Kentucky Bourbon Sampler

[Marvin]

Evelyn & I attended the Sampler last night and the food and bourbon was excellent. It was a 3 hour party!!!!! It was well attended and we were fortunate enough to have our good friends John & Brenda Willers attending with us. They will be coming with us to the Bourbon Festival in September. It was good to see Ed and his wife and Bobby C at the Sampler. It is always great to see someone from straightbourbon.com.

All the bottlings were bourbons we have all tasted and discussed, but rumor has it (and please don't quote me on this) this fall perhaps or the very near future Four Roses SB probably will be released in the US and I hope they keep that lovely shaped bottle.

Had a nice long discussion with my friend Greg Davis from Very Old Barton in regards to the release of a 23 YO and he informed me that is not going to happen, but there were strong hints that there may be a single barrel, maybe even a small batch bourbon in the next few months. I think probably it might be released at the bourbon festival for the first time. This will be very exciting if it happens.

Talked to Jimmy Russell about the Stampede and Freedom Bottlings for Duty-Free Stores. The Stampede they are no longer bottling and it was replaced by the Freedom Bottle and they may not be around too long, as the duty free stores want different bottlings quite often. I guess they just like to change their inventory frequently. I think it is a shame that such a beautiful bottle as this with the words Freedom written clear across the front and the Wild Turkey and hills in the background is not marketed in the US. This would definitely be a winner, if nothing else for the beauty of the bottle. And by the way, it is a marriage of 7 - 13 YO bourbon.

Cheers,

Marvin

[bobbyc]

It was good to see Marvin and Evelyn and also to meet Ed and Patty . It was an over the top event, I got to speak to Booker and Jerry Dalton. Booker talked about My Grandfather some,and asked about my Grandmother. Jimmy Russell and the Wild Turkey crew were set up just across a Civil War artillery piece from Jim Beam.The artillery piece was made in 1863 and was as high tech as you could get for the time. Some Civil War reenactors were there and had been doing living history . They told us that a good gunner could repeatedly hit a barrel head target at 1000 yards with that piece.

If I was pacing myself it was all out the window at the end( With 15 minutes to go I figured I had time for one more drink of everything there) .Not too bright............

[pepcycle]

Bourbon Sampler gets 4 Pants rating. Good food, good company, overall great time. I was a bit put off that there was nothing out of the ordinary except the Four Roses Single Barrel. Buffalo Trace had only Buffalo Trace. Van Winkle had only Old Rip 10 Year. There were no Brown-Forman products at all. The setting was great, with all the Civil War memorabilia. With Nally, Dalton, Booker Noe, Jim Rutledge, Jimmie Russel, the Beams (at Heaven HIll), Ken Rice (?) from Barton Brands etc, it a was great opportunity to pick brains and BS. Thanks to Marvin for offering some insights and tutorial on bourbon aromatics. For $25, this is the best bourbon tasting deal on the planet. Thanks to Bobby C for being Bobby C. If you look in the dictionary under "laid back", you'll find a picture of Bobby. Bobby got an autographed glass from Booker signed "To Shorty" in memory of his grandfather. How cool is that!!!