Top Shelf

If you go to a bar today, there are many varieties and tastes of alcohol available to you. Some people think this is a new 'fad' due to the increased prevalence of young drinkers. However, this is not the case. Drinking for the taste of the beverage has been a part of drinking for a long time. It is best illustrated, and this paper will attempt to show, through the evolution of distinctive distilled spirits. I will examine what most people consider to the three most unique whiskies: Irish, Scotch and Bourbon (American). We will examine how each arrives at its flavor, and why some are considered, rightly so, to be the 'top shelf' in drinking. Gaining the level of 'top shelf' is something that echoes not just the brand but also the dedication and exactness that goes into making the finished product itself.

When it comes to consumption of alcohol, taste is a primary motivation for most everyone. We drink what tastes good to us. This is only natural, but it has led to the development of a 'taste culture' in terms of drinking. Flavor rules the market and new flavors abound. This is not a new development. During the rise of distilled spirits, different methodologies were developed that gave rise to a variety of different drinks. Though many people do not realize it, whiskies first appear in the 1600s, in Ireland, and become prevalent in following centuries. The first two categories of whiskey we will examine bear the name of their originating country.

Taking the alphabetical primacy, Irish whiskey will first be examined. Irish whiskey is usually categorized by its smooth flavor. This is achieved through triple distillation. That is, the whiskey is brought to boil so that the alcohol vapors rises and is condensed, and then this is repeated again and again. "Distillation: The distilling process is where the alcohol which has a lower boiling point than water is separated from the fermented liquid or wash from the washback. Traditionally Irish Pot still whiskey is distilled three times in copper stills to ensure a smooth and delicate spirit." Using traditional Copper Pot Stills, "1. The wash is heated in the first still (Wash still) and condensed into low wines. 2. This then goes to the second still (Low wines and Feint still) where more impurities are removed and feints are collected. 3. The feints then go to a third still (Spirit still) where a further refining of the spirit takes place. The result is the production of a colourless spirit which has a high alcohol content.

It is this third distillation that gives "Irish" its different taste which is purer and lighter than Scotch Whisky which is distilled twice. At the Midleton distillery in Co. Cork depending on the desired outcome the spirit may have been distilled as many as 5 times. The distilled spirit at this stage still has a long journey ahead of it before it can be truly called whiskey."

Not just the distillation method accounts for the taste of Irish whiskey. This brings us, actually, to our first comparison of what goes into the 'tastes' we find in the bottle. Irish whiskey is made with a mix of over-dried malt barley and unmalted barley which is ground into grist prior to distillation. During the drying process, the Irish use closed ovens, which prevents the malt from being flavored by the fuel feeding the fire. Scotch, on the other hand, is kiln dried. The open kiln permits the smoke from the peat to permeate the barley malt with a taste that distinguishes the alcohol itself. It is the difference in this step that accounts most greatly for the tastes of these two final whiskies.

Scotch whiskey, in the distillation process, does not mix the unmalted and malted barley. Additionally, as noted, the drying process allows for the smoky flavoring of the barley. Scotch
uses a "wash-still" process which uses only two stills and thus leaves some impurities in the product to determine the taste. Both Irish and Scotch whiskies are often aged in 'recycled' casks. Both are "aged in a variety of barrels; used port, sherry, bourbon, etc.," and this particularly adds to the complexity and variety of scotches.

Scotch has another distinct branding method. This goes to the content, method, and location where a whiskey is made. A 'single malt scotch' must have only barley used in it, be made at only one distillery, and be made in Scotland. Blended scotches will have in their content mixes from other distilleries and often not pure barley spirits with weaker blends having a lower barley content. The age stamp will always indicate the youngest spirit in the blend, and the spirit stops aging at the time of bottling.

These two whiskies are the dominant European brands, but we cannot ignore their younger American cousin: Bourbon. Bourbon is also a 'name bearing' alcohol owing to its invention in Bourbon County, Kentucky. The distillation and content controls what can and cannot be called a bourbon, much like the other brands. But what makes bourbon the 'American Whiskey'? To answer this, we turn to the materials used to create the alcohol.

Bourbon has the singular distinction of being the first whiskey to use corn as its main ingredient. A brief statement can be found "Although Evan Williams, in 1783, might have been the first commercial distiller in Louisville, Bourbon is sometimes considered to have begun with the Reverend Elijah Craig from Bourbon County. The legend goes that he was a might thrifty and used old barrels to transport his whiskey to market in New Orleans. He charred the barrels before filling them, thus after his whiskey made the long trip to market, it had "mellowed" and taken on a light caramel color from the oak. Being from Bourbon County he started calling the whiskey "Bourbon". Interestingly today, there is no whiskey produced in Bourbon County."

It would not be for another almost 200 years before 'bourbon' became a protected American moniker for the brand of alcohol marketed under that name. Other whiskeys from Tennessee and other states do not have the permission to use 'bourbon' as a branding name. The fact that corn is indigenous to the United States gives it the branding ability from just materials that others achieve from the entire process of distilling the alcohol. The exact mix of corn (and absence of other products) has become so regulated that only Kentucky products are permitted to carry the mark 'bourbon' which at one time was a synonym for whiskey in general in the United States. To the uneducated palate, that still holds true but it is not the sole factor that set bourbon apart as a species of alcohol onto itself.

Another matter that separates bourbon from the European brands is the nature of its casks. Bourbon is aged in charred casks, unlike the 'flavored' casks of our imported samples. Charring is done to four different degrees (rated 1 through 4) and the scale goes up as the quality of the product increases. Reportedly, this was discovered by accident in the early days of American whiskey making and later became a taste-trait of bourbons, more so than the other American whiskeys such as sour mash or rye. Similar to the use of corn in the process to give a new, distinct flavor to this colonial product, the white oak charred casks also added to the unique 'branding' of this variety of alcohol.


