There is a question debated among bourbon drinkers about how much the “location” where a bourbon is aged directly influences its taste. A location can have many aspects to it (e.g. temperature-controlled, open air, what materials the warehouse is built with), but one in particular is climate. Bourbon was born in Kentucky, and its climate is one factor that is frequently cited as a major factor affecting how it ages and ultimately tastes. But to Milam & Green’s surprise, no distillery has attempted to answer the question of how much a geographic location affects a bourbon’s taste with a project as significant, far-reaching, and aged as long as the company’s “The Answer” release.

Milam & Green Whiskey is well-positioned to take on the task head-on. With a distillery located in Blanco, Texas, and aging warehouses in both Texas and Kentucky, they aim to “isolate and identify the difference in the impact of climate on whiskey flavor and proof.” The project was overseen by Milam & Greene’s CEO and Master Blender Heather Greene and their down-to-earth Master Distiller Marlene Holmes, who previously worked at Jim Beam Distillery with Booker Noe and became Milam & Greene’s master distiller in 2018.

The bourbon was distilled at Bardstown Bourbon Company in late Fall 2019, where it was immediately separated into two halves. One half of the barrels were shipped to Texas to be aged, and the other half of the barrels remained in Kentucky to be aged. The distillate was produced from a mashbill comprising 70% corn, 22% malted rye, and 8% malted barley, and utilized the company’s proprietary yeast strain. #4 char barrels were used. The bourbon was pulled after five years and bottled at barrel proof, with the Kentucky-aged bourbon reaching 108 proof and the Texas-aged bourbon reaching 116 proof.

Although Blanco, Texas, and Bardstown, Kentucky, are separated by only 1,000 miles, their climates are quite different. Bardstown experiences colder winters, with an average temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit in January, and summers averaging 86 degrees Fahrenheit. The humidity levels range from 65%-85%. As decades of barrel aging has proven, higher humidity promotes slower evaporation, resulting in the Kentucky-aged sample landing at 10 proof points lower than the Texas one.

Blanco’s climate is unsurprisingly warmer, with average January temperatures of 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and summers reaching an average temperature of 93.7 degrees Fahrenheit during the 5 year aging period of “The Answer.” Humidity was also lower compared to Kentucky, at 50-60%. Also notable, Texas sees quicker temperature fluctuations, and according to Milam & Greene, the Texas bourbon saw greater than 10% evaporation losses in most years, compared to 2-4% per year in Kentucky.

Comparing the two bourbons, the color difference is immediately apparent, with the Texas bourbon exhibiting a significantly darker chestnut-like hue compared to the Kentucky bourbon’s gold coloring. From there, the Texas bourbon features an aroma that is oak-forward, with toasted marshmallow, light smoke, and a light cinnamon pop. In contrast, the Kentucky bourbon highlights the mashbill’s malty aspect more, with more floral and herbal influence.

The palate features a similar divergence, with the Texas bourbon being more robust, showcasing notes of barrel char, dark brown sugar, and nutty flavors, with hints of molasses. The Kentucky-aged bourbon showcases traditional bourbon flavors of vanilla, caramel, and delicate oak, complemented by additional notes of honey and golden raisin.

The finish follows a similar trajectory, with the Texas bourbon layering pepper, spice, and heat. The Kentucky bourbon is sweeter and lighter, but also shows an increase in pepper and spice.

Milam & Greene makes it a point for whiskey drinkers to create their own blends with “The Answer” and further showcase the differences between the two bourbons. The differences between 50/50 blends and 25/75 and 75/25 blends are quite pronounced. As Greene said, this gives bourbon drinkers at home a taste of what she does when blending at Milam & Greene Distillery, a distillery that has established a reputation for its blended releases.

The bourbon comes packed in a set of two 375mL bottles, primarily due to packaging laws. Still, it helps minimize the need to hunt for two separate bottles—an issue Jim Beam faced when they introduced a similar, yet different aging concept in 2023, which was limited to their different Kentucky aging locations. “The Answer” bourbon is also not necessarily meant to be the company’s cream of the crop, on the same level as their limited edition releases, but rather a proof of concept and fun experiment, which Greene admits “the sum is better than its parts.”

Though anyone interested in bourbon can likely conclude that aging locations and different climates would affect how a bourbon ages, it’s experiments like this that reveal much more than you might think. Miliam & Greene have been gathering interesting analyses of chemical compounds, such as acetaldehyde, methanol, propanol, ethyl acetate, butanol, furfural, phenylethyl alcohol, and variants of methyl butanol and methyl propanol, as well as angel’s share percentages, oak extraction amounts, and other data from this project. Greene says that future Milam & Green products will harness what they’ve learned from this product, and they hope to share their findings with the larger distilling community.

Much of what led Milam & Greene to this project has been interwoven in many of their projects over the past 5 years. Their popular Wildlife Collection of bourbons are typically sourced from Tennessee, like many other distilleries do, but the differentiating factor is that they source the bourbon young and age the barrels in their Texas rickhouses. This difference in aging location and climate appears to have a very tangible effect on the resulting bourbon. Greene has already been blending the company’s many bourbon products, featuring bourbon aged in their two aging locations, which include bourbon that was sourced, contract-distilled, and in-house distilled, and believes that this is what makes their bourbon unique and successful among bourbon drinkers.

Greene hopes to expand on “The Answer” aging experiment in the near future and is exploring possibilities in other geographical areas, which could include the extremely cold North, the moisture-rich Northwest, and the East’s humid continental climate.

After tasting Milam & Greene's "The Answer" bourbons side by side, the project effectively showcases the distinct impact of aging location and climate on bourbon. It’s a fun and theory-proving demonstration that many bourbon fans will enjoy exploring, and the project’s resulting data may provide valuable information for both the distillery and the broader whiskey community.