The Last Bourbon Country Reader of 2013 Will Ship This Week

To all of the world except North America, whiskey means malt whiskey.

It's not that we don't know about malt--i.e., malted barley. The first European settlers imported it from home so they could make beer, viewed as essential for health at a time when there was no better way to make water safe to drink.

And there is plenty of malt whiskey sold here, most of it imported from Scotland and Ireland.

But Americans (including Canadians) have never made much malt whiskey until recently, as it has become a staple among micro-distillers, but still not the majors.

Major American and Canadian distilleries make small amounts of malt whiskey to use in blends, and sometimes under contract for (usually) foreign customers, but there is not now nor has there ever been a malt whiskey produced and sold on this continent by a major distillery.

Until now.

It's just an experiment--part of the Woodford Reserve Master's Collection--but Woodford has just released not one but two malts, called Straight Malt and Classic Malt.

Woodford's inspiration is the notion that whiskey globally can be classified as either Old World or New World in style. Old World whiskeys such as Scotch and Irish typically have a grain-focused flavor profile and are matured in used barrels, while New World expressions such as Bourbon and Tennessee whiskey highlight new cask maturation.

Since the only difference between Woodford’s new malt whiskeys is how they were matured, this release gives us a rare opportunity to compare the Old World and New World styles side-by-side.

We do just that in the December 2013 edition of The Bourbon Country Reader. Here's a tease. One of them works, the other one not so much.

As December 25 nears, you know what makes a great gift? A subscription to The Bourbon Country Reader. It's just $20 per year (six issues) for addresses in the USA, $25 for everyone else.

The Bourbon Country Reader is always independent and idiosyncratic and has no distillery affiliation. It is published six times a year, or thereabouts.

Click here or on any of the copious hyperlinks above to subscribe with PayPal or any major credit card, or for more information. Click here for a free sample issue (in PDF format). Click here to open or download the free PDF document, "The Bourbon Country Reader Issue Contents in Chronological Order." (It's like an index.)

If you prefer to pay by check, make it payable to Made and Bottled in Kentucky, and mail it to Made and Bottled in Kentucky, 3712 N. Broadway, PMB 298, Chicago, IL 60613-4198. Checks drawn on U.S. banks only, please.