Sourcing Whiskey: Good or Homogenizing?

U.S. distillers and consumers are rightfully proud of the strictness of our nation's rules governing bourbon. They make clear where and how it can be made, aged and bottled like no other country in the world.

But after tasting hundreds of bourbon iterations in my career, the consistency of them many is becoming as concerning as comforting. Some days, I wonder if too many are just too similar, especially when I see so many parallels in my tasting notes (and others’) for reviews and barrel picks. That consistency is born of at least a few things:

• The sensory limits of my (and others’) palate(s)
• Historically tight guardrails around bourbon production
• The sheer volume of the same whiskeys sourced by non-distilling producers (NDPs)

Let’s address each separately.