Achieving Bourbon Zen - A Mini Manifesto

[humchan2k]

Hi SB,

I am not trying to go all preachy here, but I feel this post deep within my being, so I hope you'll indulge me a bit. I'd like to talk about achieving Bourbon Zen....as I have grown weary of all the fall release nonsense, and would like to see if there are any other like-minded souls in these forums. What is Bourbon Zen, you ask? Allow me to elaborate.....

My buddy Compliance and I were talking recently about all the changes we've seen in the bourbon hobby the past 2-3 years and how all the attention paid to Pappy, BTAC, 4R Ltd and whatnot recently has severely impacted not just the availability of the fall releases but also how it has made the pursuit of said releases a totally lame experience. It has already driven one of our buddies out of the "hobby" (if you call drinking a hobby, I don't really know...but he sold all of his bunker off and essentially "quit" SB)...and it dawned on the both of us that at this point, until currently new stocks get some time to age and the industry supply catches up with demand, it's important to consider pursuing "Bourbon Zen."

Bourbon Zen is a mindset, not necessarily an ethos, but it is state of mind that seems to be eluding a lot of the younger generation. (I'm looking at you, Millenials,) Bourbon zen is the idea that you can be not only content, but happy with what whiskey we DO have at the moment. It's the idea that you don't need to fight tooth and nail for that one elusive bottle of Pappy 15 (which is just BT juice at this point,) when you can grab a Weller 12 any day of the week for $30. It's the celebration of the middle shelf. It's admitting to yourself that you know what, liking Blanton's is okay. It's celebrating the fact that at no time in our collective hive-mindset history have we had as many well made whiskies at our fingertips, for relatively affordable prices, in so many different styles. Bourbon Zen will remind you that until recently, your only rye options really were Overholt.....and Overholt. (The west coast didn't get Rittenhouse until the 2000's, if I'm not mistaken.) Bourbon Zen is what happens when you've learned what YOU truly like, and not giving a shit about whether or not a whiskey is "good" based on provenance, ala SW. Bourbon Zen asks you to embrace your palette, your style...and being happy when you find something YOU like, not what John Hansell tells you you SHOULD like.

You might call it embracing mediocrity, or a fear of competition, I dunno....but I guess at the end of the day, I feel so tired of fighting the teeming masses to find a bottle of overpriced 10 year old heaven hill whiskey (come on, you KNOW PHC 7 isn't worth $90...but I do like how $ is going to research, I'm not a total asshole,) that Bourbon Zen just sounds perfect to me.

So to all you newbies out there that are just joining this "hobby" or are looking for "the best whiskey of the year," I would ask that you slow down a bit, think about what YOU actually like in your whiskey....and see if you don't wind up embracing Bourbon Zen, I bet that you will.

/rant.

And with that...cheers. *lifts a glass of Weller 12 in your direction* Who's with me?

Edited November 13, 2013 by humchan2k

[Old Dusty]

Humchan2k, your proposition is well founded but I suggest when you climb into the Mountains looking for your Bourbon Zen guru, that there shrouded in the mists and surrounded by a glass temple made of Barton and Old Grandad bottles you will find.....Squire.

[humchan2k]

Humchan2k, your proposition is well founded but I suggest when you climb into the Mountains looking for your Bourbon Zen guru, that there shrouded in the mists and surrounded by a glass temple made of Barton and Old Grandad bottles you will find.....Squire.

Funny you should mention Squire...because in my initial draft, I had this sentence "Bourbon Zen is Squire reminding you that OGD really IS good," but I didn't want to get TOO preachy....but yes, I 100% agree that if there was a Buddha/Kami of Bourbon Zen, it's Squire.

