Heaven Hill: charcoal filtered, bottom shelf

[polyamnesia]

...Do you have any bitters? Give it a few shakes. Any orange bitters? A couple more shakes. And here's my trick, a couple of drops of vanilla extract. I think this calls for some ice as well. Just a little sugar or simple syrup might go well, too...

hello Ed and thanks for the suggestions...very helpful. you reminded me of something else i had in my pantry/laboratory! Angostura bitters. is that what you mean? and in the post above, you can see i did try dehydrated orange (i took of the peel part) and cranberries.

of course, gary suggested FRESH fruit.

i think i will head to Trader Joe's and get what they call 'bourbon' vanilla extract...i know the name has nothing to do with the spirit. but what does this impart?

thanks again folks for the tips.

by the way, is there a thread here on bottom shelf bourbons?

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

Yep, Angostura bitters is just what I meant. Orange peel is a really good idea. As for the vanilla extract, one of the most important flavors imparted by the barrel is vanilla.

Ed

[craigthom]

That's still less corn than the World's Best Selling Whiskey uses.

Since the vanillin in artificial vanilla extract comes from wood, just like the vanillin in bourbon, you don't need to spend a lot of money on fancy real extract.

For cooking purposes, I recommend using whole beans, anyway.

[cowdery]

The mash bill for Heaven Hill's rye-recipe bourbon is indeed 78% corn, 12% malt, 10% rye. This is a pretty typical bourbon/Tennessee whiskey mash bill, give or take a point or two. No bourbon made is even close to 51%. The closest probably is the "high rye" mash bill at Four Roses, which is 60% corn.

I don't know Heaven Hill's wheated bourbon mash bill but I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same, except 10% wheat instead of 10% rye. The straight rye and straight wheat are exactly 51% rye or wheat, the rest being corn and malt, and although I don't know for sure if they use 12% malt across the board, I'm willing to assume that they do, malt percentage being more about malt's function than it is about taste, so they are probably 51% rye or wheat, 37% corn and 12% malt.