While most Kentucky bourbons use a high corn mashbill, craft distillers are exploring different ingredients and production methods to produce unique bourbons. Two such distilleries are Laws Whiskey House in Denver, which uses an unorthodox four-grain mashbill of corn, wheat, rye and barley, and FEW Spirits in Evanston, Illinois, which emphasizes northern rye. These craft distillers believe their bourbons reflect the terroir of their home states like Colorado and Illinois, and are creating new styles distinct from traditional Kentucky bourbon.

1. Most Kentucky
Bourbon uses
a high corn
mashbill for its
sweet character,
but craft distillers
are exploring all
avenues.
Acommon misconception about Bourbonprevailsin thiscountry. To be
calledBourbon, people say, America's mostfamousspirit must be made
in Kentucky. Not only isthis untrue, but the pervasiveness of the idea
reflects thehomogeneity oftr1e product as it stands.Hie good news is
that one boon of the often overhyped craft spirits movement is a new
flowering of Bourbon culture.
The misbeliefis understandable: Kentucky may
be Bourbon's spiritual home and the source of
an estimated 95 percent ofits production. The
problem for those of us who enjoy Bourbon is that
the lofty percentage is produced by only eight
companies in some 13 distilleries.
Given the dizzying variety ofBourbon brands
on store shelves, this is almost hard to believe. But
indeed, these few distilleries are the sources for
hundreds ofbrands. Consider Cabin Still (brand
established in 1849, today in a plastic bottle) and
Larceny (flashy bottle, brand created in 2012), just
two ofsome 40 Bourbons produced by Heaven
Hill. Barton 1792, a distillery owned by Sazerac,
is the root ofanother estimated 45 or so brands
(the distilleries don't offer this information, but
some whiskey lovers obsessively track it down).
These companies deftly use different mashbills
(mixes ofgrains) and sophisticated aging regimens
to produce a wide variety of products.Though
the quality ofthe better distillates is world-class,
the process is nevertheless industrial and high
volume- different brands might be composed of
very similar or even the same whiskey.
It wasn't always this way, points out Reid
Mitenbuler in Bourbon Empire, a new book about
the Bourbon industry and its long history. "The few
large companies that dominate America's whiskey
scene make good products, but two centuries of
consolidation have made their handful ofwinning
formulas narrow examples ofwhiskey styles that
used to be more diverse," writes Mitenbuler. "What
was once a sprawling road trip down America's
highways and byways-and through the occasional
grimy alley-became a short jaunt through a
couple ofcounties in Kentucky before hopping
over the border into Tennessee."
The craft spirits movement in the US has the
potential to once again make a Bourbon road
trip compelling not just in bluegrass territory,
but in every corner ofcountry. While the federal
regulations stipulate some details ofBourbon
18 WINE & SPIRITS OCTOBER 20 1 5

2. A.D. Laws Four Grain Bourbon:
laws Wl1iskey House, Denv8r, CO:
47.5% ale., $70
Excelsior Bourbon: FEW Bourbon:
Distilling, West
Park, NY; 48% c1lc., $120
FEWSpirits, Evanston, IL;
46h% ale , $:iO
production (it must be made with at least 51 percent corn; age
in new charred oak barrels; be barreled down at no more than
125 proof and bottled at no less than 80 proof), there are no
geographical limitations. Most Kentucky Bourbon uses a high
corn mashbill for its sweet character, but craft distillers are
exploring all avenues. Some employ different shapes and styles of
stills; varied water sources, yeasts, aging conditions and myriad
other factors can also affect the results.
Take FEW Bourbon, for example. "We don't want our product
to taste like ones from Kentucky," says Paul Hletko, who launched
his distillery in Evanston, Illinois, in 2011. For his Bourbon,
Hletko emphasizes northern rye, which has a spicy, savory profile,
and his barrels age in the harsh extremes of Evanston's climate.
The result is different than what typically comes from Kentucky:
It's dry and savory with a refreshingly cutting edge.
Al Laws started Laws Whiskey House of Denver around the
same time as Hletko launched FEW. He uses an unorthodox
blend of 60 percent corn, 20 percent wheat, and 10 percent
each rye and barley for his Four Grain Bourbon, with the malt
coming in exceedingly fresh from a small, family-owned facility
in Alamosa, Colorado. Laws takes pride in the meticulousness
of his fermentation process: He believes that different grains
require different temperatures to bring out their best during
fermentation, so he adjusts the heat with every addition, starting
with the corn at 200°
F. He keeps the aging at a continuous
temperature all year long, relying instead, he says, on the huge
pressure swings Denver gets from the mountains to move the
whiskey in and out of the wood. After just three years in barrel,
it's already a delicious drink, with aburnished, toffee richness.
"We think we're making Bourbon-an American whiskey-that
20 WINE & SPIRITS OCTOBER 2015
has a Colorado terroir," Laws says. "Eventually, we expect to see
regionality in whiskey all over America, not unlike what you see
with Scotch."
Through Bourbon Empire I learned of Coppersea Distilling in
West Park, New York, on the Hudson.Just getting off the ground,
Coppersea looks to the past for its distilling cues, resurrecting
practices such as green malting, in which the malt isn't dried
before it's ground-a technique that hasn't been popular in some
200 years. All the ingredients, including the barrels, come from
within the state. "My goal is to capture the unique flavors of this
region," chief distiller Christopher Briar Williams says. "Oak is
said to be responsible for seventy-five percent of the flavor of
whiskey, and if the oak is raised in Missouri or Minnesota, how
New York could it possibly be?"
Willi;ims released Coppersea's first Bourbon, called Excelsior,
this summer, after aging it about a year in NewYork oak. Punchy
and bright, it's compelling, with a distinctive combination of
richness and steeliness. I'd like to see how it tastes after even more
time in barrel. Yet Williams and other craft distillers will say, if
you're looking for the flavors of Kentucky in their whiskeys, stop
trying.They're creating a new vocabulary.If craft Bourbons lack
some of the depth and richness of Kentucky Bourbon, it's often
because they haven't had enough time to age. Greater character
comes with longer aging-usually around a decade before the
whiskey gets too oaky. But richness comes in many ways. Given
time, Bourbon lovers have a lot to look forward to, be it in
Illinois, Colorado, New York, Maryland or Texas. Even Kentucky
is getting in on the act: In the last few years, almost a dozen small
distilleries have opened, perhaps creating spirits that will redefine
how we think of Bourbon.•