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I've heard the same about Castle and Key!

I like the variety Total Wine offers. What I don't like is that for some of the allocated products you have to be in their grand reserve category, and that only gets you entered into the lottery. I would rather just go to a liquor store that places its allocated in a case or behind the counter at ridiculously inflated secondary prices and one can decide whether they wish to buy or not. With the volume Total Wine has, I can't imagine they don't have access to more allocated.

Opened a fresh bottle of EH Taylor Single Barrel last night. I found it to be very enjoyable. Maybe my favorite of the EH varieties so far, with the Barrel Strength a close second. Off to start run some errands and make a few bourbons stops to see what I can find here along the way.

Last night the regret was immediate and severe but today is the road to recovery. Last big meal of vacation. Starting the morning with some overnight oats. Fried clams paired with a pale ale.

Opened this one tonight and it has a lot going on and is a definite Sherry-bomb! First impressions are very good with hints of raisins, chocolate, subtle pepper spice, and honey.

Glenfiddich is not peated so you must be reacting to something else. Glenfiddich is Speyside scotch as are most of the other Glens. They are not peated in general. I don't like peated Scotch but I love every Glen that I've tried.

The RRSiB was very good, as always. This one is even better!

Round two JDSBBP-Rye.

RRSiB in the glass....

Benchmark Bonded to start the weekend. For under $20, this is a solid pour. And, one of the few bourbons of this era that can take me a bit back to the nice butterscotch notes of ND Old Taylor. I ain’t sayin’ those notes are as good as those ND OTs, as the OTs were simply made differently in the old school way. But, these Benchmarks scratch that itch for me.

The Jimmy Russell 70th Anniversary was only a special release and it got snatched up pretty quickly around here as people realized how good it was. They WT 101 8-year has been out in Texas for a month or so and it initially got snatched up quickly, but is now sitting on the shelf at MSRP ($45ish) at almost every liquor store I have gone to in the last couple of weeks. Is PA a liquor control state? That might explain the current scarcity of the 101 8-year. For whatever reason, I have heard it sometimes takes longer to get stuff consistently on shelves when the state is more involved. For what it is worth, I will take Rare Breed over the 101 8-year for about the same price.

FermPro recommends fermenting temperature between 85 and 95 for FP927, so I don't think I'm too warm.

JDSBBP Rye for a Fryeday evening first pour. It is just what I need so I may just stick with it through the night.

Friday the thirteenth, I took my son on a day trip to Brown Co. State Park. It rained hard the first part of the drive down, then almost nothing but occasional light mist when we got to the park. It was lovely, and relatively few visitors. After I returned home, I finally got around to opening the Bulleit Rye I had picked up. MGP stuff Later tonight, we have the Pacers.

Total Whine likes to enhance stuff here too. Perhaps they need to be thrown in the pool for a bit.

Well, I couldn't wait to open one of the WT101 bottles I got on sale at BevMo. I was surprised by how good this is. As good, if not better than WT101 has been in years, IMO. Reminds me of a baby RR SiB. I followed this pour up with a small pour of a LL/HA bottle from 2018 - from the batches that were reported to have some ten year barrels in the blend. I have to say, I preferred the 2025 bottle. Not as complex as the 2018 but it has more depth of flavor and a better, longer finish.

In my area, it seems the MSRP is $80. I think It's worth it at that price, but not much above it. That said, I understand it may be much cheaper elsewhere. In my travels, I never come across it at MSRP, only secondary, or what I like to refer to as enhanced MSRP for places like Specs, Total Wine here.

I found the cigar blend and double oaked at my local specs last month. Pretty good bourbons.

We had an easier stewardship volunteer shift than usual this morning, so decided it would be OK to imbibe when I got home. Rarely do I make such a decision, since the drug of choice after nearly every shift is Motrin . . . and lots of it. But, today I went for a tastier drug. ...A carefully measured & mixed 'Perseverance' (Thanx, Bruce!). ...Still working on finishing off that bottle of Dubonnet I bought. I've come to like this cocktail, when at first It seemed too "berry-forward". Now, I make it a tad differently: skimping on the Dubonnet a bit, and using a bit more Ramazzotti. It's sweetly singing (well, not all that sweet) the right tune at the moment! Slainte'

I’ve never been to Spain, but I been to St. Louis…and Oklahoma…

Saw a friend out last night who was meeting the HH crew. He wanted to not only sponser me and friend (as long as it was Heaven Hill product), but asked the bartender to pull a bottle he had a hand in picking. He has two things really going for him, accessability and a honed palete. This was as good EC as I've had. Thanks Robert!

I think that T could sell in the hundred thousands Joe! Not only Kool logo but the right color to boot. Very Nice. Thank goodness it's cigar weather again. Hard for me to excited about relaxing outside with the temps cold or even cool. But it's summertrime again so bring em on.

Wow markandrex. That's a lot to take in. I would pray this situation will not progress or affect your ability to toast another round! Be well my internet buddy. Salute'

I have never been to St Louis. I've been to Chicago, Minneapolis, Memphis, and Cincinnati, but never to St Louis.