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All American Classic Bruichladdich has released an all American Classic with French royal family and revolutionary war connections - The Bourbon 16 US Prohibition ended in 1933. Bourbon laws state these casks can be used just once before being sold to an eager Scottish whisky market. Today redundant Bourbon barrels represent about 97% of casks used for maturing Scotch whisky. Their influence on Scotch is enormous. These casks are made from Quercus Alba, white oak, also known as American Oak from the Ozark mountains of Missouri and Kentucky. Tyloses, or celluar growths, make this oak more water-tight meaning it can be machine-worked, use thinner staves, reducing coopering costs. “Our American Classic, the Bourbon 16”, says MD Mark Reynier, “makes a great contrast to our French oak “First Growth” series. “With this bottling we wanted to reaffirm the American connection: US Prohibition changed the flavour of Scotch Whisky. “Scotch and American whiskies are historically linked. It’s a symbiotic cycle: we gave them distilling, so they can sell us cheap casks.” Immigrant Scots started distilling in the US shortly after the American War of Independence in a newly established (1785) county - Bourbon. It was called Bourbon in homage to the French royal family, in recognition of their help in the battle against the English. Just four years later the French Revolution started. America’s national spirit was nearly called Napoleon.
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Notes for Editors UK distribution: Malcolm Cowen RP+/-£40 Export sales: andrew@bruichladdich.com The American Classic 16 bottling is forecast to run until 2011 Prohibition: The Volstead Act mandated in the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution lasted from 1920 to 1933, during which the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol was banned. Bourbon is a US made style of whiskey distilled mainly from maize - there is no geographical area, it is a generic name. Early American pioneers, Scots and Ulster Scots, established distilling west of the Allegheny Mountains after the American War of Independence 1775–1783. The French Revolution 1789 - 1799 Bourbon County, established in 1785, was originally a quarter of today’s Kentucky State in area. Now shrunk to just one county (291 Square miles) out of 120 counties. A resolution of the U.S. Congress in 1964 declared bourbon to be a "distinctive product of the United States." Confusingly, Quercus Alba is now grown in Southern Europe and is used by many European wine makers including Sherry producers. |
