I Finally opened the '02 Stagg

[RWBadley]

Wow, it is really good. We went through a huge flight of vintage Bourbon, Tequila, Scotch, and others.. The Stagg was top flight and a surprise- considering the competition. All I can say is Wow. In the running and also top were the Cuervo tequila from the '40's, Beam's bonded from '56, Martin's Scotch from the 50's, Tobala mezcal from current, Glenlivet 25 from current, Tanqureay gin from the 60's, and the rest were also rans, but amazing each on their own. What a great evening of tasting. Cheers!

RW

[spun_cookie]

I must admit that the thought of having that mix makes me feel sick.

Congrats on the Stagg opening. That is something rare and special.

[RWBadley]

I must admit that the thought of having that mix makes me feel sick.

Congrats on the Stagg opening. That is something rare and special.

Some tricks to a marathon like this are lots of food prior, lots of water during, and tiny pours shared among several good friends, with plenty of music and conversation thrown in for good measure.

:grin:

[Lost Pollito]

I must admit that the thought of having that mix makes me feel sick.

Yep a tequila bourbon combo makes my head hurt and my stomach queezy. Nice score on the stagg btw.

[RWBadley]

Yep a tequila bourbon combo makes my head hurt and my stomach queezy. Nice score on the stagg btw.

Lessee- we started with 4 gins, three vintage and one new. Best was Tanq from the late 60's followed by Seagrams from late 50's. The Anchor Junipero got kicked tot he curb in this group.

Several rums... Pre Castro Cuban was excellent, but one unidentified vintage bottle was more complex even than that. The Cuban had a purity of cane while the other a depth that went on forever. The Barbancourt 15 was quite outclassed here...

Next single and blended Scotch. Jeff's Glenlivet 25 topped it but Martin's vintage 50's 12 yo blend was right there. The '38 J Walker red was viewed as too single dimensional and overly peaty. The recent Ballantines 21 was very good, but also in a bit out of it's league amongst the others.

Tequila... Numero Uno '40s silver rocked it hard, but Cuervo reposado 1800 from the '40s just edged it out.

Bourbons my fav... The Stagg did top it for me, I think. Tho the pre pro 18yo rye and Beams Coffee decanter '48-56 bonded were right there with it. Also a Beams 8 late 50's and an Old Fitz '48-54 bonded 6 was mighty tasty. Several mid and upper end current batches were also compared and did not make top tier.

So many here, we lived on the nose of them with just small tastes. just 1/2-3/4 oz pours shared among the three of us tasting unless we found one that needed more attention- and there were a few of those ;-)

Something I've taken from these tastings is just how good these vintage spirits are. It is a tough find to gather anything current that can hang with many of them. What can we attribute this to? So many differences- process, ingredients, etc,... all are a factor possibly

These tastings were assembled courtesy of two different elderly folks that were selling out collections. We all did well I think... ;-)

Cheers,

RW