Blades & Bourbon

sgt1372 said:
What state are you in? I'm getting both wine and liquor shipped to me in CA w/o any difficulty (so far).
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I'm in NYS (not NYC)

Buffalo Trace $36
Eagle Rare $44
Knob Creek 12 yr $65 (or 69?)

I haven't bought Henry McKenna single barrel since the price essentially doubled one year. It was a great bourbon at $33; but I swore off when it became less available and local price jumped to $69-99. It's more often available again now, and usually around $60 (I think); but I still won't touch it.
I suspect a fair amount of the pricing BS is from the distributors; but there is sometimes a significant variance between shops, as well (which points to individual f*#!ery). For example, the shop that used to consistently have the best prices has bumping certain bottles by about $50. They get more Blanton's (usually a couple cases at a time vs a bottle or two at smaller shops), and they still charge $150 vs $99 at the small places. At some point last year, I found a bottle of Old Ezra 7yr in a small shop for $65. I enjoyed it and went looking for more...and the only place that still had it was $117. As a result, I visit multiple shops (the smaller ones don't have good websites)
 
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Been on a rye kick as of late (Woodinville Cask Strength & Rare Breed), but went with an old favorite tonight.

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I've also been working on a bottle of the Woodinville Port Finished. They are fairly local to me and I visited for a tasting recently. That might make me a bit biased, but I genuinely enjoy what they have to offer, and look forward to what they bring along once they continue to get some more age under their belt.

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I did happen to pick up a bottle of Buffalo Trace this past week as well. It was at the grocery store and I figured I'd snag it while I had the chance. My first time trying it. It was fine, I'm not gonna knock it, but I don't really see myself reaching for it that often. Perhaps I'll save it aside and give it a revisit at some point.

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I just finished a bottle of Michter Small Batch. Good stuff; but not in my top 5. No picture because I wasn't using a glass (wasn't much left), and the only light is from the tv (catching up on Blacklist). Since this is Blades & Bourbon, 2 of my 3 newest blades are in my pocket (#2, the box elder CRK, is not included).

Knives&Lint Knives&Lint OF1920 is quite good.
I'm not a big rye drinker; but I'm going to have to try the Rare Breed.
 
hhmoore said:
I'm in NYS (not NYC)

Buffalo Trace $36
Eagle Rare $44
Knob Creek 12 yr $65 (or 69?)

I haven't bought Henry McKenna single barrel since the price essentially doubled one year. It was a great bourbon at $33; but I swore off when it became less available and local price jumped to $69-99. It's more often available again now, and usually around $60 (I think); but I still won't touch it.
I suspect a fair amount of the pricing BS is from the distributors; but there is sometimes a significant variance between shops, as well (which points to individual f*#!ery). For example, the shop that used to consistently have the best prices has bumping certain bottles by about $50. They get more Blanton's (usually a couple cases at a time vs a bottle or two at smaller shops), and they still charge $150 vs $99 at the small places. At some point last year, I found a bottle of Old Ezra 7yr in a small shop for $65. I enjoyed it and went looking for more...and the only place that still had it was $117. As a result, I visit multiple shops (the smaller ones don't have good websites)
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Other than BevMo and Total Wines, there's only 1 local shop in my area that I go to to see if they have any hard to find bourbons. Beyond that, it's just catch-as-catch can for me.

If I'm really desparate, I'll buy from one of the rip-off liquor sellers online but I'm at a place now that all I need is any of my "top 5" to be in a happy place as far as bourbon is concerned and, as a result, I no longer have any need to search for anything "new" or to pay more than $50 for anything else.
 
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hhmoore said:
Knives&Lint Knives&Lint OF1920 is quite good.
I'm not a big rye drinker; but I'm going to have to try the Rare Breed.
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I wasn't either until recently. I picked up a bottle of Michter's rye a while ago and didn't like it at all at first, but then revisited the bottle later and liked it quite a bit 🤷‍♂️. Also, it occurred to me how much I like pepper/spice notes in the finish of whiskeys, so it seemed logical to try a few more ryes. I don't have enough experience to tell how the Rare Breed compares to others, but I like everything I've tried out of Wild Turkey so far (I honestly enjoy a simple 101 quite a bit as a daily), so I figured I'd give it a shot. It did not disappoint.

