Down The Drain!

[fishnbowljoe]

I just wondered how many of you have had a bottle of bourbon, (or other spirit) that you ended up pouring down the drain.

Yesterday, I was taking an inventory of my collection, and was cleaning my cabinet a little, and rearranging things. I came across my bottle of Old Crow Reserve. I bought this when it first came out. It tasted "different" the first time I tried it. I've since gone back to it three or four times, and it hadn't gotten any better. Yesterday, I gave it one more try. No dice. I couldn't take it anymore. Down the drain it went. This is only the second time I've ever done that. The other bottle I ended up pouring down the drain, was a bottle of Gran Legacy. A "generic" bourbon sold by CVS pharmacies.

So here are two to start the parade.

Old Crow Reserve

Gran Legacy

I can hardly wait to see what else may have ended up as Draino! Joe

[DeanSheen]

Well I have not dumped any, I just give it away as someone is always willing to take it.

Bottles I have given away:

Old Overholt

EC 12

AAA Ten Star

AAA Ten Year (a bad barrel selection)

OWA 7/107 (a bad barrel selection)

I don't like mixing and I could not drink those. I've been thinking about giving away my current bottle of EC12 but I think I'll look up some recipes to use it in. I know I'll never buy another AAA Ten Star or Old Overholt again. Thankfully I had some OWA 7/107 after my first bad experience that has been good and led me to OWA NAS which is like crack for me. The bottle I have open right now is just fantastic.

[Gillman]

Robert, not trying to convince you otherwise, but even if you took two of those and added 70% vodka you'd have a decent blended whiskey, good with cola or for a Manhattan. Seems a pity to waste it...

Gary

[Dramiel McHinson]

For some reason I can't bring myself to pour bourbon down the drain. If I can't find a way to like it when I drink it, I'll mix it with other bourbons, rebarrel, use it for cooking or as a last resort, give it away.

BUT!

I have poured a few others down the drain.

A large bottle of foul Italian Grappe :horseshit:

Drambuie; I broke out in hives everytime I tried it :frown:

Kahlua; I gave up and just added good whiskey to my coffee with a dash of heavy cream. :puke:

Godiva Chocolate liqueur; this just did not work on anything I tried it with, not even icecream :shithappens:

I stopped buying liqueurs because they all seemed to end up in the sink.

[Gillman]

I have very occasionally thrown out whiskey, but only in extreme cases. Once I had a bottle of Rare Breed that had a strong acrid cork smell, something wasn't right and I didn't think I could blend it out. With young bourbon or the Overholt type rye, I'd mix it with a woody older bourbon (e.g. Triple A) and then vodka maybe to get a good balance, or Canadian whisky. But not everyone goes for this, fair enough.

Drambuie: I don't drink it neat but 2 or 3:1 with any Scotch and it's pretty good.

Gary

[T Comp]

Current Old Fitz Prime, an 86 proofer, bottled for Rite Aid. As an aside and as Illinois doesn't have them, anyone know what's the deal with the "this item intended for sale at Rite Aid" stickers super glued onto bottles sold here...is there really that much hijacking of whiskey intended for sale at Rite Aid? Back to the Old Fitz Prime, I dumped about a third of a bottle as I could never get past the solvent/acetone nose and taste on this one. My wife didn't even like what it did to her sweet potato casserole, so that was the death sentence.

Also recently purged the last three ounces or so of an EC 12 which just had too much cork residue/floaties left in the remaining juice.

[nblair]

OWA 7/107 (a bad barrel selection)

Thankfully I had some OWA 7/107 after my first bad experience that has been good and led me to OWA NAS which is like crack for me. The bottle I have open right now is just fantastic.

I've always found that more than any other bourbon, OWA changes for the better the longer it's open. I have a recent Cork n' Bottle selection that I thought was terrible. It just seemed very astingent and wouldn't open up, even with a few drops of water or an ice cube. I'm about halfway done with the bottle, had a pour the other night, and it's suddenly the best (last 5 years or so) OWA I've had. I'm probably going to go buy another bottle of it even though about a month ago I convinced myself I wouldn't. Of course, YMMV, but I think patience works wonders with OWA.

