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This isn't quite accurate. Tennessee whiskey fully qualifies as bourbon whiskey. It's a marketing decision to call it otherwise. (Which is to say, Tennessee whi
by js2 8y ago
This isn't quite accurate. Tennessee whiskey fully qualifies as bourbon whiskey. It's a marketing decision to call it otherwise. (Which is to say, Tennessee whiskey could be sold as bourbon, but not vice-versa. I believe the same can be said for Gin/Vodka btw.) Details:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourbon_whiskey#Legal_requirements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourbon_whiskey#Legal_requirem...
Also, in my experience, it's a lot easier to find top-grade bourbon than it is to find Traditional Balsamic Vinegar and I say that living somewhere with state-controlled ABC stores (NC).
- Itaxpica 8y agoTechnically speaking gin is just flavored vodka, though the flavoring mechanism is different from what most people think of as "flavored vodka" (flavored via distillation rather than addition of artificial flavor).
- js2 8y agoIt’s specifically flavored with Juniper berries though right? i.e. All gin is flavored vodka but not all flavored vodka is gin.
- patmcc 8y agoI think you can be called gin if you're flavored with any botanicals, doesn't specifically have to be Juniper.
- KozmoNau7 8y agoBruni Collin's is very citrusy Spanish gin, I don't think it has juniper in it. Tastes bloody amazing.
- Itaxpica 8y agoTraditionally it’s a mix of juniper and other botanicals, but I don’t think there’s any formal definition that it has to be juniper. I doubt any producer would label a non-juniper-based gin “gin”, though; so much of the flavor that customers think of as being what makes gin gin comes from juniper. EDIT: scratch that, looks like in both the EU and US a spirit’s “predominant flavor” must be juniper in order for it to be labeled gin. I’m not sure how/who makes that judgment, though.
- WorldMaker 8y agoThat's fighting words about Tennessee whiskey where I'm from. ;) Also, yes, the legal qualifier I forgot (because I just assume it, given where I'm from) was the post-Rectifier term "straight Bourbon", which has: 1) Stricter Age requirements. Which most Tennessee whiskey likely doesn't meet, though without age statements who is to say, eh? Charcoal goes a long way to cover immaturity, which is why it was in the Rectifier playbook in the first place. None of the mass labels today are probably dumb enough to sell anything Rectifier bad like 6 weeks old charcoal vodka, don't get me wrong. 2) Straight Bourbon also has very strict additive rules, which Charcoal definitely doesn't meet.
- js2 8y agoTennessee and Kentucky fighting over who makes the better whiskey is as silly as the Hatfield and McCoy war. Just pour me a finger or two of Old Grand-Dad BiB neat, you drink what you want, and let’s call it a day. :-)
- WorldMaker 8y agoWell, a lot of the Hatfield and McCoy war did cross that border a few times, so might be related. ;) Mmm, Bottled-in-Bond, an even stricter legal term than "Straight". I'm glad that Heaven Hill has been bringing that term back into vogue and it is getting some of its recognition and glamour back after having been demoted to the bottom shelf (only somewhat unfairly, and partly Heaven Hill's fault in the first place).
- amyjess 8y ago> Which most Tennessee whiskey likely doesn't meet Actually, Tennessee whiskey is required by federal law to be straight Bourbon. The legal wording is "a straight Bourbon whisky produced in the State of Tennessee". As of 2013, the Tennessee state legislature also requires that Tennessee whiskey be charcoal-filtered through the Lincoln County Process, with exactly one distillery grandfathered in. If charcoal didn't meet the requirements of straight Bourbon, then it would be illegal to sell anything as Tennessee whiskey because that would mean nothing could simultaneously meet the state and federal requirements, and that's obviously not the case.