Brown butter washed bourbon
American whiskey from at least 51% corn, aged in new charred oak barrels — the new wood gives the vanilla, caramel and sweet spice.
Kinds
- Wheated
- Wheat as the second grain: softer and sweeter.
- High-rye
- More rye in the mash: spicier.
- Bottled-in-bond
- 50%, at least four years old — strength and age for a fair price.
- Barrel proof
- Uncut, often 55–65%; for infusions and fat-washes.
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- It has to be made in the US, not in Kentucky — though most is.
- Worth knowing
- The classic fat-wash: about 45g warm, strained bacon fat (smoked bacon) into a 750ml bottle, leave four hours, freeze, lift off the fat and strain through a coffee filter. Stir it with maple syrup and bitters.