Whiskey & Bourbon Collectors/Aficionados....
- Thread starter Marshal Jim Duncan
- Start date
Cracking my Eagle Rare store pick with company over the weekend.Delivery day:
I sort of agree… I like it, but IMO it’s not worth paying more than $30-$35.
There are several other BT products I enjoy more. Sazerac Rye is one, but again, I wouldn’t pay much more than $35 for that either.
Strangest thing with ER10… I got a store pick during Covid and I was pumped. I was sure this was going to be one of the better bottles I’d nabbed in a while.
I really did not like it. I thought the regular ER10 was better.
Exactly. Maintain that price point and I’m in. Sadly, there are places that want three times that. No chance I’m doing that.
Not a half bad haul this past month.
Not a half bad haul this past month.
Going the ‘gross understatement’ route I see…
I've got a high school friend that lives in Louisville and has offered to bring back a few bottles for me around Christmas. I am a pure novice but have asked for some Eagle Rare, Sazerac, and Blanton's. She recommends Single Barrel BT, Rowan's Creek, Henry Mackenna, and Woodford Double Oaked. I told her 6-10 bottles up to $500. Recommendations?
Assuming your buddy has the ability to find some bottles that aren't unicorns but not every day finds...
Weller Antique 107
Hancock's Reserve
EH Taylor Small Batch or Single Barrel
John J Bowman
4 Roses Small Batch Select (findable on the shelves in OK)
Of the ones you listed above I'd rank them in this order:
Eagle Rare
Woodford Double Oaked (findable on the shelves in OK)
Blanton's
Buffalo Trace
Henry Mackenna 10
Sazerac
Rowan's Creek
And so so much more.
Weller Antique 107
Hancock's Reserve
EH Taylor Small Batch or Single Barrel
John J Bowman
4 Roses Small Batch Select (findable on the shelves in OK)
Of the ones you listed above I'd rank them in this order:
Eagle Rare
Woodford Double Oaked (findable on the shelves in OK)
Blanton's
Buffalo Trace
Henry Mackenna 10
Sazerac
Rowan's Creek
And so so much more.
Try high proof bourbons, they have a bit more heat than sweetness. I'm on a Old Forester kick righ tnow, I think would be a good one to try. But by your post I think you'd like bourbons that have a higher rye in the mash bill, here are a few to try.
Remember just because something is expensive doesn't mean it's better. There are so many good bourbons in the 20-40 price range.
Budget:
Old Grand Dad BiB/Old Rand dad 114 (if you can find that one)
4 Roses (they have a wide range to choose from, they're all pretty good)
Wild Turkey 101/
1792 (This one is middle of the road of sweet, high corn, and spicy with the rye)
Spend a bit more:
Wild Turkey Rare Breed
4 Roses (they have some higher end bottles)
Smoke Wagon Small Batch
Wilderness Trail
Russells Reserve (going to be similar to Wild Turkey)
Also have you tried Rye whiskeys? They're getting more popular and may be up your alley as well.
I do like rye, but that isn't a bourbon. I don't know why rye is almost always cask strength instead of being diluted down to 40-44% like most everything else.
I consume about 99% of the bourbon I drink in cocktails, primarily old fashions. Whereas the Scotch and Irish I drink is neat. I think the best bang for the buck in quality for price in the entire family is Bushmills 16. If it were Scotch, it would be $200 a bottle. But I have found it a few times for $105-110 a bottle. My favorite Scotch is Dahlwhinnie. I brought a bottle of the Distillers edition back with me from Scotland in 2016 and opened it for my house warming party a couple months ago. It was amazing and now I'm looking for another bottle but they have either stopped making the exact same thing or they have changed the label/packaging. I just haven't spent the time to figure that out yet.
I am very curious if the sweetness is because bourbons are only distilled once or if it is simply because of the high sugar corn mash that is used. If they distilled again (like Scotch) would it be less sweet?
I will take a look at this list a bit more in detail soon.
By the way. for Bedlam this year our tailgate (is the tailgate the Sturgeon's started 25ish years ago) we have a competition BBQ smoker coming to cook for us. I'm going to move over from being the cook to having a few drinks. I will likely bring something or two that I find interesting. If anybody would like to let me know if you are coming, that should be a fun day and I would love to meet those of you that I haven't met yet. We tailgate on the south side of Ag Hall. Its a good time. Hopefully it won't be an 11 AM kick.
Sweetness comes for the corn and wheat in the mashbill along with some being imparted from the barrel. So avoid wheated bourbons if you don't like sweet.
Go with Wild Turkey Rare Breed, Elijah Craig, Woodford Reserve Double Oaked, Old Forrester 1910, or Knob Creek 12.
For the money you can't beat Rare Breed and 1910,
Yeah, Knob Creek 12 is a great suggestion. I have the same taste (prefer scotch, Irish or rye), although I occasionally desire another bourbon, the Knob Creek 12 really is less sweet.
My wife and I just had some last night out on our deck.
Opened up this bottle of Yellowstone tonight and it fits that flavor profile you were looking at. Leather, Tobacco, baking spices, very savory as opposed to sweet. Great mouth feel and a very long finish. Glad I picked up 2 bottles when I got it.
oh man I did leave out Woodford, that's another higher rye if I remember right.
Finally landed me a Blanton's Straight from the Barrel @ 131 proof.
A Midwinters Night Dram is supposed to have a much larger distribution this year, and it is supposed to be a good batch. Has anyone seen Act 11 locally in Oklahoma yet? Kind of pricey even at retail, but if there is that much more of it this year then I'm hoping I can avoid the even higher secondary costs.
They had cox a few bottles at Deep Discount in Tulsa on Mingo had a few bottles a couple of weeks back. Sold out quickly.
High West had MWND for sale on their site for a while at $125 a bottle. So I doubt there’ll be much of a secondary market for it. Maybe as high as $200. But more likely $180 or so.
MWND quality has been going down over the last few years. I hope this new one is better.
MWND quality has been going down over the last few years. I hope this new one is better.
4 Roses at all levels is really good. Knob Creek 12 hits the spot. My son in law has introduced me me to Redwood Empire rye whiskey that I have become fond of.
My old reliable for quality is Old Elk sour mash reserve. Explosive to the taste buds with a hint of sweet and smoke and smooth.
My old reliable for quality is Old Elk sour mash reserve. Explosive to the taste buds with a hint of sweet and smoke and smooth.
What’s my best bet at getting my hands on a bottle of Col. E.H. Taylor? Just the regular small batch.
I do have both! Are you going to be in Tulsa today or tomorrow? I’m not in a rush or anything but I’m going to be traveling for Thanksgiving.Pretty good if you have $65 and Venmo.
I'm goinng to the Tulsa airport today actually. I could meet up at any time. If you wanted.
Let’s wait and set something up for after Thanksgiving. Thank you so much!
Selling that for close to retail is nice. Ostatedchi seems to do that, especially with fellow poke fans. I still owe you something for doing me a solid earlier this year.
@Ostatedchi — if you like stouts or barleywines, I would be happy to throw in one in addition to the cash. I’ve probably got close to 40 bottles from American Solera brewery in Tulsa. Some of which are fairly hard to get.
Love a stout. So, $50 and a beer sounds like a fair deal. I'll also throw in a few samples of stuff I have open. I even blended up a poor man's Pappy that'll I'll put in a sample.
Let me guess, the blend consists of several other extremely allocated overpriced whiskeys?