BOTM 11/15: Eagle Rare Single Barrel

[b1gcountry]

I couldn't find any earlier, but this week it is everywhere in St Louis for 29.99

[Flyfish]

I tried a whole pour last night and it was tasty. The sour and bitter notes were gone for me. I still have no clue if it was just me, or whether opening the bottle helped.

I find that bourbon always tastes better when I open the bottle.

[b1gcountry]

Nice!

[PaulO]

I opened my Christmas gift ER.  I kept thinking, this reminds me a lot of Old Charter 8 year or 10 year old that i used to buy in the past.  

Edited December 29, 2015 by PaulO

[Guest]

Resurrecting this old thread to pose a question: does anyone else get a muddy or grassy note from ER10?  

 

I picked up a bottle recently for a great price at a Woodman's in Northern WI.  Opened it last night and my anticipation was heightened by a great nose and the most viscous bourbon I've ever seen.  (Thicker than the RY10SiB.)  But immediately upon tasting I get this earthy note that effectively masks all the other good flavors.  The note is not present in the nose...  So, I took a break, ate some crackers, drank a goodly amount of water -- then had another go at it: same note.  Oddly enough, it's the same muddy note (though more pronounced) that I get from the RY10SiB.  

 

I'm doing my best to try to get used to it -- and I can tell there's a great whiskey underneath the dirt I'm perceiving.  I plan to try it at a bar at my earliest convenience to see if I simply got a "bad" bottle.  FWIW, the cork is in perfect condition, but, just in case, I tried the "Saran Wrap cure" for cork taint:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cork_taint

 

...and it had no effect whatsoever.  So my guess is it's something in the bourbon that I taste or respond to more so than others?  (It may be significant that I haven't heard anyone sound the same note on the RY10SiB).

 

Just curious if others have had this same experience with ER10?

    

[petrel800]

Cork Taint will give you a wet cardboard/wet dog type odor and taste.  When you get it, you'll know it.  The actual appearance or condition of the cork has no baring on whether there is a problem or not.  It doesn't sound like you have this issue.

 

As for the taste you describe, in some barrels of Eagle Rare, I do notice what I would refer to as a earth note.  I like to think of it as a rickhouse funk.  I've also read about some recent Elmer T Lee barrels that have the note you describe, but I haven't had a recent ETL bottle to confirm or not.  

 

As always, could just be something regarding your palate for the evening or it being a newly opened bottle.  Pour it and let it air for awhile before drinking, or revisit in a couple of days and try again.

[jeffrey r]

Steve, I would think that is cork taint, or maybe just a particularly "off" barrel.  ER10 is one of the more consistent profiles that I have come across, and though some barrels are better than others, I enjoy most ER10 bottles, and don't recall a grassy or "off" note.   It just so happens that Buffalo Trace and Rock Hill Farms are known for being a bit earthy and grassy, so that profile is not completely foreign to BT brands.

[amg]

2 hours ago, jeffrey r said:

Steve, I would think that is cork taint, or maybe just a particularly "off" barrel.  ER10 is one of the more consistent profiles that I have come across, and though some barrels are better than others, I enjoy most ER10 bottles, and don't recall a grassy or "off" note.   It just so happens that Buffalo Trace and Rock Hill Farms are known for being a bit earthy and grassy, so that profile is not completely foreign to BT brands.

"Grassy" doesn't sound like cork taint to me. Also the nose wouldn't be "great" on a cork tainted bottle. Maybe just an off-profile barrel, or he doesn't like ER10. Nothing wrong with that.

Edited December 27, 2016 by amg

[Paddy]

I don't usually get more than a barely noticeable bit of grass and/or earth from ER.  I do get what I refer to as a hefty dose of 'barn dirt' from RR, and actually anticipate it when I have a pour.  

 

I'd put it down a couple of days for a good palate/bottle reset before going back to it.  If it's still there, it's likely just a barrel/batch issue. 

 

FWIW, my recent experience with ER has been nothing short of hitting on all cylinders.   

[smokinjoe]

I get the earthiness in the namesake Buffalo Trace label to varying degrees.  It's a house style that I enjoy.  Eagle Rare bottles that I've had can have it at times, but usually to a much lesser degree.   Perhaps, you have one that shows a little more of this? If it's off putting, I think Paddy's advice to take a break to reset your  palate is a good idea.  

 

That being said, BT's distillery in such close proximity to the river can impact some weird notes on some barrels during flooding/high river levels resulting in the notorious "BT Funk" in some barrel dumps.  This is where the earthiness goes overboard into more of an unpleasant profile.  Could be that the particular barrel you have has got it.

