FROSTING!?

Are the two bottles the same brand?  Perhaps one of them is just bad?  Are they both natural vanilla, and not "flavour" or "essence"?

Was curious, so looked it up and apparently it's called bourbon vanilla because it comes from Reunion, which used to be called Bourbon.

The one that said bourbon was made by Spice Island...
http://www.spiceislands.com/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=e18d2b73-5bbf-4ba2-983f-39207e8a39c1

The one that I bought and the other one she had in there were by Mccormick
http://www.mccormick.com/productdetail.cfm?ID=6032

The one by Spice Island says "Spice Islands 100% pure Bourbon vanilla extract is created by soaking finely chopped beans in alcohol"

But I believe you are right...but the island one smelled/tasted more like alcohol than the Mccormick brand.

my (quite expensive) Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract is 35% alcohol!  (think i'll have a sip just now!)

anyway reeeeeeeeeeeeka, your cupcakes looked beautiful.