브랜디박사

그러나, American Whiskey 중에서 Whiskey 대신 Whisky로 표기하는 경우도 있습니다.

대부분 창업자의 고향이 영국 스코틀랜드이며, 스카치 위스키 제조 방법의 영향을 받아서

전반적 또는 부분적으로 단식 증류기 (Pot Still)를 사용하여 생산하는 위스키로,

1. Early Times

2. George Dickel

3. Jefferson’s

4. Maker’s Mark

5. Forester

6. Old Hickory

7. White Duck

등은 Whiskey 대신에 Whisky 라고 표기합니다.

American Whiskey의 종류는 아래와 같습니다.

1. Bourbon Whiskey

   옥수수 (Corn)를 51% 이상 포함한 곡물을 발효시켜 만든 술을 연속증류기로 증류하여

   통속을 불로 그을린 아메리칸 뉴 오크통 속에서 최소 2년 이상 숙성을 시킵니다.

   이렇게 2년 이상 오크통 속에서 숙성 시킨 것을 Straight Bourbon 이라고 하며,

   특히, Kentucky주에서 생산한 것을 Kentucky Straight Bourbon 이라고 합니다.

   증류한 위스키의 알코올 도수가 80%를 초과 할 수 없으며,

   숙성시킨 위스키의 알코올 도수가 62.5%를 초과 할 수 없습니다. 

   병에 넣을때는 최소 40% 이상의 알코올 도수를 유지해야 합니다.

   All bourbons are whiskies, but not all whiskies are bourbon.

   Bourbon whiskey originated in Kentucky during the 18th century.

   The United States government defines Kentucky bourbon as:

• An American whisky made from a grain mash that is predominantly corn (a minimum of 51%)
• Distilled at a proof no greater than 160 proof (80%)
• Aged in new charred oak barrels for a minimum of 2 years to be called a "straight" whisky
• Bottled at a minimum of 80 proof (40% alcohol by volume)

2. Tennessee Whiskey

   옥수수 (Corn)를 51% 이상 포함한 곡물을 발효시켜 만든 술을 연속증류기로 증류하여

   통속을 불로 그을린 아메리칸 뉴 오크통 속에서 최소 2년 이상 숙성을 시킵니다.

   증류한 위스키의 알코올 도수가 80%를 초과 할 수 없으며,

   숙성시킨 위스키의 알코올 도수가 62.5%를 초과 할 수 없습니다. 

   병에 넣을때는 최소 40% 이상의 알코올 도수를 유지해야 합니다.

   => 여기까지의 제조과정은 Bourbon Whiskey와 같습니다.

   그리고, 통에 넣기 전에 단풍나무 숯으로 여과시킵니다. (Charcoal-Filtering) 

   이 방법을 Lincoln County Process 라고 합니다.

   일부 테네시 위스키는 병입 전에 같은 방법으로 한번 더 여과 하기도 합니다.

   (Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack)

3. Corn Whiskey

   옥수수 (Corn)를 80% 이상 포함한 곡물을 발효시켜 만든 술을 연속증류기로 증류하여

   통속을 불로 그을리지 않은 중고 또는 새 오크통 속에서 단기간 숙성 시킬 수 있습니다.

   숙성를 시키지 않아도 됩니다.

   숙성시에는 어떤 방법으로든지 숯이나 불에 그을린 나무를 사용할 수 없습니다.

   증류한 위스키의 알코올 도수가 80%를 초과 할 수 없으며,

   숙성시킨 위스키의 알코올 도수가 62.5%를 초과 할 수 없습니다. 

   병에 넣을때는 최소 40% 이상의 알코올 도수를 유지해야 합니다.

4. Rye Whiskey

   호밀 (Rye)을 51% 이상 포함한 곡물을 발효시켜 만든 술을 연속증류기로 증류하여

   통속을 불로 그을린 아메리칸 뉴 오크통 속에서 최소 2년 이상 숙성을 시킵니다.

   증류한 위스키의 알코올 도수가 80%를 초과 할 수 없으며,

   숙성시킨 위스키의 알코올 도수가 62.5%를 초과 할 수 없습니다. 

   병에 넣을때는 최소 40% 이상의 알코올 도수를 유지해야 합니다.