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, smokinjoe said:

I get the earthiness in the namesake Buffalo Trace label to varying degrees.  It's a house style that I enjoy.  Eagle Rare bottles that I've had can have it at times, but usually to a much lesser degree.   Perhaps, you have one that shows a little more of this? If it's off putting, I think Paddy's advice to take a break to reset your  palate is a good idea.  

 

That being said, BT's distillery in such close proximity to the river can impact some weird notes on some barrels during flooding/high river levels resulting in the notorious "BT Funk" in some barrel dumps.  This is where the earthiness goes overboard into more of an unpleasant profile.  Could be that the particular barrel you have has got it.

Thanks Joe, at the levels I was tasting it, I find it hard to imagine anyone thinking of it as a *feature.*  But having brought up the topic, I am going to find a bar (or two) that sells it -- and order to see if it is a characteristic taste, or if I purchased an "off" bottle.  I'll update here -- tho I'm sure most ER10 drinkers are not holding their breath! : )   

[Paddy]

Steve,  Does it taste like earth and mold?  If so, those are 'special' post flood releases (as Joe noted above).

 

Like the 'tornado surviving', if that's the case, you got a deal on that one if you only paid retail!  

[Flyfish]

13 hours ago, Steve L said:

Thanks Joe, at the levels I was tasting it, I find it hard to imagine anyone thinking of it as a *feature.* 

Olfactory memory is a strange phenomenon. (Or, as my ol' Pappy used to say, "Smells like an ol' factory in here.")  I remember the smell of our garage after a rain when I was a kid. It wasn't quite pleasant. But it was distinctive and not quite unpleasant either. Likewise, the smell of Murphy's Oil Soap when my mother was house cleaning. I didn't love the smell but it does have pleasant associations because it always reminds me of my mother when she was young and beautiful--and alive. Damp garage floors and Murphy's Soap are just stimulants to nostalgia.

There are days when I catch a hint of something undefinable in a nice bourbon. Though I can't find a name for what it is, it makes me smile anyway. There is a hint of the mystical in the enjoyment of that undefinable something. 

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Flyfish said:

Olfactory memory is a strange phenomenon. (Or, as my ol' Pappy used to say, "Smells like an ol' factory in here.")  I remember the smell of our garage after a rain when I was a kid. It wasn't quite pleasant. But it was distinctive and not quite unpleasant either. Likewise, the smell of Murphy's Oil Soap when my mother was house cleaning. I didn't love the smell but it does have pleasant associations because it always reminds me of my mother when she was young and beautiful--and alive. Damp garage floors and Murphy's Soap are just stimulants to nostalgia.

There are days when I catch a hint of something undefinable in a nice bourbon. Though I can't find a name for what it is, it makes me smile anyway. There is a hint of the mystical in the enjoyment of that undefinable something. 

There is a bit of brain chemistry and brain architecture at work here. Bit of a longer tale to relate here -- but hey, Im on vacation:

 

I had a medical issue some time back that had me reading up on the brain -- every book I could find.  (FWIW, I think my favorite of the overview books was Norman Doidge's "The Brain That Changes Itself," which focuses on brain plasticity.)  One of the themes that comes up in all the books is the power of the olfactory sense and the way it ties so powerfully to long-term memory.  The general consensus is that smell (and its lesser cousin taste), have been elementary survival tools for many millions -- even billions of years.  After all, living things live by ingesting things around them, and when they ingest the wrong stuff...well...not so good.  

 

As I read all of this I thought back to one of the smell-related mysteries of my childhood -- the fact that I would often "smell" the burning of the old magnesium flashbulbs, at the mere *mention* of the word "camera."  In this case, the connection worked the other way: the word or image of the camera evoked the smell for me-- rather than the more familiar smell -> evokes memory.

 

This tight tie also begins to explain -- I think -- the almost indescribable depth of pleasure truly great, deep, and complex smells provide.  I can still recall the hair rising on the back of my neck the first time I got my nose into a full glass of first-growth Bordeaux.  It seemed like it had been waiting for me to smell it for my whole life -- or that I had encountered it before in some previous existence.  I had very near the same experience the other night with OWA -- when I smelled a glass I had emptied several hours earlier -- prior to taking it to the sink at the end of the night.  (I've heard others here talk about the beauty of the "next morning" glass smell -- yep, totally get it.)

 

Anyway, that's a big part of the fun of this for me.  The better the juice, the deeper the olfactory mystery seems to run...

