One of the biggest and most entertaining arguments amongst whiskey enthusiasts is what truly constitutes each class of whiskey. Has it been in a barrel long enough to be called “straight?” Is Tennessee Whiskey secretly just a fancy bourbon? What is “blended” whiskey anyway, and how good can it really be?

A blended whiskey, by American standards, is a mixture containing no less than 20%, but up to 100%, whiskey. The rest? That can be made up from colorings, flavorings, and neutral grain spirits. This standard leaves the door open for an awful lot of products to be produced.