Calm those pre-test jitters with a Bourbon neat, and test your Bourbon smarts with a little vocabulary quiz! While some of these terms come naturally to the Bourbon drinker, others are more obscure.
1. Cenosillicaphobia is the fear of…
A. Drinking alone.
B. An empty glass.
C. Dropping a bottle.
2. A bunghole is…
A. The hole in a Bourbon barrel.
B. A great insult for your friends.
C. The top vent in a rickhouse.
3. Antifogmatic means…
A. A special type of window in a still.
B. A drink taken to stay warm in chilly weather.
C. A clarifying process during distillation
4. Mash bills are…
A. The bubbling vats of corn and barley fermenting to make Bourbon.
B. Bourbon cocktails served in martini glasses.
C. The percentages of different grains in a Bourbon.
5. Small batch Bourbons…
A. Don’t actually have a particular set of rules to follow.
B. Are made up of 17 barrels or less.
C. Are made up of 50 barrels or less.
6. Alligator char…
A. Is the lowest level of char found on the inside of different Bourbon barrels.
B. Takes 3 minutes of burning to acquire.
C. Is named after the look of the shiny cracked interior of a barrel after heavy charring.
7. Two finger’s worth of Bourbon means…
A. The width of a 2 of the barman’s fingers.
B. 1.5 inches of bourbon in a glass.
C. 2 oz of Bourbon.
Answer Key
1. B – May you never find the bottom of your glass.
2. A – While B totally applies, the industry standard answer is A.
3. B – Whiskey is a great way to keep the cold and fog out of your bones.
4. C – The ratio of grains matters – and Bourbon has to be 51% corn.
5. A – Each distillery uses their own definition of the term. Four Roses counts to 17.
6. C – The look of a heavily charred (level 4 of 4) barrels is very similar to gator skin! However, the look only takes 55 seconds of burning to achieve.
7. This one is the freebie – While the traditional answer is A, there is a growing movement to standarize a finger to mean 3/4 of an inch poured into a rocks glass or 1 oz of Bourbon.
