Amburana Is Bourbon’s Hottest Barrel End. Is the Development Already Over?

The world of American whiskey is one concurrently dominated by each tendencies and custom. From HAZMAT-level whiskey to single barrel and single rickhouse bourbons, there’s seemingly at all times one thing new for lovers and collectors to pine over. One of many greatest buzzwords to rise within the business over the previous few years: amburana. Very similar to Japanese mizunara earlier than it, this unique barrel rapidly went from an obscure wooden used solely in South America to barrel-age cachaça to being one of the desired barrel finishes in whiskey.

The wooden’s rise to prominence has made it a contentious matter round fanatic circles. Some aficionados can’t get sufficient of it, whereas others are instantly turned off by the distinctive flavors and aromas the wooden imparts. However find it irresistible or hate it, few aficionados absolutely perceive the place amburana comes from, what it really does to a whiskey — and most of all, whether or not it’s right here to remain or fade into obscurity.

Sturdy Begin

Amburana could also be new to whiskey, however the wooden has been used to barrel-age spirits for generations. The tree is native to South America, with the very best focus of development in Brazil. Within the spirit world, it was first extensively used to age cachaça.

“Amburana is the second hottest wooden for growing older cachaça, after oak, which is Brazil’s favourite wooden for his or her nationwide spirit,” says Luke McKinley, advertising and marketing director at Novo Fogo cachaça. The wooden imparts an especially distinct taste profile in a spirit — when you’ve tried it, it’s intensely recognizable, even when only a small quantity is utilized in a mix.

“Primarily based out of the entire completed whiskeys I’ve had, it’s undoubtedly the only most identifiable end,” explains whiskey author and critic Mike Frey. Frey has reviewed round 800 totally different whiskeys on Reddit’s /r/bourbon group and his personal web site, Bourbon Tradition. Whiskeys aged with amburana have a robust, cinnamon-forward baking spice notice that’s distinctly totally different from the spice aromas usually present in whiskey — assume cinnamon rolls, gingerbread, or carrot cake. Much less flattering descriptions like potpourri and fragrance are additionally typically used to explain the wooden.

Amburana Rising

Amburana first hit American whiskey by way of WhistlePig’s Outdated World Cask End Rye Bespoke End collection, which first hit cabinets in spring 2019. The following main amburana-finished bottle was Starlight Distillery’s Carl T. Huber Cigar Batch rye in December 2021. For the Indiana distillery, amburana was a well-known profile that confirmed promise within the whiskey world.

“Cachaça was my gateway into that amburana,” explains Starlight’s co-master distiller, seventh-generation winemaker, and third-generation distiller Christian Huber. “Our household was into brandy, rum, stuff like that, [but] I actually preferred what it imparted.”

In response to knowledge collected by unbiased statisticians Whiskey Choice, the amburana phenomenon was in full swing after Starlight’s Cigar Batch. 2022 noticed the primary main soar in amburana-finished releases with fashionable non-distilling producers Uncommon Character and NuLu becoming a member of the fray. In 2023, the quantity of recent amburana-finished whiskeys elevated a staggering 215 %, with not less than 28 confirmed releases within the calendar 12 months. Extra high-profile manufacturers like Barrell Craft Spirits threw their hats into the ring and have been joined by smaller craft distilleries like Rabbit Gap and RD One.

However simply because the wooden appeared poised to take over the whiskey world, considerations that its reign could be short-lived started to come up.

A Wooden’s Value

American whiskey producers rapidly found that amburana isn’t the best wooden to work with. Amburana has just a few distinctive properties that trigger barrel maturation to work a bit in a different way than American or European oak. The wooden accommodates chemical compounds like vanillin, just like oak, but it surely’s additionally uniquely wealthy in coumarin, an natural compound discovered in lots of crops together with tonka bean.

“From our expertise working with casks constituted of amburana, the flavors contributed and the pace at which they are often perceived is in contrast to most different barrels used within the whiskey maturation course of.”

“This wealthy, mucky vanilla-adjacent compound makes amburana beloved for perfumes and likewise for cachaça growing older,” McKinley explains.

Full amburana barrels are additionally considerably costlier than oak and may price producers as much as twice as a lot as a typical new or used barrel. So as to add to that, the construction of the wooden is sort of totally different from the French and American oak most whiskey producers are acquainted with.

“It’s is rather less dense than oak and extra porous, so it’s vulnerable to leakage,” says Matt Thomas of barrel distributor Northeast Barrel Firm. The extra porous nature of the wooden can result in extra evaporation of the spirit over time as properly. The largest concern for producers, although, is how potent the wooden is.