[393foureyedfox]

careful....I get reamed on here regularly for such ideas. Of course, you word it better than I

[Clavius]

I'm on a similar wavelength to humchan2k. In my case I simply no longer have the funds to buy the "rare" stuff should I even come across it. However, I did in fact buy it in the past. More than I should have probably! And I enjoyed every bottle. But now I'm kind of over it all. There are plenty of bottles regularly available on the shelf that I'm perfectly happy drinking. Now, I don't judge anyone who hunts. Everybody needs a hobby. And for a short time bourbon was mine. But I've kind of moved on from it. I still love bourbon and this site, though. Lots of great people here. :cool:

[smknjoe]

I'm getting there...after I get my first bottle(s) of Pappy of course. :grin:

I think that most of the members here have reached bourbon zen, but enjoy a little imbalance as well. It keeps things interesting.

[tylermke]

I tend to agree with most of what you are saying, but it's not just the Millenials and younger generation who your post should be directed at. I've seen many middle-aged men go crazy for Pappy, BTAC, etc. Bourbon is fast becoming a status symbol/luxury item and is unbiased toward age.

[Paddy]

Go tell it on the mountain... as I raise my glass of W12 back at you!

P. S. When you get there tell Squire I said hello. :grin:

[squire]

The goal is to become one with the elements, grain, yeast, water and fire.

[bjhowell]

I'm with you. While I've never met a George T. Stagg I didn't like, I'm also completely content with a bottle of VOB BIB. The constant chase for some of the stuff is exhausting. That and the people who are out there who are not bourbon drinkers but who are hoarding stuff as a second career.

[Old Lamplighter]

:toast: To You Humchan2k....I think you've struck a nerve, crystallized into words the collective thoughts of more than a few of us herein, and brought many of us together at a crossroads at just the right moment in bourbon history. Count me all in...I'm ready to be a Bourbon Zen disciple on the road to shambala. After running into a few BTAC brick walls, I say to hell with Stagg & his gang as well as the Pappy Bunch. I'm happy & Weller 12 content and have a very adequate replacement for Stagg with a local retailer bottling of SA Old Scout, 8yo, 123.2 @ $36.99. I can load up the cart with 3 of those for almost the same as 1 of the overbloated GTS this year. :drinking:

Edited November 13, 2013 by Old Lamplighter

[WAINWRIGHT]

I tend to agree with most of what you are saying, but it's not just the Millenials and younger generation who your post should be directed at. I've seen many middle-aged men go crazy for Pappy, BTAC, etc. Bourbon is fast becoming a status symbol/luxury item and is unbiased toward age.

Edited November 13, 2013 by WAINWRIGHT

[RVTsteve]

Well put. I think this is something that most of the people who find SB are looking for. However, as I quickly found out, the more you learn the more you realize you don't know. And so the journey continues. I can say I have way more bottles than I probably want, definitely more than I need. I sometimes look forward to a day when I just have a bottle of EC12, Ritt100, W12 and maybe a special bottle or two tucked away somewhere.

I can't say I've reached total Bourbon Zen but I've had my moments and feel like I approach it more with each pour, and each thread I read on SB :toast:

[MyOldKyDram]

Everyday I pray I'll be the last person to reach this state, so that all the bottles will be belonging to me.

[WAINWRIGHT]

Everyday I pray I'll be the last person to reach this state, so that all the bottles will be belonging to me.

[boneuphtoner]

Great post, I couldn't have said it better myself...thanks for expressing out loud what many of us where already thinking.

[tylermke]

All so true and we chose this hobby,we could see this change on the not so distant horizon and guess what,it's here!You will never change the masses and their singularly one tracked minds of to what is the latest fad,we all did it when we began this hobby to at least some extent.I have shifted my day to day pours of once only limited releases and rare bottles to more common pours on a regular basis and you know what,it has only made me appreciate it all even more on both sides.I came well prepared to this game and thought ahead to prepare myself for this very day,have a reached my Bourbon Zen...... I don't know but I'd like to think so.I guess the much needed passage that I failed to cover is that I've found much more solace sharing with others in this community and close friends than any limited release could ever possibly provide me.

