Successful Two Bourbon Vattings

Sometimes, only two bourbons will combine in a particularly good way. I bought recently 4 pints of Woerner's Kentucky Straight Bourbon, a 4 year old (or more) private label out of San Francisco from 30 years ago. Each of these is slightly different. I took one, flavourful but almost too smooth, and combined it 50/50 with some current Old Fitzgerald 1849. The Fitz has good cereal and other flavours but is a little prickly on the palate.

The combination makes the Fitz glycerine smooth but adds its wheaty accents. A four grain perfect for neat sipping sans ice.

I'd be interested in any other successful two bourbon (and/or rye) vattings.

Gary

Gary,

I don't have any successful vatting stories yet, but I was wondering if you could give me some suggestions for vattings from the following whiskeys:

OGD114
EWB
Ritt BiB
Bulleit Rye
CC sherry cask
Jameson

Eric

I recently had some good luck vatting FC with HH Old Style Green Label. The FC, as most of you know, is a good, but very powerful pour on it's own while the HH is thin but would be good at a higher proof. Together, they made for a solid combination that displayed a sweetness not apparent in either one alone.

It's not easy. The few times I tried vatting bourbons/ryes or malt whisky, the result was rather terrible

I tried vatting Whistlepig with something more woody, didnt taste any good

Steffen

Oh vatting is easy with a little practice, keep trying! The FC and green label HH sound perfect, perfect logic.

For vatting the whiskies suggested:

Jameson and CC Sherry cask. Irish whiskey often is sherry barrel aged. Jameson can benefit from a little sherry, e.g. Jameson 15 has lots evidently, and the CC is mainly high proof neutral-type distillate except aged, so you would be reducing the pot still element of the Jameson (which not everyone likes, that minty/petrol effect) and softening the blend with some rich sherry. Say 4:1 Jameson to CC.

Bulleit and Rittenhouse rye should make a very good rye vatting. Maybe 2:1 Ritt to the Bulleit, or half half. A touch blending agent may help, a dash of Southern Comfort from a mini, say. EWSB tends to be relatively smooth and even bland sometimes, adding up to 1/3 OGD 114 may be a good mix. Half half should work very well too.

American straights are in general closer in palate amongst them than the malts or Irish whiskey. You can't go wrong really with almost any combination (e.g. it's not Budweiser and Cola!) but some work hand in glove and those are the ones to seek.

Gary

Thanks for the suggestions, Gary. I will probably try a couple of them tonight and see how they work out.

Eric

Because I ended up with a number of handles of Charter 101 and Four Roses Yellow, I vatted them 1:1 and produced a nice blend. The FR cut the sweet of the Charter.

The Ritt BiB/Bulleit rye mix is a good one. The extra kick of the 100 proof Rittenhouse gives the Bulleit what its missing; a nice finish.

Alone, the Bulleit seems to have a short, unimpressive finish. That's my only complaint with this rye. I guess I was hoping for more spice from a 95% rye mashbill.

Eric

I vatted 60/40 HH OFitz BiB and JPS 17. While I liked the Old Fitz I found it a bit one-dimensional, somewhat short, and thin, and as a result, a tad hot. The JPS added body, spice and wood notes, rounding out and lengthening the finish. I actually think this might be even better at 70/30 or 80/20 as the JPS really took over -

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Mark

I've been doing a 50/50 vatting of Weller 12 and OWA for quite a while now. I get the extra aging that I miss in the OWA and the extra proof that I wish the Weller 12 had. It's a perfect Weller.