Until recent years, Bottled in Bond whiskeys had become tough to find on liquor store shelves, but it has enjoyed a resurgence.

For some, it’s the history. For others, it’s about the consistency. Some would point to the authenticity, as a way of making whiskey that dates to 1897 and the Bottled in Bond Act – America’s first-ever consumer protection act. 

As most whiskey fans know, the Bottled in Bond Act established legal regulations related to bottling whiskey for resale, effectively taking the whiskey rectifiers out of the equation. Rectifiers, of course, would buy the whiskey in bulk and then often, shall we say, “stretch” it by adding other ingredients and flavorings before bottling and selling it.

In other words, consumers knew the bonded whiskey they were buying was truly authentic whiskey.

“I do think it says it’s authentic,” Al Laws, Colorado-based Laws Whiskey House President and Founder, of producing Bottled in Bond whiskeys in today’s market. “I think that’s a big deal for a lot of folks like us. We want to say, ‘This is our craft.’ A lot of stuff today, you don’t know where it came from or anything.” 

As for consistency, while mashbills and terroirs vary from distillery to distillery, a Bottled-in-Bond whiskey seems to hit a sweet spot for many in therms of flavor and balance. Each one is aged a minimum of four years during a specific distilling season and then bottled at a uniform 100 proof, making for a fairly friendly margin of error.

“One hundred is the best proof for any whiskey,” Laws (pictured above) said. “I’m not big into hazmat [high-proof whiskeys] and I don’t want it at 80 or 90.” 

Laws has released numerous Bottled in Bond expressions during its nearly 15 years in business, and getting Laws Whiskey House up and running involved learning whiskey history. Laws immediately was intrigued, even in a time when bonded whiskeys weren’t so common.

“When I started digging in years ago, I learned digging into the history of American whisky is really digging into the history of this country,” he said. “Whiskey is the key kind of thread. I think it’s a little bit nostalgic. You’re talking to the consumer.”

He said Laws’ first bonded release was a four-year expression, but his distilling team now considers seven to eight years at the “sweet spot” for optimum flavor without the finished product getting over-oaked. 

Laws Four-Grain Bottled in Bond has become a staple of the distillery’s core lineup, carrying the torch for the distillery’s respect for the historic process. Laws said from the first four-grain barrels aged at Laws, some were immediately set aside for bonded releases. 

“For us it was like, ‘OK, what’s the next stamp of authenticity, and what’s something that’s also cool to me?” Laws said. 

If you visit the Laws Whiskey Sanctuary, which opened back in December, expect plenty of education about the distillery’s processes, and a nod to the Bottled in Bond tradition.

“It is a destination,” Laws said. “It’s a cool place to come when you come to Denver.”

-Kevin Gibson

Read more: Laws Whiskey House Releases Rio Grande Rye