Successful Two Bourbon Vattings

[Gillman]

Sometimes, only two bourbons will combine in a particularly good way. I bought recently 4 pints of Woerner's Kentucky Straight Bourbon, a 4 year old (or more) private label out of San Francisco from 30 years ago. Each of these is slightly different. I took one, flavourful but almost too smooth, and combined it 50/50 with some current Old Fitzgerald 1849. The Fitz has good cereal and other flavours but is a little prickly on the palate.

The combination makes the Fitz glycerine smooth but adds its wheaty accents. A four grain perfect for neat sipping sans ice.

I'd be interested in any other successful two bourbon (and/or rye) vattings.

Gary

[emr454]

Gary,

I don't have any successful vatting stories yet, but I was wondering if you could give me some suggestions for vattings from the following whiskeys:

OGD114

EWB

Ritt BiB

Bulleit Rye

CC sherry cask

Jameson

Eric

[mosugoji64]

I recently had some good luck vatting FC with HH Old Style Green Label. The FC, as most of you know, is a good, but very powerful pour on it's own while the HH is thin but would be good at a higher proof. Together, they made for a solid combination that displayed a sweetness not apparent in either one alone.

[macdeffe]

It's not easy. The few times I tried vatting bourbons/ryes or malt whisky, the result was rather terrible

I tried vatting Whistlepig with something more woody, didnt taste any good

Steffen

[Gillman]

Oh vatting is easy with a little practice, keep trying! The FC and green label HH sound perfect, perfect logic.

For vatting the whiskies suggested:

Jameson and CC Sherry cask. Irish whiskey often is sherry barrel aged. Jameson can benefit from a little sherry, e.g. Jameson 15 has lots evidently, and the CC is mainly high proof neutral-type distillate except aged, so you would be reducing the pot still element of the Jameson (which not everyone likes, that minty/petrol effect) and softening the blend with some rich sherry. Say 4:1 Jameson to CC.

Bulleit and Rittenhouse rye should make a very good rye vatting. Maybe 2:1 Ritt to the Bulleit, or half half. A touch blending agent may help, a dash of Southern Comfort from a mini, say. EWSB tends to be relatively smooth and even bland sometimes, adding up to 1/3 OGD 114 may be a good mix. Half half should work very well too.

American straights are in general closer in palate amongst them than the malts or Irish whiskey. You can't go wrong really with almost any combination (e.g. it's not Budweiser and Cola!) but some work hand in glove and those are the ones to seek.

Gary

[emr454]

Thanks for the suggestions, Gary. I will probably try a couple of them tonight and see how they work out.

Eric

[Enoch]

Because I ended up with a number of handles of Charter 101 and Four Roses Yellow, I vatted them 1:1 and produced a nice blend. The FR cut the sweet of the Charter.

[emr454]

The Ritt BiB/Bulleit rye mix is a good one. The extra kick of the 100 proof Rittenhouse gives the Bulleit what its missing; a nice finish.

Alone, the Bulleit seems to have a short, unimpressive finish. That's my only complaint with this rye. I guess I was hoping for more spice from a 95% rye mashbill.

Eric

[sutton]

I vatted 60/40 HH OFitz BiB and JPS 17. While I liked the Old Fitz I found it a bit one-dimensional, somewhat short, and thin, and as a result, a tad hot. The JPS added body, spice and wood notes, rounding out and lengthening the finish. I actually think this might be even better at 70/30 or 80/20 as the JPS really took over -

_______________

Mark

[Ian S.]

I've been doing a 50/50 vatting of Weller 12 and OWA for quite a while now. I get the extra aging that I miss in the OWA and the extra proof that I wish the Weller 12 had. It's a perfect Weller.

[G.H.Adams]

Does it count if the vatting is done in my stomach?:slappin:

[AaronWF]

I've been experimenting with WSR and OWA since I bought the new Binny's bottling of WSR. It's pretty much a no-brainer, but it seems that at 3:5 of OWA to WSR is hitting a sweet spot for me. Binny's WSR, while balanced in all categories, lacks character. The OWA adds the character in proof, and the blend has a wooden cherry effect that is quite pleasing to me.

On a normal day I'm not a big fan of OWA either. Again, nothing much to affront, but nothing much other than a wheaty heat to keep me coming back. This vatting is finally bringing out something I can like in a 7-year wheater, and it's a barely ripe cherry meat with a bit of wood in it. I would even say it's reminding me vaguely of an immature Pappy15 or even 20.

[Parkersback]

That sounds good, Aaron. I've done a little vatting with the Weller line and always thought there's certainly some good discoveries to be made there. I've had half a mind to go in to my liquor store & grab a 750 each of WSR, OWA and Weller 12 and just combine all three and see what happens.

I mean, it certainly couldn't be bad. I think it'd have to fall somewhere between good and excellent.

[Brisko]

I tried both a 2:1 and 4:1 of HH BiB (gold label) and McKenna SB BiB (10 y/o) given that they are both HH and the same proof. Interestingly both whiskeys are sweet on their own (the HH is corny, the McKenna shows more barrel-influenced sweetness). When vatted together the sweetness of each is subdued but not necessarily in a bad way. At 2:1 the the 10 year old contributes some woody notes that aren't as noticeable on its own.