 

 

[flahute]

On 12/28/2016 at 9:43 AM, Flyfish said:

Olfactory memory is a strange phenomenon. (Or, as my ol' Pappy used to say, "Smells like an ol' factory in here.")  I remember the smell of our garage after a rain when I was a kid. It wasn't quite pleasant. But it was distinctive and not quite unpleasant either. Likewise, the smell of Murphy's Oil Soap when my mother was house cleaning. I didn't love the smell but it does have pleasant associations because it always reminds me of my mother when she was young and beautiful--and alive. Damp garage floors and Murphy's Soap are just stimulants to nostalgia.

There are days when I catch a hint of something undefinable in a nice bourbon. Though I can't find a name for what it is, it makes me smile anyway. There is a hint of the mystical in the enjoyment of that undefinable something. 

The very first time I opened a bottle Parker's Heritage Promise Of Hope, the smell that came out of the bottle and filled the room immediately took me back to my uncle's house in Denver in the early 70's. I could picture the basement bar and my uncle in all his rat pack glory sipping a whiskey. So weird that this, and no other bourbon, evoked that memory. 

[Guest]

31 minutes ago, flahute said:

The very first time I opened a bottle Parker's Heritage Promise Of Hope, the smell that came out of the bottle and filled the room immediately took me back to my uncle's house in Denver in the early 70's. I could picture the basement bar and my uncle in all his rat pack glory sipping a whiskey. So weird that this, and no other bourbon, evoked that memory. 

^This could be the inspiration for a nice long thread on the topic of "Whiskey Memories" -- perhaps tomorrow (with some coffee in me) I'll be better able to give it a proper start.  

[flahute]

5 minutes ago, Steve L said:

^This could be the inspiration for a nice long thread on the topic of "Whiskey Memories" -- perhaps tomorrow (with some coffee in me) I'll be better able to give it a proper start.  

Great idea. 

[0895]

The "single barrel variances" in the Eagle Rare was definitely noticed by me while helping with a store pick barrel earlier this year.  The samples ranged from sickeningly sweet cherry cough syrup to what I would describe as just a very dry and hot (desert air like) version of buffalo trace and everything in between.  I was truly amazed by how different it can be.

 

Shortly after tasting ER10 for the barrel pick, I tried a pour of E.H. Taylor Cured Oak for the first time and immediately recognized it as tasting like a cherry cough syrup barrel of eagle rare.

 

The musty damp BT funk last reared its ugly head in a bottle of Blanton's I got in the fall of 2015.  Despite all my tricks, I couldn't subdue it and eventually ended up mixing it into soda  just to be rid of it.

Edited January 2, 2017 by 0895

[fishnbowljoe]

On November 3, 2015 at 10:31 PM, fishnbowljoe said:

As most folks know, store selects tend to be at the very least a little better than a normal bottling. Sometimes they can be great. On rare occasions, fantastic. At odd times they might leave something to be desired. I've experienced all of these with ER 10. After my introduction to ER10, I got lucky and was able to get a couple of bottles of a private selection. They were great. A while later I was informed of yet another store pick, and I was able to get one of those too. Wow! It was even better than the previous one's I'd purchased. Absolutely fantastic.  One day my wife and I took a drive. I had my list of liquor stores with me, and my gps was all fired up. We stopped at one place, and they had their own private selection of ER 10. The store even had it on sale at a really great price. I was a pretty happy camper. I was seriously considering buying a case. The only reasons I didn't were because I'd found a few other things that day, and my wife suggesting only buying one, and if I liked it, we could come back and I could buy a case. Sounded reasonable to me. I'm glad I listened to her. Got home, settled in, popped the top and had a nice pour.  This bottle of ER10 tasted nothing at all like any bottle of it I'd had before, or have had since. Went back to it a few days later. Same thing. I kept waiting for it to get better, and it never did. To tell y'all the truth, I'm not sure how I ever finished that bottle, because it was almost to the point of being undrinkable. Goes to show ya' just never know.

Joe

 

 

 

This is from me up thread. Figured it wouldn't hurt revisiting it. 

[bigmzungu]

ER is my go to pour and I do find that it occasionally has an earthiness to it.  I don't get nearly as much of that profile as I do with other BT products like RHF and ETL, but it is there to a small degree. 

[Enoch]

A local liquor store just released a barrel select ER. Ir was actually nearly 12 years old...barreled in 2005. It is exquisite and with the case discount comes out to about $30 per bottle.