Amusing, yet scary...

[PaulO]

If he wants to push these sourced whisky brands fine with me, I don't buy 'em anyway.

That pretty well sums up my feelings too.

[qman22]

Well this didn't take long... Parker's bourbon reviews coming soon to a shelf talker near you! I'm now bullish on Blanton's.

http://www.empirewine.com/liquor/blantons-93prf-750ml/

[WAINWRIGHT]

Well this didn't take long... Parker's bourbon reviews coming soon to a shelf talker near you! I'm now bullish on Blanton's.

http://www.empirewine.com/liquor/blantons-93prf-750ml/

[Sasquatch]

Well this didn't take long... Parker's bourbon reviews coming soon to a shelf talker near you! I'm now bullish on Blanton's.

http://www.empirewine.com/liquor/blantons-93prf-750ml/

[qman22]

Now I'm wondering if I'll see Old Bardstown in the locked display cases tomorrow.

[Sasquatch]

http://www.wineandcheeseplace.com/cart.php?target=product&product_id=7795&category_id=1

:slappin:

[miller542]

Well this didn't take long... Parker's bourbon reviews coming soon to a shelf talker near you! I'm now bullish on Blanton's.

http://www.empirewine.com/liquor/blantons-93prf-750ml/

[KyFriedChicken]

Oooooh, boy. I better go stock up for the bunker while I can. You know, I've never bought a bottle of Old Bardstown black before but it seems that right now the gettin is good!

All joking aside, I did see every bottle of Weller 12 under lock and key in a regular stop of mine starting a few weeks back, which was odd. I can't imagine what prompted that move.

[Sasquatch]

Because it's that good! I always find it interesting shopping from behind bars. Nothing like having to point out what you want to buy and getting it through a little window. Occasionally there are some great finds either because folks don't see them or they don't want to spend the money on the higher priced bottles. Great place to find old dusties.

[KyFriedChicken]

I've spent plenty of time talking through bulletproof, but this shop was a somewhat touristy Liquor Barn. Why they would move Weller 12, something I've never had a problem picking up, to a display case escapes me. Derby, I hope?

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

[VT Mike]

Edited May 10, 2013 by VT Mike

[PaulO]

I picked up a bottle of Old Bardstown 90 proof black label in Louisville a few years ago. I was trying to pick up some bottles I hadn't seen before in Indiana. Anyway, to me it tasted like a rougher, harsher version of Evan Williams. I didn't pour it down the drain, but I thought I wasn't very good, and wouldn't buy it again. It doesn't bother me if other people like it. I can easily find better bourbon for less $.

[whiskeyobsessive]

Here is the problem. It is us. We, the consumers, are too impressionable by opinion, expectation and peer pressure. Not you and me in particular, obviously, but certainly our friends and acquaintances. When some douchey friend shows up with a $200 bottle of wine that got "98 points" in Parker, we are all impressed. Even if we are not, we can never discount that information enough. Sure, we might not think it was nearly perfect or worth that kind of money, but we are likely to have a positive experience, and our douchey friend will probably buy a case, his friends will do the same, and soon Chateau Petrus is $8000 a bottle.

This is exactly the same thing as happened to Pappy. It was, for many of us, a really nice treat of a bourbon at $50 dollars or so that we loved to share with our friends as an example of how good a bourbon could be. They hype machine then took over. We then made it worse by buying all we could as we saw availability declining and prices rising, creating a feedback loop that ends with assholes selling Pappy for $800 in Craigslist.

My fear is that we are going to let this happen to other bourbons (Blanton's seems to have been rated scarily high at 97) that we like. There is only one solution to this: we need to educate each other and our friends better about out favored hobby in an accessible way. We need to create an alternative for the confused guy in the liquor store that is being drawn to the "95 points!" shelf talker. We also need to spread the word that, if his last article is indication, Parker knows very little about bourbon and we don't have to listen to him. This is the reason that he doesn't even try to review Burgundy anymore: he made a number of bad calls and embarrassing mistakes early on, no one listened to him about Burgundy, and now he doesn't even review it anymore. We have to encourage the same thing.

[VAGentleman]

Wow.

Maybe now those wondering will understand all the harshness and hand wringing over the original review.

I still don't see the issue. At least his description gave me an idea how it tastes. Its better than the random double gold medal listing that people see and assume it must be great

[Old Dusty]

I still don't see the issue. At least his description gave me an idea how it tastes. Its better than the random double gold medal listing that people see and assume it must be great

Except now the retailer is passing on the Parker mistake to the buyer and by providing the full quote they are passively affirming the mistaken speculation. Blanton's is neither blended nor extra aged but now it has both Parker's imprimatur and the retailer's acceptance of it and both are misleading.

[Yeti]

Maybe the tone of the response is too much for some, but I don't understand all of the people who...don't understand the reaction. He's wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong about nearly everything that isn't a tasting note. Yes, the actual tasting notes are descriptive and obviously written by a professional beverage journalist/reviewer. Which is what makes the pervasive mistakes all the more maddening.

[miller542]

Yes, the actual tasting notes are descriptive and obviously written by a professional beverage journalist/reviewer.

and since he already has the vocabulary of a reviewer, how hard could it have been to pile together some of the same descriptors and call it a bourbon review?

Edited May 10, 2013 by miller542

[Kalessin]

All joking aside, I did see every bottle of Weller 12 under lock and key in a regular stop of mine starting a few weeks back, which was odd. I can't imagine what prompted that move.

Customers with sticky fingers could be one reason. One of my local stores has all of their Johnnie Walker Black bottles behind the counter because too many were getting stolen. They have many higher-priced bottles of single malt scotch out on the shelves, but apparently the JW Black was a pilferage problem.

Raising the bottles' Veblen value (it's locked in the fancy cabinet... it MUST be good and worth the higher price!) to increase sales is another.

Edited May 10, 2013 by Kalessin

[speedbump47]

Customers with sticky fingers could be one reason.

Local Total Wine had regular Hennessy in the cases, along with $200+ armagnacs and cognacs. Open shelves next to it had $120+ bottles of stuff. When we asked what was going on, they too replied that it seemed to be a popular item to steal.

[squire]

I'm not surprised one of our members found Old Bardstown to "taste a lot like" Evan Williams. The primary difference is EW is smoother and costs a lot less.

[Sasquatch]

I'm not surprised one of our members found Old Bardstown to "taste a lot like" Evan Williams. The primary difference is EW is smoother and costs a lot less.

:thumbup: Ain't that the truth.

[TBC]

This piece by Sku is hilarious. Between this and Tim's take on the issue, I'm inclined to think the LAWS guys are taking comedy writing lessons between whiskey tastings.

Haha! Fantastic.

[squire]

Skewered, as it were.

[squire]

Showing on Netflix is a movie titled 'Corked' which is a parody of pretentiousness in the Northern California Wine country. One of the characters is the most influential wine critic Richard Parsons. His palate is insured for one million dollars, he doesn't shake hands and no one is allowed to speak to him.

[Alden]

If you can find it watch the documentary Mondovino (world of wine).

It's very interesting, very entertaining, and in some ways probably pertains to the world of whiskey as well.

As I recall, Parker is in it.