Distillers Masterpiece

[RedVette]

18 year old Cognac finished, a Christmas gift from my daughter (yeah, she's a good kid). In looking through the tasting notes I only find one thread from a couple years ago about it. Someone else must have tried it, what am I in for if and when I crack this baby open?

[RedVette]

47 views and no replies, I guess that means that I have something really rare here.

[wrbriggs]

This thread has some comments about the Distiller's Masterpiece. I think the Cognac-finished version was a bit more rare than the port-finished version, but I haven't tried either of them. As collector's items, they are very nice. As drinking bourbons, I have not heard many folks say that it is worth the $$.

[gr8erdane]

From what I have gathered here, price is the biggest issue. Most people will buy untried bourbons up to a certain dollar value they set according to their budget. For most, paying 75 dollars for a bottle is a big expense for a superpremium bourbon that is in current production. An occasional jaunt for over 100 may happen when we are talking about a rare bourbon no longer produced like a Hirsch 20. But for a bourbon to have a pricetag like the DMs is a serious hit on the old bourbon budget when you think that for the same amount you can buy several other superpremiums. I would love to taste the DMs out of curiosity, but I could add a lot of quality lesser priced bourbons to my bunker for the price of a DM.

[squire]

Evening,

I tried the port version at a friend's place. He does not drink Bourbon and had the bottle on hand for guests. The whiskey is just what one would expect from a double aged port influenced Knob Creek. It is not worth a case of Bonded Bourbon but it does have impressive packaging which is precisely why my friend bought it.

Regards,
squire

[boone]

Maybe, Folks have been kinda busy with the holidays and it's not a priority to make posts at this time?

I know that alot of members of this forum have tasted the DM...During the 2003 KBF Marvin brought a bottle to the Gazebo for all of us to try...That was such a generous thing to do I heard that bottling cost over $200 ...and to think Marvin gave one to all of us

I was the DD for the night...I kept my promise and didn't drink a drop

boone

[RedVette]

I was thinking that I might want to bring it to next years festival, and share the wealth. The wife and I wanted to go to last years, but she was hospitalized and we could not travel. By next years event she should be fully rehabilitated, and a September road trip would be good for both of us. A bottle of Distillers Masterpiece ought to get a noob an invite into the Gazeebo, for a little while any ways.

[OneCubeOnly]

I own a bottle of the 18yo (cognac finish). I got it for $140, so during that sale I figured if I'm *EVER* going to purchase one that was my chance.

I find it interesting that whenever a DM discussion comes up, it's always a matter of "is it worth the money?" Of course it isn't. Is it better than 3 bottles of Stagg? No. Is it a wonderfully unique luxury whiskey? Yes.

[chasking]

I don't think the Distiller's Masterpiece line was ever aimed at bourbon drinkers; I think it was probably intended to lure snobby Scotch drinkers to try an American whiskey. Finishing in casks used for port or cognac is a Scotch marketing tool.

However, DM is overpriced even for that market. Consider: as I write this, Binny's lists Balvenie 21yo port-finished Scotch on their web site for $83.99. Meanwhile, Balvenie's entry-level 10yo whisky is priced at the Basil Hayden's/Baker's level (around $35). In other words, the very old, port-wood-finished version costs around 2.5 times the standard version. DM, on the other hand, is about 9 times the price of a bottle of Knob Creek. (I think that's an appropriate comparison: 9yo Beam (at higher proof) vs. 10yo Balvenie; both represent the distillery's better products (Beam's lesser product goes into its lesser whiskies; Balvenie's lesser product goes to blenders).

Does anyone know when the DM products came out? Were there other bourbons on the market of similar age then? Now, while still uncommon an old bourbon like that doesn't raise eyebrows. Did the DM products predate products like the oldest Pappys, the Antique Collection, or the Hirsch offerings? If they were way, way older than any other bourbon on the market when they came out, that might explain at least partly their high price.

But, I think the real reason is that there is always someone attracted by the most expensive of anything. The DM whiskey is certainly distinctive and exclusive; take those two factors plus a high price tag and someone will always buy it. They probably don't plan on selling much of it, so that market (small though it is) is probably sufficient to absorb the limited production.

Consider this: if it didn't cost so much that almost nobody here is willing to buy and taste it, would it get talked about as much as it has?

I've never had it, so I don't know if it's good, bad, or indifferent. I don't even mean to suggest that it's not worth the money. I'm just saying that it's not (as far as I can tell) being marketed to bourbon drinkers.

[cowdery]

Nah, just drop off the bottle and if we like it, we might let you in next year.