I am a firm believer that President Taft, in his decision on whiskey in 1909, was right when he said that drinkable whiskey was between 90 proof and 110 proof. I believe that the sweet spot is 100 proof whiskey. It has plenty of flavor and I find it very drinkable. Once you get above 110 proof, you start getting in the range where the first drink numbs your taste buds and you don’t taste the whiskey for what it is. 

I have seen many YouTube videos where the reviewing drinkers talk down whiskeys that are not 125 or higher proof. This I find ridiculous and I wonder about their taste. High proof can be barrel proof, but I am more impressed with a barrel proof whiskey that is in the 110 proof range than the whiskeys that are in the 125 or higher range. That generally means that either the whiskey has a lower barrel entry proof or was aged in the lower levels of the warehouse where the proof drops with time and aging. 

I find that high proof whiskey tends to be more barrel driven in flavor and tends to have more bitter wood tannins in the whiskey. Wood tannins in the correct amount are good, but when they dominate the flavor, the whiskey gets bitter and burns more on the taste. Tannins are after all tannic acid and that tends to burn the throat. 

High proof whiskey can be made more palatable by filtering. Filtering can remove wood tannins but it can also remove desirable flavors if not done right. I am a believer in what Willie Pratt at Michter’s Distillery once told me—that filtration is a good thing in that you can remove undesirable flavors, but keep the good flavors if you use the correct filtration method. That is one reason that Michter’s whiskeys are so good. He picked a different filtration method for each whiskey. The other reason is their low barrel entry proof of 103 proof. 

Historically, before 1964 when the maximum barrel entry proof was raised to 125 proof from 110 proof, it was rare to find a whiskey bottled above 107 proof. Stitzel-Weller introduced their “Original Barrel Proof Bourbon whiskey in the late 1940s at a 110 proof Bourbon. Pappy Van Winkle said he created this W.L. Weller brand because he knew that there were consumers who remembered getting their whiskey from the barrel before prohibition and wanted to create a brand where they could get that taste again. The brand fluctuated between 110 proof and 112 proof for the first couple of releases then he decided rather than get a new label every year to reflect this change in proof, he would add water and sell it at their barrel entry proof of 107. The brand became Weller Antique.

High proof whiskey is often referred to as “Hazmat” whiskey and I think this a good term for the whiskey. I don’t want to drink a hazmat whiskey. I prefer a whiskey that is in the drinkable proof as described by President Taft.

Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller