Hudson Bay bourbons..

[Kafka45]

I've seen this variety (Hudson Bay), in my local Hy-Vee store. (Which has a fairly large selection of bourbons believe it or not). and was wondering if it can possibly

be worth the price? $40+ for a 375ml bottle! The only thing comparable is the $79 for a bottle of 4 roses single barrel limited edition. I haven't been able

to sample that one either.. but have read good things.

So.. any of you "seasoned" tasters out there tried Hudson Bay?

later.....

k

[squire]

k, we should be mindful that price alone is not a reliable indicator of quality in a Bourbon.

The Four Roses Limited Editions, Single barrel or Small Batch, are worth the price in the sense they are that Distillery's highest quality barrels individually selected and carefully vatted by a Master's hand to produce one of the finest Bourbons available on the market today. There is no limiting formula or age restrictions, they pick the best from their millions of gallons of available fully aged fine Bourbon and the expressions are different each year united only by the fact they are of the highest quality.

Hudson's Bay is a micro with limited supplies whose Bourbon is being rushed to market to pay their bills. I notice their web site mentions "a gentle burn all the way down", which is a fancy way of saying it's young fiery stuff that shows it's immaturity. It's expensive because you are paying for their learning curve and a certain sort of 'we're better because we're smaller' image that appeals to some.

If it's a choice between the two grab the Four Roses before somebody else gets it. There will still be some Hudsons on the shelf later if you're willing to pay that much for a mixer.

Edited March 26, 2013 by squire

[Kafka45]

That's the kind of info I need. Since I'm 61 and have "some" experience sampling various brands, I still get weirded out

by how MUCH some distillers try to get for their product. Like you suggested, $80 for 750ml MIXER is just crazy. This latest trend

of flavored bourbons drives me sideways.

[WAINWRIGHT]

I have tried all the iterations across the Hudson line and your money is best spent elsewhere.I find them all to be overly young/green and for a premium priced product,that being said very few in the craft line have ever suited my tastes.

[amftx]

No. If you can come for a visit you can have the bottle of their baby bourbon I'm not drinking.

[GaryT]

Also agree - I bought some Baby Bourbon as part of a tasting flight after it got a rave review (can't recall where now), and thought it was the worst of the bunch. Very young, and absent of character, IMHO.

[Restaurant man]

I have a curiosity about the micros. But not enough to pay $100 a bottle and I'm even less likely to pay $50 for a half bottle

[Dolph Lundgren]

k, we should be mindful that price alone is not a reliable indicator of quality in a Bourbon.

The Four Roses Limited Editions, Single barrel or Small Batch, are worth the price in the sense they are that Distillery's highest quality barrels individually selected and carefully vatted by a Master's hand to produce one of the finest Bourbons available on the market today. There is no limiting formula or age restrictions, they pick the best from their millions of gallons of available fully aged fine Bourbon and the expressions are different each year united only by the fact they are of the highest quality.

Hudson's Bay is a micro with limited supplies whose Bourbon is being rushed to market to pay their bills. I notice their web site mentions "a gentle burn all the way down", which is a fancy way of saying it's young fiery stuff that shows it's immaturity. It's expensive because you are paying for their learning curve and a certain sort of 'we're better because we're smaller' image that appeals to some.

If it's a choice between the two grab the Four Roses before somebody else gets it. There will still be some Hudsons on the shelf later if you're willing to pay that much for a mixer.

I couldn't have put it better.

I've also tried several iterations of Hudson's whiskeys, and it just doesn't hold a candle to the major distillerys. This is the sentiment of almost all SBers. The best way to get a feel for the micros is to attend a tasting or pool cash with friends to buy a bottle.

Don't let shrewd marketing distract you from the quality of what is in the bottle.

[Josh]

Could you post a picture of the label? You wrote Hudson Bay Bourbon, and people are assuming that it's from Hudson in the Hudson Valley in NY, but they don't have a product called Hudson Bay and I can't find any mention of such a product on a google search. Was it the Hudson Baby Bourbon you saw?

[p_elliott]

Could you post a picture of the label? You wrote Hudson Bay Bourbon, and people are assuming that it's from Hudson in the Hudson Valley in NY, but they don't have a product called Hudson Bay and I can't find any mention of such a product on a google search. Was it the Hudson Baby Bourbon you saw?

Hudson Bay has a whole line of whiskies they come out in 375 ml bottles and cost abot $50 a bottle and are just terrible.

[squire]

Tuthilltown Spirits is the name of the company.

[callmeox]

It's a long way from the Hudson River to Hudson Bay.

[VT Mike]

The passage below is from one of my blog posts covering the whiskey bars of DC. Thank God for honest (and opinionated) bartenders.

"Next I noticed most of the Hudson Whiskey line from Tuthilltown Spirits. This is a fairly new distiller in upstate New York, known for aging their whiskey in small casks and using other techniques to increase the surface area of wood that the spirit is in contact with in order to mature their whiskeys more quickly. The lineup is well marketed, being presented in distinctive 375 ml bottles with eye catching labels, but they don’t come cheap, retailing around $50.

Once again, I decided to go with the bartender’s choice from the lineup. When I told him what I was after, he bluntly informed me that he didn’t really have a high opinion of any of them. I was then presented with another (presumably) complimentary splash. This time it was the Hudson Manhattan Rye Whiskey, I assumed it was the Hudson offering that the bartender found least offensive. My unbiased opinion definitely fell in line with his.

Hot, spice, lack of balance. Doesn’t suck, but meh."

Edited April 11, 2013 by VT Mike
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