Learn exactly what legally makes a bourbon a bourbon: mash bill, distillation proof, barrel entry proof, additives, bottling proof, and origin, and what happens if even one requirement isn't met.

Understand what terms like “straight” and age statements actually guarantee about what's in your glass, and how state names on a label trigger specific aging rules.

Practice connecting label information, state, proof, age statement, to what you should expect on the nose and palate, the same skill tested in the AWS Level One exam.

About the Course

This module covers the legal backbone of American whiskey: the TTB's Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits. You'll learn the official federal definition of whiskey, the six requirements that separate bourbon from every other spirit, the rules governing rye, wheat, and Tennessee whiskey, and the catchall “American Whiskey” category. From there, you'll practice using label information alone to predict what a whiskey will taste like, the core practicum for this module.  This is a standalone module, it does not include the Level One exam or certification, which are only awarded with the complete 10-module program.

Your Instructor: Susan Reigler

Susan Reigler wrote the book on American whiskey. Eight of them, actually. She's the author or co-author of eight books on bourbon and American spirits, an adjunct professor of Beer & Spirits at Eastern Kentucky University, and a working spirits judge, which means she's spent decades doing exactly what this course teaches you to do, at a level most drinkers never reach. She's judged whiskeys against each other by the hundreds, trained hospitality students on the science behind every barrel, and turned some of the industry's driest regulations into stories people actually remember. That's the instructor behind every module in American Whiskey Scholar: someone who has done the tasting, read the fine print, and can tell you, precisely, why your glass tastes the way it does.

Curriculum

1 Chapter · 17 Lessons

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      I. Federal Standards of Identity: The Definition of Whiskey?

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      I. Federal Standards of Identity: Spelling, Grain Definition, and Label Designations

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      II. The King Category: Bourbon Whiskey - Legal Requirements for Bourbon (The Six Pillars)

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      II. The King Category: Bourbon Whiskey - Subcategories of Bourbon

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      II. The King Category: Bourbon Whiskey - The "Straight" Designation (Applicable to All)

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      III. Other Major American Whiskey Categories - Grain-Named Whiskeys

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      III. Other Major American Whiskey Categories - Tennessee Whiskey & The Lincoln County Process

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      III. Other Major American Whiskey Categories - American Whiskey (The Catchall)

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      IV. Bottle Identification and Tasting Practice

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      V. The Practicum: Read the Label

    11. (Included in full purchase)

      V. The Practicum: Identifying Mash Bills and Style

    12. (Included in full purchase)

      V. The Practicum: Identifying Mash Bills and Style - Practicum Goal and Scope (30 Key Bottles)

    13. (Included in full purchase)

      V. The Practicum: Identifying Mash Bills and Style - Sensory Guidelines for Style Identification

    14. (Included in full purchase)

      VI. Glossary of Key Regulatory and Production Terms

    15. (Included in full purchase)

      Quiz

    16. (Included in full purchase)

      VII. Review

    17. (Included in full purchase)

      VIII. Recommended Reading

Learn what the label is really telling you.

Enroll in Bottle Profiles & Identification and start reading whiskey labels with confidence.

$49.00

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