The air is fresh and sweet, the grass is bluegrass, the horses are light but finely muscled, and the jockeys are crouched in that netherworld between fidgety tension and calm purpose. It`s a race that takes less than 2 minutes-”the world`s most exciting,” they say.
This year`s-the 114th annual-Kentucky Derby is May 7. Afterwards, players and audience will uncoil, count their winnings or lament their losses, and enjoy another purely American treat: bourbon.
Some will mix it with sugar, ice and a sprig of mint to make the cocktail of the South: the julep. Others will take it in dozens of other combinations, while still others will drink it straight. But mixed to soften its power or taken ”as God had intended it,” as the older folk say, bourbon will make the air seem even sweeter to many.
Legally, bourbon whiskey is an alcoholic beverage (of no less than 80 proof, or 40 percent alcohol when bottled for sale) derived from a distillate of corn mash (at least 51 percent) and other grains such as barley, rye and wheat. Before it is bottled for sale, it must be aged for at least two years in new American oak barrels whose staves have been charred.
That rather simple and fairly flexible definition covers a lot of territory. There are hundreds of bourbon brands to choose from, all with a different spin to them: more corn or less corn (corn lightens the flavor), longer or shorter aging, 80 proof through 107 proof, etc. But all strive to interpret the original recipe handed down, so one story goes, by a Baptist preacher determinded to go his own way.
In the last part of the 18th Century, Rev. Elijah Craig, one of thousands fleeing religious persecution in Virginia, set up his ministry in what is now known as Scott County, Ky., formerly Bourbon County, just north of Lexington. According to Joseph Earl Dabney in ”Mountain Spirits” (Charles Scribner`s Sons), ”He was a hellfire and brimstone evangelist (whose only major compromise apparently was his hankering for a drink or two in the morning and a hot toddy at night, `for the stomach`s sake`). . . .” So, along with his Bible, he brought to this new land a copper still.
THE OAK DIFFERENCE
Neither Kentucky in particular nor America in general was innocent of spirits at this time: Whiskey of one sort or another has been made on our shores since the middle of the 16th Century. And a full 150 years before Craig reputedly made the first bourbon, our country welcomed another wave of refugees from Europe, this time the Scots-Irish home-distillers fleeing the hated English excise taxes. What set the preacher`s whiskey apart was the charred white oak barrels in which he matured it.
Burning the staves not only physically alters the wood but also caramelizes its rough sugars. This gives to anything stored in the barrel a peculiar flavor (much to the chagrin of winemakers who have used old bourbon casks for aging their wines), especially high-alcohol liquids. The whiskey takes on a perfumed bouquet, similar in strength if not style to well-aged cognacs (whose producers use uncharred wood of a different kind), as well as a very mellow, sweet-edged flavor that with enough aging counterbalances the roughness of the alcohol.
Craig is said to have stumbled onto this enhancement of plain whiskey by the inadvertent use of an accidentally burned barrel. After it had aged a bit, Craig found that it had a delightfully different character. Author Dabney gives credit for this discovery to others, including those who intentionally burned the insides of barrels to kill the flavor of the salted fish that had been stored and shipped in them, and to coopers (barrelmakers) who burned straw inside them to kill bacteria and to eliminate splinters. Whatever, this practice helped set bourbon apart as one of the world`s finest spirits.
Today, most genuine bourbon is made in and around Craig`s Kentucky preaching grounds, home also, not coincidentally, of a particularly pure limestone-affected water. Because of those historical and geological links, most traditionalists claim the Bluegrass State as the true home of bourbon. But Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Tennessee and even Downstate Illinois turn out genuine-if not Kentucky-bourbon.
As with any fine spirit, there is bourbon and there is bourbon. Most of the inexpensive and fairly young brands on the market are made for mixing, as are 3-star cognacs and armagnacs. Old-timers use plain water, soda (for a highball), lemon juice (for a whiskey sour), sugar cubes (for an old-fashioned) or even eggs and/or cream (for whiskey flips or nogs).
But scores of more modern whiskey-based cocktails have been invented to shore up the sagging sales of spirits in general. And if you are going to make a true manhattan (1 part sweet vermouth and 2 parts bourbon stirred together in a pitcher and left over ice cubes for a few minutes), do not forget to add a dash of bitters; most bartenders neglect this tiny but important detail.
SAVOR A SIP
Many bourbon lovers-like aficionados of fine old cognac-prefer their spirits neat. Whether you are a couch potato or a late-night reader, an ounce or two of fine old bourbon in a snifter is a thing of joy. The appearance-some look like bright old gold-and the odors-maple, caramel, orange blossoms and brilliantly tamed alcohol-are enough to satisfy. But the flavor of a good, mature bourbon is the kicker; it is sweet and sharp and warmly lingering. You don`t have to gulp a good one, just look at it, let it warm a bit in your hand and gently sniff it, then savor a tiny sip. It is a wonderful after-dinner drink, putting a cap on a filling meal. And if you palm one during the derby, no one will complain.
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Recommended quick bourbon visit: After a stand-up lunch at the bar-complete, of course, with a stein of draft beer-ask for a shot of the house bourbon at the Berghoff Restaurant, 17 W. Adams St. The sandwiches are great, beer is fresh and the bourbon is old and sweet.
Recommended extended bourbon visit: The Bucket O`Sud`s neighborhood tavern and eatery at 3123 N. Cicero Ave. While proprietor Joe Danno`s collection of older and rarer bourbons has dwindled, lovers of Kentucky`s pride and other fine spirits can sip and listen to Joe`s tales of liquor lore. –
