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American Whiskey and Kentucky Straight Bourbon
If you use more than 50% rye in a whiskey, you name it a "Rye Whiskey". At the beginning you found a lot of rye whiskeys in America, which tasted unusually spicy. But the taste of the people changed over the centuries so that the rye whiskey nearly got forgotten. Today the attribute "Mild and Mellow" is the fashion. I am proud to present you one of the latest true rye whiskeys Old Overholt.
The last whiskey mentioned here are the filtered Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskeys, which are filtered through meters of charcoal before they are matured in casks. Their group of supporters is growing steadily. I am happy to offer you with George Dickel No. 12 an excellent representative of this kind of whiskey. The filtering takes up to ten days and removes completely all solid material and fusel oils from the whiskey. The resulting whiskey tastes very smooth and mellow.
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You all know American Whiskey from the super markets. But the whiskeys I would like to
introduce to are as far away from this whiskeys as a blended Scotch is from Glenfarclas or
Lagavulin. These whiskeys are something special and should be tasted pure or with a little
bit of still water (No Cola, No Ice). On the American continent are two regions which
produce traditionally whiskey. This is the area around the St. Lawrence river in Canada
and the US states Kentucky and Tennessee. I will focus on the latest one.
There are four different kinds of
whiskeys in America. The most famous is the Bourbon, which got its name to the
honour of the French royal dynasty. Louis XVI had helped the Americans against the English
during the independence war. A county in Kentucky was given the name of the French
dynasty. Bourbon is produced at least from 50% corn. This is responsible for its
typical sweet taste. The remaining cereals are rye (very spicy), wheat (very mild) and
barley, which is needed for the fermentation process. If a Bourbon is not vatted or
blended with other whiskey, it is called "Straight". If it is bottled with more
than 100 Proof (=50%, Vol % Alc. x 2) it may bear the quality statement "Bottled in
Bond". An excellent representative of the Kentucky Straight Bourbons is 
Whiskeys from 100% corn are called "Corn Whiskey". They taste very
neutral. Pure corn whiskeys are therefore tasted very seldom and are mostly used
for the creation of blends.