Flight 107

[JayMonster]

OK, for tasting, I have done "Wheat Flights", "Beam Flights", "4 Year Flights", and few others.

I am now working on "Flight 107" which as I am sure you have figured out is a tasting of 107 Proof Bourbon.

On the docket is (in no particular order)

Bakers 7/107

Old Weller Antique NAS/107

Old Rip Van Winkle 10/107

Kentucky Bourbon Pure Kentucky 12/107

I thought about putting Wild Turkey Rare Breed figuring it to be "close enough" to 107, but I will probably save that for my "Barrel Roll" Tasting next month.

Anything else I am missing to throw on this flight? How would you line it up?

[StraightNoChaser]

Pappy 15 is 107 proof

[JayMonster]

Pappy 15 is 107 proof

Sadly, I have yet to see a bottle of Pappy 15 in NJ (Did recently find a 20 that I have stashed away for the future, but that is about it).

[trumpstylz]

The costco stuff is 107.

[Halifax]

Here's one...

[Josh]

Here's one...

Ah, the infamous BUB.

[JayMonster]

Halifax - Haven't seen ETL around here, will have to dig around a bit and see if anybody in NJ has it. Thanks for the suggestions.

Josh - BUB?

[Phil T]

Ah, the infamous BUB.

Forgive my ignorance. What is the infamous BUB?

[c2walker]

Halifax - Haven't seen ETL around here, will have to dig around a bit and see if anybody in NJ has it. Thanks for the suggestions.

ETL is now 90 proof. You're going to spend a long time searching for a bottle like the one in the photo posted by Halifax!

[c2walker]

Forgive my ignorance. What is the infamous BUB?

[soad]

Is there any reason (beyond copycatting) why there is an inordinate amount of 107 proof bourbons??

[cas]

BUB = Butt Ugly Bottle

[JayMonster]

Sort of an inside joke that comes up whenever somebody finds one of those on the shelf somewhere. Maybe we should post a guide to our acronyms (a GTA?).

Craig

[JayMonster]

Is there any reason (beyond copycatting) why there is an inordinate amount of 107 proof bourbons??

I don't know if 5 bourbons (not counting Costco which is just a private label) qualifies as an inordinate number.

That being said, I have wondered myself why certain numbers seem to be standard. (except for Wild Turkey which always goes 1° higher). OK, 80 makes sense because it is as low as you can go. But why then 86, 90,100, 107? Are they significant for some reason, or do all the distillers just fall in line with each other?

[sutton]

But why then 86, 90,100, 107? Are they significant for some reason, or do all the distillers just fall in line with each other?

Good question - Tradition? Does something "special" happen between whiskey and water at these proofs? Even more bizarre is 86.6 - Angel's Envy, Evan Williams SB ... not 86, not 87, but 86.6 ...

[sob0728]

I don't know if 5 bourbons (not counting Costco which is just a private label) qualifies as an inordinate number.

That being said, I have wondered myself why certain numbers seem to be standard. (except for Wild Turkey which always goes 1° higher). OK, 80 makes sense because it is as low as you can go. But why then 86, 90,100, 107? Are they significant for some reason, or do all the distillers just fall in line with each other?

Costco is 103, not 107.

[JayMonster]

Costco is 103, not 107.

I don't know personally, since I do not shop at Costco, but was simply going by what Trumpstylz said earlier in the thread... that it was 107.

[sob0728]

I don't know personally, since I do not shop at Costco, but was simply going by what Trumpstylz said earlier in the thread... that it was 107.

I wasn't trying to take a shot or anything. I was just correcting it in the thread.

[JayMonster]

I wasn't trying to take a shot or anything. I was just correcting it in the thread.

No worries, didn't take it as a shot, just explaining where i got my info. Thanks for the correction.

[Gillman]

There has been some discussion of this over the years.

114 is one of the proofs for Old Gran-dad. Before U.S. proof was established in the 1800's, the system followed Sykes proof, the British system (now superseded in Britain). Under Sykes proof, 100 proof is 57% ABV (or I think 57.1%). That is 114 proof in the U.S. system. So I believe 114 U.S. proof was an echo of the old English system, I doubt this was a matter of coincidence.

