Small batch bourbon

Most bourbon distilleries have one mash bill, or grain recipe, and one house yeast. Even so, there are still a surfeit of variations within distilleries' output because of the variations that naturally occur from the bourbon-aging process. Elements like how long the barrel aged, where it was stored and how much liquid in the barrel was lost to evaporation enable distilleries to combine different barrels in different ways to produce a number of different bourbons.

By Zak Stambor, Special to Tribune Newspapers

February 17, 2013