Blades & Bourbon

POCEH KOCEB POCEH KOCEB Buffalo Trace uses 2 different mashbills :thumbsup:

I prefer bourbon neat, and don't mind drinking at higher proof. (I haven't had GTS in several years; but - at least at the time - THAT was a little much for comfortable sipping). I've tried adding a touch of water and just cracking a cube (I don't drink spirits with ice, unless it's a mixed drink)...but I still prefer neat.
 
Yes, they are two, the most popular or notable if you want, always being #1. And technically BT are using 2 more variations of those 2 mashbills.
When #1 is wheated, it's primarily the Pappy and Weller line, when #2 is done as High Rye, it becomes the T.Handy and Sazerac line Rye.
There is another variation of #1, I just don't remember the name...

Anyway, my idea was that most of the old, good Bourbon Companies are using one or two mashbills, it's a proven technique.
Huge companies as MGP are the one that can afford to barrel different mashbills, they will always sell those to some fly-by night new names to sell it for arm and leg... 🤣

G.Dickel is another very good maker, who sells a lot to some new companies, for expensive blends.

Here is another trick for people that like ice in their drinks - don't use small cubes/pieces... They have larger surface than large, let's say 2"side cubes, and will delude your drink quicker.
In fact, water from the Ice is reacting with the alcohol in the drink and the result is released heat. The larger the Ice surface is, the quicker your ice will melt :cool::thumbsup:
 
All the time... But in mine I only put left overs of Bourbons or Rye, very rarely and very small amounts of single malts.
 
I think the only time I did it was when I had a number of Four Roses cask strength single barrels. A few of them were very dry, the others less so. I think the mix was only slightly more palatable than those dry bottles; but it helped me get them down, lol.
 
I had a chance last night to get together again with my drinking buddies and to open few long waiting to be opened bottles...
Around 40 degrees in Florida, feels like freezing but we had the higher proof and some fire, to worm us up.
I'm sure whoever like bourbon will appreciate every bottle on the picture, I was very happy to be able to compare it all at once...
Don't know about you Gents but my chart would look something like this:

1. Stagg Junior.
2. Sam Houston 15 yo
3. A Midwinter Night's Dram
4. 1792 Full Proof
5. Blue Note 17 yo.
6. Old Forester Single Barrel.
7. Whistle Pig 10 yo.

I guess I'm more of a classic 70+ and 80% Corn, than High Rye guy...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all !!!

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POCEH KOCEB said:
I had a chance last night to get together again with my drinking buddies and to open few long waiting to be opened bottles...
Around 40 degrees in Florida, feels like freezing but we had the higher proof and some fire, to worm us up.
I'm sure whoever like bourbon will appreciate every bottle on the picture, I was very happy to be able to compare it all at once...
Don't know about you Gents but my chart would look something like this:

1. Stagg Junior.
2. Sam Houston 15 yo
3. A Midwinter Night's Dram
4. 1792 Full Proof
5. Blue Note 17 yo.
6. Old Forester Single Barrel.
7. Whistle Pig 10 yo.

I guess I'm more of a classic 70+ and 80% Corn, than High Rye guy...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all !!!

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Click to expand...
Those are all some heavy hitters. I have not tried a few of those, but I have a couple bottles of the Sam Houston 15 and I think it's fantastic. Brad
 
Brad, totally agree about the Sam Houston ! It surprised me how close I find it to Kentucky Cream, another "heavy hitter" as you call it.
We are few friends that get together once in a while and buy little bit expensive and allocated stuff. I got the Blue Note 17 a year ago,
another guy had the Sam Houston 15 about the same time and third guy had the MWND...
All good stuff but you can't buy $200 bottles every week...
I personally like a lot 1792 Full Proof and almost everything from Old Forester, another source I found to have very interesting stuff
is Seelbach (mentioned it before, I believe), a liquor selling site owned by Bourbonr, blogger, really nice guy.
They have special selection of almost all good names on the market and fair shipping prices and I've being using them a lot,
this was the only place I was able to find the Blue Note 17.
Finished Bourbon seems to be the new best selling trend and I'm not too much fond of fancy names and marketing triks,
but they are few relatively new names that I'd say one must try:
Spirits of French Lick, Doc Swinson, Hillrock, especially Starlight distillery expressions and I'd add also Penelope, the Tokay expression.
Wery tasty and interesting stuff, little bit off the "classic" bourbons but worth every penny.
Of course, they are tens more I didn't mention, but it's probably impossible to try all of them.
Old pictures, sorry...