[Yeti]

I have shifted my day to day pours of once only limited releases and rare bottles to more common pours on a regular basis and you know what,it has only made me appreciate it all even more on both sides.

[AaronWF]

West Coast drivel. Nothing against West Coasters in general, but you do tend to play the Zen card a bit much, lead your followers up to the hill to meditate before taking off with the bus and all their clothes. By all means everyone, abandon the chase! Forswear the hobby! Put it back into the hands of the virgins who yearn to come face to face with the force that will pop their cherries...

[Vietish]

Bourbon Zen sounds a lot like Australia if you ask me.

While we have no where near the selection that America does, we do have access to some pretty decent stuff. Now, sure we could go online and order a greater selection from either speciality shops (paying a premium on top of our already stupid prices) or get it shipped from the stated where you end up paying nearly more in postage, but to me, that doesn't make sense. I am more than content to go out and purchase a Eagle Rare, ETL or even just plain ol Buffalo Trace and know, whilst they are all not the best Bourbons in the world, they are from being the worst and even if they were, I still enjoy them, so who cares what others think. They might be over priced compared to what is charged for them in the states, but they are within my budget, easily accessible and I don't have worry bout if I will like it or not.

If someone comes up to me and offers me a bottle of Pappy or a BTAC at a great price, would I say no? Of course not. But I don't loose sleep over not having a bottle at home and probably wont loose any sleep in the future about any bottle. I am happy with what I can get and more than happy to wait for more of the Bourbons to hit our shores.

[B.B. Babington]

new shift in answers to noobees asking, "Is it REALLY that good?" Now hear more often someone answer, "naw, not really." And it's not a fox calling the sweet, high grapes sour 'cause that ol' bird dog my have Stagg in his glass when he answers. There's more variety of good stuff out there.

Now if only the maple and cinnamin flavored whiskeys would get rare as hen's teeth and make more room for good stuff.

[michaelturtle1]

careful....I get reamed on here regularly for such ideas. Of course, you word it better than I

[BoyScout]

You hit the nail on the head with this attitude though I have to say it was Stagg and Pappy that really got me hooked on the hunt. I hope we can continue to attract new converts with the "middle shelf' stuff. Now however I don't have the time nor the connections to find any BTAC, though I did stumble on a Handy Saz at Total the other day and I have one memory of finding a dusty of ER17. All that aside I have settled on Old Scout as my favorite go-to pour. 6, 7, 10, Rye, they are all good and I found them in a side-by-side comparison to Pappy 20. Truly, once you get past the marketing hype there are many good bottles out there and after all, it is the sharing a good glass with a friend that is most important.

[DrBob]

I am approaching Zen but still a good ways off. Have bought way more bourbon than I can drink in the foreseeable future since I got bit last winter and am now working on just getting the bottles I haven't tried yet open. I am getting to where I have id'd a good number of solid, affordable, and most importantly findable pours, that could keep me happy for many years.

Now I also like to say it is best to practice moderation in everything, especially moderation! So I will occasionally spend more than I should, or have a pour more than I ought to, or collect bottles I won't drink for years to come, but I am comfortable in knowing that I will drink them, and that there is a lot of very good whiskey in my bunker, regardless of whether I never stumble across a rare find, or limited release.

[gooneygoogoo]

I agree for the most part but I also have to say that there is something about getting a bottle of something that requires a little work. I love some cheap stuff (VOB BIB, EWSB, Weller 12) but don't care for others (Sorry guys, I just don't care for OG anything). I really like some expensive stuff (Stagg, WLW, FR LE stuff, Pappy 15...gasp) and don't care as much for others (ECBP...another gasp, JPS 21, BMH). To me it is all about the quest for figuring out WHAT I LIKE. And to do that I have to try some hard to get bourbons. So I will hunt. I won't drive myself crazy and I won't try to buy 15 bottles of FR 2013 SmB but I will do my best to try EVERYTHING I CAN. And if I can't find some Bowman Gingerbread, I will buy a Rare Breed instead and be happy to drink it.