To continue on topic, I have never poured out a bottle, although I came dangerously close with OFBB 2009 recently. I had a pour and just couldn't finish it, it was awful. I contemplated dumping it, but if I make a manhattan it hides the bitterness enough to make it enjoyable, so I'm hanging on to it.

[BBQ+Bourbon]

I just wondered how many of you have had a bottle of bourbon, (or other spirit) that you ended up pouring down the drain.

Yesterday, I was taking an inventory of my collection, and was cleaning my cabinet a little, and rearranging things. I came across my bottle of Old Crow Reserve. I bought this when it first came out. It tasted "different" the first time I tried it. I've since gone back to it three or four times, and it hadn't gotten any better. Yesterday, I gave it one more try. No dice. I couldn't take it anymore. Down the drain it went. This is only the second time I've ever done that. The other bottle I ended up pouring down the drain, was a bottle of Gran Legacy. A "generic" bourbon sold by CVS pharmacies.

So here are two to start the parade.

Old Crow Reserve

Gran Legacy

I can hardly wait to see what else may have ended up as Draino! Joe

I had a very early VSOF that is absolutely horrible. I would dump it down the drain but I want to share it with people who think they have had horrible bourbon.

[DeanSheen]

Robert, not trying to convince you otherwise, but even if you took two of those and added 70% vodka you'd have a decent blended whiskey, good with cola or for a Manhattan. Seems a pity to waste it...

Gary

Good idea Gary, I never thought of blending. I guess when I meant mixing I should have said that I don't like drinking spirits with soft drinks.

NBlair,

Your right about the air and wheaters. The first bottle of OWA I bought was the aforementioned bad barrel selection. The bad part in this case was largely char I think which permeated the finish. It was just horrible. I've had this bottle of OWA NAS open for like a week and the pour I had today just popped out at me. I have noticed the same thing with OGD 114. Best not to serve to guests right out of a new bottle like I did with my brother in law. Next time I'm going to hit him with a well aired 114 and I bet I change his mind.

[Enabler]

Kessler. Just could not drink it and figured if I didn't pour it out I just might.

[Skunk]

I've never wasted anything that wasn't tainted. A couple that were are WT 80 old brown label and Bourbon Deluxe. Both tasted like moldy cardboard, so they had to go... DOWN. THE. DRAIN!

[sailor22]

I have had to occasionally pour out some rebarreling attempts that somehow went horribly wrong.

Been close to pouring out a dusty flat sour tasting Old Taylor that just tasted bad. It has been open and poured a few times in the last year but always tasted nasty. Last night was a different story, I was going to see if I could use it in a vatting without ruining the other juice but somehow it has blossomed into a butterscotch monster. It took me completely by surprise and now I'm glad I kept it around.

[p_elliott]

I got a (gasp) bad bottle of WT 101 I think it was cork tainted it went down the drain. But for as much WT as I buy I'm still ahead of the game. There have been a few other brands that came close but I chocked them down. I have gave some away.

[bourbon-n00b]

Just dumped about 20% of an old Jim Beam 100 month 86 proofer. Came in a decanter, which I poured into an empty bottle. Wasn't really enjoying it that much, nothing terrible but a pretty soft and nondescript profile.

While taking a closer look at what was left, I noticed a decent number of particles floating around in it. Wasn't really worth my time to try and strain them out to salvage something that I wasn't even liking so bye-bye it went.

[Gillman]

Some of the older products, the dusties, are off, either from oxidation or flavors coming from the ceramic container if packaged that way. It is hit or miss, sometimes the flavour is unmistakeable, especially the "dirty metallic" taste of oxidation. More typically the taste is a subtle one and would not be noticed by many.

Gary

[ggilbertva]

To my recollection, the only bottle I've poured down the drain was a Hirsch 16 yr GF. I've posted here how utterly undrinkable this bourbon was that I couldn't even use it for cooking or mixing. In your face metallic off notes made it a very unpleasant drinking experience.

[wadewood]

Corner Creek - my vote for worst bourbon ever

WTKS - pewter top from about 95 - terrible

[smokinjoe]

I've had to dump more than a couple of dusties for being off. That's why I've always said that just because it's "old", doesn't mean it's good.

