One of the biggest and most entertaining arguments amongst whiskey enthusiasts is what truly constitutes each class of whiskey. Has it been in a barrel long enough to be called “straight?” Is Tennessee Whiskey secretly just a fancy bourbon? What is “blended” whiskey anyway, and how good can it really be?
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A blended whiskey, by American standards, is a mixture containing no less than 20%, but up to 100%, whiskey. The rest? That can be made up from colorings, flavorings, and neutral grain spirits. This standard leaves the door open for an awful lot of products to be produced. From great blended scotch, to decent tasting cheap brands, to absolute muck.
neutral grain spirits though, are essentially a grain spirit that starts with little taste (similar to vodka) and is distilled until it is almost pure alcohol. This is where that horrendous burn and aftertaste blended whiskeys are known for comes from.
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There are a few other categories with higher percentage regulations. If a whiskey contains at least 51% of a straight type of whiskey, it maybe labeled with that specific type of whiskey. The most common type seems to blended bourbon, but blended scotches and ryes are also available.
So they next time you’re deliberating between a blended bourbon and a blend of bourbons, now you’ll know the difference.