이 외에도 위스키의 재료에 따라서

Wheat Whiskey    : Wheat (밀)를 51% 이상 포함한 곡물을 발효시켜 증류한 위스키

Malt Whiskey      : Malt (맥아 = 싹을 티운 보리))를 51% 이상 포함한 곡물을 발효시켜 증류한 위스키

                                (비교 : Malt Scotch Whisky는 100% Malt만을 사용)

Rye Malt Whisky  : Rye Malt (싹을 티운 호밀)를 51% 이상 포함한 곡물을 발효시켜 증류한 위스키

등이 있으며,

새로 만든 아메리칸 오크통속에서 2년 이상 숙성 시킨 위스키는 위스키의 이름 앞에 Straight 라는

이름을 붙입니다.

Jim Beam - American Bourbon Whiskey

For more than 200 years, the Beam family has been in the business of making the
world's best-selling bourbon.

Of all the families who claim more than one generation of whiskey makers, none
has been as prominent as the Beam family. To get some sense of how ubiquitous
this one family has been in the American whiskey industry, imagine if every state
government had at least one high-ranking official named Kennedy, or if every new
movie starred at least one Barrymore.

Generations of Beams have been involved with the Jim Beam Brands Company, of
course, but virtually every other current distillery has had Beams on its payroll at one
time. Heaven Hill, for example, has never had a distiller who was not named Beam.

In 1788, the same year that the Constitution of the United States was ratified and
took effect, Jacob Beam, the great grandfather of the legendary Jim Beam, decided
to go west to seek a better life. He loaded up all of his belongings, strapped his
copper still to the back of his second-hand wagon and traveled west, settling in
Kentucky shortly before it was admitted to the Union as the 15th state in 1792.

A farmer but also a miller by trade, Jacob built a water-driven mill where he would
grind people's corn for a percentage of their crop. Extra grain was difficult to store in
those days, and even tougher to get to market. Beam knew that whiskey provided
the safest and most economical way to use surplus corn. It wasn't subject to
mildew, was easy to transport and was considered even more valuable than
unstable Continental currency.

Using his own still, Jacob began to produce an amber-colored whiskey made from a
fermented mash of corn, rye and malt. The product -- which used more corn than
any other ingredient -- was called bourbon, after Kentucky's Bourbon County. Beam
sold his first barrel of bourbon in 1795.

Jacob passed the family bourbon-making traditions on to his son, David, in 1820.
During David's tenure as Master Distiller, the nation was embarking on the industrial
age. As the discovery of California gold brought hundreds of Americans west, new
immigrants were pouring into America in search of freedom and fortune. The opening
of the Erie Canal in 1825 and navigation on the Mississippi made the shipping of
goods, like bourbon, easier and more accessible than ever.

David M. Beam, son of David and grandson of Jacob, took over the distillery and the
family's bourbon-making secrets in 1850, a few years before the Civil War began.
Soon after his father died in 1854, David moved the distillery to Nelson County, KY,
closer to the state's first railroad. He called his new home the Clear Spring Distillery,
after the clear, spring water found in a nearby river.

David M. brought his son, the legendary James "Jim" Beauregard Beam, into the
business when he was 16. David taught him the same skills and knowledge of
bourbon making that his father handed down to him. Jim took over the family
distillery in 1894 at the age of 30, and for the next 52 years, continued to oversee
the distillation process.

Jim Beam's company continued to grow and prosper during the early 1900s until it
was forced to shut down during Prohibition in 1919. During the 14 years of
Prohibition, Beam sold all of his liquor holdings to take up citrus growing in Florida,
then coal mining and running a limestone quarry.

With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the 70-year-old Jim Beam returned to
distilling and incorporated The James B. Beam Distilling Co., in Clermont, KY, on
August 14, 1934. Eleven years later, in 1946, Jim Beam's son, T. Jeremiah Beam,
became President and Treasurer of the James B. Beam Distilling Co. Jim Beam
died one year later at the age of 83.

Jeremiah saw that his sister's son, F. Booker Noe, Jr., had the family passion and
talent for bourbon making. Jeremiah brought his nephew into the family distillery
when he was 21. At Jeremiah's side, Booker learned the family bourbon-making
traditions and secrets.

Under Booker's watchful eye, the Jim Beam distillery still uses the same vintage
yeast strain created by Jim Beam in 1934. Today, as Jim Beam Bourbon celebrates
203 years of family history, Booker serves as master distiller emeritus of Jim Beam