Bourbon is a distilled alcoholic beverage produced primarily from corn, with the rest composed of rye or wheat. The present form of bourbon emerged in the late 19th century; however, whiskey production in the United States started in the 18th century.
Bourbon takes its name from either Bourbon County in Kentucky, the site of many distilleries, or Bourbon Street in New Orleans, a major port for the export of whiskey to other parts of the world.
Typically, bourbon possesses a distinctive reddish hue. The flavor ranges from grain to caramel to nutmeg, depending on the length of the aging process and the type of grain used. Despite these subtle differences, all bourbons go through aging in charred oak containers. Strict laws define the production and labelling of bourbon. The name refers only to corn-based whiskey produced in the United States. However, the state of Kentucky houses the vast majority of bourbon producers.
Most manufacturers follow the same process, which includes the fermentation, distillation, and aging of a liquid produced from corn mash. What are the differences between rum and bourbon? They differ mainly in terms of origin, manufacturing process, taste and appearance, legal status, and alcohol content.
Rum traces its origins to ancient sugarcane-based alcoholic beverages recorded in China, India and the East Indies. Thus, rum production is a global industry. Vodka is a distilled spirit that starts with water, yeast, and fermented grains.
Vodka grains may include:. The grains are fermented, drawing out their natural sugars. Yeast is added to the remaining liquid to help ferment the sugars.
Following the fermentation process, the liquid is distilled multiple times to remove impurities. Through the distillation process, the liquid is heated to boiling and the resulting alcohol vapors are collected, which become the vodka product. Vodka was first produced in medieval times and used as a medicine. It originated in Poland and became popular in Russia in the s.
Vodka was introduced to the United States in the s. Today, many of the finest vodkas are produced in Eastern Europe. Vodka is a colorless spirit, sometimes infused with fruity additives for additional flavor. Grain-based vodka offers a light, crisp taste, while potato-based vodkas are said to have a fuller, heavier feel on the palate. Whisky is a distilled beverage made from a fermented grain mash that may include:.
It is believed that whiskey has origins with the Greeks as far back as the third century, when spirits were distilled to make fragrances. It was in Italy in the thirteenth century when whiskey was first distilled as a drinking alcohol and medicine. It become an extremely popular drink in Scotland soon after.
Whiskey is categorized in several ways, primary as a grain whiskey or a malt whiskey. Malting occurs when a grain is first germinated before it is fermented. After fermentation, whiskey is distilled then aged in a wooden barrel to gain its strength. Once bottled, whiskey does not continue to age. Pure sugarcane juice leads to clean and refreshing flavors, while the use of blackstrap molasses gives burnt brown sugar notes to the finished product. Spiced rum uses baking spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla beans to ramp up the complex wood flavors picked up from the cask inherent in all aged spirits.
And, like bourbon and whiskey, the flavors of cheap spirits often reflect the imperfections of the base spirit, while those of high-end products made in copper pots with pure ingredients — like rhum Agricole — reflect the sophisticated bouquet of flavors and aromas expected by connoisseurs.
The history of any alcoholic beverage is tied to the history of the land from which it was born. This brings us to a crossroads that every spirits writer must cross when writing about the history of rum. Rum production came about because of the triangle trade — the economic driver that made exploration and habitation economical in the new world. Through this engine, enslaved people were forcibly transported from Africa to the Caribbean, where sugar was produced from sugarcane on large plantations.
Molasses — a byproduct of the sugar extraction process — was shipped to the East Coast of the United States, where it was then distilled into rum.
Then, the finished rum and other continental goods like timber and cotton were loaded into cargo holds for the long trip back across the Atlantic. Molasses was a throwaway byproduct — it was initially discarded until growers realized it fermented naturally when exposed to ambient yeast — so any products extracted from the commodity led to pure profits.
Sailors began to accept rum as payment, further increasing the efficiency of its production. Today, Americans might not realize a thriving distilling industry was established in New England in the 17th century. At the time, states like Connecticut and Massachusetts distilled as much or more rum than islands like Jamaica and Barbados. Before the triangle trade was established, brandy was the distilled beverage of choice for drinkers in Europe and the new colonies in North America.
Even as rum gained acceptance and popularity, brandy and wine remained the favorite tipple of the aristocratic elite along the East Coast. The long trek over Alleghenies to the frontier of Western Pennsylvania, and later Ohio and Kentucky required a caravan crossing that took months or longer on horseback, by covered wagon and for many long stretches on foot.
The terrain made it uneconomical to lug large barrels of brandy, which can weigh about pounds apiece. Without vineyards, grape wine and brandy became impractical, as did rum production without access to the ports that received Caribbean molasses. So, that left the plentiful grain that frontier families could cultivate in the rich regional soil. From their crop harvest, they could brew beer and distill it into whiskey.
