OWA 107 - 7 yr vs NAS

[GaryT]

Just curious if any folks have both the current OWA offering and a recent OWA with the 7 yr age statement, and how different they are. Dropping the age statement obviously allows them to put younger juice in the bottle, but as they try to maintain the brand's flavor profile for consistency - I'm curious if there is a major difference?

Put another way - if you've had both, and someone told you there were 2 or 3 750s of OWA 107 7 yr about a 2 hour drive (one way) away, would you bother with it - or call the store to have them hold while you risk breaking speed limits?

[squire]

There's not enough difference to notice and not enough to bother with a drive, unless you're headed that direction anyway.

[RocknRoll]

There's not enough difference to notice and not enough to bother with a drive, unless you're headed that direction anyway.

Agreed. Definitely not enough difference to justify a 4 hour round trip just to get the "age stated" version.

[smknjoe]

I totally agree with Squire and RR, but if they are REALLY old I'd go get them.

[MauiSon]

Not just to be contrary, but if I had the chance to put 'em on hold and knew they were waiting, I'd go for it. Sure, a current private selection may be better, but when considering how much gas I've burned hunting dusties vs. finding dusties - it's worth it. YMMV

Then again, I enjoy driving.

Edited July 15, 2013 by MauiSon

[squire]

Take it back, if I lived in Hawaii I would drive.

[GaryT]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. This is a quasi-hypothetical but is very helpful. And if they were really old (ie - SW juice perhaps), I'd absolutely make the drive.

[mosugoji64]

I'll echo the opinions of those who said there's not much difference between the more recent 7yr and current NAS bottles. I did a blind test once and couldn't detect much difference. That said, I love the old paper labels and grab them whenever I see them.

[squire]

Yes, there is the romance factor.

[petrel800]

Not to pile on, but you can put me in the not enough difference to make the trip category.

[tanstaafl2]

Take it back, if I lived in Hawaii I would drive.

With Honolulu traffic some days it would probably be faster to walk than drive!

Although to go two hours without traffic you pretty much travel from one end to the other on any of the Islands except maybe going around the southern tip of the Big Island or the road to Hana on Maui.

That said there can be some pretty drives in Hawaii, even on Oahu. Even though the H-3 is faster depending on which way you are going and where you want to end up I still like taking the Pali Highway and stopping at the Nu'uanu Pali Lookout to see the view over the windward side and Kaneohe Bay even though I have been many times before.

Lovely place, if a bit windy, to stop for a spell and enjoy a nice glass of OWA, age stated or otherwise!

[jtgraves]

Add one more to the "Not worth a long drive" tally. However, if the juice in those bottles gets younger and younger over the years, it might get to be worth it, and since you can't know if/when that will happen... This is how you end up making that drive anyway.

[squire]

When I see a trend I always tell myself to stock up but don't always listen.

[brettckeen]

I dunno I had some age stated OWA over the weekend and found it notably a smoother 107 than the current offerings

[hn4bourbon]

I don't know if the same applies to OWA but I found some WSR7 from the mid 2000s recently and it tastes considerably better than my other opened bottle of WSR without the age.