THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS SPECIES:

Anyone who has ever visited a Facebook or Reddit bourbon group has probably seen something very similar to this exchange. Someone innocent--or a troll--will ask, is Jack Daniel's or George Dickel actually bourbon? It usually starts an argument, with statements brasher than mine flying about.

"You'd be surprised, but people are mean on the Internet," remarked Nicole Austin when we recently chatted. Austin knows this controversy all too well. She is the master distiller and general manager at the Cascade Hollow Distillery in Tullahoma, Tennessee, which is home to George Dickel. And she's got a sharp sense of humor. You might suspect that she was slyly poking fun at this bar debate by deciding to release George Dickel Bourbon Whisky, but she's completely serious about the category.

It's for real, and I've been drinking it with pleasure over the past several weeks. The new bourbon is going to be a regular bottling, not a one-off like the excellent bonded bottlings of Dickel Tennessee Whisky she released the past three summers. It's 90 proof, 8-years-old, at a suggested retail price of $33. Which...wow. As Austin said, "you're welcome, world."

But where did a Dickel bourbon come from? Has this been a secret project that's finally coming to fruition?

No, Dickel Bourbon comes from the same mashbill, yeast strain, distillation, filtration and aging regimen that produce Dickel No. 12 Tennessee Whisky.

So what is the difference between this bourbon and the brand's signature No. 12 Tennessee whisky?

Essentially whether the brand calls it bourbon or Tennessee whiskey is Austin's call.

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