The only current bourbon I've dumped was during the Great BT Funk from a few years back. I had 4 or 5 bottles of BT in a row that had the Funk. I managed to work through some of them, but I probably ended up pouring out at least 2 of them.

I should probably dump out the remains of my Bourbon Supreme "Eagle Bottles", but I'm afraid it might cripple the county sewer system and water filtration plant..

[bourbon-n00b]

This one didn't seem to be a victim of any oxidation, that I could tell (not that I am an expert in identifying that profile). Nothing semed particularly off, just kind of a watery and thin taste with nothing noteworthy going for it. Not particularly sweet, spicy, oaky, floral, etc. Just muted and bland. Drinkable and unobjectionable but nothing there to make me want to opt for it, over other alternatives.

Maybe that's just Jim Beam? Hadn't had any in years and years, and I can't recall what it was like then. Was kinda hoping that an 40ish year old dusty would be rich and flavorful. Kind of a shame in a way to dump it, after it's been around so long, but I didn't really see any worth in the hassle of dealing with the foreign matter.

Some of the older products, the dusties, are off, either from oxidation or flavors coming from the ceramic container if packaged that way. It is hit or miss, sometimes the flavour is unmistakeable, especially the "dirty metallic" taste of oxidation. More typically the taste is a subtle one and would not be noticed by many.

Gary

[CorvallisCracker]

I've never poured out a bottle of anything. I find it useful to have something on hand to serve to my in-laws when they visit.

I did once have to dump the results of a home aging project that went horribly wrong. It was a small (4.5 liter) barrel and I'd put some high proof stuff in there (OGD 114 I think) and some other that I don't remember. It came out cloudy - some kind of white precipitate in suspension. I supppose I could have filtered it and used the output for in-law stock, but since I couldn't be sure exactly what it was, I decided dumping was the best course.

After all, I don't want to kill them - just make 'em leave sooner than they'd planned.

[ErichPryde]

This one didn't seem to be a victim of any oxidation, that I could tell (not that I am an expert in identifying that profile). Nothing semed particularly off, just kind of a watery and thin taste with nothing noteworthy going for it. Not particularly sweet, spicy, oaky, floral, etc. Just muted and bland. Drinkable and unobjectionable but nothing there to make me want to opt for it, over other alternatives.

Maybe that's just Jim Beam? Hadn't had any in years and years, and I can't recall what it was like then. Was kinda hoping that an 40ish year old dusty would be rich and flavorful. Kind of a shame in a way to dump it, after it's been around so long, but I didn't really see any worth in the hassle of dealing with the foreign matter.

[bourbon-n00b]

It was in a decanter, and it tasted watery-flat? The seal probably was broken and a combination of oxidation and evaporation was probably going on. The proof on that whiskey was probably lower than when it was initially bottled.

As for the particles floating, did they look a bit like sugar and tend to sink? or just sediment, in general? I have noticed that older bottles often will have some sugar-like stuff fall out of solution (especially if evaporation has also occurred!).

[ebo]

I haven't poured any bourbon down the drain, but I did give a bottle of Old Forester to a buddy. I just couldn't drink it no matter how many times I tried to find something I liked about it.

[ILLfarmboy]

I've never poured anything down the drain. I don't figure it would be very good on the my septic tank's flora and fauna.

I've dumped a few bottle out in the yard.

Some years back I dumped an OFBB and a Blanton's. And I once dumped the dregs of a bottle of Evan William's Single Barrel that somehow became oxidized. I soaked some hickory chunks with the remainder of a bottle WLW (the second release, whatever year that was) and dumped the last 1/4 bottle of EC12. Hatred for that bottle started to grow on me by the sixth or seventh pour........

Over the years I've given away far more scotch that I just didn't like than anything else.

[WsmataU]

I NEVER dump bourbon. :bigeyes: If I don't like a bottle I just use it for cooking (great in BBQ sauce).

Old Pogue is one in particular I remember donating to the culinary gods. In fact I still keep that bottle to experiment with blends, when I get bored.