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As for the Woodinville, like I mentioned I was there recently for a tasting, and they knock the price of the tasting off of the bottle, so I went ahead and picked up the rye because it was the most interesting to me of the ones I tried.

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Went over to my local BevMo today use a $10 off $50 coupon and found these on sale for $39.99 plus 5 cents for 2.

Wasn't searching for anything new to drink but this deal was too good to pass up. :)

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PS: Just realized that if I bought 4, I could have also used my $10 off $50 coupon too but haven't never tried it, I really didn't need/want 4.

But, even so, at $17.50/bottle for 4 , it would have been an even better deal. Oh well . . . 🤷‍♂️
 
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Dropped by my local liquor store (the one that specializes in bourbons) today and this is what I saw -- Eagle Rare 10 for $89.99!!! :eek:

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I bought a bunch of bottles of Eagle Rare 10 from this place less than a year ago for $30 each. $30 is the MSRP. At $90/bottle, I'm not opening any of the 6 bottles that I have in "reserve" any time soon.

PS: Just looked on Drizzly and there are 2 vendors selling it for $75-80 (plus shipping) which will put it at about $100. About the same as buying a bottle for $90 plus 8-9% tax hereabouts.

PPS: Buffalo Trace is still on sale at my local BevMo for $25/ bottle. I should go over there and buy a case of the stuff tomorrow but there are only 2 bottles available there. LOL! ;)
 
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sgt1372 said:
Dropped by my local liquor store (the one that specializes in bourbons) today and this is what I saw -- Eagle Rare 10 for $89.99!!! :eek:

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I bought a bunch of bottles of Eagle Rare 10 from this place less than a year ago for $30 each. At $90/bottle, I'm not opening any of the 6 bottles that I have in "reserve" any time soon.

PS: Just looked on Drizzly and there are 2 vendors selling it for $75-80 (plus shipping) which will put it at about $100. About the same as buying a bottle for $90 plus 8-9% tax hereabouts.

PPS: Buffalo Trace is still on sale at my local BevMo for $25/ bottle. I should go over there and buy a case of the stuff tomorrow but there are only 2 bottles available there. LOL! ;)
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Your story seems to reflect the world of knives also.
 
That spike only lasted a year, here, with Eagle Rare. I'm more amazed that you were able to get it at $30/bottle within the past year. I've never seen it that low (even on trips to Kentucky), and I've been buying Eagle Rare for at least 8 yrs.

If you've got more than 3 stashed, there's no harm in enjoying a bottle this year. It's nice to have on hand; but it's not a special occasion bourbon (IMO). I do understand maintaining a stash, though...I've got a few - bourbons and tequilas - that I really enjoy, and always buy a bottle or two before I open one. (Seeing the prices, I've actually been considering selling some of the high end stuff.)
 
hhmoore said:
That spike only lasted a year, here, with Eagle Rare. I'm more amazed that you were able to get it at $30/bottle within the past year. I've never seen it that low (even on trips to Kentucky), and I've been buying Eagle Rare for at least 8 yrs.
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My memory isn't what it use to be and it might have been $35 but I'm sure that it wasn't $40.

Still cheap by today's standards. ;)

As for my stash of Eagle Rare 10, I'll drink 'em eventually but there is a lot of other cheap bourbon available to drink, like the 2 bottles of Nobel Oak that I just bought for $20@, the 2 bottles of Buffalo Trace that are on my local BevMo's shelf for $25/@ and the Stillhouse Black Bourbon that I can buy there for $22.
 
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Rufus1949 said:
My hide away store has Buffalo trace for $32 but my Wellers runs from $150 to $400. I cannot justify the $$$ for the difference in taste.
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Me neither.

The Eagle Rare 10 that I've got stashed didn't cost me $90 each but it will currently cost me that much to replace any that I do open/drink.

So, I'm going to buy/drink the cheap stuff unless/until I can find some more Eagle Rare 10 to buy at more "reasonable" prices and save it like the other 10 expensive bourbons in my "library collection" for "later."

But, this reminds me that I still have a $90 bottle of Pinhook Bourbon War - Vertical 7 that I planned to open/drink which I will do shortly.

So, it's not like I can't bring myself to open/drink the expensive stuff either. LOL! ;)
 
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