A field guide to Kentucky straight

Proof&Char

Bourbon is not a place or a style. It is a recipe written into federal law, and then handed to a barrel for a decade. Everything below is that recipe, bottle by bottle.

What the law requires 27 CFR 5.143

  • 51%corn in the mash, minimum
  • 160proof off the still, maximum
  • 125proof into the barrel, maximum
  • 80proof in the bottle, minimum
  • Newcharred oak, every time
  • Niladded color or flavoring

No minimum age — but straight bourbon must sit at least two years, and anything under four has to say so on the label.

Then the barrel does the rest

Four seconds of fire, four levels of char

Before a drop goes in, the inside of the barrel is set alight. How long the flame stays decides how deep the char runs — and the char is the filter, the sweetener and the color all at once. Distillers routinely credit the wood with most of what ends up in the glass.

  1. No. 115 secBarely toasted. Rare on bourbon.
  2. No. 230 secLight char, more vanilla than smoke.
  3. No. 335 secThe Kentucky standard. Caramel, spice.
  4. No. 455 secAlligator char — cracked, glossy, smoky.

The shelf

Ten bottles, read as spec sheets

Grouped by the grain that isn't corn — because that single decision, rye or wheat and how much, does more to set a bourbon's character than anything else on the label.

Grain

Prices are typical U.S. shelf, before the secondary market gets involved. Mash bills marked est. are unpublished; the distillery has never confirmed exact percentages.

Label literacy

Eight words worth knowing