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OK Chuck will do. I've a feeling that I'll be doing so much tasting at Bardstown that there is a 100% chance that I will become highly bourbonized and that I will like everything. Except Benchmark; Maker's Mark, Rebel Yell, or I.W.Harper. I know not to ever buy those again. Nor the most foul of all Fighting Cock.
Linn Spencer
In Happy Little Stuart's Draft Virginia
Linn:
> Are all of the Van Winkles wheated?
'cept the 20 YO & 23 YO, yep.
> I haven't tasted a wheated bourbon yet that I like. I've been told that Old
> Fitzgerald is a wheated bourbon that rye guys might like. Is it sooo very
> good that I won't even notice that it's wheated?
In the Old Fitz or Van Winkles? The Old Fitz, well, I think it's sooo very good, but it's still noticeably wheated. The 12 YO Very Special Old Fitz isn't quite so wheaty, but still lacks the hard fruit of the rye, and instead has kind of a soft berry taste. It's worth trying both the 12 YO VSOF and the Old Fitz BIB, two of my all-time favorites. As for the VW's, you'll taste the wheat in the 10 YO, and how. A far cry from Maker's Mark, especially in the wood influence (more resin/sugar, less vanilla), but obviously wheated nonetheless.
Stotz
Chuck:
> Try Old Fitz or W.L. Weller before you make an investment in Van Winkle.
Yup. Old Fitz 1849 or BIB are good bargains for the Fitz. As for the Weller, the Weller Centennial is really something to behold.
> If you like them, you'll like the VW even more.
You really think so? It's true in my case (though I'd probably take VSOF 12 YO over any VW), but that extra three years in the wood makes such a huge difference in the VWs that the sharp wood edge really puts some people off. It's a taste peculiar to VW, as WT is just as woody but in a much mellower, rounder way.
Stotz
If you can go back to Heaven Hill 28yr, old and all of other H>H brands ............Elijah Craig(single-barrel)18yr,old.....Evan Williams (S B)9yr. You will be pleased w/the result.
They are from Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery, and it comes in 10yr,12yr,15yr,20yr, its class is bourbon but it is a Very rye mix.