BOTM, 4/06: Rock Hill Farms

[SBOmarc]

I know this will be like sacrilege Dave, but I've never had Blanton's, if you were referring to me that is?

I envision having a couple more pours of that RHF but do not plan to drain it anytime soon - wasn't to my liking too much.

I am always open to the possibilities of meeting others if they are traveling through...

We could put together a BT Mashbill tasting of ETL, RHF and Blanton's. Anyone have a botlle of Hancock Reserve?

[ratcheer]

A tangential thought: Is there anyone here who doesn't have a distinct preference for either Rock Hill Farms or Blanton's?

I have only a slight preference for RHF. I love it and Blanton's, to me both are the cream of the crop. Along with their other brother, Elmer T. Lee.

Tim

[eprater]

What's the word on the special bottling of Rock Hill Farms once (still?) available from Sam's Wine in Chicago?

As I recall, it was distilled in '96, bottled in '04, and had the special attribute of being non-chill-filtered.

In general I'm not interested in retailer-specific bottlings of bourbons that are already single-cask bottlings in their standard versions, but the non-chill-filtered bit caught my eye once upon a time.

Is the Sam's bottling an improvement on the standard RHF? (Which, like Blanton's, I've found to be inconsistent, but, also like Blanton's, at its best is nearly peerless.)

-Ethan

[Nebraska]

Well after a lengthy search locally, I found a bottle today! One lone bottle just waiting for me to come along..lol. When i opened up the box in there is a nice note describing the bourbon and stating that it was selected and dumped from barrel NO 204 in spring of 1993 on March 25.

Is the bourbon bottled at that time, or is there more to the process? I guess I'm wondering if this bottle has been sitting there for the last 13 years and if so, should it still be alright?

I know a sure way to find out : )


Mark

[ratcheer]

13 years for a sealed bottle is no problem, assuming the cork was still in decent condition to maintain a good seal. People here open bottles from the 1940's or earlier and often praise the quality of the contents.

Tim

[Ken Weber]

Sean Ludford, formerly of Sam's, came to the distillery several times to select barrels of various bourbons. We let him sample 5 barrels of pre-selected Rock Hill Farms and he selected the one he liked the best. Sean went one step further, he requested that we not chill filter the whiskey. Since it is 100 proof, there is no problem with flocking. I tasted it and it is awesome.

Ken

[JeffRenner]

Sean Ludford, formerly of Sam's...selected the one he liked the best [and] ... requested that we not chill filter the whiskey. ... I tasted it and it is awesome.

In answer to

(still?) available from Sam's Wine in Chicago?

It's evidently still available. I'll have to arrange with my Toledo connection to accept shipment. (#*&#% Michigan laws!)

Jeff

[bluesbassdad]

Ahhh . . . If only Sam's would ship to Arizona (as Binny's does) . . .

Yours truly,
Dave Morefield

[Hedmans Brorsa]

Well, I´m a bit of a slowie. I have never made any bones about that but here at last, is an attempted evaluation of my recently purchased RHF. There is not date on the label to identify it with but it came without box and gold chain.

The first two times I sampled it together with the Elmer T. Lee bought at the same time. And, well, what I can say?

Final score : Elmer 2 RHF 0!!!

Three exclamation marks because this result was unexpected, to say the least. It was a while since I last tried Elmer but I have always tended to regard it as good but not outstanding in any way. The RHF, on the other hand, has been a steady top 10 contender.

The truth, though, was that the Elmer easily outshone the RHF. It came armed with a delicious red fruitiness which I have never encountered on earlier tastings. On the basis of this bottle, a world class whiskey, as simple as that.

Not easily daunted by my findings I decided to try RHF without the presence of this new comet on my Bourbon sky. Maybe paired together with the more modest AAA 10 star (old pale yellow label) it would be allowed to shine a little more?

The answer? Well, yes, but only slightly, I´m afraid. There is nothing outright wrong with it and yet, the delicious mint toffee and oak smoke is but a whisper compared to earlier bottlings.

In the end, it prevailed over the 10 star but the victory wasn´t that overwhelming. In fact, I would rate the finish of the 10 star as better than that of the RHF. Long, warm with glimpses of the dry chocolate characteristic of the 10 yo.

Having written all this, it is wise to remind oneself that it is single barrel bottlings that we´re dealing with here. This result of mine prompts me to hunt down another bottle of RHF. Corroboration is the key word here...

[BourbonSteve]

What a pour! Like my English friend says above, this one is a winner, quite possible the best bourbon I've yet tasted. The nose was elegant, warm, floral; the taste was easy no burn some oak, leather, mint, vanilla; the finish easy but long. My first bottle and certainly not my last. I sampled some EWSB '96 with it and there was NO comparison!