“I’ve by no means had a barrel come to our rickhouse already having such an intense aroma, which is definitely an fascinating place to start out,” says Sienna Jevremov, head distiller and blender at Widow Jane Distillery. Widow Jane’s first amburana-finished whiskey is predicted to be launched later this 12 months. Due to this efficiency, the wooden can rapidly overpower a whiskey.

“From our expertise working with casks constituted of amburana, the flavors contributed and the pace at which they are often perceived is in contrast to most different barrels used within the whiskey maturation course of,” explains Tripp Stimson, chief whiskey scientist for Barrell Craft Spirits.

“Lots of people tried these barrels, and it’s such a robust wooden, and so they might need not likely preferred the flavour with how highly effective it’s.”

The ending course of, which routinely lasts months and even years, can take simply days with amburana. To make sure the whiskey isn’t fully overpowered by it’s distinct taste profile, producers have to be vigilant.

“For our preliminary launch of our amburana Founder’s Assortment, we completed the spirit in our amburana barrels for only a few weeks, tasting thieved samples each week and even each day towards the top of the method,” explains Rabbit Gap Distillery founder Kaveh Zamanian.

To each lower manufacturing prices and to mood that intense influence, producers typically eschew utilizing full barrels in favor of utilizing amburana staves, spirals, or chips. However regardless that utilizing staves or spirals cuts down on waste and saves cash, that strategy is controversial and seen as a shortcut amongst whiskey traditionalists.

“Amburana will get a little bit dicey for me; it blurs the road between completed and flavored whiskey,” explains Seth Benhaim, founding father of Damaged Barrel Whiskey and Badwater Manufacturers. “The purpose of ending a whiskey is to additional age, additional relaxation. In case you have been to inform me, ‘Hey, right here’s the whiskey, I simply dumped complete cinnamon sticks into it,’ then accomplice, you’ve received a flavored whiskey.”

The Boiling Level

After the explosion of amburana-finished whiskeys in 2023, the as soon as red-hot market seems to be cooling. From monitoring Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Commerce Bureau (TTB) filings and launch bulletins, Whiskey Choice discovered that there are solely a handful of recent releases slated for launch in 2024 — fairly the decline from the earlier two years of meteoric development. The curiosity within the wooden itself from producers appears to have leveled off, as properly. With out disclosing gross sales figures, Northeast Barrel Firm studies a lower in curiosity from producers.

“[The trend] is just about achieved now,” Taylor says. “Lots of people tried these barrels, and it’s such a robust wooden, and so they might need not likely preferred the flavour with how highly effective it’s.”

“Each reasonable to high-level fanatic has skilled [the wood] quite a few instances, and I believe they’ve already made the choice on in the event that they like that profile or not.”

In response to IWSR drinks market evaluation, your complete spirits business noticed a 2 % decline in gross sales quantity in 2023, which might clarify a dip in new amburana finishes this 12 months — however there seems to be rather more to the story than simply economics. Spend any time peeking round on-line whiskey communities and it turns into clear that amburana is polarizing: Some individuals love the Christmas-spice taste profile, and simply as many others are turned off by the potpourri aroma or see the wooden as a gimmick used to get a fast and premium restricted launch to market.

“There’s no scarcity of purists in whiskey,” Benhaim says. “They need issues to be achieved the normal method. They’re not into innovation. They’re not into secondary ending, and amburana is sort of a distinct segment hyper-finishing.”

An even bigger concern? Amburana’s mystique might have merely subsided, and whiskey drinkers now know the place they stand on its attraction.

“Each reasonable to high-level fanatic has skilled [the wood] quite a few instances, and I believe they’ve already made the choice on in the event that they like that profile or not,” Frey explains. “There are individuals that actually do prefer it, and so they’re going to proceed to purchase it. However I believe individuals simply know to keep away from it in the event that they don’t prefer it.”

Though amburana’s peak appears to have already handed, the distinctive wooden is probably going going to discover a everlasting place subsequent to mizunara within the arsenal of unique finishes for whiskey distillers. Some distilleries, like RD One, have already added a everlasting amburana-finished bourbon to their portfolios, whereas Starlight’s Cigar Batch will proceed to be an annual launch. And regardless of the vocal detractors, there’s nonetheless a really devoted contingent of lovers who can’t get sufficient of amburana-finished whiskey.

As the usage of the wooden settles right down to a extra steady fee, the producers that proceed to work with the wooden and grow to be extra acquainted with it’ll presumably proceed to enhance their growing older and mixing methods.

“I don’t assume we’ve got tapped all of the potential but,” Jevremov says, “and I’m excited to see what comes.”