Vintage Bourbon 17 2012

[Josh]

I haven't had the Wheater version but I thought the rye bourbon was one of the dullest whiskeys I've ever tasted. Made ER 17 taste like Stagg.

[atfree]

As indicated in the "What did you Purchase" thread, I picked up a VB 17 wheated version yesterday. I thought it was much better than the rye version, with a smooth and sweet flavor profile. Definitely a good bourbon.

It looks like Louisville got a fairly big allocation of the new release. One store had at least 4 cases sitting on the floor.

[TradingBoiler]

Bmac thanks for starting this thread because it perfectly fits a thread I was going to start.

So last weekend the Binnys boys held back the last bottle of VTG 17 for me. It is the new font bottle. So my cousin who is my bourbon tasting best friend and I cracked it open almost immediately after buying it. Let's just say its amazing stuff. A great expression of a wheater and Bmac's tasting notes were spot on. However I get some of the ancient oak anise and wintergreen flavors in the finish.

After a couple glasses however we decided to make it a tasting. Here's how it shaped up.

Color, taste, and finish went to the JPS 18 followed by the VTG 17 wheater and finally the ORVW 10/107. If you have a chance to pick up the VTG 17 I highly recommend it. I may or may not have found and bunkered two more bottles

[TheDude]

Just check out all that wheat on the label!! (OK, not exactly a legally binding contract)

Well, I have an older bottle of the 21 with a similar label (but in red) and it is definitley not a whaeted bourbon. I've never seen rye growing, but perhaps it looks the same!

[spinningrecords]

If you got the VB17 at K&L in the last 6-12 months it is almost certainly the wheater. The rye recipe ran out over a year ago. If some how you got the rye recipe thinking it was the wheater you can bring it back to the store and we can verify with KBD which batch the bottle is from.

How do you determine the batch? Is there a marking on the bottle?

[StraightNoChaser]

Curiously, Spec's in Dallas had plenty of this on the shelf a week or two ago and suddenly has none. Not even a spot for it.

[Brisko]

Well, I have an older bottle of the 21 with a similar label (but in red) and it is definitley not a whaeted bourbon. I've never seen rye growing, but perhaps it looks the same!

As I posted in another thread-- you wouldn't confuse them side by side, but in a line drawing they wouldn't look that much different. Wheat kernels are larger and fatter, and the beard is coarser.

For what it's worth the line art for the Vintage Bourbon and the Vintage Rye labels is identical.