JTS Brown/JW Dant/TW Samuels BiB

[bourbon-n00b]

I'm curious abut these three HH BiBs. Are they basically the same juice bottled under three different labels? Are they each distinct in some way? If so, how?

Just wondering how hard to try to find all three, or is it a case of "if you've tried one, you've tried them all"?

Thanks in advance for any information or insight...

[cowdery]

"Basically the same juice" is always a tricky formulation. Yes, they are all the same coming off the still, in that it's all Heaven Hill rye-recipe bourbon. The question is does each brand have a different taste profile that is sought when they bottle it, or are they interchangeable? Is the difference greater or less than the difference between, say, two different barrels of the same single barrel bottling?

It's very hard to know how much care multi-brand producers like Heaven Hill and Buffalo Trace take with their cats and dogs products. Personally, I have found JTS Brown BIB to be excellent and haven't tried either of the other two for years.

I can say that they are bound to be very similar.

[bourbon-n00b]

"Basically the same juice" is always a tricky formulation. Yes, they are all the same coming off the still, in that it's all Heaven Hill rye-recipe bourbon. The question is does each brand have a different taste profile that is sought when they bottle it, or are they interchangeable? Is the difference greater or less than the difference between, say, two different barrels of the same single barrel bottling?

It's very hard to know how much care multi-brand producers like Heaven Hill and Buffalo Trace take with their cats and dogs products. Personally, I have found JTS Brown BIB to be excellent and haven't tried either of the other two for years.

I can say that they are bound to be very similar.

Cool, thanks! Since JTS Brown is the one I currently own, I probably won't make a special effort to track down the other two in the near future.

[jtwebb56]

I actually think the TW Samuels BIB is very good for the price as well. If you see a bottle I think it's worth the $10 price tag to try. Dant is slightly more expensive and I dont think that there is a big difference between it and the JTS Brown personnally. But the differences are very subtle to me.

[Josh]

Do some searches on those whiskeys and some reviews should pop up.

Just off the top of my head, JTS Brown has a lot of fans, but I haven't heard anything good about the current TW Samuels. I haven't had the current Dant BiB. The Dant "Olde Bourbon" is available in Michigan. I bought it once, kind of on a dare. It's not bad for what it is, it's just very young.

Back to the Samuels, HH uses some of the warehouses near the old Samuels plant in what used to be Deatsville, KY outside of Bardstown. If some of that whiskey goes into the current TW Samuels, then there may be some continuity in flavor simply based on where the whiskey is aged.

To jump topic again, if you ever find any dusty, pre-HH bottles of JW Dant BiB, buy all you can. It's very good stuff, especially for the money.

[bourbon-n00b]

Do some searches on those whiskeys and some reviews should pop up.

Yeah, I have found a few reviews of each, but I couldn't seem to find much in the way of comparative analysis among the three. From what I have been able to gather, Dant and Brown are very similar, no-frills but quality bourbon and Samuels is a few notches below (based solely on a thread here, back from early 2008).

To jump topic again, if you ever find any dusty, pre-HH bottles of JW Dant BiB, buy all you can. It's very good stuff, especially for the money.

That would be awesome, but you veteran Michigan guys seem to have picked the bones dry, as far as I have been able to see. I will keep an eye out, just in case a morsel or two managed to slip thru the cracks :cool:

[SMOWK]

To jump topic again, if you ever find any dusty, pre-HH bottles of JW Dant BiB, buy all you can. It's very good stuff, especially for the money.

Would that be a reference to this: http://www.straightbourbon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=207976&postcount=591

I think it was distilled by Old Charter and bottled by SW. It is VERY good.

[Josh]

That would be awesome, but you veteran Michigan guys seem to have picked the bones dry, as far as I have been able to see. I will keep an eye out, just in case a morsel or two managed to slip thru the cracks :cool:

Would that be a reference to this: http://www.straightbourbon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=207976&postcount=591

I think it was distilled by Old Charter and bottled by SW. It is VERY good.

I had some for the first time at dougdog's openhouse in April, and I was blown away. So I was mad jealous when I heard about your find. They do pop up from time to time on teh interwebs. I've never seen one in the wild, though. If I do find some I'll let you know, noob.

