Bourbon, with its rich history and distinctive character, has earned its place as a staple in the world of spirits. If you’re new to bourbon tasting or feel a bit intimidated by the process, don’t worry—you’re not alone.
Understanding the key tasting notes can transform your bourbon experience and make it more enjoyable. Let’s dive into eight essential flavour notes that can help you describe almost any bourbon, giving you the confidence to appreciate the complexity and craftsmanship in every bottle. From the sweet corn base to the influence of charred oak barrels, these tasting notes will guide you through the delightful nuances that make bourbon a truly unique and approachable spirit.
Let’s break down these elements a bit:
Corn: Corn is quite sweet and that will translate into the spirit. In addition, it often creates vanilla notes in the spirit (in fact one engineering scientist was able to create vanillin compounds from corn bran).
Wood: American Oak, or quercus alba, has a number of compounds in it that are extracted during the maturation process. Because bourbons must be aged in brand new charred oak, they will extract more of these compounds that a previously used barrel. Therefore, citing ‘toasted oak’ as a tasting note would be accurate.
A few of the compounds that are found in American Oak that impact the whiskey include:
– Furfural: We perceive as sweet/nutty notes (almond/walnut especially)
– Hydroxymethyl Furfural: We perceive as butter/caramel
– Cyclotene: We perceive as maple/caramel
– Vanillin: We perceive as vanilla
– Guaiacol: We perceive as smoky/peppery notes
– Eugenol: We perceive as clove/nutmeg/cinnamon
In addition, many of the other wood sugars derived from the Hemicellulose in the wood will present caramellic flavours which will develop into richer descriptors like cocoa/chocolate over time. Therefore you will find bourbons that have been matured longer will develop those more cocoa-y notes or alternatively ones that have been ‘double oaked’ often cite cocoa notes too.
Here are examples pulled from Distilleries’ Websites of their bourbon’s tasting notes:
*Originally posted to Whiskeymuse.com (written by Reece Sims, Founder of Flavor Camp)*