Fighting cock 103 vs OWA 107

[theDon]

FIGHTING COCK! It's like OGD BIB with some extra barrel flavor and depth.

OWA tastes like battery acid and mold to me. The first couple sips were good, but as I sipped it, I got to hate it quickly. Then again, I don't much care for any Buffalo Trace product or wheated bourbon. It's all up to your own taste buds!

Wow battery acid? Is that the current stuff? I drink OWA every day but have yet to purchase the new ageless bottles. I'm running out of the old stuff though and was going to have to try a new bottle, but now I'm scared. How do you know what battery acid tastes like? Maybe your since of taste is a little off having drank battery acid. Just a thought.

[Parkersback]

Just bought my first bottle of Fighting Cock tonight. I used to drink Evan Williams pretty regularly, but not in a year or more; yet even though it's been a while, I definitely tasted the family resemblance between EWB and FC.

I liked Fighting Cock! It was a touch hot, but what do you expect at 103 proof, 6 years and $18? Also, I am expecting that the heat will down die down once the bottles ben opened for awhile.

I got a fair amount of sweetness in FC. I didn't get the mint I would have expected, bit corn, vanilla... I mean, just standard bourbon flavor really. I've got a bottle of HHBIB waiting for me from a friend who swung through KY and picked up some KY specific bourbons for me, and I am looking forward to comparing the two. I assume they are similar. But I could imagine FC being a pretty regular pour for me. It's $20 out the door here.

As far as OWA tasting like battery acid: I'm not feeling it. I actually am more of a Weller 12 guy myself--it's 2 bucks cheaper than OWA at my favorite store--but I still like OWA. And though the sample size is small, from my experience I like the current stuff better than the age most recent statement stuff. The last few bottles of age statement stuff I had was late 90's make (Bernheim?) and it was pretty hot. I had a pull of my friend's newest bottle (current make, no NAS) & it was sweet as apple pie (in a good way).

[STLbourbon]

These are obviously completely different flavors, one a wheater, one spicy with rye. Around here we LOVE the OWA 107. Just a great flavor, everything about it is nice.

Two nights ago I tasted FC for the very first time, not expecting much. I loved it. Going out for a bottle today. It has a thing to it that I also like about Old Grand Dad BIB and WT101, but it's own flavor. Much more enjoyable and sweet than I expected. A completely legit and tasty, rich bourbon regardless of being cheap. I like the heat, so that's not a problem. But it's definitely a kicker.

I can't compare the OWA 107 to FC. They're so totally different in flavor that I just have to say it's advisable to have and enjoy both. But I do like the idea of comparing these two because it makes us contemplate flavor profiles and wheat vs rye factors.

STLb

[Enoch]

I enjoyed FC 6 year until I found several bottles of '95 FC 8-year. It is much richer which one would expect but even taste more like EW 10 year than it does the current FC. between current FC and OWA I would go with OWA. And this comes from a city that sells a lot of FC in the Fall.

[Dramiel McHinson]

I haven't had the newer OWA but I liked my FC all the way down to the bottom of the bottle. If the bang to the buck is there then you might enjoy the FC and when you get more money you can try OWA to see if you made the right choice...;-)

[Gillman]

Once in Louisville, I bought a bottle of current FC. I remember this well, it was on Cane Run Road. The area through which it ran, or the part I was in, seemed nondescript, but I was intrigued by the name, Cane Run Road. Where did it come from, what did it mean? Was sugar cane once transported down that road to the distilleries to make rum alongside the native bourbon? (That's my best guess but I'm probably wrong).

Anyway on Cane Run Road in a small store near the motel I was staying in (this was on a private so to speak visit to Louisville to visit some bourbon friends there), I was looking for dusties, found none, so I thought I'd buy some current bourbon. I bought, I'm not making this up, OWA 107 and FC.

The clerk told me that most of the FC he sold was in the Fall. I said, why? He said, I guess it's because of the label, it's what the hunters buy, and Fall is the hunting season. The label does evoke I suppose the idea of hunting although not directly. And so we talked about why different brands sell to different people. It was just a regular smaller liquor store but I enjoyed that conversation and now I read that FC sells for that reason elsewhere in the south too.

It's good bourbon, so is OWA 107. I don't think I ever had the 8 year old FC but the current one is excellent whiskey at a very good price factoring too the proof. I recall tasting them both in the motel room, with Dominos pizza alongside. I had a bit of each neat and then mixed them with non-diet Coke. I probably have a real bourbon and Coke once every two years or so, that was one of the times. Very good combo with the pizza. That was the first time I had Dominos. I ordered it again in another city but it wasn't as good. Maybe it was because I had neither FC nor OWA 107 to go along with it.

Gary

[PaulO]

I'll be making a trip to Bloomington in a few weeks to help a friend move. Even before I checked out this thread, I was thinking to try and pick up some FC and OWA 107! I have sadly discovered that the few stores that carry OWA run out for long spans of time They can have a ton of everthing else; big open space where the OWA belongs. We'll see, and looking for Rittenhouse; worse than trying to find dusties.