Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Series from Heaven Hill Distillery
Why did this happen and what does that mean for our beloved brown water?
The Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897 was passed to create consistency and a much-needed quality standard.
Before being enacted, you really had no idea what you were buying and consuming. It was quite common that whiskey made prior to the act being passed would be flavored and colored with things like iodine, tobacco and various other chemicals of the day. Because of these nefarious methods, some “whiskey” would prove to be deadly when consumed. Essentially you could be drinking poison.
Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr.
Additionally, this act is also connected to the tax law, which incentivizes and allows distillers to delay payment of the excise tax until the aging process is completed.
These advantages were led a group of whiskey distillers you may have heard of before. Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr. (Yes, that E.H. Taylor) joined forces with Secretary of the Treasury John G. Carlisle to help ensure the passage of the Bottled-in-Bond Act.
To guarantee compliance, Treasury agents were assigned to control access to so-called bonded warehouses at the distilleries to ensure that proper accounting and eventual tax collection were conducted.
For a whiskey to be designated Bottled-In-Bond, it MUST adhere to the following requirements:
- The whiskey MUST be produced in the United States of America.
- The whiskey MUST be the product of one distillation season.
- The whiskey MUST be aged in a federally bonded warehouse under government supervision for at least four years.
- The whiskey MUST be bottled at exactly 100 proof / 50% ABV.
- The whiskey MUST be labeled with the location of the distillery where it was produced and bottled.
When ALL of these requirements are met, the United States government will have certified a whiskeys quality and it assures consumers that what you are drinking meets its exact standards.
Today, this quality guarantee of Bottled-in-Bond, remains a stamp of quality, consistency and transparency and in effect, the Bottled-In-Bond Act is America’s first consumer protection law.
A few of our favorite Bottled in Bond Expressions
There are a ton of Bottled-in-Bond expressions today and the category keeps growing. Pictured above are just a few of my personal favorite Bottled-in-Bond expressions from my collection.
From left to right:
- Henry McKenna 10 Year Single Barrel Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon – $49.99 SRP
- Heaven Hill Old Style 6 Year Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon – Discontinued
- Old Fitzgerald Spring 2020 Release 9 Year Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon – $89.99 SRP
- New Riff Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon – $44.99 SRP
- Heaven Hill 7 Year Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon – $56.99 SRP
- 1792 Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon – $34.99 SRP
- Early Times Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon (Brown-Forman) – $24.99 SRP
Whichever is your favorite expression, be sure to raise a glass today to those that helped create high quality bourbon. Cheers!
You can read the original Bottled in Bond Act of 1897 in all of its glory below:
Bottled-In-Bond-Act-1897
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