Bourbon!

[black mamba]

ON the road this week, and stopped tonight in Lexington, KY. Went to a place called Liquor Barn and hit the mother load, finding several bottles unavailable back home in St. Louis. Picked up Hancock Presidential, Four Roses SB, Old Fitzgerald 12 yr old, A A Age 10 yr old, Heaven Hill Old Style 6 yr old BIB, and JTS Brown BIB.

Just took the HH 6 and the AAA 10 up to the room for a taste test. Surprisingly, the 6 yr Heaven Hill stayed right with the 10 yr AAA, and it's only 11.99 a quart!

[Guyon]

That's the crazy thing, ain't it?
You can drive up to the most non-descript liquor store, and lo' and behold, they've got a bottle of Pappy 23 sitting on the shelf.
"Oh yeah, some guy ordered that and never picked it up."

[OldPhysics]

That's the crazy thing, ain't it?
You can drive up to the most non-descript liquor store, and lo' and behold, they've got a bottle of Pappy 23 sitting on the shelf.
"Oh yeah, some guy ordered that and never picked it up."

In fact, when I get the chance ... and drive by one of those places ... I do stop and check.

And occasionally -- eureka!

[JJDynomite]

Here's my 2 cents: I'm a Brewmaster by trade and I live and work in the Louisville, KY area. Kevin sees me a lot at One Stop Knife Shop. In my professional opinion, Willett 17 and Pappy Van Winkle 20 are top notch. Although, I DO very much enjoy And aged Bullitt or, believe it or not, Booker's. Booker's will always have a home at my home bar and my belly. Cheers!

[OldPhysics]

Here's my 2 cents: I'm a Brewmaster by trade and I live and work in the Louisville, KY area. Kevin sees me a lot at One Stop Knife Shop. In my professional opinion, Willett 17 and Pappy Van Winkle 20 are top notch. Although, I DO very much enjoy And aged Bullitt or, believe it or not, Booker's. Booker's will always have a home at my home bar and my belly. Cheers!

I thank you for that advice. Going to have to find the Willett's -- that's the one you mentioned that I haven't tried.

[Riverwarrior]

I'm a huge fan of all the Pappy Van Winkle expressions, but last month, I found a bottle of a newly released bourbon called "Jesse James American Outlaw". This stuff was great, but the $17 price tag was amazing!! I'm gonna pick up several more bottles of this stuff.

Just wanted to give a heads up to those looking for a great bourbon that's very economically priced.

[Morrow]

I just got these today. I had this for the first time a couple of weeks ago when I was in NYC. I found some and ordered it. I'm not going to open one just quite yet (too many open bottles right now) but I'm looking forward to cracking the seal.

[black mamba]

J, there's a bottle of that tornado juice here in Missouri, too, that I've been eyeballin'.

Let me know when you crack one how it rates, since we have similar tastes in brown.

I'm gettin' low on the Presidential 18, so another bottle of that has to come first!

[Morrow]

J, there's a bottle of that tornado juice here in Missouri, too, that I've been eyeballin'.

Let me know when you crack one how it rates, since we have similar tastes in brown.

I'm gettin' low on the Presidential 18, so another bottle of that has to come first!

I very much understand this decision making process. My open bottle of Presidential 18 is getting low as well but I have two more stashed away and I'm going to NYC in a few weeks and there is a store in Brooklyn that has a good supply of it so I'll pick up a few more bottles. I had the Col. Taylor last time I was in NYC at this awesome corner bar called The Richardson (also in Brooklyn). The bartender was extremely knowledgeable in all things whiskey and recommended the Col. Taylor. Don't hesitate to grab a bottle or two....you'll like it.

[gregorio]

Has anyone here mentioned Boutique Bourbon? I just tried some and I am very impressed, even their low price point offering it is quite good.

[Morrow]

Has anyone here mentioned Boutique Bourbon? I just tried some and I am very impressed, even their low price point offering it is quite good.

Got a picture of the bottle?

[Guyon]

Restocked my Basil Hayden yesterday.

[gregorio]

Got a picture of the bottle?

here is one of them. and their site is found by goggling kentucky bourbon distillers ltd

[bigjuice]

What a great thread!

I have a bottle of the first run EH Taylor I have been working on that is quite nice. I may go buy a bottle of the tornado run to contrast them in a taste test, sorta like spyderco mule team steels!

I have a Scottish friend who used to work for one of the distillers. They took a group of barrels freshly filled and placed half of them in a warehouse on the coast exposed to salt water, rough weather and humidity. They took the other half and stored them in the lowlands. Calmer weather cycle, more moderate temperatures. Same scotch. Same barrels. Completely different final product.

I really like Bulleitt. My favorite routine drinker is basil Hayden's though. Really well balanced to me.

I have a very well stocked local liquor store that is smaller but carries some very good stuff. I have been through Bookers, knob creek, etc.

It is timely I found this thread as I have been reading up on the Pappy Van Winkle line. I can only hope they have some!

I also want to get some Jefferson Presidential. I know they have the black maple hill on the shelf as I have had a bottle in hand to buy and got distracted. Now I know I must follow through.

So who drinks neat, with water, with ice? And what are your thoughts on etiquette of cutting the higher end stuff with ice or water? I like ice. I am a scotch drinker and still like ice. The proper scotch crowd turn their nose up at ice. But... It's what I like.

[Stelth]

So who drinks neat, with water, with ice? And what are your thoughts on etiquette of cutting the higher end stuff with ice or water? I like ice. I am a scotch drinker and still like ice. The proper scotch crowd turn their nose up at ice. But... It's what I like.

I usually just drink Wild Turkey 101 but I like it with 2 ice cubes.

[black mamba]

I drink whisky neat up to about the 107 proof bottles, then add a splash of water above that.

Occasionally in the summer I will drink rye whisky over ice with a touch of water.

[bigjuice]

So I went and bought the EH Taylor tornado and already had the 100 proof one from an earlier release. They are the same except for environmental exposure is my understanding. They are fairly different and I actually like the tornado better. It is fuller, nuttier, little darker. Not a sweet bourbon, would describe as more scotch-like in character. Very smooth though.

I suck at describing tastes. That's about as good as it gets for me. If you can get both bottles, it is pretty cool to taste them both side by side to see the differences. Like the scotch barrels I mentioned earlier.

I paid $66 for the tornado. I also got put on the list for Pappy. He gets one case a year. The entire state of Mississippi gets 20 cases only a year! He doesn't get to pick which one, it's whatever they give him.

BUT he had a whole line of the jefferson 18 says he keeps in regularly, will be my next purchase. Was $105. He also had some black maple hill with a red label for around $40. Must be a younger one, didn't see any age info?

[black mamba]

Juice, the $40 Black Maple Hill should be around 8 years old (it changes from one release to another). It's good, but there are others in the price range that are better. Try Rock Hill Farms for around $45, it's well worth the extra 5 bucks.

[masterj]

Does anyone know where to find a bottle of George t. Stagg or William Larue Weller? Posted a thread in whine and cheese about how difficult it's proving to source a bottle of this stuff. So if you know a place please share it with me if you can. I won't hog it all, just want one bottle to enjoy now that the weather's gotten chilly. Thanks in advance.

[black mamba]

The fall release of the Antique Collection should be coming out in the next 2-4 weeks. Big chains are your best bet to find the Stagg and Weller, but you may need to contact them now to get on a reserve list. Good hunting.