Evan Williams Single Barrel 2002 Vintage

[SFS]

You're on a roll there Ray, how many bottles would that be at 84 proof?

Sorry Squire (does anyone else read that in a Monty Python voice?) but I'm only taking questions from Chuck on Saturdays. And so you know, my Sunday billing rate is MUCH higher.

[squire]

Do you accept payment in liquid form?

[SFS]

Do you accept payment in liquid form?

Already answered that. The smiley was picked VERY carefully. (And I've never had Barton).

I also believe in helping my fellow man, and have had two wonderful lessons in that this week from fellow SB'ers (who shall remain nameless, but they know who they are). So the answer is: at 84 proof, they'd get 335,422 bottles (of 750 mL each). But don't tell the Maker's Mark folks. It'll just be our little secret.

[cowdery]

Just because a bottle came out of barrel #997, can we correctly infer that they used at least 997 barrels worth of bourbon in creating this year's SB offering?

They are sequential. The first barrel emptied is number one, the second barrel emptied is number two. If there is a barrel number 997, then we know that at least 997 barrels have been emptied. That's exactly what it means.

[SFS]

They are sequential. The first barrel emptied is number one, the second barrel emptied is number two. If there is a barrel number 997, then we know that at least 997 barrels have been emptied. That's exactly what it means.

Got it, it's just an incremental counter, and applies to the barrels emptied specifically for that bottling. I was incorrectly attributing to that "counting" number an equivalency to "serial number" (or some equivalent of a master ID for a given barrel), which is silly, now that I think about it.

Guess I've been brainwashed by looking at barrel ID's on 4R SB bottles.

[MauiSon]

Weekend Wondering: Wouldn't it be fun to have a bottle from the last barrel of each year? I wonder if anyone at the plant had that idea? [Total Geekdom]

[portwood]

Weekend Wondering: Wouldn't it be fun to have a bottle from the last barrel of each year? I wonder if anyone at the plant had that idea? [Total Geekdom]

If the distillery were to keep any, I would think the 1st bottle from the 1st barrel of each year would be the most likely.

[cowdery]

The press samples are always from the first barrel, which makes sense because they are sent out a couple of months before the actual release. They usually have an event when the new vintage is unveiled and draw directly from barrel number 1, which is ceremonially opened. This little exercise we're doing here is as close as I've ever gotten to determing the last barrel. I remember when the 1997 came out, we were looking for barrels dumped after the date of the fire. They probably don't want to announce the number of the last barrel because, as I said, that's the equivalent of reporting sales, which as a private company they don't do.

[squire]

I'll take any old barrel they choose to draw from, just wish I was on the invite list.

[cowdery]

Don't feel too bad. I haven't been invited to one in many years.