Types of Alcohol : The Difference Between Bourbon Whiskey & Sour Mash

Sour mash refers to a step in the bourbon whiskey making process where the pH levels of the corn mash are controlled before it goes on to be fermented. Understand the importance of making bourbon from sour mash with information from an experienced distiller in this free video on alcohol and liquor.

Expert: Brendan Coyle
Bio: Brendan Coyle is the distiller at High West Distillery in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Filmmaker: Michael Burton

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• liquor
• alcohol
• alcoholic drinks
• alcoholic beverages
• whiskey
• bourbon
• scotch
• gin
• vodka

[mumbels24]

One of the best whiskey videos I've seen in a long time! Very educational.

[eHow]

@mumbels24 Thanks!  Check out our other videos about whiskey in our playlists.

[Q3hero]

You can't sell much alcohol in Utah (Thinking of the mormons who doesn't drink at all)

[ridgedodge]

a true sour mash..take the baskets ( leftover juices in still) and add that back to the grain and yeast bed, then add sugar to let ferment again. sour mashing is used not only to add charcter to the whiskey, but to get more efficiency out of the grains. if you use grain that has not been malted and mashed, the yeast will only be able to use about 30 percent of the sugars in the grain per fermentaion. thus, adding sugar, and reusing the grain cuts down and waste and time as well.

[shaunlodge1987]

@mercifulkyle your kinda right....you take some of the 'waist' from the distillation, and put it into the next batches firmentation.

[shaunlodge1987]

@kcasperpdx To be bourbon it must be from the USA....sooooooo Hashishin13....Its pretty much the same as the scottish saying you can only make scotch in scotland.

And it has to be corn base....at least 51%, if it is Rye base it is a Rye whiskey and won't be called bourbon.

There are other laws as well....some of which this dude mentioned.

[winston0024]

mmmm bourbon

[Hashishin13]

@G If it involves the exact same ingredients as the cornish pasty and is identical in every testable respect, how can it possibly be said to be anything BUT a cornish pasty? The "style" would be entirely redundant.

I'm glad you pointed out the comparison to copyright, as I also wholeheartedly reject copyrights on the exact same basis. There used to be a sole candle producer for the city of London, competition is a good thing.

[GhostGuitars]

@Hashishin13 You can also see it as a form of copyright. You can still produce your own drink,. but have to call it 'Scotch STYLE whisky'. If a cornish pasty is made in Russia, is it really cornish? :)

[GhostGuitars]

@Hashishin13 It is to preserve standards, yes. Well known examples are Champagne (france) Scotch (scotland) and Tequila (Mexico). Its basically so someone cant start their own crap production line and have themselves compared to hundreds of years or crafting

[cthulhugeek]

@Hashishin13 Malted barley grain and potatoes