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awesome to hear. I'll be at a tasting event tonight at the local Total Wine. I may just pick one of these up.

I have a Redskins t-shirt in my collection. They'll always be the skins to me notwithstanding why they changed the name of the team. By the way, I think the Jack Daniels Bonded is excellent at its price. I would imagine the rye is equally good.

How is the Widow Jane? I am starting to warm to ryes. Historically, I could only tolerate them in an old fashioned or Manhattan but the Sagamore and Peerless Double Oaked have me starting to enjoy what they have to offer.

We built a pizza oven in our outdoor kitchen. Having that light airy, bubbled crust, lightly coated with some stewed tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and basil, drizzled with a bit of olive oil makes the perfect margherita pizza on a late spring, early summer Friday night! Let me see these pizza ovens take time. Like a fine bourbon, it takes time to adjust to it but once you do, you're hooked.

Happy fRYEday. I decided to crack open my HH GtG Rye. I purchased this back in February after resisting the urge for months to buy another expensive rye. I had read positive tasting notes from fellow SBers that were encouraging and tempted me. Then I think the price dropped at my local store by ten to $90 for awhile, ... which proved to be just enough to entice me to pull the trigger. Hah, ... I know we've all been there before My initial tasting feedback... If I tasted this blind I'd imagine that Four Roses finally made a straight rye whiskey that some have been clamoring for. Very strong minty notes, mixed with spicy rye bread. This is only my first pour, so take with a grain (no pun intended) of salt. This is right down my alley for a rye whiskey. Now I can understand why this is priced the way it is. I'm going to enjoy this bottle, and time will tell, ...might even pick up a backup.

For me, the “right” beer can definitely quench my thirst. Unlike other liquids though, it is a one bottle/can kinda thing for me. After one beer, it tends to make me thirsty again. Cheers

This reminds me of my father. He had a fridge in the garage full of beer and some soft drinks. I was middle school aged and one day I was pounding Pepsi’s in the Texas heat. I was probably annoying him with my lack of production in helping him in the yard. He glared at me and said, “if you want to quench your thirst drink a beer goddammit!” So I have been since that day 30+ years ago. And I used to drink that fridge dry and have my own fridge full of beer to this day. Tonight I drank a Maine Beer Company Lunch IPA and a Deschutes Hazy on a little east coast holiday.

For what it's worth, I couldn't resist buying the HH Grain to Glass Rye, based solely on tasting notes from folks here on SB that I have familiarity with and have some level of trust in. I tried to resist buying it (trust me, I do try, lol). I didn't buy the GtG Bourbons simply because they didn't sound interesting enough to me to shell out around a Benjamin for one. I can't explain it, but sometimes a unique rye whiskey makes me pull the trigger (even though I have more ryes than I need, plus I still prefer bourbons over rye, lol). The BIG caveat here is ... I haven't opened the GtG Rye yet. So I don't know whether I made a good choice or not! EDIT: Scratch that last caveat. I've been trying to decide what to have for my weekly fRYEday pour and I think I've just answered my own question. I've been meaning to open the GtG rye and now I have a reason. New bottle crack to be posted over the in American Rye thread in a few.

I only learned it from @flahute Glad I did!

I’ve never thought of that beer as a thirst quencher. But, I see it now. Good call I will give it a try. Cheers

I'm with you sir, cheers to that

I've never had an Old Charter Oak before but was always intrigued. Good to know that it tastes good.

Thanks sir, I love it too. Cheers

Right, no sir. I share your sentiments. I have no interest in buying from someone who isn’t licensed to sell alcohol. Trading is a whole different things. I have a small group where we do this, but yeah, my secondary market purchases are from liquor stores.

I may pick up the rye variety of this tomorrow. It’s at my local total wine. Rye’s are starting to grow on me

Ahh, by secondary market I was thinking you meant unlicensed flippers. Well licensed liquor stores that sell above MSRP are different and I have no problem with buying from them.

One of my favorites. Good choice!

Thank you for responding and sharing your perspective. I can certainly appreciate your position. I think I’m accustomed to seeing prices for some things going above MSRP. Cars, electronics, bourbons, etc for instance all see prices change based on the market. At the end of the day, I’m not a flipper of bourbons. I am a consumer of them. Now with cars, I am a collector. I have a daily driver, but I have others that I just sit on and watch them appreciate. I keep tabs on the market and make every attempt to unload them when the market is high, and buy them when the market is low. If I were in to real estate, I’d take the same approach. Back to bourbon, I see many bottles that I am interested in are only available above MSRP. The places I buy from are local business owners who are running a business. I don’t see them as being flippers in the traditional sense. I do buy from online places, also liquor stores. Again, I see them as running a business, not someone who is hoarding bottles for profit, but hey, if that’s their thing, so be it. I do have a method to my madness on what my limit is for paying above MSRP. I can sleep at night, my family is taken care of, we’re not taping into our retirement, etc. I would submit that is all that matters. I appreciate your point about Elmer T Lee being essentially a $50 bottle. I sampled it a few months back at a bar, and drew the same conclusion. That said, I’d like to add one, but have yet to find one in the price range that I am comfortable with. So the search goes on. As someone else pointed out, there are no shortage of exceptional bourbons, better than Elmer T Lee perhaps at a lower price range. It’s good to be a bourbon connoisseur

I guess it's an Old Fitz night!

Opened this one tonight. Very unique flavor profile. It has a lot going on with floral notes on the nose, but rye forward and citrus on the palate.

I think whether a whiskey is "worth it" at a particular price point is almost an unanswerable question. I do really like Flahute's answer above. I agree with him. But I'm happy to just talk about how ETL tastes and the value. On taste alone, for me it tops out as equivalent to a $50 bourbon. It's a 90 proof version of Blanton's with less barrel influence but with a more consistent profile for a single barrel. I used to buy it when it was $35 to $45 but now at $49.99 I believe I have purchased my last ETL, especially if they keep going up. I'm not buying it anymore at that price. Of course it helps that I have 3 or 4 in the bunker. (see above point about "scratching that itch" lol) To my taste buds RHF tastes exactly like ETL but at 100 proof. RHF is my favorite of the BT mashbill #2 expressions. But I'm not the biggest fan of BT in general. Very nice sweet caramel notes but not enough spice for me to be a favorite. You mention secondary prices a fair amount. I personally know next to nothing about the secondary values, not my thing. I would stay away from the secondary market ... I feel it can skew a person's perspective on prices. To each his own but personally I'm not interested in keeping those flippers in business.

Close enough for us!

Sorry to hear about the rain. Good call on the Old Fitzgerald. Have you compared the Old Fitzgerald 10 to 17? If so, what are your thoughts?

The only reason I recently bought an ETL was because I haven’t seen one in years. I liked it better at the $39.99 I paid a few years go as opposed to the $65.99 I recently paid. I probably won’t buy another.

Happy Fryeday! This kinda/sorta counts, right?