What does straight mean on a whisky bottle?

Straight whiskey must, according to 27 CFR 5,143, mature at least two years in new, charred oak casks, without added coloring, flavoring or other distilled spirits.

The rule stacks four requirements on top of each other. The distillate may not come off the still stronger than 160 proof, which is 80 percent alcohol. The cask may not be filled stronger than 125 proof, or 62.5 percent.

The cask must be new and charred on the inside. A cask that previously held whiskey does not count for this designation.

What then goes into the bottle is the whiskey itself plus at most water to bring the strength down. If you see the word straight on the label, you know that all four of these requirements have been met.

An age statement is mandatory as soon as the whiskey is younger than four years, even if the label carries the word straight.

The American rule is in 27 CFR 5.74. There, age counts from the moment of distilling until bottling, and only time in oak casks counts.

A bottle without an age on the label is therefore at least four years old. If there is a number, for example two or three years, that is not a shortcoming but a legal requirement.

With a mixture, the youngest component counts. If there is a lot of three years in it, that lot determines the number on the label.

No, straight in American legislation says nothing about the way of drinking, because it is a requirement for production and maturation.

In a bar, straight up or neat often means that no ice is added. On a label the word has a different meaning, namely the legal category from 27 CFR 5,143.

So you can use a straight bourbon with ice, with water or in a cocktail without doing anything wrong.

The word also says nothing about the taste or strength of the bottle. It only says that the whiskey was made and matured in a prescribed way.

Blended straight whiskey is a blend of straight whiskeys of the same type, made in different states, or from one state with colour, flavour or blending material added.

The designation appears in the same standard, 27 CFR 5,143, and reads for example blended straight bourbon whiskey or blended straight rye whiskey.

Each component must itself meet the requirements for straight whiskey, so a minimum of two years in a new charred oak barrel.

The difference from regular blended whiskey is big. With blended whiskey, neutral alcohol may be mixed in; with blended straight whiskey it may not.

Europe has no category straight, but Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2019/787 prescribes that an age statement always refers to the youngest alcoholic component.

That rule runs parallel to American practice. In the United States too, the youngest component determines the number that may appear on the label.

The difference lies in the obligation. The American rule enforces an age below four years, the European regulation enforces nothing but ties the statement to the youngest component as soon as a producer states it.

A bottle of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey sold in the Netherlands thus carries an American category on the label and is also subject to the European labelling rules.

On the shelf in Bathmen there are 163 whiskies from the United States, from 59 brands, out of a total of 3,883 whiskies.

On those bottles you regularly come across the word straight, usually in the form Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey or Straight Rye Whiskey.

If you would like to know which requirements lie behind a label, you can ask in the shop at Brink 2 or call 0570 541 278.

Alcohol verkopen wij vanaf 18 jaar, zoals artikel 20 van de Alcoholwet voorschrijft. NIX18 geldt zonder uitzondering, ook wanneer iemand anders de fles komt halen.