Worst Bourbon you ever tried ?

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Originally Posted by White Dog

EC18 is a single barrel, plus, I've noticed that air makes quite a difference. I've had great, good, and awful experiences with various bottles.

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Originally Posted by B-Zero

I just put it down to a bad barrel, the drink may be gone but the memory of the taste is burned in. Every time I open a bottle I pray that it's not like the ec18 I had..

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Isn't it the job of the master distiller to make sure that even with barrel variations, that you don't put awful barrels into the mix? It really dilutes the brand value. Maybe that's what they're doing with the 20 year, select fewer barrels for presumably better quality and higher price. Still, I think it's poor practice to have such bottle-to-bottle variation. I dont' hear people saying the same thing about Blanton's or Rock Hill Farms, that there are awful bottlings. Sure some are less good than others, but none have been bad IMO.

Well, here I am with very little experience, but I had a bit of a 200mL bottle of Evan Williams Black label the other day...and it tasted like bourbon mixed with Lysterine. Is this normal for that label?

Jame Pepper 15 year old. Apparently it is old LDI bourbon. Horrendous stuff.

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Originally Posted by soonami

Isn't it the job of the master distiller to make sure that even with barrel variations, that you don't put awful barrels into the mix? It really dilutes the brand value. Maybe that's what they're doing with the 20 year, select fewer barrels for presumably better quality and higher price. Still, I think it's poor practice to have such bottle-to-bottle variation. I don't' hear people saying the same thing about Blanton's or Rock Hill Farms, that there are awful bottlings. Sure some are less good than others, but none have been bad IMO.

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Bottle to bottle variation is the whole fun of doing single barrel bourbons. You're looking for that honey barrel or enjoying the uniqueness of the individual barrels. If you want them all to taste the same drink the mass produced stuff.

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Originally Posted by p_elliott

Bottle to bottle variation is the whole fun of doing single barrel bourbons. You're looking for that honey barrel or enjoying the uniqueness of the individual barrels. If you want them all to taste the same drink the mass produced stuff.

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There is nothing wrong with variation, but I don't think it's good to have a brand with inconsistent flavor profiles from batch to batch. I understand that some people perceive taste differently, but some people find some bottlings of EC18 to be really terrible, like mildewy old wood. I haven't had that many, only one which I thought was good, so I don't know from personal experience, but I think that even if a product is a single barrel offering, that the consumer should have a reasonable expectation of what the next bottle should taste like--and it shouldn't be bad.

Sure if you want consistency in flavor profile, Jack Daniels is where its at.

I know Woodford has it's fans, but I bought a bottle of Woodford Double Oaked the first time I saw it on a shelf, and it was just not good. All I got out of it was bitterness and astringency. I tried it neat, on ice, with water, in cocktails . . . I even tried to finish the bottle off one Sunday by pouring with Coke and I couldn't do it. Maybe I got a bad bottle, but I think that's just what it tastes like. Of all the bottles I've bought, it's the only one that I feel a "fool (me) got parted from his money."

Hudson Baby Bourbon. They had PVW 20 on the menu but had run out. The bartender said the closest thing they had was Hudson Baby Bourbon. Boy was she wrong. Tasted like tequila to me. She gave me a refund.

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Originally Posted by savagehenry

Hudson Baby Bourbon. They had PVW 20 on the menu but had run out. The bartender said the closest thing they had was Hudson Baby Bourbon. Boy was she wrong. Tasted like tequila to me. She gave me a refund.

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LOL! Clearly a 3 month old bourbon is the closest thing to Pappy 20. What a great bartender!

I'd be interested in knowing what the furthest thing from PVW20 they had was.

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Originally Posted by savagehenry

Hudson Baby Bourbon. They had PVW 20 on the menu but had run out. The bartender said the closest thing they had was Hudson Baby Bourbon. Boy was she wrong. Tasted like tequila to me. She gave me a refund.

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That's the funniest damn thing I've read all week.