ago Brooks.todd@gm… commented:
Used cherry bark vanilla bitter cube instead of plum bitter! Great!
Re Mayor's Lament, 1 week ago noksagt commented:
Thanks for pointing that out. I think it is very likely that Fred's version lacked the orange bitters (his tasting notes are congruent with his two-version recipe). I know the one I made lacked them, so made it again. Delicious.
Re Sacred Kiss (Improved), 1 week ago Shawn C commented:
Curated ingredients to match those in Ginny Landt's recipe (generic mezcal and maraschino, and Bitter Truth Violet.) I had to rework the KC Bitter Truth ingredient for their violet liqueur as it was not working--changed to fit the same form as other creme de violette brands. Note that the Crafted Pour link might not work, it was giving a message about the content being hidden; however a Google search will locate it and pull the page up properly--even though the URL is *exactly* the same as in the KC link. I even did a copy/paste/save in the recipe just in case something was missing, but when I click it in KC or enter it directly in the browser, I get the same message about it being hidden.
Re Mayor's Lament, 1 week ago Shawn C commented:
This recipe has an omission, but that is traced back to the reference link at Frederic Yarm's excellent site. The 3 dashes of Regan's Orange Bitters in the book reference was omitted in the listing--although it is a 50/50 guess whether the version Yarm made actually had this (or not) and it was inadvertently left off the ingredient list. I will likely curate this to list the book reference and update accordingly.