When a fire broke out in a small distillery in Kentucky, no one thought it would turn a new chapter in the history of brewing.
It was towards the end of the 18th century and Kentucky in the US was one of the happening places where crude distilleries were popping up with more frequency than ever.
The eureka moment came when a conflagration ate into the stock of a distillery owned by Elijah Craig, a Baptist preacher, and educator charring some of his oak barrels. He tasted the ingredients of those casks to find that the fire had lent some smooth and rich texture to the whisky! Abracadabra! Bourbon was born!
Thus began the iconic process of charring the barrels in the world of whisky, including bourbon.
Well even though Elijah Craig is hailed as the father of bourbon referring to the story you just read, the claim doesn't go uncontended.
Historians say Bourbon county in Kentucky even otherwise was pretty active before the arrival of Craig. Even bourbon was in plenty. Unlike the influential Baptist preacher, the poor entrepreneurs who distilled the corn-based spirit had no money to paint the town red with what they made and hence couldn't afford a passport that would get them into the history of the spirit world. Despite their hard work and innovations in the field of spirits, their stories got buried in anonymity.
So what is bourbon? And how is different from whisky?
Bourbon is a type of American whiskey distilled from a mash primarily made of a particular grain - corn. The law stipulates that corn should constitute at least 51% of grains in bourbon. So can you make a corn-spirit in India and anoint it as 'bourbon'? Sorry you cannot. Without mincing terms the federal law says that bourbon is a distinctive product of the United States of America. Though it can be produced anywhere in the country 95% of bourbon comes from Kentucky.
So your corn-spirit is just corn-spirit, live with that.
After the distillation of the mash, the spirit is stored in charred new oak barrels at 125 proof. Bourbon doesn't tolerate any other additives other than what the charred oak lends in their long and secret interaction inside.
As a toast to the disputed father of bourbon, Heaven Hill Brand brought out a new bourbon into the market in 1976 by the name 'Elijah Craig. Unlike the preacher, Elijah Craig is genuinely bourbon that deserves all the fan-following it soon acquired. It is one of the iconic bourbons from Kentucky.
Elijah Craig Barrel Proof was named Whisky Advocate's Whisky of the Year in 2017.
You get about 78 percent corn in Elijah Craig while rye and malted barley make up the rest of the spirit. More corn means more smoothness.
(Manu Remakant is a freelance writer who also runs a video blog — A Cup of Kavitha — introducing world poetry to Malayalis. The views expressed here are personal.)
