"Bottled in bond" is an American designation, more than a century old, for spirits which have been aged and bottled according to the US Government's Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits. Although the regulations apply to all spirits, in practice most "bonded" spirits are whiskey.
But, why?
The Bottled in Bond Act of 1897 was introduced to provide a guarantee of a spirit's quality, as well as helped to ensure the proper accounting and collection of taxes.
At the time the act was introduced whiskies often contained additives and flavorings such as iodide or other spirits, or sometimes worse, in order to cut and expand the yield of whiskey. The federal government - the guarantor of the regulations - offered producers a tax incentive to participate in the Bottled in Bond Act.
So what does it actually mean?
The Bottled in Bond Act requires that any spirit labelled with "bottled in bond" must meet the following standards:
- It must be a product of a single distiller, produced at a single distillery.
- It must be a product of a single distillation season (January to June or July to December).
- It must be aged in a federally bonded warehouse for at least four years.
- It must be bottled at 50% ABV (or 100 proof).
- The bottle label must state the distillery the spirit was distilled.
- The bottle label must state the distillery the spirit was bottled (if that's different from where it was distilled).
Bottled in Bond is often considered similar in concept to single malt whisky or single barrel whiskey, but regarded as a better indication of a distiller's skill, given that the spirit is made by a single distiller at a single distillery in a single distillation season. Jay Erisman, co-founder of New Riff Distilling says "It is a higher standard than single-malt Scotch, more protective than Cognac".
