Eagle Rare Bourbon. This is one of my most often recommended bottles of bourbon whenever people ask for suggestions. It was recommended to me years back when I was just getting started with bourbon, and what a workhorse this has been for my home bar! It’s a fantastic ~10 year old bourbon that has an amazingly reasonable price tag (around $30 in my area). Eagle Rare is made at the Buffalo Trace Distillery and has won a plethora of awards over the years praising its quality and flavor. It sits at 45% ABV and is created with Buffalo Trace’s “low rye” mash bill.

Let’s talk about “mash bill.” What is this jargon? As you may know, bourbons are a classification of whiskey where at least 51% of the grains used to create the spirit is corn. The grain mix is cooked and fermented before being distilled. So how about the other 49%? Other than corn, a mix of rye, wheat, and barley usually make up the remaining “mash” at varying quantities.

The “mash bill” is essentially the “recipe” for the grain blend. Buffalo Trace Distillery uses a “low rye” recipe for this bottle, and is the same mash bill used for some of their other products – including Buffalo Trace, George T. Stagg, E. H. Taylor, and Stagg Jr – so you may taste similarities between those! (Differences will be in barrel choices, age, and such) Rye generally adds “spicy” and peppery flavors to the whiskey (just think about the sharp flavor of rye bread), while corn lends to a sweeter flavor (sweetness in flavor, not in sugar content, if that makes sense).