Because 50% ABV was and is 100 proof for the U.S. and 50 is 7 points down from 57, I believe someone came up with 107 by a kind of parallel thinking.

As for 86, it is almost exactly 20% less than Sykes proof, just as 80% is 20% less than 100 proof.

Not sure about 90 proof and it may fit no schema, just as 103, say, likely doesn't and various numbers seem all over the map. But I think there must be a definite connection between 114 U.S. proof and Sykes proof, with some of the numbers first mentioned above being derived indirectly from them.

Gary

[soad]

There has been some discussion of this over the years.

114 is one of the proofs for Old Gran-dad. Before U.S. proof was established in the 1800's, the system followed Sykes proof, the British system (now superseded in Britain). Under Sykes proof, 100 proof is 57% ABV (or I think 57.1%). That is 114 proof in the U.S. system. So I believe 114 U.S. proof was an echo of the old English system, I doubt this was a matter of coincidence.

Because 50% ABV was and is 100 proof for the U.S. and 50 is 7 points down from 57, I believe someone came up with 107 by a kind of parallel thinking.

As for 86, it is almost exactly 20% less than Sykes proof, just as 80% is 20% less than 100 proof.

Not sure about 90 proof and it may fit no schema, just as 103, say, likely doesn't and various numbers seem all over the map. But I think there must be a definite connection between 114 U.S. proof and Sykes proof, with some of the numbers first mentioned above being derived indirectly from them.

Gary

Thank you for this!!!

[JayMonster]

Well, it took longer to get here than originally expected sue to conflictng schedules and OWA being on back order at my local haunt, but tonight we go through flight 107. I thought it might be fun to see if the board could pick out the winner and/or orser of preference.

The contestants :

OWA

Pure Kentucky XO

Bakers

ORVW

The Judges

No. 1 - Scotch Drinker, Single Malt, mostly Islay

No. 2 - Believes the bourbon world begins and ends with Wild Turkey 101

No. 3 - Usually a Red Wine kinda gal, has taken a curiosity with bourbon

No. 4 - Me - Used to thonk I was purely a wheater guy, but now find I can appreciate anything that isn't OGD, Woodford Reserve or Evan Williams.

So now, like they used to have on This Week in Baseball, it is time for "You make the call. " Who will like what, and will there be a clear cut victor that the group will pick as the best of the bunch?

I will post the results tomorrow.

Edit: Somehow when I posted this intially I left off the final bourbon contenstant. Updated to add the ORVW (10/107 of course)

[soad]

Well, it took longer to get here than originally expected sue to conflictng schedules and OWA being on back order at my local haunt, but tonight we go through flight 107. I thought it might be fun to see if the board could pick out the winner and/or orser of preference.

The contestants :

OWA

Pure Kentucky XO

Bakers

The Judges

No. 1 - Scotch Drinker, Single Malt, mostly Islay

No. 2 - Believes the bourbon world begins and ends with Wild Turkey 101

No. 3 - Usually a Red Wine kinda gal, has taken a curiosity with bourbon

No. 4 - Me - Used to thonk I was purely a wheater guy, but now find I can appreciate anything that isn't OGD, Woodford Reserve or Evan Williams.

So now, like they used to have on This Week in Baseball, it is time for "You make the call. " Who will like what, and will there be a clear cut victor that the group will pick as the best of the bunch?

I will post the results tomorrow.

Bet you will not have a hard time picking the OWA out of the line-up. I think the Red Wine Gal will like it the best too. The WT101 guy will probably find the Bakers the most familiar. Not sure about those silly Scotch drinkers.:grin:

[jersey12]

I'm going to go out a a limb and say that you're going to pick OWA considering you just bought a case! I've never had Pure Kentucky but look forward to seeing the results. Sounds like a nice Saturday night.

[JayMonster]

I goofed and left off the 4th contestant... the ORVW 10/107. I have updated accordingly.