Blades & Bourbon

Chronovore said:
I've always liked rye but it always seems to take a back seat to scotch and bourbon. For instance, my liquor cabinet currently contains five different bourbons, seven different scotches, and only one rye. It's this one, which from the picture date I probably haven't touched in a couple of months. 😮

Another thing is differentiating rye from stuff like high-rye bourbons or Canadian whiskeys with a small amount of rye. As far as straight rye, what are your top two or three recommendations?
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I wanted to mention something similar to what you're talking about - It's interesting but I'm not crazy for everything that is high-rye in the mashbill, I prefer corn of about 80%+
On the other hand, I absolutely love well done rye whiskey... Understandably, the following is just my opinion, not in any case I'm authority on Rye or Bourbon...

What would be my favorites of it... ? I have tried lots of Rye and I like bunch of them. I would say, I'm not huge fan of Canadian Rye whiskey but would recommend the Very Old St Nick if you want to try good Canadian Rye. Calumet Farms are also good but terribly expensive IMO.

From the US brands, I tend to like more the Indiana Rye, my all time favorite would be the Smooth Ambler's Old Scout Single Barrel, the one in the center of the picture.
It was so good, that they completely sold out the first release and had to wait few years before they released the second batch.
I had both of them and the second batch is absolutely great (per my taste of course) It's high ABV but here is always waiter for it...
One bottle over to the left is the Willet Rye Whiskey, not bad but I honestly like better the Old Scout. It was around $60 when I bought it, the Willet was about $70.

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I would highly recommend the Knob Creek Twice barreled Rye, unbelievable pour, I'm only not sure if they still making it,
it's the second bottle from left to right, used to be around $40 worth the time to find it if they are making it, it does have the metal button on the label,
you can see it trough the glass, not really hard to look for it in the store:

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Another Indiana sourced Rye is the Pinhook. The bottle on the picture is their firs release, I liked it so much that I bought about 12 bottles, they used to go for $28...
It was the same situation as with the Old Scout - they sold out to the point that the owner of the company (which I used to communicate on IG) asked me if I want to sell some of the bottles to him... I didn't, I still have few but even you won't be able to find the "Bourbon n' Rye" ( the name of the horse actually), Pinhook are outstanding Bourbons and Ryes and
you won't go wrong with trying any of their line, usually they run around $50

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There are tons of good rye makers, including the Bulleit from your picture, same shelf is the Templeton Rye, Sazerac Rye and so on.
I have to mention also two other favorite Ryes - Starlight Distillery out of Indiana, don't have picture of it but whatever you can get from this place worth every penny !
And the other very good but strong Rye is the Coalition Rye, the finished one is absolutely stunning IMO.
It's front in the picture, if I have to do top to "bottom"(they all are great pours) I'll still do:

Old Scout
Pinhook
Coalition,
Willet
Whistlepig

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I hope this will help and you will enjoy some of the offerings :cool::thumbsup:
 
Knyfe said:
Can't get too excited about bourbon after reading a story about a fungus that thrives on alcohol and lives in the neighborhoods around aging warehouses. If this seems interesting to you, search for Baudoinia.
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I'm not sure what to make of it, I tend not to believe in "the news"
I brewed professionally for over five years in the mid-nineties.
Why are the barrels, and the cellars not contaminated? They bulk age for Many years. Alcohol sterilize s things.

We are being Lied to
 
Chronovore said:
As far as straight rye, what are your top two or three recommendations?
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Personally, I've never had a taste of straight rye -- I already have too much scotch or bourbon to drink & I 'm worried that, if I like it, I go on another whisky buying binge ;) -- but, from what I've read, WhistlePig would be a good place to start.
 
So, last night we had another one of the Bourbon get togethers at my place.
I had 4 bottles that I bought over a year ago and that we needed to try.

This is how we started:

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The Smoke Wagon was just Small batch, KC was obviously the 15yo release, the two Old Elks were Wheated Whiskey and Wheated Bourbon and
the Pinhook bottle was True Single Barrel, Vertical Series 6yo, Selected by Seelbach, Straight Bourbon Whiskey.
Our friend brought two other bottles to try, both Bardstown, Fusion and Discovery series.
It was a nice night, we had few hours of fun, cigar smoke and talking about, knives, guns, bourbon and bunch of other stuff,
until their designated driver almost fall asleep at the table and they took off... 😂

This is how we finished the night:

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I never tried the two Bardstown impressions and was pleasantly surprised how easy drinking they were. If it wasn't the premium price for the bottles, I'd call it "everyday sippers".
Same goes for the Old Elk in my opinion, very smooth sip, almost can't feel the alcohol.
At the end of the night, we all shared thoughts about those and our top to "bottom" list was as follows:

Top still the old, Knob Creek 15yo, very tasty, complex sip, worth the $$.
Second - Pinhook 6yo Vertical Series True Single barrel, Seelbach's pick. Specific pleasant, strong taste of well aged Bourbon.
Discovery Series of Bardstown. Tasty stuff, pricy.
Old Elk Wheated Bourbon. Nice, not forcing taste, one can drink this all day.
Fusion Series of Bardstown.
last but not least - The Smoke Wagon. True Bourbon taste IMO, slight traces of smoke, but besides the fancy bottle and marketing, just a good bourbon
step above your regular $30+ picks in the store.

We had so many bottles to try that we didn't even open the Old ELk Wheated Whiskey. Impressions to come, when I get together with my neighbor... 🤣:thumbsup:
 
New to me. Apparently they changed the proof from 86 to 100 and bottle design, few years back, but it flew under my radar...
$20 in ABC, 100 proof, 8 years old (edit: it's actually 6 years old, my bad, apologies), Heaven Hill Distillery, good Bourbon by my book.
Very reminiscent of the 10yo Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage, one of my all time favorites below $30,
I'll guess it's the same mashbill, just younger Bourbon and higher proof.

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POCEH KOCEB said:
Oh Sarge, you've opened it !!! I envy you ! (in a good way, I'm glad you found one...)
I'm still trying to get a bottle of the 7yo so I can line it up to my others - 4,5 and 6 yo...
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Bought 2 of each and still have one unopened of the 4, 5, 6 & 7.
 
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