I toured a few of the major distilleries in Kentucky last year, and most of them specifically mentioned that water is added after removal from the barrel, even for the less aged ones (of course this is skipped for some of the rarer products, e.g. E.H. Taylor barrel proof or Elijah Craig barrel proof). This is to meet certain product consistency requirements across their brands. I asked if it was the special “limestone water” originally used in distillation, and I believe it was Buffalo Trace that said no, it’s just regular water purified via reverse osmosis.
Re:Bourbon and Branch Water
by justincormack on Saturday March 18, 2023 @04:34AM
(#35207326)
ABV decreases with age, the angels share is alcohol evaporating before the water.
To my understanding, for bourbon any water added to the product is generally done prior to aging in the barrel. After that most of bottle proof comes from blending different ages of bourbon (because barrel ABV generally increases with age due to the angel's share and other factors) or different barrels of the same age that started at different (water cut) proofs to begin with (depending on the type of bourbon and its age statements).
On the factor of age, it is my understanding 60-70% ABV is expected for something closer to 7-10 year old bourbon and 3-5 years old (which is often the majority) is "naturally" closer to that 45-50% you see in the majority of bottles on store shelves.