Evan Williams Single Barrel 2002 Vintage

[MauiSon]

Weekend Wondering: Wouldn't it be fun to have a bottle from the last barrel of each year? I wonder if anyone at the plant had that idea? [Total Geekdom]

Edited February 10, 2013 by MauiSon

[portwood]

Weekend Wondering: Wouldn't it be fun to have a bottle from the last barrel of each year? I wonder if anyone at the plant had that idea? [Total Geekdom]

If the distillery were to keep any, I would think the 1st bottle from the 1st barrel of each year would be the most likely.

[cowdery]

The press samples are always from the first barrel, which makes sense because they are sent out a couple of months before the actual release. They usually have an event when the new vintage is unveiled and draw directly from barrel number 1, which is ceremonially opened. This little exercise we're doing here is as close as I've ever gotten to determing the last barrel. I remember when the 1997 came out, we were looking for barrels dumped after the date of the fire. They probably don't want to announce the number of the last barrel because, as I said, that's the equivalent of reporting sales, which as a private company they don't do.

[squire]

I'll take any old barrel they choose to draw from, just wish I was on the invite list.

[rebelfred]

I am looking for 1987, 1989, and 1991 bottles of EWSB, if anyone who collects these can help. I have other years if someone is looking.

[cowdery]

Don't feel too bad. I haven't been invited to one in many years.

[Rockefeller]

Barrel #1 of the 2003 Vintage was just named the number two whiskey of the Spring by JHansell

Should I buy a case before it becomes more expensive or gets watered down?

[tanstaafl2]

Barrel #1 of the 2003 Vintage was just named the number two whiskey of the Spring by JHansell

Should I buy a case before it becomes more expensive or gets watered down?

Edited February 11, 2013 by tanstaafl2

[squire]

When in doubt buy a case.

[MauiSon]

Okay, on another forum I saw mention of barrel #1049 bottled 11/21/12. I think that ranks as the highest mention yet. That's 1 week before Chuck's 2003 barrel #1. I would assume there is no overlap between 'vintage years'.

SFS, why would you assume 140pf for the dumped barrels? That's a rather high dump proof, considering that barrel entry must be no greater than 125pf.

Edited February 23, 2013 by MauiSon

[cowdery]

They tend to make the EWSBV picks from high floors and the dump proof can be really high, even higher than 140, but I picked that (arbitrarily) as typical. Dump proofs being higher, even much higher, than barrel entry proof is pretty typical in Kentucky.

[SFS]

SFS, why would you assume 140pf for the dumped barrels? That's a rather high dump proof, considering that barrel entry must be no greater than 125pf.

I was just running the numbers, with the constants supplied by Chuck. Note that he also chose (arbitrarily?) a final proof of 86.6, and I ran the numbers again at a final proof of 84, after Squire asked. I can't remember what it is actually bottled at, and the bottles have hit the recycling already, for both my 2001 and 2002.

[MauiSon]

Well, Stagg releases seem to average about 140pf, but that's with 50% more aging. Handy's releases seem to average about 130pf with 20% less aging. I would think 130pf would be a closer average, but that's with rather limited information on my part.

[Shell]

But the math looks like this.

40 gallons = 151.4 Liters

1 Liter of 140 proof bourbon + 0.6166 L water = 1.616 L of 86.6 proof bourbon (this is actually not quite correct, with respect to volume, because 100 mL of water + 100 mL of pure ethanol will not yield 200 mL of liquid, regardless of the proof of that liquid, but that is another topic. For the sake of estimation, I'll not worry about that factor.)

997 barrels X 151.4 liters = 150,945.8 L of 140 proof.

Each of those 150,946 L needs 0.6166 L water, so that's another 93,073 L.

150,946 + 93,073 = 244,019 L which would make 325,358 bottles (of 750 mL each). At $23 each, that's $7,483,249.

Note: Beginning at the line that starts with "Each of", I rounded to whole units.

Remember that "...At $23 each, that's $7,483,249...." means gross retail sales (and not the amount Heaven Hill receives).

[squire]

I believe it comes down to the profile the blenders choose for a specific brand and if the barrels that meet that profile come from the higher floors of the warehouse the proof will be greater.