The key items that separate lesser alcohols from superior, or 'top shelf' brands are: the ingredients, the aging, the distillation, and the method or means of age. While it seems that we are being redundant in the last item, it truly is not the case. Aging refers specifically to the item spent in the barrel. The method of aging, however, speaks to the barreling process itself. As we have seen regarding the Scots and the Irish products, certain distilleries will rely on such things are previously used barrels to give a product a special flavor. As Julian Van Winkle, of Van Winkle Distillery said in the March issue of Malt Advocate "… They can pick up nuances that people years ago weren't looking for, I don't think, not in a bourbon. But we have all these different proofs and recipes and so forth, and aging and char levels and so forth, that make a difference, and people are getting pretty sophisticated. Which makes it fun. You can look at the cross-cut of a stave, cut in half, and you see this little thin layer, then a thick layer, then another thin one, that really effects the flavor of the whiskey. Because the wood's going to age that whiskey different."

Having covered all of this, we can turn to the matter of 'top shelf' liquors and why some are better, in fact, than others. To reach this conclusion, a small field test was preformed, offering participants samplings of three 'top shelf' liquors: Bushmills (Irish), Glenfiddich (Scotch) and Jim Beam (Bourbon). Each was asked to sample and describe the flavor, bouquet, and palatability of the alcohols. Responses ranged as was expected, with 'smooth', 'smoky', 'light', etc. being the frequent responses. When the samples were then offered against 'rail' alcohol (rail being the least expensive brands carried for 'non-call' pours at a bar), the response began to range toward 'better,' 'smoother', 'more bodied' and so on. It was easy to see that when put side to side with those other brands carrying their same name, the 'top shelf' variants pulled ahead. Why, one must ask?

Are they not all distilled roughly the same, to be called an Irish, a Scotch or a Bourbon? Are there not minimums on aging (three years for most) standards? Of course all these things apply. However, for each of the named brands involved, the distilleries seek to exceed not merely meet these standards. They exact great pains to insure that recipes are followed as they were long ago, the proportions are precise, that aging is strictly followed, that proper barrels are also used. These steps are how they achieve a higher standard of excellence from their competitors, and have varying grades even within their own brands.

Taking "Black Bush" for example, we look at a triple-distilled, 30 year aged Irish whiskey. The color, taste and texture stand over even from the Bushmills' standard. Extra steps are taken to assure the high-level of distillation needed in the product, and then it is specially aged for an exceptionally long period of time.

A glass bought at the bar today was set into the cask when Gerald Ford was President of the United States and most college students were not even born. These extra steps provide for "the uniquely rounded bouquet, rich amber hue and distinctive spicy taste of Black Bush…"

Similarly, the other brands take steps to produce products of uniquely higher caliber, as found during the taste test trials. It is precisely these extra steps for purity, color, flavor, smoothness for which the higher price is demanded and the wise drinker is willing to pay.


No great variance, whether in content, method, or aging, can be taken without dramatically affecting the taste of the finished product. Fred Noe, of Jim Beam, perhaps summarized this mentality best as it applies to bourbon, but certainly translates to any liquor product. "It’s ironic, though, because all of you making wheated bourbons say it’s so good, and different, and all that, and everyone who makes a rye bourbon makes their case that that’s a positive thing. You can’t say it doesn’t matter, because it does, and you’re telling everyone it matters."

It is exactly this thought process, that everything matters which leads makers of such products are Jim Beam, Glenfiddich, and Bushmills to achieve a superior end result which they offer to the market. There are few who are aficionados of a brand who are willing, or likely for that matter, to compromise when it comes to what they prefer to drink. Why? Why would someone so set their tastes that moving off the mark is undesirable? The answer is simple: quality of product.

Much like dining, consuming alcohol is a sense experience. While some are comfortable, or even prefer, to just 'knock back a few' for whatever reason, the seasoned consumer of spirits seeks an experience that is pleasurable and a joy to undertake. They do not sit down merely to 'have a belt' but to savor the experience of having the drink. To these fine connoisseurs, from the first smell to the last savoring this is something to be enjoyed.

People who experience alcohol at this level look for those unique qualities that set aside the 'top shelf' brands from the bottles hidden from site at the ice bin level in bars, perhaps for fear
one will question whether 'McScotch' is really a good Scotch Whisky. Those brands which occupy the highest elevations in a bar do so not just to single them out but also as a symbol of what ordering them is about: the lifting of your palate to a higher level. To order a nervous glass with two fingers of 'ten cents plain' is dramatically different from calling for a shot of Strongbow seventeen year old Scotch. And, as different as the ordering is, so is the drinking.

In a market flooded with Apple Pucker and Sour Bliss flavored alcohols, it is easy to lose site of the fact that distillation of fine spirits is an art form. " It is the variations in each step of the production process, handed down from master distiller to apprentice--often for generations--that give the different (brands) their distinct flavors." So it can truly be stated that learning how to craft a fine distilled spirit is like an old-world skill: an apprenticeship that takes time, dedication and practice. And at the bar end, we pay more for the skills that are brought to bear on the process which results in this higher-end, finer tasting, superior product.

So the next time you belly up to the bar for a quick drink, think of what you are paying out and what the experience is truly worth. Then, lifting your eyes to the 'top shelf', also lift you tastes to the top brands and move into a world of old methods, old standards, and proven taste, indulging in a drink that is an experience and not just some colored beverage in a glass.