Everett Griner talks about Bourbon, made in Arizona, in today’s Agri View.
Bourbon
From: Phoenix New Times
How to Make Bourbon with Arizona Distilling Co.
Liquor hadn’t been made in Arizona since before Prohibition, so the permits to distill and the ensuing legal issues took about as much time as perfecting an Arizona bourbon recipe. For everyone else, their hard work means distilling craft spirits is a reality in Phoenix.
Copper City Bourbon starts with a mash primarily consisting of corn, which is necessary for it to be classified as bourbon. The team also is working on the state’s first local grain-to-bottle whiskey using Arizona desert durum wheat.
Once the mixture is finished fermenting, the actual distilling begins. The first run through the still is called a stripping run, which takes about 10 to 12 hours. At this point, the 13 percent alcohol by volume, 26-proof mash rises to 80 or 90 proof, which is then cut down to 65 proof. In the finishing still’s run, the whiskey is separated into three cuts: heads, hearts, and tails. The hearts, which, according to Hu, “contain all the ‘good’ alcohol and flavors within the spirit,” are kept for aging. The “bad alcohol,” like trace amounts of methanol, are removed in the distilling process, leaving you with 160-proof alcohol in the end.