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DEPARTMENT HEADER distillers that has made bourbon so widely successful. Instead of fighting for individual slices of the pie, they are making the pie bigger. "No distiller in the bourbon business has a bad thing to say about another brand," says Four Roses's Rutledge. An American Foundation Meanwhile, bourbon enjoys its truly American foundation. In 1964, Congress declared bourbon "America's Spirit," making it the only major American- made liquid that cannot legally be made anywhere else in the world. Bourbon must be made from at least 51 percent corn. Rye, wheat, malted barley or malted rye grain can be added to the fermented corn mash. After it's distilled, the whiskey is stored in new, charred oak barrels at no more than 125 proof. As soon as the barrel is sealed, the whiskey officially becomes bourbon. Straight bourbons are aged for at least two years. But most bourbons are aged at least four years or more; some are aged more than 20 years. All bourbons derive their caramel and vanilla flavors from the barrels' charred insides. After the bourbon is extracted from the barrel, additives or flavoring can never be added if the Greg Davis, Master Distiller for Maker's Mark, shakes hands with a fan at the 2011 Bourbon Festival. A few booths down, a couple of fans embrace Jim Rutledge, the Four Roses Master Distiller, as if he's a resur- rected Jim Morrison, while staggering lines await signed bottles from other bourbon luminaries: Fred Noe of Jim Beam, Parker Beam of Heaven Hill, Greg Davis of Maker's Mark, Willie Pratt of Michter's and Chris Morris of Woodford Reserve. At the festival, fans bring posters and old bottles to sign. One Four Roses enthusiast, an Aussie, proudly showed Four Roses employees the brand's logo tattooed on his upper inner thigh. For mixologists, bourbon's hoopla is nice, but they're more interested in making cocktails. "There is a certain purity to bourbon in an era when we are seeking experi- ences in life that are true and real and not compromised," says Laurent Lebec, mixologist at Chicago's Big Star. "It's a beverage that has maintained its authenticity since its inception." 108 / the tasting panel / november 2011 Sharing the Pie After Prohibition, it took a while for bourbon to get its second wind. Distillers lost production time and market share, but the core recipes never really changed. What did change was the talent in tweaking mashes and aging procedures, as well as the marketing power. Throughout the 1900s, the bourbon business saw an infusion of talent from the likes of Jacob "Jim" Beam, Bill Samuels Jr., Booker Noe, Jimmy Russell, Pappy Van Winkle and others, who added their special touch to the industry in their respective genera- tions. They built the foundation for a category that, along with Tennessee whiskey, earned $1.9 billion in U.S. sales last year and $768.2 million in exports, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. The category has grown $600 million or 30 percent in six years. Many believe it's the unified front of nine major Fred Noe of Jim Beam, great-grandson of the Jacob "Jim" Beam, worked with Beam distillers to create the first single barrel expression in Knob Creek's history. Knob Creek is a part of the Jim Beam family of bourbons produced in Claremont, KY.