Move over Bourbon – there’s a New Whiskey in the Neighborhood.
January 6, 2025
The Federal Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), which regulates alcohol at the federal level, has finally approved the creation of American Single Malt Whisky as its own standard of identity. After many years of hard work led by the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission and lots of people in the industry, the TTB has finally responded. The new standard elevates American Single Malt Whisky to the same level as Bourbon as being a distinct category with its own set of requirements.
If you’ve been around the American Whiskey scene for any amount of time you have probably already seen lots of American Single Malt Whiskey on the shelves. You could be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about and what’s changed. Single malt whiskey in the US has existed for a long-time under the broader definition of “Malt Whiskey”. However, the “Malt Whiskey” definition doesn’t really align with the global understanding of Single Malt Whiskey so a group of distillers formed the American Malt Whiskey Commission to address the issue. They developed and proposed a set of guidelines to create a legal standard of identity for Single Malt Whiskey that would be on par with the legal definition of Bourbon, while leaving the existing malt whiskey definition in place.
The standard was sent to the TTB for consideration in 2022 and finally on December 18, 2024 the TTB adopted the guidelines as submitted and on January 18, 2025 it becomes official.
So what is the new standard? It states that an American Single Malt Whiskey must conform to the following production requirements:
- Made from a fermented mash of 100% malted barley produced in the United States;
- Distilled at a proof of 160 or less, distilled at the same distillery in the United States;
- Stored in used, charred new, or uncharred new oak barrels, with a 700 liter maximum capacity and only stored in the United States;
- No neutral spirits permitted; and
- No allowable coloring, flavoring, or blending materials permitted, except for caramel coloring that is disclosed on the label.
- Spirit may be listed as Straight American Single Malt Whiskey, requiring that it be aged for a minimum of 2 years.
For Wood’s High Mountain Distillery, it means that Tenderfoot American Malt Whiskey will stay classified as a “Malt Whiskey” because it has malted rye and malted wheat in the mashbill. Dawn Patrol Colorado Single Malt Whiskey will be classified as an American Single Malt since it meets all the above criteria.
This is an exciting time for this new whiskey category, and we look forward to seeing how it evolves in the US and global whiskey world.
Cheers,
Lee
