sour mash whiskey
1
7.2
- noun
- /ˈsaʊər mæʃ ˈwɪski/
- Specialized
:
whiskey de mash agrio
- Every straight bourbon produced today is a sour mash whiskey, in which a portion of the residue from one batch of mash is used to start the next.
Examples
-
One was dismayed to learn that Jack Daniels is a Tennessee sour mash whiskey, not a Kentucky sipping bourbon.
-
Sounds like they've already got a head start on Jud's sour mash whiskey.
-
One was dismayed to learn that Jack Daniels is a Tennessee sour mash whiskey, not a Kentucky sipping bourbon.
Academic text (1994) -
Visitors line up to take free tours that demonstrate every step in the making of Tennessee's world-famous sour mash whiskey.
Synonyms
282
2.8
A drink with alcohol that people make from grain and leave in wooden barrels to age
2
7.4
A way of making whiskey using part of a previous batch to start the next one
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward adjectival + noun compound: 'sour' describes the type of 'mash', and that phrase modifies 'whiskey', so a learner who knows the words can infer it is a kind of whiskey made from sour mash. Although the specific brewing technique (using previous mash to control acidity) is technical, the core meaning is compositionally derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
Sour mash whiskey comes from a way of making whiskey where a bit of old, slightly sour mash is mixed into a new batch. That old mash keeps the taste steady, so the name now means 'whiskey made with that old mash'.