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I can tell you what I'm more likely "to" pass on, rather than "have" passed on. More than likely, anything costing over $100.00 per bottle (if sourced in the USA) or $250.00 (if sourced in Europe - ie. Scotch). I might be a "gentleman and a scholar," but I'm still not yet a "judge of fine whiskey." Over time, maybe I'll get up to that hefty priced stuff., although I do plan to stay out of the secondary and tertiary markets. Sorry Pappy!

HW is a good comparison Paul.

Did Ya get Barbara Eden to finally come out of that thing?

Well……..

Well, I finished a bottle of BT last night. Since we were out again today, and I heard a rumor……

BTW, I had a tiny bit of my Bulleit Rye this afternoon just to taste it again. It was pretty smooth!

One for the “huge brown bin”.

Here are some pix from the West Coast Whiskey Club Bottle Share party yesterday. I tasted 18 different bottles, including JD10, Old Kirk, Four Gate, Remus Gatsby, Lux Row 12, K. Luke, and 3 different KC SiB store picks. At the end of the party, the remaining bottles are given out, so we went home with a Peerless Small Batch, a McKenna 10-yr BIB, and a Rittenhouse Rye store pick from Cypress Craft. The events always have raffles; my wife and I won a Blue Run rain jacket, a Ble Run pen, and Buffalo Trace hat, as well as two infinity bottles that we re-donated to be given to someone else. Any members in SoCal would benefit from following them on IG and FB. Tell them I sent you. They are a great group of people and put on awesome events.

For anybody considering joining in with 'the group' for next Spring's gathering... I pretty decent selection of 'historical Bourbons' 'were on offer' on the tables at the General Nelson in Bardstown, KY. Without going into too much detail, we tasted some ND OGD BIB, Dant 10-year from a decanter, a few Stitzel/Wellers brands (one from the 30's I believe), a MM 101 from (?) 50's or 60's (?), and a wide selection of newer limited or otherwise hard-to-get Bourbons and a few ryes. My advice? Jump in! The water's fine! ...Or, at least the Bourbon was.

Looking back over the previous few days at the GN in Bardstown, I'll summarize... A LOT of Really Good Bourbon! A few of the highlights hafta include some Dant 10-year from 'back in the day'... poured from that byooooootiful cobalt blue decanter, MM101 also an oldie, Crab Orchard...a VERY Oldie, Booker's 30th, a couple other Stitzel/Weller brands, and ahh, hell! A LOT of Really Good Bourbon, like I said.

I loved the old stuff. Very nice high rye bourbon, with a ton a sweet cherry and easy to drink. The bottles from 6-7 years ago were great. I haven't actually tried their own stuff. MGP in general is turning inward to using their own barrels for their own Bourbon. The Remus bottles and the Belle Meade bottles are the closest I've come to the old SAOS SB

So, it does appear that Jim Beam is slapping a 7 year age statement and upping the proof to 90 on its Beam Black label. I am a somewhat regular Beam Black buyer, as I like it for a change of pace. I like its dryness to the typical beam peanut juiciness that Baker’s and Booker’s gives, and the dearly departed Beam Bonded had in spades. Even Beam white has these attributes, though its low proof and young age prevent them from being firm enough. Beam Black has kinda been my Poor Man’s Knob Creek profile. So after going a few rounds with the new 7 year Black, I decided to do a blind SBS of it and the previous Beam Black “Extra Aged”. Color between the two was indistinguishable. Initially on the nose, one glass jumped out at me, and almost squashing the other. While this may seem a positive, it was not. It was all char and sootiness. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it seemed indicative of “forcing” the profile of a longer aged whiskey. For me, a good nose brings forth the pleasant aromas encountered while walking through a rickhouse on a warm day. Subsequent sniffs brought forth those aromas on the squashed glass, thus providing key insight into what was to follow. At the front of the palate, both were sweet, and possessed the Beam profile, while drier. But, as the whiskies travelled over mid palate, the sootiness of the one glass punched through, while the other was markedly creamier. If the nose didn’t give its identity away, mid palate did. the finish of both were short, but the sootiness of one was noticeable, while the other was dry, but a bit more rounded. In conclusion, these whiskies are very similar, and work for what I look for in the label. If you really don’t like Beam Black Extra Aged to begin with, you probably won’t like this. If you’re just OK with it, the 7 might be more enjoyable for you. Me? I like Extra Aged, and the 7 polishes up some notes that while I didn’t dislike them, they are easier on me while still maintaining the qualities that bring me back to it regularly.

It is excellent. Definitely one of the better non finished ryes I have ever had.

And? How was it?

Back at my favorite brunch location , and enjoying another pour I have been wanting to try.

Picked up a 1 Liter bottle of BT, a Larceny BP B5/23, a EC BP B523, and an OF 1920. Pretty decent prices on all of it for SWFL.

Yesterday I had a Sazerac on ice. Originally, I didn't like this at all, but recently I've enjoyed it. The bottle went untouched for about 3 years. Now, the bottle is almost gone.

I had the last pour from my open bottle of BT. Time to fly.

Back with the herd tonight.

Well, didn’t want to walk out to my room in the shop where the collection lives tonight, so i hit the bottle of Knob Creek 9 that i keep in the house for the wife to make old fashioned’s. I always forget about that sitting in there.

I looked up what my local TW has available. Click on Single Barrel gets redirected, so they must not have it. They do offer: Old Scout 99 proof, Contradiction Rye, and Contradiction Whiskey. Not sure about the Old Scout. The Contradiction(s) claim to be blends of whiskies from WV (I assume their own), IN and KY. I have no idea what's going on with their own make nowadays. Given they seem to only use it as a component of for blending, what are the possibilities. They don't distill a lot. It's not good on its' own (or both). It sort of reminds me of HW. Great sourced barrels became hard to get, unavailable or expensive. Their own make not a factor when it eventually came along.

Yeah, I guess I just worded that incorrectly. They are not similar. What I was driving at was the quality/ price ratio, insofar as I can get a similar quality experience from the Sagamore as I can from the JD. In fact, my first tasting of the JD found it somewhat one-dimensional. It had a syrupy sweetness that was delicious, but I found nothing else that pushed through the heat and the sweet and boldly stated, "I'm here!" I will most certainly add a few drops of water at the next tasting and see where it goes. The neat pour may have been a mistake.

Really weird fall from grace. When i see a store pick i prepare myself for 7,8,9 year old bourbon on the label because thats where their barrels should be by now…but alas its always 5 years maybe a 6 occaisonally. Do they put older stuff out in other regions? Are they content being an also ran? I believe i heard they went back to MGP after they botched their own distillate… if true i wish they could recreate that old majik.

First brisket of the season. Best I’ve done.