The Story of Black Maple Hill

[Kyjd75]

David Driscoll has an interesting article about Black Maple Hill on his K & L blog. Read it here: http://spiritsjournal.klwines.com/

[Lazer]

I feel personally insulted by his Ritt BIB comments. "A standard grade mixer." Excuse me, but Ritt BIB is one of the best whiskeys around. But what do you expect from California people? Their brains are fried from all that ... uhh.... sun exposure.

[LostBottle]

While there have been some past Black Maple Hill bottlings like the ryes and the 16 that were excellent, I am unsure what the current hype is about. The BMH Small Batch David is talking about in this article is mediocre at best and overpriced for sure; I prefer the "standard grade mixer" Rittenhouse BIB, regardless of price. Lastly, about the "magic formula", point 3 states "It's contents are unknown" and pitches this as a positive - this seems more like a negative to me.

[CaptainQ]

You guys can have my share of BMH. Last time I bought a bottle it tasted like the standard HH profile.

[compliance]

Is there really any demand for BMH? I have never seen anyone buy any or heard anyone talk about it other than those aged editions that are long gone. Most people stay away for all the reasons stated in the article. The premise that this is somehow a hot label sets off my BS detector, but I don't run the liquor store so what do I know?

[PaulO]

... The premise that this is somehow a hot label sets off my BS detector...

It sets of my B.S. detector too. I think this article was written by the same guy that posted some one selling an old bottle of Old Fitzgerald for $1000 (for the person that wants real S-W) a few months ago. This was when all the crocodile tears and nonsense about VW was going on. The whole doomsday scenario where the world runs out of bourbon tomorrow is laughable. If I ever wanted to buy BMH, I could get it in about 15-20 minutes, any day but Sunday.

[StraightNoChaser]

I got the Small Batch BMH one time and it was pretty terrible. No way I'm dropping the coin for the 16 yr.

However I'd probably consider some of those older ryes they put out...

[Happyhour24x7]

huh, just one more proof that everyone's tastes are different- I love the Small Batch, and the 16YO is one of my top two or three whiskeys of all time; the only other thing that comes close is the 4R 120th and a particular Willett bottling called Suspension Bridge here in the DC area.

[Happyhour24x7]

as a matter of fact, now that we're talking about it, I'm thirsty....might have to go break into some.

[BFerguson]

Every bourbon has a story behind it. It's just that some stories are better than others.

Sadly, it seems that many stories nowadays just lack a whole lot of hard facts or straight truths. Too many are just shrouded mysteries or works of fiction.

Even sadder is that it generally seems the latter generally makes a better story.

But wh doesn't love a great story from time to time.........

B