Colonel Steve's
Quick Bourbon Notes (QBN)

• Knowledge of the Buffalo Trace mash bills is something bourbon fans taking their game to the next level seem to like getting to know. Well, before you bet the farm on your knowledge of Buffalo Trace mash bills, it's probably important to know the individual mash bills of Buffalo Trace's #1 bourbon mash bill (lower rye content) and #2 (higher rye content) is really just a guideline. The true determining factor is taste profile. My buddy Paul Cassimatis collects bourbon barrels and he had an Eagle Rare that had it listed as a #2 mash bill on the barrel head and a Blanton's listing it is a #1 mash bill. This flip-flops conventional wisdom as to what these products should be (Eagle Rare is always known as a #1 mash bill and Blanton's is #2). Paul asked Susannah Hubler, who is charge of barrels in the warehouse at Buffalo Trace about this at a recent class we taught together at Total Wine. I thought the answer was going to be, "somehow your barrel heads got switched," but in reality, those barrel heads are correct. The taste profiles of those individual barrels more closely matched products in mash bills outside of their normal brand realm, but so be it... they became Eagle Rare and Blanton's respectively, so anyone telling you they know Buffalo Trace's mash bills, well, they know what the mash bills usually are.

• If you own an RV, there is a company called Harvest Host (harvesthost.com) that sounds pretty awesome. For a $79 membership, you get access to their database of 850+ distilleries, wineries, breweries, farms, museums and attractions that let you stay overnight on their property for free. Sounds way cool to me. Pull your rig in, shop for some bourbon and spend the night before heading on to your next adventure. This may be my retirement plan! My friends at Wood Hat Spirits told me about this one and they said since become one of the distilleries in the program about a month ago, they have averaged one RV a night staying there. It makes sense. They are right on highway 70 in the perfect spot to rest for the night.

• The ABV Network has something really cool that is ready to debut on Wednesday, September 4. It's a brand new weekly publication from our own Colonel Steve Akley called Bourbon People. In this publication, Colonel Steve is going to write about his personal experiences with a different person each week from the world of bourbon. He notes as a bourbon fan, he always wondered what the people from the bourbon world are really like. Well, he's going to tell you! If you can guess who Steve is going to feature is issue #1, coming out on September 4, you will win a one-time coupon code for 15% off in the ABV Network Shop, good for the month of August. Take your guess by sending an email to Steve (info@steveakley.com). Please only one guess per person! Look for Bourbon People to come out every Wednesday after the September 4 debut, unless it's a Bourbon Zeppelin day, then we will push it back to Thursday that week.