Newbie vatting questions.

[OldJack]

I've got about two fingers left in a 350ml bottle of Bulliet and about 3 fingers of a 750 of Buffalo Trace (my second bottle of BT in a month!) which I'm thinking of using to start a vatting.

Ideally, I'd like to find a lower-cost bourbon to use as a base to add these last bits to. Is this worth doing, and if so, which bottom-shelf bourbon or whiskey would be a good possible base and how much to add?

[Gillman]

Absolutely. Add them to, say, a sufficient amount of low-cost bourbon (a Beam brand such as Old Taylor perhaps, or one of the Heaven Hill-branded bourbons) to make up a 26 oz. bottle, and you should get an excellent vatting from it. By the way, legally the definition of bourbon includes a mixture of bourbons, so you are not creating anything weird or unusual, a merchant might well do something similar and sell it under his own name if he bought similar constituent whiskeys in bulk.

Another thing you can do is add them to enough Canadian whiskey (any kind) to make up a standard bottle.

You will get a richer, probably excellent version of Canadian whisky, I do this all the time.

Gary

[CorvallisCracker]

I've got about two fingers left in a 350ml bottle of Bulliet and about 3 fingers of a 750 of Buffalo Trace (my second bottle of BT in a month!) which I'm thinking of using to start a vatting.

Ideally, I'd like to find a lower-cost bourbon to use as a base to add these last bits to. Is this worth doing, and if so, which bottom-shelf bourbon or whiskey would be a good possible base and how much to add?

If you want to go with a BT product I'd say Benchmark. If that doesn't matter then Evan Williams Black Label.

As for quantity, an amount equal to the combined Bulliet and BT would probably be okay. Maybe even a little more.

[Gillman]

Excellent suggestions.

Gary

[CorvallisCracker]

Add them to, say, a sufficient amount of low-cost bourbon (a Beam brand such as Old Taylor perhaps, or one of the Heaven Hill-branded bourbons) to make up a 26 oz. bottle, and you should get an excellent vatting from it.

I'm sure that's true.

It occurs to me that most Cognacs follow a blending formula which starts with a large percentage (like half) of a relatively young brandy and adds progressively smaller amounts of progressively older spirit. An XO for example might be 50% 7yo, 20% 10yo, 15% 12yo, 10% 15yo and 5% 18yo.

There are some SM Scotchs that do this too, examples being Aberlour a'bunadh and Ardberg Uigeadail (and they can still be called "single malt" because it's all whisky from the same distiller). The a'bunadh starts with a base of 12yo and has progressively smaller percentages of older whisky.

WT RB is a mix of 6, 8 and 12yo bourbon. My guess is that the formula is similar, something like 50/30/20.

An interesting experiment might be to vat 450ml of EW BL, 150ml of Old Ezra 7/101, 100ml of EC 12 and 50ml of EC 18 and compare the result to EC 12 and EC 18.

[OldJack]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm not really worried about buying from a particular distiller, I just want a nice mix. So if Old Taylor and Benchmark would both work equally well, I would probobly buy the cheaper one. However, if one is substantially better than the other (either in terms of quality and/or in terms of vatting potential,) I'd buy the better one.

Out of curiosity, what happens if you add small amounts of ryed bourbon to a base of wheated bourbon- say a lower-end Weller or Old Fitz? Could the results be tasty and well-rounded, or is a four-grain collision like that too much mojo?

[CorvallisCracker]

Out of curiosity, what happens if you add small amounts of ryed bourbon to a base of wheated bourbon- say a lower-end Weller or Old Fitz? Could the results be tasty and well-rounded, or is a four-grain collision like that too much mojo?

Haven't tried a 4G vatting with the ratios you describe, but have had several succesful 4G vattings, most recently a 1:1 of Old Ezra 7/101 and Weller Antique. Worked very well and I'll be doing it again.

Some vattings don't work even if it's the same type of whiskey. A few months back I combined an ounce of BMH 18 rye (a bit more wood than I like) with an ounce of Ritt BIB rye (a bit more burn than I like). The result? A rye whiskey with too much wood and too much burn!

[OldJack]

OK- I just re-read Gary's suggestion about mixing with Canadian whiskey. What about Irish whiskey? I enjoy Bushmill's white lable, but often wish it had more gusto. I've considered stepping up to Bushmill's Black, but if crossing whiskey genres is doable, I'm wondering what a dash of corn and a splash of rye would do to a bottle of barley.

Someone warn me if I'm heading for trouble. I really don't know what I'm doing- but I'm willing and ready to learn.

[Gillman]

In the 1930's, Jameson marketed a whiskey in America which was a combination of an Irish whiskey and American whiskey. Probably they blended an aged pot still Irish with young, post-Prohibition American straight whiskey (i.e., young bourbon or rye).

In a sense, you've suggested the opposite, i.e., blend a youngish Irish (which is what Bush White is) with aged U.S. bourbons. Excellent idea!

Your 5 fingers should go very well with 12 ounces or so of Bush White. Remember too that in the past, Irish whiskey used a mashbill that incorporated very small amounts of rye and wheat or oats. (Today they use malted and unmalted barley only, or just the former). Therefore, to duplicate the old Irish mashbill, add small amounts of your ryed bourbons to the Bush White (start with just a little, less than I suggested initially). It will probably make a great drink.

Scott, the BMH 18 and Rittenhouse rye are a good idea for a combination but I'd have used much less of the BMH 18, maybe 1:4. If you do that, the burn will go and the woodiness of the BMH will dissipate in and enrichen the Rittenhouse. Maybe do 1:3 BMH 18 to the Ritt.

Proportions can be so important.

GaRY

[OldJack]

I was torn between Benchmark and Bushmills and I decided to go with the cheaper option since I don't know what I'm doing. I'll be mixing later tonight and will report back on the end result.