126 years ago on March 3rd, 1897, the Bottled-in-Bond Act was signed into law.
Prior to the signing of the act, it was a bit of the wild west. There were no real laws forcing distilleries and rectifiers alike to prove that what they said was in a bottle, was in the bottle. It was fairly common for whiskey to be stretched by the addition of neutral grain spirits, turpentine, prune juice, iodine, and even tobacco spit.
To be labeled Bottled-in-Bond, a whiskey has to originate from a single distillery by the same distiller (so no blending from different locations), produced during a single season (either Spring, January to June or Fall, July to December), without the addition or subtraction of other substances, aged for a minimum of 4 years in a federally bonded warehouse, and bottled at 100 Proof (50% ABV). With this, people had some surety behind what they purchased.
While there are quality whiskeys being made today without being labeled as Bottled-in-Bond, there is still no denying the impact this made on the industry, and the buyers then – and still now.
We are thankful there are still brands putting out quality Bottled-in-Bond products today, some of which being some of our favorite whiskeys in the last few years.
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