GEORGE DICKEL NO 8 BOURBON 1LT
Old No 8 is the classic whisky that made George Dickel famous. This classic George Dickel whisky features a signature balance of Tennessee whisky flavours: aromas of light caramel and wood leading to a smoky finish that hints at flavours of maple and buttered corn.
Country: USA
Date of Release: 2003 re-released
Alc/Volume: 40%Â Â Bottle size: 1Litre
Collector Rating: 3 (It’s hard to find this Litre version)
Fermentation is begun using a proprietory yeast, followed by a double distillation – firstly in a column still, then in a pot-still. The process of charcoal mellowing then occurs, which defines the difference between Tennessee whiskey and bourbon whiskey. In this process, the double-distilled whiskey is filtered through sugar maple charcoal. Dickel’s mellowing process is unique in that it is chilled prior to the filtration process. This process of chilling the whiskey resulted from George discovering that the batches of whiskey he tasted during the winter were noticeably smoother than those he tasted during warmer weather. He called this process chill mellowing.
The first step in the mellowing process is selecting and cutting sugar maple trees. Trees are cut in the winter months when the sugar maple’s rich flavour is stored in the trunk of the tree. The trunks are allowed to season and cut into strips. These strips are hand-stacked and set ablaze in the open air. This process allows the smoke’s impurities to escape from the resulting hard charcoal. The hard maple charcoal is crushed by hand and packed into one of six mellowing vats located at the distillery. About ten feet of charcoal is packed into each vat.
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