Is Ridgemont Reserve a Tennessee Whiskey?

[polyamnesia]

i know it isn't....but i keep thinking i am drinking one of the higher end 'versions' of JD....

this is not the same bourbon i had last year. or my tongue has changed. maybe it has.

it's not bad at all...but i am having a heck of a time lately with those SECOND time buys....

if anything, i am getting an odd Wild Turkey meets Gentleman Jack with this professed EIGHT year old bourbon...more like 6 years...maybe some time open and left alone will make it appear as something else (better).

seems like last time i had it, it was creamier, smoother....the rye snap of it reminds me tremendously of WT101...it's smoothness is oddly almost BANANA-y......hmmm

:rolleyes:

[polyamnesia]

and the latest pour seems to suggest (not yet SHOUT!) bananas...well, organic, mini-bananas....no thickness or chewability to this...very JD:skep:

[cowdery]

It's possible that, like some other brands, they have been a victim of their own success and to meet demand, they have had to use whiskey that doesn't really match the original profile. I'm not saying that is the case, because I haven't tasted a recent batch, but that is a possibility.

The label says 8 years, so you can be confident it is, in fact, at least 8 years, but earlier batches may have been older. Also, we all know that not all 8-year-olds are created equal, depending on warehouse location, so there are a lot of ways they could be deviating from the original flavor profile without misrepresenting.

[polyamnesia]

thanks chuck.

well, admit, this has gone down smoother as the evening has moved on...it's very enjoyable now, but again, one of those i-didn't-expect-this pours. but altogether, even more similar to GJack...bananas bananas...going ape here

[Virus_Of_Life]

Ridgemont was one of the very few bourbons I have drank that I could never find anything from start to finish of the bottle that I liked. It had a certain something that just never hit me right. I found it to be nutty, but not in a nutty-nougat positive sort of way more a nutty one dimensional trying to be more malt whiskey like that really turned me off every time. That's probably not a very good way to explain it but that's the best I can do off hand having not tasted it in a while. I know Barton could do better, I'd like to taste the Two Bobs whiskey I believe was from Barton, and I'd take BiB over Ridgemont every day!

[polyamnesia]

maybe it is a matter of the warehouse, barrel location...i am curious about the mashbill.

if this was 100 proof...and aged 2 or 4 more years...or does Barton's have something of that sort?

but it's pleasant enough.

how does this compare to JD Barrel Select?

[cowdery]

1792, they say, is a different mash bill with a higher malt content than the standard bourbon they use for VOB and their other brands. My theory is that perhaps they didn't make enough of the 1792 mash bill and are filling in with some of their standard bourbon, which is perfectly legal but might explain a taste profile shift.

[ratcheer]

Ridgemont was one of the very few bourbons I have drank that I could never find anything from start to finish of the bottle that I liked.

I agree with that. I bought one bottle when it first became available here a few years ago. I had trouble finishing it. I am no longer analytical about why I didn't like it, but I didn't like it so much, I see to reason to try it again.

Tim

[camduncan]

Ridgemont was one of the very few bourbons I have drank that I could never find anything from start to finish of the bottle that I liked. It had a certain something that just never hit me right. I found it to be nutty, but not in a nutty-nougat positive sort of way more a nutty one dimensional trying to be more malt whiskey like that really turned me off every time.

I'd never tried 1792 before this years Sampler, and totally agree Christian. There was an earthy, nutty flavour that didn't sit well with me at all. I found these same charactaristics in a recent bottle of Old Grand Dad 114 and Dickel Barrel Select. At $100 plus to get these bottles shipped to my door in Australia, I won't be putting any of these on my list again anytime soon.

[mozilla]

I really like the 1792. While visiting the distillery, I was able to enter warehouse z...the site that all the 1792 is aged. The barrel we tasted bourbon from was 10 years old, IIRC. I was told that some barrels are up to 13 yrs old when they are dumped for 1792.

From what I remember, 1792 is the high rye recipe from Barton. When batched, 40 barrels are used to form a bottling. From what I was told...there is quite a bit of variation within warehouse z. They profile the barrels and try to keep each batch consistent.

I would call 1792 a very mellow full bodied bourbon. Most of Bartons other Bibs are pretty feisty.

[polyamnesia]

this is interesting...as i saw it was after NOON and am still on winter break (!), i had a small pour of this....

THIS time, it's nothing like any 90 proof JD.....no bananas....it's that creamy, butterscotchy, delicious but perfectly tamed bottling i remember.

now i know that there are SO MANY factors at work that go beyond the barrel, the warehouse, the mashbill...etc...there's our own experience, our tongue on a particular day...the bottle just opened or aired out a bit...etc etc....

seems though there are simply some whiskies that hold there own, no matter what. subtle differences from pour to pour maybe, bottle to bottle, year to year......but some it seems shift wildly....

i think this is one of those that shifts wildly. for whatever reason.

the EC12, for example, simply was what it was, throughout that whole big 1.75 bottle. it sometimes was what i wanted. sometimes it wasn't. but it asserted its flavor profile CONSISTENTLY.

hmmm.

edit/p.s.

another swallow. the mellow bite makes me simply think 1792 an irish bottling aged in charred oak....and a bit higher proof. at least at THIS sitting, a scotch aficianado would be pleased...

[shoshani]

Most of Bartons other Bibs are pretty feisty.

Which Bartons have a higher rye content? And which BiBs are they still making?

We have a very small but surprisngly well-stocked liquor store six blocks from my house. I suggested that they get VOB BIB and gave them the name of the distributor (Judge & Dolph). They told me when I came back that J&D told them that they couldn't get VOB BIB anymore because it was no longer in production.....

(Barton used to be VERY mum about their mashbills...is the more rye/less rye thing something that is confirmed?)

[cowdery]

Don't as for BIB. Ask for 100 proof.