The tough thing, in my experience anyway, is that the lower shelf dusties are often harder to find than the more expensive stuff. My theory is that the cheaper stuff sells better so it's less likely to linger on shelves than something that costs an arm & a leg.

[MikeK]

I really like the JTS Brown and Samuels BIB. But then I really love all the HH 4-10yo bonds and feel they are some of their best products. I'm weird.

What markets do these bottlings show up in? I have found them in KY only with EXTENSIVE searching.

[callmeox]

JTS Brown BIB and 80 proof are available in Ohio.

I agree with Cowdery that these "cheap" bonds are a bourbon industry gift to those who know.

[OscarV]

I have a bottle of JTS Brown BIB open now.

I can't drink it neat.

Over cracked ice, swirled around real good then it is just OK.

I would say it is the PBR of bourbons.

[DeanSheen]

I have a bottle of JTS Brown BIB open now.

I can't drink it neat.

Over cracked ice, swirled around real good then it is just OK.

I would say it is the PBR of bourbons.

I'm with you on that. I bought a bottle last year of the BIB and choked it down at a party in shot glasses. I'm not picking it up again but at least it was cheap to try.

It was not as bad as some others I have given away.

[T Comp]

Thanks to this thread, I just added to my way too many open bottle collection by breaking the seal on a current make JW Dant BIB. This was for comparing against an already opened Heaven Hill BIB. At first I thought the JW Dant was a bit hotter, thinner and grainier. I then blinded them and when not knowing which was which, couldn't distinguish between them at all. I find these pours very drinkable and a refreshing break in my usual bourbon world with their youth, dominance of fruit and grains over wood and a clean if somewhat short taste. In this price range my first choice is Barton BIB along with its 2 extra years of age but I can make do with these, at least for a while.

[Josh]

It should be mentioned that there is also a Heaven Hill BiB that is 6 y/o that is pretty good for the price. That said, the Barton chews it up and spits it out, but it's a good mixer or on-the-rocks choice.

[CaptainQ]

Isn't the Old Taylor a 6 y/o that was made by HH and in that price range.

[Josh]

Isn't the Old Taylor a 6 y/o that was made by HH and in that price range.

No, Old Taylor was made by National Distillers, then Beam and now BT. It is in that price range, tho.

[p_elliott]

It should be mentioned that there is also a Heaven Hill BiB that is 6 y/o that is pretty good for the price. That said, the Barton chews it up and spits it out, but it's a good mixer or on-the-rocks choice.

I actually like this neat, Joe sent me a bottle to take to Houston for him. I tried it (in Houston) I though it was good.

[OscarV]

No, Old Taylor was made by National Distillers, then Beam and now BT. It is in that price range, tho.

Well actually not yet made by BT. BT got the Beam barrels when they bought the label.

The BT made OT won't be availble for some time.

See link below.

http://www.straightbourbon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12793

[Josh]

Well actually not yet made by BT. BT got the Beam barrels when they bought the label.

The BT made OT won't be availble for some time.

See link below.

http://www.straightbourbon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12793

[OscarV]

It's at least currently being bottled by BT.

[Josh]

What does the location say?

But then again Beam also says Frankfort so it's moot.

[Josh]

After all this I had to make an expedition out to Bunker Tower to grab that bottle.

Most definately Beam juice. No question. If any AA or Benchmark formula stuff is in here, it is buried by the Beam.

I poured some out over crushed ice. Good god, it's terrible. And this is from a guy who likes Beam stuff.

Here's the label:

And I stand corrected again, it says "Old Fashioned Copper" not fire.

[PaulO]

I'm a big fan of HH's BIB brands. I have noticed some differences between the brands. Dant seems to have more of a rye taste (and sometimes a little carmel) compared to JTS Brown. JTS Brown has more of a mild corn taste as dominant. The only bottle of TW Samuels I ever tried tasted to me almost exactly the same as Heaven Hill 4 year old BIB. About a year ago there was a batch of Dant with two different DSP numbers, that I thought tasted exactly like HH BIB. To me the Heaven Hill brand has sort of a dry and citrus type taste to it, and is usually lighter colored than Dant or JTS Brown. If you see any older bottles of Dant that have a nice deep red color, grab them.