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You done good - Buffalo Trace is a really nice bourbon at it's price point. I buy it locally for $16/750 and it's a steal at that price. 90 proof, if memory serves, which is a nice proof for sippin'. I like 100 proof or 101, or even the 'barrel proof' whusk now and then, but for day in, day out drinking 90 is fine by me. A lot of vanilla, leather, spice. Good neat or on the rocks, nice in a Manhattan or Old Fashioned.
Bourbon doesn't have to be made in Kentucky, but it must be made with at least 51% corn, and it must spend 2 years in new charred oak barrels. There's some bourbon made in Virginia and Indiana, and we made McCormicks in Weston for decades. The Tennessee whiskey like Dickel and Daniels is basically bourbon made within Tennessee and filtered thru charcoal, and you're welcome to my share.
When you read the term 'straight' whiskey, it hasn't been blended with grain alcohol or other spirits (American blended whiskey like Kesslers) altho they may have mixed some 'straight' whiskey from a barrel made in 1998 with a similar barrel made 2 years ago, that mixture (or 'vatting') is still considered a straight whiskey (but not a blend. The word blend implies some bad things in US whiskey).
Sour mash - they just use some of the last batch of 'beer' to start the fermentation of this batch when they run it. Think sourdough, same idea, the yeast doesn't have to start from scratch. Bourbon is one of America's many gifts to the world. Y'all enjoy!
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A man can never own too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition. -- R. Kipling
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