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POCEH KOCEB POCEH KOCEB I have only tried Hillrock once. I found it very alcohol-forward...so much so that it was difficult to find any flavors to appreciate. This was at a restaurant/bar, and I don't remember the type of glass in which it was served; but I did a lot of swirling over the hour that I milked that pour. Maybe it was a newly opened bottle - which at least offers promise of it mellowing a bit after it gets some air.
Admittedly, that experience was in direct conflict with just about everything I had read about it; so I'm interested in hearing the opinions of your group. I might make the trip to the distillery in a few months and try it again there.

(I'm wondering, now, if that was summer-ish. It would be unusual - because I don't drink bourbon neat during the summer, and that isn't the way it would usually hit me if I did - but it would give me a reason to think it was a fluke)
 
unwisefool unwisefool I was pretty confident that I knew how many full bottles I had & the same for EH Taylor Cask Strength. Imagine my surprise when what should have been a full bottle of Cask Strength was actually this:
View attachment 2028971
A little more full than it is now because I had some last night 😁 . Of course, that means that I have to decide whether I drank the missing bottle of Cask Strength or it's hiding (or I gave it away; but I doubt that is the case)
 
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hhmoore hhmoore Hey man, first - you'll never go wrong with E.H.Taylor... Especially with the BIB :thumbsup:
On the other hand, I had bad experience when ordering something top shelf in even good restaurants and I'm usually trying to order something simple.
Don't get me wrong, the joint you've tried the Hillrock could be good but the problem is, that bottle being on a shelf without control and
you don't really know what's in it.
Lots of places offer something else in those expensive bottles (Hillrosck is around $80 retail in store) thinking that the customer won't know better.
I had a terrible experience in a very good restaurant's bar we stepped in for a desert and a drink after dinner and I ordered simply JW Black but they brought
something terrible and not drinkable... I didn't want to mess up the night and simply ordered some bourbon, but the waitress noted that I didn't drink my JW
and called the shift manager, long story short, i went across the alley to my car and brought back a bottle of JWB that I bought for home few hours earlier, so he can see the difference.
We, my wife and I and our friends family, ended up with free deserts and drinks and that barman I found out later, was fired...
 
POCEH KOCEB said:
Brad, totally agree about the Sam Houston ! It surprised me how close I find it to Kentucky Cream, another "heavy hitter" as you call it.
We are few friends that get together once in a while and buy little bit expensive and allocated stuff. I got the Blue Note 17 a year ago,
another guy had the Sam Houston 15 about the same time and third guy had the MWND...
All good stuff but you can't buy $200 bottles every week...
I personally like a lot 1792 Full Proof and almost everything from Old Forester, another source I found to have very interesting stuff
is Seelbach (mentioned it before, I believe), a liquor selling site owned by Bourbonr, blogger, really nice guy.
They have special selection of almost all good names on the market and fair shipping prices and I've being using them a lot,
this was the only place I was able to find the Blue Note 17.
Finished Bourbon seems to be the new best selling trend and I'm not too much fond of fancy names and marketing triks,
but they are few relatively new names that I'd say one must try:
Spirits of French Lick, Doc Swinson, Hillrock, especially Starlight distillery expressions and I'd add also Penelope, the Tokay expression.
Wery tasty and interesting stuff, little bit off the "classic" bourbons but worth every penny.
Of course, they are tens more I didn't mention, but it's probably impossible to try all of them.
Old pictures, sorry...

YFi4XC.jpg


HlQcfa.jpg


9Llo9n.jpg


flFGle.jpg
Click to expand...
I'm not a fan of finished whiskey, for whatever reason I haven't enjoyed the ones that I have tried. Spirits of French Lick has become one of my favorite distilleries, everything of theirs that I have tried has been great. I think the best bottle that I have been able to grab this year is the Makers Mark BRT-02, it's one of the most unique and well rounded whiskeys that I have ever had. Brad
 
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