Bottle 07: Bib Tucker Small Batch Double Char Bourbon
Tasting Notes
- Nose: A touch of smoke with immediate notes of toasted oak and dulce de leche, background notes of cinnamon and clove.
- Palate: Vanilla and sugar maple surrounded with white smoke, hints of sweet corn and toasted cinnamon.
- Finish: Medium to long finish with oak, white smoke and vanilla.
Bottles
We’ve already covered a little about bourbon and casking, so I was at a bit of a loss as to what to write about today. Luckily, Bib & Tucker have chosen a pretty attractive package to contain today’s whisky. Turns out, we can thank the medical tradition for that in part. From NPR, quoting from The Art of American Whisky by Noah Rothbaum:
Rothbaum says the expense of glass bottles meant that, until the early 1900s, alcohol was sold in large barrels. Bars or stores would buy these wooden barrels direct from a distiller and allow customers to come in and fill their own glass, flask or decanter with whatever was in stock. While this may have been good enough for the drinking man, it wasn’t for doctors, who “prescribed alcohol for all types of maladies,” according to Rothbaum. In 1871, Old Forrester Whiskey was the first to put its product in a sealed bottle at the distillery — ensuring that doctors and consumers knew exactly what they were getting.
Bottling whisky marked the beginning of a higher quality, more consistent spirit. Not long after Old Forrester puts out their sealed bottle, President Grover Cleveland passes the Bottled-In-Bond Act which established a standard where whiskies labeled “bottled-in-bond” were guaranteed to
- be distilled at a single distillery, by a single distiller, over a single distillation season (January–June or July–December)
- be aged for at least four years in a government-supervised warehouse
- be bottled at exactly 50% ABV, and
- have only water as an additive.
These days, we’re generally a little less concerned that someone has cut our whisky with prune juice or kerosene. Some distillers still use the bottled-in-bond designation; it still holds as a mark of great quality and consistency, and says something about the skill of the distiller involved. It’s also tradition: the German Reinheitsgebot is to beer what the Bottled-in-Bond Act is to bourbon.
The Second Sunday in Advent - Pursuing Peace
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it.
Many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Prayer
Into our troubles and weaknesses,
Into the barren places of our souls, Come Lord,
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.Into the war torn and the refugee,
Into those who live in conflict, Come Lord,
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.Into the homeless and the unemployed,
Into those who feel abandoned, Come Lord,
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.Into the sick, the poor, and the starving,
Into those who are oppressed and abused, Come Lord,
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.Into the lives of loved ones,
Into those from whom we are estranged, Come Lord,
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.Into our songs of celebration,
Into the pain of Advent joy, Come Lord,
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.
Footnotes
Bib & Tucker is a non-distiller producer, so they source their whiskey from another distillery before barrel aging it. Rumor is it is produced at George Dickel Distillery↩︎
Again, this is a guess based on my favorite source of information: rumors on the internet.↩︎