What are you drinking tonight? (Summer '07)

[jbutler]

And the subject carries on!

[ggilbertva]

Ok ok...I'll go first. Last night I opened a new (old) bottle of Wild Turkey 8 year 101. Distilled 1977, bottled 1985. Man was I impressed. I have avoided WT products over the last year or so because there were so many other choices that were out there plus I was totally unimpressed with the current WT offerings. I must say, this earlier bottling is quite good and definately something I will go back to on a regular basis.

[mgilbertva]

Last night: W.L. Weller Antique 107/7yo. Very intense for a wheater. Amazing bourbon easily worth double the price (especially since I got it for $15 in Maryland). This week was the first time I've tried this particular bourbon, inspired in part by a wheater tasting at stoopsie's recently.

[TBoner]

Last night: W.L. Weller Antique 107/7yo. Very intense for a wheater. Amazing bourbon easily worth double the price (especially since I got it for $15 in Maryland). This week was the first time I've tried this particular bourbon, inspired in part by a wheater tasting at stoopsie's recently.

I'll go ahead and fess up to something that I've been needing to get off my chest. I may like the BT Weller 107 as well as or even better than the S-W version. Some bottles of the Louisville stuff that seem to have gotten a year or two extra in the barrel have blown me away, but damn if the Frankfort version - while different - doesn't always make me happy. Doesn't stop me from buying S-W bottles, mind you, but at a given time I like to have open a BT version, then a S-W version, and so on, alternating which one I'm drinking as I empty a bottle. And neither one is a letdown from the other.

I'm drinking Bowmore 12 right now, and it's hitting the spot. Up next, it'll be a Saz Jr. and then, I think, some S-W Old Fitz.

[mgilbertva]

I'll go ahead and fess up to something that I've been needing to get off my chest. I may like the BT Weller 107 as well as or even better than the S-W version.

I absolutely love the products BT is putting out right now. I think that if something happened to BT right now, in a few decades people would be searching for current BT whiskeys with the same fervor we now shower on S-W.

I'd love to do a side-by-side with old S-Ws and their modern BT & HH versions too. That being said, I have one comparison, but I'm drawing on memory. I have the Pappy 15 open, and I got to try the ORVW 15 at stoopsie's the other night, and I think the latter may have the edge.

[TNbourbon]

I'll go ahead and fess up to something that I've been needing to get off my chest. I may like the BT Weller 107 as well as or even better than the S-W version...

Ya know, this speaks to something I think we all know, but don't say explicitly often enough -- the Buffalo Trace crew knows good bourbon (even when they 'steal it'?, as the joke goes).
No, no accusation of stealing there, really -- but Gary Gayheart made Old Charter before it became a BT brand. Julian VW is in partnership with BT. Elmer has been BT for a long time. Harlen's doin' okay.
Who else is scouring their warehouses for prime barrels that don't fit current brands, and creating new labels for them (think G.T. Stagg, Eagle Rare 17, et al)?
Buffalo Trace makes great whiskey, they buy great whiskey, and they let talent select great whiskey. To me, that makes Buffalo Trace a great whiskey company! Heck, they've even let me take part in choosing a barrel or six (okay, okay -- we'll forgive 'em that!).

[TNbourbon]

I'm back in Myrtle Beach to collect my reconstructed car (geesh -- the next thing that goes right with this incident will be the first thing. Now, even after a month, the body shop can't supply one of the headlights! I'm likely driving it home with one).
Anyway, I brought a 200ml bottle of Louisville Old Charter "Classic" 12yo/90 proof with me, having now been here before, and am drinking it with diet Coke as I type. I'm drinking better bourbon than 90% of the SC population, from the look of things. Man, the liquor shelves are bourbon-barren here!

[ThomasH]

Tim,
While in Myrtle Beach, check out Green's liquor store on the main drag at 29th. St. N. in North Myrtle Beach. Best liquor store I found in Myrtle!

Thomas

[whiskeyhatch]

I absolutely love the products BT is putting out right now. I think that if something happened to BT right now, in a few decades people would be searching for current BT whiskeys with the same fervor we now shower on S-W.

For what it's worth, I really felt good after reading this. Unfortunately I kinda missed the S-W boat but it's nice to know that there really is still some quality whiskey production going on these days. I hope that BT's attention to quality and tradition continues. Another note, I'm expecting a flask to arrive in the mail soon. It's something I will probably have for years. It's maiden voyage will be accompanied by none other than Buffalo Trace.

[CrispyCritter]

I absolutely love the products BT is putting out right now. I think that if something happened to BT right now, in a few decades people would be searching for current BT whiskeys with the same fervor we now shower on S-W.

Indeed - and let's not forget that people are already searching for old BTAC releases. I've had very few S-W bottles, and they've always been good, but BT has really been on a roll. Since I tend to be more of a "now" drinker, I'm quite happy to see that they're putting quality pours on the shelves! I wasn't a whiskey drinker back during the glut era, so while S-W whiskeys are a nice treat, they are hard enough to find that I tend to gravitate towards what's readily available.

Two of my three pours tonight were BT - one AAA 10 year, and one Weller Antique 107 (a Frankfort bottle like every one I've had). WT Rye provided the nightcap...