KOVAL Bourbon
Chicago, Illinois
51% corn and 49% millet, so no gluten grain in the mash at all. The bourbon that answers the question everyone asks about bourbon.
- Aging
- Young, new charred American oak
- Grains
- corn, millet
- Congeners
- Moderate
- Histamines
- Low
- Polyphenols
- Low
- Sulfites
- Very Low
- Tannins
- Moderate
- Sugar
- Very Low
- Additives
- Very Low
- Calories
- 115
- Sugar
- 0g
16.5g ethanol at 47% ABV. No sugar, so every calorie here is alcohol.
In its favor
- ✓No gluten grain in the mashbill, unlike every other bourbon here
- ✓Certified organic and kosher
- ✓Young, so less oak-derived congener load than an aged Kentucky bourbon
What to watch
- !47%, above the 40% standard pour
- !Small-cask ageing extracts wood fast for its age
Factor by factor
Congeners Moderate ▾
Byproducts of fermentation (methanol, acetaldehyde, fusel alcohols). Strongly linked to hangover severity; darker, less-distilled spirits carry more.
Histamines Low ▾
Produced by bacteria during fermentation/aging. Trigger flushing, headaches, congestion in sensitive drinkers. High in red wine, beer, aged spirits.
Polyphenols Low ▾
Plant compounds with antioxidant activity. Slightly protective at low doses but at high concentrations may worsen hangover via tannin/quercetin reactions.
Sulfites Very Low ▾
Preservatives (SO₂) added to wine and some beers. Common trigger of headaches, asthma, and allergic-type reactions.
Tannins Moderate ▾
Astringent polyphenols from skins, seeds, barrels. Bind proteins, slow alcohol clearance, and aggravate dehydration-style symptoms.
Sugar Very Low ▾
Residual sugar amplifies hangover via blood-sugar swings and dehydration. Liqueurs and cocktails are the main offenders.
Additives Very Low ▾
Colorants, flavorings, glycerin, propylene glycol, sorbates. Cheap spirits and ready-to-drinks often hide these in trade-secret formulas.
Almost every bourbon uses malted barley, not for flavour but for enzymes: the diastatic power that converts corn starch into fermentable sugar. KOVAL uses millet as its second grain instead and supplies the conversion another way, which leaves a mashbill of 51% corn and 49% millet and not a single gluten grain in it.
That makes it the exception to the rule the rest of this category follows. Bourbon’s legal definition requires at least 51% corn and says nothing at all about barley or rye, so a gluten-free bourbon has always been possible. It is just that hardly anyone makes one, because malted barley is the path of least resistance. KOVAL is certified organic and kosher on top, and states the gluten position openly rather than leaving drinkers to reason about distillation.
On the index it lands at 6, the same as Buffalo Trace and Maker’s Mark. It is young, which keeps the oak-derived congeners well below what a twelve-year Kentucky bourbon carries, and that is offset by bottling at 47% and by small-cask ageing, which extracts wood faster per year than a full-size barrel does. Millet also brings less to the congener load than a rye flavouring grain would.