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Great story. Thank you for sharing.

Yes!

I like Cooper's Craft 100. I'd buy it again. I guess I'll have to keep my eye out for it. For thirty bucks it's easily worth the price, IMO. As any jazzhead should appreciate, it's groovey

I haven't spotted it yet, but if it shows up with a $44 (or so) price tag, I'm game. I'm eager to see how it stacks up against Russell's Reserve 10, which is more or less a similar prices. The last bottle of RR10 I purchased was ridiculously good, much better than I'd ever remembered. Does 10 years at 90 proof trump 8 years at 101 proof?

As usual, blending away. Tonight it's cask strength Still Austin mulled 50/50 with Cooper's Craft. Not sure this is working; last week I blended the SA with Uncle Nearest 1858 with better results. The Cooper's Craft is better off drinking on its own.

A long long time ago, Barton 1792 used to do tours. These were arguably the last authentic tour you could get on the bourbon trail, meaning that Barton was probably the last remaining large distillery that didn't posh up the experience to guests. No fire pits/ fire places. No manicured lawns and landscaped paths. No beautiful welcome center. No family estate anything. No fancy tasting room or big conference table. You turned south on 31E out of Bardstown, accelerated to buy some space, and quickly put your right turn signal on, braking at the last second, purposefully making the right turn into the gated property as quickly as your vehicle and occupants could tolerate it, fearful the entire time that the semi tailgating you and accelerating down the hill out of town would ruin your day. Pulling up to the guard shack, the same guard was always there (I think he lived in that booth), would approach your vehicle with a tepid smile and begin questioning your purpose as if you were the first visitor that ever graced the property. "Follow the winding road down the hill to the left, take the turn at the end, proceed straight and to the gift shop parking lot...... speed limit 15.......watch out for people and trucks." Getting run over by a grain truck or piece of farm equipment was a very real possibility if you weren't paying attention. The gift shop / tour check in was basically a modular building fused onto a warehouse serving as office space. The place was loud, dirty, and unrefined. But it was a REAL bourbon distillery tour. Anyway, back in 2018 you could book a certain private tour on weekdays where they would basically haul 5 people around on a golf cart for 2 hours and show you the entire property. The missus and I invited another couple along who stayed over on our vacation until Monday morning and upon departing with our tour guide, we were each given a Barton branded water bottle and instructed to fill it up at the cooler because there would be no pit stops. Off we went. Tasting grain mash, watching the cooking and distilling process, climbing up rusty stairs that were more like ladders, tasting white dog, hammering bungs, rolling barrels, walking through the warehouse, until finally arriving at the barrel dumping building. "Dump that damn water out and give me those bottles" bellowed our tour guide. Our group, looking confused, followed the instructions handed them over and into the building we walked. Several men were furiously drilling bungs and dumping barrels as if they were being timed. Our tour guide went over and quietly handed them the water bottles. A few minutes later he brought them back full, saying "lucky day, they had some ice tea for y'all.... but be careful.... they brew it strong here" So we went home with two different cask strength single barrels of "tea" and 6 1/2 years later they are finally disappearing from our bar. While the bourbon might be gone, the memories from that tour will forever be around. Cheers!

I hope that Wild Turkey won't follow BT into the world of artificial scarcity. They, too, are now awash with special editions and line extensions. So far, I can still find RR10 and Rare Breed with ease, but WTKS is jacked up in price and only sporadically available, and the new 8-year WT and Russell Anniversary are each impossible without paying secondary prices.

JDSBBP Rye tonight. Outstanding as usual, I’ve been a JD fan since….well 40ish years now and I LOVE the ryes, 70% rye? Oh hell yes. Nearing the end of this particular bottle but there is another waiting in the wings. Slainte!

I’m having some great Armagnac tonight. The 2017 LEncantada is the youngest Armagnac I’ve ever had. Ironically it’s the most bourbon tasting I’ve ever had. Damn good juice.

This evening is Heaven Hill BiB. Not a vey complex pour, but enjoyable none the less.

No. It's a little better, but not $20.00 better than the standard WT101...

Are your temperatures getting too hot? Since you are using FermPro I bet Pat Heist at Ferm solutions could give you some advice.

Thank you for stopping by, and welcome to SB.

Finishing up some paperwork and now on to fixing dinner with a Compass Box Delilah’s 20th. Beautiful dark honey notes melding with that crisp, outside breeze dried linen notes, that I love. I’m nearing the end of this exquisite CB bottling.

My fermentation keeps shutting down early and I can’t get it going again. I made three double batches no problem. I moved and change my water source and my first batch was fine. Water quality test strips look good. My mash bill is 11# of milled corn, 2# milled, malted rye and 2# milled, malted high diastatic power barley; total of 15# grain, 5 gallons water. I add 2 teaspoon gypsum and adjust pH to 5.2 to 5.7 before adding corn. I add two tablespoons of Alpha Amylase at 148-150 degrees and steep for an hour. I add two teaspoons Gluco Amylase at 90-100 degrees and steep for another hour. I throw in the malted grains at 90-95 degrees and steep overnight. I use 10 grams of FermPro927 (brand new and kept in refrigerator) and 2.5 Tablespoons of Fermax Nutrient at 85-90 degrees and maintain that temperature range with warming matts through the fermentation. Initial pH is 5.2 to 5.7 and I keep the pH above 4.0 by hanging oystershells and adding about eight Tablespoons of calcium carbonate over the first three days. I have never been able to get it above 4.4, but FermPro tells me anything 3.6 to 6.0 should be fine. The first double batch doth stalled out at about1.010, the second at 1.016 and 1.020. I couldn’t taste much sweetness and an extra shot of yeast and nutrient didn’t wake it up. Yields have been about 75% of the first double batch with this same water/yeast combination. The first (good) batch came off at 1.001; it was down from the day before and still bubbling, I only took it off because I had to travel the next day. What to try next???

That’s exactly what I’m hoping for between our Buffalo Trace and Woodford tours.

I think that's Texas....

Hmmm. I actually do not know if the BBC restaurant is open for dinner. Now that I think about it, I've only ever had lunches there, so maybe not. Easy to find out, I imagine. Good Luck. flahute mentioned the beauty of the Castle and Key grounds. The building's facade is something special, as well. If you're pressed for time, just a quick "park and wander for 5-minutes" will be worth it, IMHO. ....More, if it can be worked in.

WTRB after an early dinner of homemade pesto.

Thanks! Drinking curtailed and purchasing ceased so I sometimes have to remind myself to come see my friends in this corner of the internet.

I’ve been carrying this beer around for a week. Finally got around to popping it. Excellent easy drinking beer out of Maine.

Oh, c'mon. I keep hearing all these stories about OWA being in every store there like it's water.

Haven't tried it yet.

The regular shelf bottles? Not too hard. This is a really good single barrel pick that the restaurant did. They serve it in the bar, as well as sell bottles. Since the wife and I enjoyed it so much, I bought a bottle.

Wild Turkey 101 is regularly $29.99 at BevMo, or, as I like to call it, BevPayMo. But it's currently one of the items included in their Buy One, Get One for $.05 sale. So, I bought two for $30.04 or $15.02 each plus tax. Not bad. I've only had one of the "new bottle" release several years ago and liked it so I'm anxious to try it again given that I've heard mixed reviews. If it's as good as I remember, I'll probably get four more at that price.