Wheat is a common grain being used in whiskey production today. It is a flavoring grain in Bourbon. It is a grain used to make wheat whiskey. It has a nutty flavor and has a sweet flavor. I have been thinking about how wheat is used to make whiskey.

I will start by talking about wheat recipe Bourbons. A Bourbon made with wheat has a sweeter flavor than rye whiskey and I think that comes from the barrel as much as the wheat grain. The caramel from the barrel shines through better in a wheat recipe than it does in a traditional rye recipe Bourbon. It is a popular choice for making Bourbon. I have heard many distillers state that they want to make a Bourbon that tastes like Maker’s Mark, a wheat recipe Bourbon. They want a sweet caramel forward Bourbon with a peppery finish like Maker’s Mark. However, I have had wheat recipe Bourbons that have a rich fruity flavor like the Lieper’s Fork wheat recipe Bourbon which has more of a baking spice flavor. Wheat is an interesting choice for those that want a softer flavor without the herbal, rye grass flavor of a traditional Bourbon.

Then there is wheat whiskey. Heaven Hill was the first to come out with a wheat whiskey – Bernheim Wheat Whiskey. They created the Bernheim brand when they purchased the Bernheim Distillery in the late 1990s. They had a lot of wheat in the grain bins because United Distillers had been making a lot of wheat recipe Bourbon. There was more wheat than they needed to make their wheat recipe whiskeys so Parker Beam decided to make a wheat whiskey with the extra wheat. It uses corn and malted barley as the flavoring grains and many people mistake it as a Bourbon because of the corn sweetness in the whiskey. Then there are distillers making 100% wheat whiskeys, like Corsets, Whips & Whiskey, made at the Journeyman Distillery in Three Oaks, Michigan. This whiskey is a good whiskey to taste if you want the nutty flavors of wheat with lots of vanilla and caramel from the barrel.

The use of wheat in Bourbon dates back to the early 19th  century when distillers used whatever grain they had on hand to make their whiskey. I have seen many recipes from the period that call for using corn, rye or wheat and malted barley to make their whiskey. Wheat was the less popular grain because it was more expensive than rye and more popular for making bread. That is the main reason you don’t find any major brands of wheat whiskey in the 19th century.

Wheat recipe Bourbon and wheat whiskey are excellent products. They are whiskeys that everyone should try and add to their whiskey collection.

Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller