So I’m confused about not being able to put “age” on your bottle?
I see it on almost all bottles, is it because you finished it different than barrel strength or mixed something that made it not Straight Bourbon?
These rules/laws dealing with bourbon are insane.
All the rules and regulations around Bourbon and its labeling are a consumer protection issue. The point is to make sure consumers know what's in the bottle with no dirty tricks. All in all, bourbon and whiskey shaped consumer protections laws in america, and today's regulations are a natural reflection of that.
There's great read on that from a local author (and Cat fan), Brian Haara:
Bourbon Justice: How Whiskey Law Shaped America.
As far as the age statement on barrel finished bourbon: when you barrel finish it, it's no longer just a bourbon or a straight bourbon, it's a bourbon finished in ______. Since that's not, at this moment, a specific type/style classification, it just gets thrown into the "Specialty whiskey" categorization from a labeling perspective. There are no age statements allowed on specialty whiskeys because there are a thousand different things that can be specialty whiskeys, and no real way for the consumer to know what the age statement refers to. It could be the whiskey, some other flavoring agent, the age of the spirit in the finishing barrel, the initial aging + the finishing time, etc.
The TTB has proposed a new type and classification for finished whiskey that is "Whatever type of whiskey - (i.e. Kentucky Straight Bourbon)" "Finished in _______" Under this, they propose to define the age as the youngest whiskey that went into the finished barrels, allowing that age statement on the bottle.
Ironically, even under today's rules, if you don't want "bourbon" on the label at all, you can just call it "Whiskey" and do whatever you want in terms of used cooperage.