Bourbon Tasting Like a Pro

Before we do any of our tours, if you're new, we’ll do a sample tasting the night before we leave so you look like you’ve done this before.  Nowadays most distilleries offer tasting outside of doing the tours and many now have their own bars where you can taste flights or try the bourbon in a mix drink.  If you take a tour, I recommend two per day at the most, you will end the tour with a tasting or in Jim Beam and Willet’s case you do it while you’re touring.  Beam no good Willet okay.  I find it best to sit and talk about what you are about to taste instead of doing it on the run.  Distilleries are governed by the State, so you usually get at the most 4 pours and I believe they’re about ½ ounce apiece (which as of 2026 is approximately 1¾ oz..  So, you really aren’t drinking that much and the time between distilleries is enough so that while it’s great to have, a designated driver may not be necessary.  I said 2 tours per day should be your maximum but visiting distilleries without going on tours is fine.  Many you can wander the grounds, and they all have gift shops and tastings.  Most charge for the tasting but Buffalo Trace is the only one I’ve found that offers free tours, free tastings and the best gift shop of them all.

To practice a tasting, find a low proof bourbon, around 80 proof.  Basil Hayden is a good one for this. A Glencairn glass is preferred because it brings the aroma up to the nose but any will do.  You will follow these basic steps when you do your tasting at the distillery.  Pour about an ½ to one ounce in the glass.  First hold it up to the light, tip it slightly and look at the color, The darker usually means the longer in the barrel a bit more oaky flavor and higher proof..  Bourbon snobs will now swirl it and look at its legs, the dripping down the inside of the glass, this can determine the oil from the grain content.  Now nose it or smell it, keep your lips slightly open as you smell, you may smell caramel, tobacco, leather and  other things.  Many people do not know this but you have a dominant side of your nostrils, this changes from day to day.  Try each nostril and you will see one may be different than the other.  Now’s the time to taste.  The first taste is the harshest so don’t chug it down.  Bourbon is meant to be sipped.  It may take 2 or 3 sips to get your palate ready. The first taste your taste buds will say “what the hell am I drinking”, it might burn a little, try not to make a face or gag on the first one.  Now give yourself a brief pause before the next sip, this should taste much smoother.  They will talk about the “Kentucky Chew” where you swish it around and kind of chew the bourbon before you taste it.  They will ask you what you tasted.  Again, you may say licorice, cinnamon, leather, smoke, cotton candy, vanilla.  There is really no wrong answer.  I once said it tasted like sawdust and the tour guide while perplexed asked me if I ever tasted sawdust before.  I said I hadn’t but thought this is what it would taste like.  Before each glass you try cleanse your pallet with a sip of water, a cracker they may provide, or both.  Once you have swallowed it now take in the finish.  This is the flavor or feeling you get once swallowed.  It could be hot; the finish could be long or short. Tastes you might get could be oak, pepper or spice. You don’t have to drink it all if you cannot stand it, just pass it to the person you came with, they won’t complain.  While tasting with your last sip they will also recommend putting 1 or 2 drops of water in the glass.  You’d be surprised by the difference in taste.

Now you won’t look like a “this your first rodeo”, you’ll look like you’ve done this hundreds of time below.  Just don’t make a face on the first sip.  Making a face and coughing is a sure sign of a rookie bourbon trailer.