In Western Pennsylvania and the Maryland panhandle, settlers relied heavily on rye — a hearty crop that withstood the harsh winters and was more resistant to disease. As those settlers moved into the prairie land of Kentucky, Indian maize, or corn, became a popular crop — and the local whiskey began to reflect that sweet corn profile. And, as settlers in both regions shipped oak barrels down the Ohio River to the port of New Orleans for sale, the benefits of charring the barrels before maturation became evident.
We mentioned some of the ways these three spirit types are different. Check out the table below for some highlights on how each is made. The same trait that makes rum such a vibrant spirits category is what makes defining sub-categories so challenging — it is made all over the globe, with each region having different product standards and histories that go back hundreds of years.
It will have a more neutral flavor profile than aged or spiced rums, and is excellent for tall cocktails like the mojito. However, some producers replicate the color and flavor with caramel or molasses to offer a brown spirit that is unaged but looks golden.
Dark Rum — Typically aged in charred oak barrels for an extended period — think six, seven or eight years or longer. See above, below. Aged Rum — This product describes a product that uses wood barrels to add complex flavors to the rum distillate.
Look for an age statement to differentiate aged rum from unaged dark rum products. In the U. Flavored Rum — Today, flavored rums run the gauntlet. Spiced rum is another historical product that is very popular in the U.
Producers macerate traditional baking spices like nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove in aged or unaged spirit. High-end spiced rums combine these spices in oak barrels, complimenting the baking spice flavor profile and adding complexity.
Different countries have different rules. Compare this to Tequila, where U. When it comes to sugar cane, there are multiple ways to process it — or not process it. The three primary forms of processed sugar cane products for rum production are:. The majority of rum made is from molasses, which is less expensive than cane syrup, as it has less sugar per unit volume. Rum for cane juice comprises the smallest amount of rum made globally but expresses local terroir far more than a molasses rum.
The French islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe and Reunion Island are particularly known for their cane juice rums, or rhum , in French. In the same way that barley, corn, wheat, and rye are varieties of grains, there are hundreds of sugar cane varietals used to make rum.
So, if you think about a bourbon whiskey versus a rye whiskey, you might also differentiate a blue cane rum from a red cane rum. However, the flavor difference between cane varietals is typically more subtle than grains, e. The essential point about both grain and sugar cane as raw materials is that the end result is fermentable sugars in liquid form. The mashing process at a bourbon distillery converts the starches into sugar. In rum making, the molasses is already loaded with sugars, so no transformation is needed before fermentation.
Yeast is a living organism that converts sugar into alcohol and congeners, i. There are countless different yeast strains, and each makes its own unique set of flavors. The vast majority of bourbon and rum is made from carefully cultured yeast strains.
Cultured yeast strains are intentionally kept the same from fermentation batch to batch, so each batch tastes like the prior batch — in theory. This consistency has high commercial value. All of the major bourbon producers use cultured yeast. That said, many distilleries use their own proprietary strain rather than an off-the-shelf variety. While cultured yeast is the norm in rum, some producers use natural, airborne yeast to elicit a much more wild, funky, or unusual flavor profile.
Lucia Distillers. The typical bourbon fermentation period is between two and four days. As for rum, the vast majority is made with a relatively short duration of a day or two. The Spanish heritage rums of Cuba and Puerto Rico are great examples of these short fermentations. However, some rum fermentations stretch out for weeks.
This supercharges the resulting wash with esters, one of the primary types of flavor compounds. It makes for flavors particularly associated with rum, especially high ester rum. As a final note of comparison, both bourbon and rum making have a long tradition of using waste from a prior distillation vinasse in French as a component of a subsequent fermentation. That is, liquid remaining in a still after distillation is part of the next fermentation.
The acidic liquid waste creates a favorable environment for the yeast to work and enhances the creation of esters, making for a more flavorful end result. Bourbon makers call this use of acidic waste sour mash. Use of dunder by non-Jamaican distilleries is rare but not unheard of. For instance, Clairin Le Rocher from Haiti uses dunder. The big bourbon manufactures almost exclusively distill continuously, rather than in batches. The typical bourbon still at a distillery like Buffalo Trace , Jim Beam or Wild Turkey is a column still, with a single column.
There are column stills with more columns — More on this in a moment. The large producers almost always send the distillate through another specialized still to further increase the alcohol content.
This second still has some physical similarities to a pot still, but it operates differently, continuously receiving column still distillate while continuously emitting stronger distillate. There are no heads, hearts, and tails as in batch distillation. These special stills come in two varieties — thumpers and doublers. Prior to distillation the thumper is partially filled with liquid, typically with alcoholic waste from prior distillations.
Picturing blowing bubbles in a cup through a straw.
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