Bargain Bourbon; Early Times Bottled in Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon

I'm still learning about whiskies, truthfully. I've written a couple articles about Irish whiskey and Japanese whisky (noticed they're spelled differently, that's on purpose) I would say though that I'm very much still a neophyte when it comes to spirits, frankly. Truth be told, my palate is both inexperienced, and under tuned when it comes to a lot of the nuances of whiskey, whisky too.

Bourbon is of course a truly American form of whiskey though Bourbon County in Kentucky gets its name from the French Bourbon royal lineage. The corn based whiskey gets its name from the county, as it was the port of origin, on the Ohio River where the barrels were branded with "Old Bourbon" before shipping out across pre-Prohibition America. 

The price ranges for bourbon is pretty eye popping, There are many fairly pedestrian, daily drinkers that start in the $20-something range and these whiskies can go up to the $300 price point. Price is often dictated by producer size and not surprisingly, the larger producers are cranking out some fairly high quality bourbon at a much lower price point than the craft distilleries are. The other major driver in price for bourbon, is the barrel aging. The longer you age a thing, the more it costs to make, and the more it costs us to drink. Not a complicated concept. Like most things of quality, you get what you pay for, but it's always a win when you feel like you've gotten a little more than perhaps you expected for the dollar.

Enter the Early Times Bottled in Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky. That's a lot of words of course, but they all mean something. You'll notice the "straight bourbon whisky" designation, and to carry that the following conditions must be true.

• Produced in the United States
• Made from a grain mixture that is at least 51% corn
• Aged in new, charred oak containers
• Distilled to no more than 160 (U.S.) proof (80% alcohol by volume)
• Entered into the barrel for aging at no more than 125 proof (62.5% alcohol by volume)
• Bottled (like other whiskeys) at 80 proof or more (40% alcohol by volume)

This bargain priced bourbon carries a few more bells and whistles than that list enumerates. 

The Early Times Bottled in Bond Bourbon is aged in those new charred barrels a minimum of four years, and it's Bottled in Bond designation, which is a bit of an antiquity; means besides a lot of other things we could debate the merits of, that it is the product of one distillation season as opposed to blending together your left overs. So this can be more or less translated to the term "single malt" that is often used in Scotch. 

So what do we get for about $22 a liter? Quite a bit it turns out. Those (at least) four years of barrel aging produce a dark aged bourbon with aromas of banana bread and vanilla, there's definitely a touch of heat as well. This bourbon is not overtly smooth, and it throws a little heat on the palate, with caramel and cinnamon. 

While you can pay a lot more for a sipping bourbon you cannot go wrong with the Early Times BiBKSBW (I made an acronym) for cocktail parties and get togethers. I mixed it up in a whiskey sour and it blended really well but still delivered a depth and smokiness to the cocktail that could only come from bourbon.