AH Hirsch 16 - Now $250 in WA - Worth it? Or do you get something else?

[humchan2k]

Hey y'all,

So here in WA, if you can even find it, AH Hirsch 16 is selling for $250+ a bottle. I know that the last 1000 were bottled and are slowly leaking out to the market, but the thought of paying $500+ for a bottle of booze is absolutely ludicrous...but my question is this - if you know that AH Hirsch is on a limited time span before it is gone from the planet forever, would you pay $200+ for a bottle or two to stash away for some time in the future, or do you think it's simply not worth the cash?

More to the point, if you were to spend $100+ for a bottle, which is VERY possible, what do you buy and why?

I'm somewhat of a newbie to SB, but I try to keep 8+ different bourbons open at any given time, and have everything from the cheap stuff like buffalo trace to good stuff like PVW 20, 15 and Blanton's....and I'm really looking for some fancy suggestions!

Thanks, y'all.

[callmeox]

Welcome to SB.

You will find many mixed reviews here on the gold foil Hirsch. I picked up a bottle last year for what I think was a respectable price but I've not opened it yet. I've had samples elsewhere and I think it is a good pour.

If you're looking for a bottle as an investment, it will be hit or miss. If you're looking for a great pour, you may do much better with your 100.00 buy with something else. The new Old Rip 23, the Wild Turkey Tradition 14yo and the Parkers Heritage Golden Anniversary have all been well received if you really want to spend 100 and up for a bottle. There are reviews of all of these here on SB, so it all depends on which way you lean I guess.

[spun_cookie]

Welcome to SB.

You will find many mixed reviews here on the gold foil Hirsch. I picked up a bottle last year for what I think was a respectable price but I've not opened it yet. I've had samples elsewhere and I think it is a good pour.

If you're looking for a bottle as an investment, it will be hit or miss. If you're looking for a great pour, you may do much better with your 100.00 buy with something else. The new Old Rip 23, the Wild Turkey Tradition 14yo and the Parkers Heritage Golden Anniversary have all been well received if you really want to spend 100 and up for a bottle. There are reviews of all of these here on SB, so it all depends on which way you lean I guess.

What he said

padwuspadwus

[Ruby K]

Welcome to SB.

You will find many mixed reviews here on the gold foil Hirsch. I picked up a bottle last year for what I think was a respectable price but I've not opened it yet. I've had samples elsewhere and I think it is a good pour.

If you're looking for a bottle as an investment, it will be hit or miss. If you're looking for a great pour, you may do much better with your 100.00 buy with something else. The new Old Rip 23, the Wild Turkey Tradition 14yo and the Parkers Heritage Golden Anniversary have all been well received if you really want to spend 100 and up for a bottle. There are reviews of all of these here on SB, so it all depends on which way you lean I guess.

Welcome!

Lots of different folks have lots of different opinions. Right now, being underemployed and cash flow being tight, there isn't enough added value for me to get one bottle of something for 250. I mean, I'm sure that with some of the bottles, the juice is fantastic and might be well worth it, but it's hard for me to imagine the ORVW23 is so good that i'd forsake 3-4 bottles of Pappy 20 for it. Hrm, obviously, it depends on what you have and what you like. I've had the AHH16 Gold foil. It's darn good. but I don't know that i'd pay 250 for one bottle of it. Maybe it's easy for me to say that b/c i've tried it and i have one bunkered (that i got for considerably cheaper). In addition to the bottles that callmeox listed, you also have lots of special to 2009 bottlings like the Four Roses Mariage, any of the Four Roses single barrel barrel strength bottlings by Binny's, Julio's, Park Ave Liquor, etc; the BTACs if you can find them, the Woodford Seasoned Oak. All of those bottles should be under 100 bucks, and at least a few people on the board find each of them delicious.

This is not a knock on the Van Winkles or the ORVW23, or even on the AHH16 Gold Wax. If money was no object, I'd buy certainly get the ORVW23. But there are plenty of tasty, special bottles out there and some of em are well below 250 dollars.

[GOCOUGS2002]

I haven't seen any A.H. Hirsch in Washington, just Idaho; that doesn't mean its not out there, it just means I have to visit more stores to see what I am missing.

On a separate note I agree with the comments listed above. I have both the Blue wax and gold foil on hand, I wouldn't pay $250 for the gold foil, too much good stuff out there for less than $30. With that said I would buy the blue wax again if I found it...I need another in the bunker.

[Old Lamplighter]

Welcome to SB.

You will find many mixed reviews here on the gold foil Hirsch. I picked up a bottle last year for what I think was a respectable price but I've not opened it yet. I've had samples elsewhere and I think it is a good pour.

If you're looking for a bottle as an investment, it will be hit or miss. If you're looking for a great pour, you may do much better with your 100.00 buy with something else. The new Old Rip 23, the Wild Turkey Tradition 14yo and the Parkers Heritage Golden Anniversary have all been well received if you really want to spend 100 and up for a bottle. There are reviews of all of these here on SB, so it all depends on which way you lean I guess.

FWIW, I'll second or third this opinion. I had one when it first hit the shelves and was nothing to write home about.....don't get me wrong - very good stuff, but did not think worth $90 when I could have had a Pappy 20 or 2 Pappy 15s at that time and still had some change left over. The other bottle I got at the time, traded it off for something better....IMHO.

[darkluna]

I would not pay that much for gold foil Hirsch. If you really want to try it, I bet you could find a bar in Seattle that has a bottle open. Personally, I'd rather spend that $ on another bottle...or several other bottles. Any of the barrel-proof Antique Collections will give you better bang for the buck, IMHO

[B1bomber]

Not to mention eBay, where it can often be obtained for under $200 with shipping for those wanting to spend that much. Still a lot, but a bit less than $250.

[WsmataU]

Well, as a relative neophyte collector, I recently went through the exact same dilemma. I bought the Hirsh and enjoyed it, but knew immediately I would never buy another bottle for myself. The blue wax still has eluded me, but I doubt even it is worth the princely sum it has been getting lately. I'd follow the advice of others and buy 3-4 other "premium" bottles that way you can enjoy the variety.

[cowdery]

I like the gold foil and bought as much of it as I could afford up to $80 a bottle. That's when I gave up. (In fall of 2007, by the way.)

There is no objective way to say whether or not it was worth that much then, let alone $250 or more now. If $250 is nothing to you and you want to try it, then by all means buy it, but $250 will buy a lot of bourbon joy spent other ways too, if money is a issue.