Because it’s almost summertime, that signifies that for a lot of, myself included, it’s bourbon whiskey season.
Whereas I take pleasure in bourbon whiskey all 12 months lengthy, I particularly take pleasure in it on a heat summer season’s day. I can fairly fortunately sip it neat, over ice, with cola, ginger ale, lemonade, in an Previous Original, and in lots of different methods moreover. I’m additionally keen on a bourbon with my BBQ (as you’ll most likely bear in mind for those who’ve learn just a few of the blogs I’ve written prior to now). With whisky/whiskey, I attempt to not choose favourites, however on the subject of Blanton’s Bourbon, it’s undoubtedly up there with the perfect.
Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon whiskey is taken into account by many to be the last word bourbon whiskey. It’s the Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, and Jaguar of the bourbon world all rolled into one. It ought to come as little shock then, to be taught that Blanton’s has acquired a cult following through the years and has positioned itself as one of many best whiskies ever produced. It’s additionally very uncommon and has the worth tag to match.
However what’s it about Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon that makes it so particular? Nicely, that’s exactly what I’m going to speak about at present.
What’s Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon?
Distilled in Kentucky (in fact) on the Buffalo Hint Distillery in Frankfort, Blanton’s is marketed and produced by the Sazerac Firm. Sazerac, nonetheless, don’t personal the model. As a substitute, they merely maintain the distilling rights. Blanton’s is actually owned by Age Worldwide Inc, who acquired the model again in 1984.
The whiskey is famend for its {smooth}, wealthy, and complicated traits, in addition to its uniquely formed bottle and signature steel stopper/cap that includes a horse and jockey motif. These stoppers have change into vastly collectible through the years as each encompasses a horse and jockey in a unique place, representing the completely different components of a horse race. Every stopper can also be engraved with a letter, which, when mixed with the remainder of the stoppers in a set, spells out the phrase ‘BLANTON’S’.
Produced from one single bourbon cask at a time, (therefore the identify) the whiskey helped make bourbon a premium whiskey and has since obtained cult standing. When you attempt Blanton’s, you’ll by no means have a look at bourbon in the identical means once more.
The Man Behind the Identify
Usually, when bourbon first got here on the scene, it was frequent follow to take completely different whiskies from completely different barrels, and mix them collectively till you achieved a product price promoting. Don’t get me improper, a number of the best bourbons on the earth have been produced this manner, and nonetheless are actually. Blanton’s nonetheless, wished to create a product that stood head and shoulders above the remaining. They wished a product that not solely stood out, however one which was superior.
Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon may be traced again to Colonel Albert B. Blanton. Blanton was Kentucky born and bred. Born in 1881, he grew up a stone’s throw away from what’s now generally known as the Buffalo Hint Distillery (beforehand generally known as the Previous Fireplace Copper Distillery and the George T. Stagg Distillery). At aged 16 he started working within the workplace there, step by step studying the ins and outs of the bourbon commerce. He helped steer the distillery by way of battle, in addition to Prohibition, floods, and The Nice Despair.
Blanton would ultimately change into president of the distillery, and rightfully so. Throughout the Forties, the distillery was way more established and infrequently welcomed VIPs. Right here, they’d in fact be introduced with the best bourbon on the distillery, by Albert himself. Blanton, ever perceptive, started noticing variations within the high quality of the bourbon saved within the metal-clad warehouse. He seen that barrels saved in a single a part of the warehouse produced bourbon that smelled, appeared, and tasted higher than all the remaining. It was from these very barrels that he would supply bourbon for particular events.
The warehouse, generally known as Warehouse H, had been commissioned by Blanton after prohibition. The steel cladding, coupled with the contrasting Kentucky seasons, produced dramatic temperature fluctuations within the warehouse. This meant that barrels saved in numerous components of the warehouse aged otherwise.
Creating Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon
Whereas Colonel Albert B. Blanton is the identify behind the bourbon, had it not been for a person named Elmer T. Lee, Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon would probably not be right here at present.
Following WW2, Elmer started working on the distillery, after initially being turned away by the Colonel himself. He too labored his means up from a upkeep engineer, earlier than ultimately turning into a Grasp Distiller.
Sarcastically, it wasn’t till he was one 12 months away from retirement that Elmer helped to revolutionize the bourbon whiskey trade as we all know it at present. The distillery tasked Elmer with arising with a brand new and distinctive bourbon. They wished one which stood out and was actually progressive. Elmer racked his brains and thought again to his time as an apprentice within the Forties.
Elmer remembered how, at any time when VIPs would go to the distillery, the Colonel would all the time choose bourbon from one single barrel in Warehouse H. This was notable as a result of, like we realized earlier, it was frequent follow to mix bourbons. Elmer determined to bottle Blanton’s bourbon from one single barrel. Every bottle is an expression of 1 single, distinctive, hand-picked barrel. These days, single cask bottlings are quite common. Again then, it was revolutionary.
Named in Colonel Albert Blanton’s honour, the whiskey was launched in 1984 and instantly revolutionized the bourbon whiskey biz. The whiskey proved vastly standard, and shortly gained notoriety everywhere in the States, earlier than ultimately increasing throughout the globe.
Why is Warehouse H so Vital?
To this present day, the world-famous Warehouse H nonetheless stands prominently on the Buffalo Hint Distillery.
Reasonably than bricks and mortar, Albert had commissioned the warehouse to be made predominantly from steel. It was this choice which finally helped flip Blanton’s into arguably the most well-liked premium bourbon on the earth.
Whereas in Scotland you possibly can expertise all 4 seasons in someday, in Kentucky, every season could be very completely different to the final. The summers get sizzling and humid, whereas the winters can get extraordinarily chilly. It’s this distinction in temperatures that helped to supply such beautiful whiskey.
The metal-clad partitions react completely different to the warmth and chilly. They permit cold and warm temps to creep in a lot faster. This causes the oak barrels to contract and broaden extra continuously. This permits the whiskey to change into extra closely influenced by the oak. Not solely does it assist give it such a singular amber-ruby color, it helps give extra advanced flavours, aromas, and notes, all capped off with a silky-smooth end.
