In your opinion: The best of the Eagle Rare 17

[ErichPryde]

Hello all,

I am wondering what everyone thinks of the Eagle Rare 17 year bottlings. which year do you like the best? I have only had the honor of drinking the 2005 and 2008 bottlings, as it can be hard to find here in Wichita. However, I recently found a great deal on bottlings of 2005, 2007 & 2008- a liquor store has multiple bottles of those three years and they are on sale for 39.99 plus tax.

The 2005 absolutely blew me away- it was like someone had taken all of the beautiful qualities of the 10 yr and magnified them- the spiciness was huge, the oak was there but wasn't overwhelming but did add the deep thought qualities I see in Jeffersons Reserve to a degree, and it managed to be more vanilla-sweet than the 10 year and pull it all off wonderfully.


Unfortunately, I had the 2008 less recently and when I was a lot less experienced with bourbon, and I can't quite remember what that one was like. I don't remember it being nearly as full of character as the 05... but it's been a while.

so what's the concensus? which year was the best?