I found 4:1 to be just right: it retains the easy drinking vitality of the 4 year old without being overly tannic or astringent, but with just the right amount of maturity and complexity from the 10 year old. For someone who doesn't care for overly sweet bourbons, this vatting would be especially appealing. I like the sweetness of the constituents but it's a nice change of pace.

[Gillman]

The 4:1 sounds very good, makes a lot of sense.

Gary

[Gillman]

Something I think I haven't done before is what I dubbed The Tennessee Waltz - JD and Dickel 50/50. The JDs were actually three, two SBs, one was Silver Select, and Jack Black. The Dickels were a black and beige label from the early 80's. The light powdered charcoal scents blended well. The Jack profile tends to be bigger than George's, and kind of absorbed the latter, but it is all very good. Admission: feeling it needed a touch of tannic age, I added a dash of EC 12 to it, so there is a Kentucky musician shall we say in this Tennessee band.

A very nice blending of elements, some of this may come with me to Bardstown soon.

Gary

[Brisko]

Not two-Bourbon, per se, but I tried a roughly 1:1 combination of Old Forester Signature and Beam rye, and was quite pleasantly surprised. This bottle of OF is a little tannic, with some toasty bitterness that overshadows its underlying maple-sugary sweetness. The Beam rye, while not a world-beater, is decent enough for what it is, but it has that well-known Beaminess that a lot of people don't care for.

Together, they cover each others faults quite flawlessly. The vatting takes on a hard candy sweetness balanced by tinges of piney and pickle barrel notes from the rye, and has just the right balance of wood to create a soothingly dry finish. Maybe the biggest gain is that it takes on a rounder, thicker mouthfeel. If anything, this vatting tastes very much like a straight rye, not unlike Baby Saz, though with a rounder mouthfeel. In fact the nose is reminiscent of Saz 18, though obviously much younger.

Anyway, a winner in my book-- far better than either on its own.

[Gillman]

Excellent, good notes, thanks for this.

Gary

[steeltownbbq]

Not sure this constitutes vatting, but I've been pouring the last 2 to 4 ounces of every bottle I finish into a decanter in what has become a mini solara. I enjoy the ever changing (and never bad) character of the resulting mixture.

[Gillman]

It is vatting, for sure. I do something similar and it is never bad, often excellent.

Gary

[mosugoji64]

Bumping this thread to share my latest success. Had bottles of OF BB '10 and JB Devil's Cut that we're languishing on the shelf. Neither was bad, but each was missing something. The OF had ample corn sweetness with a nice rye backbone but little between to balance the two. The DC had a nice, oakey presence but was thin for 90 proof and lacked a strong finish. A 1:1 combo proved to be a good fix for both providing the "middle" the OF lacked and the overall body missing in the DC. I had two ample pours of that last night and it held up very well. I poured the remainder of the mix into the DC bottle, which also allowed me to get rid of that attractive-but-awkward OF bottle!

Happy vatting, everyone!

[jtexaslonestar]

Bumping this thread to share my latest success. Had bottles of OF BB '10 and JB Devil's Cut that we're languishing on the shelf. Neither was bad, but each was missing something. The OF had ample corn sweetness with a nice rye backbone but little between to balance the two. The DC had a nice, oakey presence but was thin for 90 proof and lacked a strong finish. A 1:1 combo proved to be a good fix for both providing the "middle" the OF lacked and the overall body missing in the DC. I had two ample pours of that last night and it held up very well. I poured the remainder of the mix into the DC bottle, which also allowed me to get rid of that attractive-but-awkward OF bottle!

Happy vatting, everyone!

Just started reading these vatting threads and i happen to have a pour of OF BB 08 remaining and a mini of DC. I will surely try this out. Thanks!!

[Bmac]

I started a vatting experiment a while back and found success using the following formula:

Pick a whiskey/bourbon you want as the core. That becomes 50% of the whiskey. It's akin to being the neutral grain whiskey in a scotch blend. So i tend to choose young whiskeys. It would be a good excuse to release all the Rebel Yell you might have .

Then pick The two ( or more) whiskeys to flavor it. You can mix them in any ratio to make up the remaining 50%

Another factor to take into consideration is the addition of water to balance the proof...if like me, you've mixed a cask strength or high proof whiskey.

Then, let it sit a week to marry.

I made a few reasonable sipping blends. My latest blend is a mixture of all wheat bourbons with Berhiem Original and Rebel Reserve as the core. The rest is small doses of Weller and Van Winkle product.

[ckgdrums]

Being new here, I was hesitant to post this, but I tried a little combo of my own last night. I had a bottle of Weller's Special Reserve, and an almost empty bottle of Woodford Reserve.

I mixed them 2 parts Weller's to 1 part WR, and it came out really nice. May have to try that again.

[Lazer]

My first successful combo, EWB and WTRB. 2:1 EW:RB. It was amazing. They really worked together.