Beam Bicentennial Dilemma

[ratcheer]

Okay, I am a little confused. I thought this particular bottle had never been opened until this tasting. If so, then oxidation should not have been a factor (unless the seal had been poor).

Tim

EDIT - My mistake. I can see in the original post that the bottle was not full. Sorry.

[cowdery]

No, oxidation does not equal sweetness. Oxidation is an off taste. It seems sometimes to amp up the vanilla, but not in a pleasant way. Oxidation damage is not disgusting, but it's unpleasant. It sounds like this whiskey was not damaged.

You might want to try Jim Beam black label. It might very well approximate this special bottling.

And your tasting notes are fine. There is a lot of creative writing in professional tasting notes and some are just plain BS. It's a great thing to share and discuss, like any other appreciation. The point is to be honest and open, use your senses and past experience, and enjoy yourself. If you did those things, you did it right.

[TNbourbon]

I agree with Chuck -- if you liked this 'sweet' bourbon, try JB Black. It sounds a lot like it. If you can find an older bottle of the 7yo, 90-proof version (the current one is 8yo, 86 proof), it's even closer in kind. The best news is, JB Black is very affordable -- under $20 per 750 ml.

[Blackkeno]

I have been using "Private Reserve" wine preserver to save my spirits for years. Because I have a large number of open bottles, half of which would be difficult to replace, it seemed like the best bet for my situation. It seems to work pretty well, but of course the situations when oxidation would have been most likely to occur, are the situations in which it would be hardest to tell (i.e long times between tastes, while retaining a clear recollection of how it was innitially).

[angelshare]

Well, we'd like to thank all of you, especially Chuck and Tim, for your input! Please correct us if you see any inaccuracies below, but these were some of the pearls we have obtained from you:

1) This is a technically unique bourbon, but (probably) a lot like Jim Beam Black. It is probably more appropriate to dwell on truly unique bourbon for saving. I can't believe we didn't make the connection, as JBB cycles onto our bar fairly frequently, and we like it a lot. We are currently out, but will have to do a direct taste comparison when we get some. Your expertise predicted our palatal biases quite impressively.

2) Worry about oxidation if you have a very special whiskey you want to save.

3) Tasting is about savoring bourbon, not generating a list of 50 individual aromas and flavors. This was always our general bourbon tasting philosophy, but to be validated by someone like Chuck Cowdery really makes you feel good!

Thanks to your help, dilemma solved. We're drinking it.

[Paradox]

I know Chris uses that for his opened bottles of $$ Port, but not sure if he has ever tried it for bourbon...

[BSS]

The store I mentioned in Versailles that had a bottle of it last year, still has that bottle. It's $30.