The concept of Bottled in Bond, or BIB, came about to address a real and serious problem: the adulteration of whiskey with all kinds of things from juice to tobacco to much worse. In the nineteenth century, there was no TTB, no FDA and very minimal, if any, state oversight of food and beverage production. In 1897, Congress passed the Bottled in Bond act, one of the first consumer protection laws, to promote truth in advertising in whiskey.

The Act created the classification of Bottled in Bond sprits. A spirit labeled Bottled in Bond or Bonded had to be :

1. Produced in a federally monitored bonded warehouse;

2. Produced in the same distilling season by the same distiller at the same distillery (which had to be listed on the label);

3. At least 4 years old;

4. Bottled at 100 proof (50% abv); and

5. Unadulterated.

The Act was repealed in 1979 but was incorporated into the federal regulations, according to the TTB, “because consumers continued to place value on these terms on labels.” The TTB’s proposed new regulations actually expand the concept of Bottled in Bond, allowing imported spirits to use the designation if they meet the criteria, but the TTB also asks for comments regarding whether the designation is still necessary.

The BIB Act was an important piece of legislation in protecting consumers, but I would argue that the designation doesn’t make much sense anymore. Let’s look at each of the original requirements (and while any spirit can be bonded, the vast majority of bonded spirits are whiskey, so that’s mostly what we’re talking about here).

1. Bonded Warehouse: This isn’t part of the requirement anymore since all distilleries are now bonded.

2. Produced by the same distiller in the same season at the same distillery. This is nice to know, but is it a sign of quality? If it’s what you want, there are plenty of single barrel options out there that meet this requirement. I do like having the distillery disclosed on each bottle, but instead of limiting that to bonded whiskey, I would just make that a requirement for all spirits, as is done with Tequila in Mexico.

3. At least 4 years old. Is this really what anyone thinks of as the ultimate sign of quality in American spirits? I think of 4 years old as too young for most spirits.

4. Bottled at 100 proof. This is another oddity – a BIB spirit cannot be bottled at cask strength. Why not? Why is the addition of water required as a sign of quality?

5. Unadulterated. Sure, this is important, but liquor is much more regulated than it used to be, so we don’t really have to worry about dangerous additives anymore, and bourbon and straight whiskeys aren’t allowed to have any additives whether they are bonded or not.