Make Your Own Bourbon! Part 2

My kind of Myspace photo....yes, I'm in my bathroom again.

THE SAGA CONTINUES!

But first...

THANK YOU! To everyone who tuned-in last week to see what we were up to and commented on our first post I just wanted to say: thanks a lot. It makes blogging worthwhile to be able to connect with so many people who are just as interested as you are in the world of spirits.

BECAUSE we got so many great responses I think we came up with something close to an authentic whiskey mash distillate...it may never TRULY live up to that magical elixir our favorite distillers lay down into new oak barrels every year but I'm HOPING that it's at least similar. Here's what we're working with:

Primordial Whiskey-stuff...ready for EVOLUTION!

Here's what I was thinking with the "mash." Since distillers of Bourbon are, by law, required to use at least 51% corn in their mash I went with a mostly corn base  (750ml to be exact) of Georgia Moon Corn Whiskey. As near as I've been able to figure out this a a lower-proof version of what people call "moonshine" which has been diluted to 40% abv. I gave it a taste and it's slightly sweet and actually somewhat reminiscent of Bourbon already; so I think that's a good sign. To that I added 200ml of Everclear...

A word about Everclear:

If there IS a booze that can make you go blind/kill you, its Everclear. The full strength version (95% abv.) is banned in 15 States.  Do not drink this stuff straight...or at least, if you're dumb enough to try, make a video-recording so the rest of us can laugh at you when you burn your esophagus to hell. Seriously....DON'T DO IT!

My reasoning behind adding such a potent ingredient was two-fold. First due to a comment from our friend Scott over at In With Bacchus who brought up that a higher alcohol content would draw-out flavor faster from the oak barrel and also because of comments from some of the guys from homedistiller.org who mentioned repeatedly that evaporation can be a major issue with these little barrels. What I'm thinking is that I want this stuff to age as quickly as possible so I'll lose as little as possible. The last little tip we got came from commenter LWTCS who confirmed that higher-proof aging was better and mentioned that he adds just a tablespoon of real maple syrup to his stuff to bring out the sweetness and the nose of the final product.

The Recipe:

1 tablespoon REAL Maple Syrup

It's imperative that you lick the spoon when you're done...just trust me.

750 ml Georgia Moon Corn Whiskey

200 ml Everclear

Just watch your eyes...

Fill to the brim with Shakers (Wheat) Vodka (About 4 0z for me)

Here's the full recipe and before you get all up-in-arms about it, I KNOW this shouldn't fit in a 1 liter barrel...

Boozeblogger's Bourbon Whiskey Recipe:

750 ml (40% abv.) Georgia Moon Corn Whiskey

200 ml (95 % abv.) Everclear

1 tbsp (15 ml) Maple Syrup

118 ml (40% abv.) [about 4 oz.] Shakers Vodka (American Wheat variety)

(1.083 liters total)

If ANYONE OUT THERE has the brain to figure out what the resulting ABV of this mixture is I would be eternally grateful! When I try I just end up sounding like this guy:

Shakers vodka was not an afterthought for this recipe. Before we got all those great comments I was planning on using a 3-vodka mixture including Tito's and Shakers' Wheat and Rye varieties. Putting in the maple syrup before anything else was also purposeful because I wanted to make sure it didn't just sit at the top or float to the bottom.

I'm really hoping this lives up to the dreams I have of home-aged Bourbon, but what I'm trying to keep in mind is that this is really just a first test. I've got a lot to learn about this stuff and I'm really just excited to get a shot at making my very own bourbon. If you haven't checked it out yet head on over to Oak Barrels LTD and consider picking up one of these little starter barrels for yourself. The owner, Cinda, is obsessed with great customer service and I know you won't be disappointed with her products. If you'd REALLY like to get in depth with making your own bourbon check out homedistiller.org's forums where there are active discussions going on about all of this stuff.

A few final questions for the comments section:

How long should I wait before trying this stuff? (how long could YOU wait?)

What do you think of this recipe/how would you make it better?

What are you wearing?

And now the HORRIBLE WAITING begins...