tanstaafl2 Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 (edited) Value is of course subjective. If you wanted it and could not find it at a lower price then perhaps it is OK. Only you can decide! But that price is well over twice the typical retail price in most places presuming of course you can find it. Some of us old codgers (well me anyway) wouldn't likely feel that was a good price and indeed I would consider it to be significant gouging by what ever retailer you bought it from. The last time I bought it a few months ago was for about $32 and I thought that was a little high. Edited December 17, 2015 by tanstaafl2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starhopper Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 (edited) In my town, ETL sells for a low of $32.95 and a high of $59.95 - it always pays for me to shop around. Edited December 17, 2015 by starhopper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcbt Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 (edited) 1 hour ago, BourbonGuy said: BTW: For anyone who tasted a recent release, is it still good? Since Elmer T is not selecting the barrels anymore, I wonder who is and if quality has fallen off. Some people swear that it's not as good but I'm not one of them. Still delicious to me. Edited December 17, 2015 by dcbt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbroo5880i Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 I found it on the shelf today in Indy for $36.99. Obviously, higher than the mid-$20s from 3 years ago when I last saw it on the shelf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rahrah12 Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Bought a bottle last week - $35. Store had 7 in a box/delivered that day. Only let me purchase one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanstaafl2 Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 3 hours ago, BourbonGuy said: BTW: For anyone who tasted a recent release, is it still good? Since Elmer T is not selecting the barrels anymore, I wonder who is and if quality has fallen off. It has been discussed on the board before although I can't find it now but the notion the Mr. Lee was personally picking every barrel until the day he died at age 93 is simply not accurate. Most of what was selected for many years was picked by others, although likely based on exemplars of bourbon provided by Lee himself. While he was still fairly active at the distillery until late in life and likely did get involved in occasionally selecting some of the barrels he did not pick them all by any means. Since those exemplars still exist it is likely the bourbon isn't going to change much unless of course the availability of stock aged enough to match the profile gets to be hard to come by. Since just about everything at BT seems to be hard to come by that could certainly be a greater concern for the overall quality going forward. Also remember it is a single barrel product. That can't and won't be all the same! Although when the GBS picked a couple of barrels a couple of years ago they were all remarkably similar at least to my palate. As I recall it was all about 8-9 years old at the time. Whether it still is that old is an open question since it is a NAS bottling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlutz Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 ETL was hard to find around me the last couple years and just started appearing sporadically on shelves. I passed up some at $60 and then picked up the only 2 on the shelf for $40 three miles down the road. Went back to that store a week later and there were three more bottles on the shelf, but priced up to $43. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Dog Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 $45 on shelf when you can find it in Wisconsin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeTerp Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 It's $34 in Virginia, although it looks like it's just about running out now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willmohawk5 Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Here in NJ I've paid $45 to $31 a bottle. The gap between the hi and low price was like 6 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willmohawk5 Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 15 hours ago, BourbonGuy said: BTW: For anyone who tasted a recent release, is it still good? Since Elmer T is not selecting the barrels anymore, I wonder who is and if quality has fallen off. Yes the new bottles suck. Please spread the word. It's not the same bourbon anymore. It's not worth buying. Do your part in killing the hype. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starhopper Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 2 hours ago, willmohawk5 said: Yes the new bottles suck. Please spread the word. It's not the same bourbon anymore. It's not worth buying. Do your part in killing the hype. I must agree to disagree....I find that the latest batch of ETL is pretty darn good - so much so, I've bought 6 bottles recently at $32.95 ea. Now, I admit I don't know what it tasted like 3 years ago, but the current batch of bourbon being put under his label is very nice IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b1gcountry Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Shhhhh! No it isn't. If anyone outside SB asks, it is horrible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b1gcountry Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 <wink> <wink> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIDirtyBastard Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Completely agree that value is subjective, and lately, I will grab any Elmer under $50. I've had many good bottles for well under, and many horrible well over (BMH Oregon). ETL is just a comfort bourbon for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starhopper Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 (edited) 45 minutes ago, b1gcountry said: <wink> <wink> LOL - Ohhhhh....I get it! Edited December 18, 2015 by starhopper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackthedog Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Managed to grab a bottle at $34. Had to ask for it at the counter. The rest got snapped up pretty fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hungry hobbit Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 I just found a second bottle of ETL at a smaller store for $39.99. I had to buy it so I can average out the first one I paid $79.99 for. That puts me at $60/bottle still way more that what you all paid but slightly better. Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeeck Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 The other day my local guy informed me that he had one bottle sitting in back. I've never even seen ETL on the shelves around here, let alone tried it, so at $42, I couldn't say no. It's one of those where it's an incredibly hyped product, and I was worried about whether it would live up to such hype. But I had no need to worry. I love this stuff, and I'd buy it over and over at that price! I feel like I've really been missing out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccleve23 Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Just got another bottle of the ETL from our holiday bottle swap. Not a bad bottle to pick up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thi nguyen Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) I have hard time to find ETL in my area .but God love me .my Santa come early this year.one of the members ( theamateuralcoholic) in instagram willing share his bunker ETL ,and 2 sample Corsair triple smoke , whisper snapper ...just want to shout out to everyone on this forum ,we share the same passion hobby let share and help other .. I'm in SCal and want invite 4 person that want to come to my bar( 57 bottles open) to taste explore this hobby . Just pm me .To pay back favor...cheer happy holidays Edited December 19, 2015 by Thi nguyen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BourbonGuy Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 (edited) On 12/17/2015 3:08:42, tanstaafl2 said: It has been discussed on the board before although I can't find it now but the notion the Mr. Lee was personally picking every barrel until the day he died at age 93 is simply not accurate. Most of what was selected for many years was picked by others, although likely based on exemplars of bourbon provided by Lee himself. While he was still fairly active at the distillery until late in life and likely did get involved in occasionally selecting some of the barrels he did not pick them all by any means. Since those exemplars still exist it is likely the bourbon isn't going to change much unless of course the availability of stock aged enough to match the profile gets to be hard to come by. Since just about everything at BT seems to be hard to come by that could certainly be a greater concern for the overall quality going forward. Also remember it is a single barrel product. That can't and won't be all the same! Although when the GBS picked a couple of barrels a couple of years ago they were all remarkably similar at least to my palate. As I recall it was all about 8-9 years old at the time. Whether it still is that old is an open question since it is a NAS bottling. I said that sort of tongue in cheek. I do not think he picked them all. To your point, single barrel products will vary. But I would imagine there is a taste profile they try to match. Again, to your point, if the stocks do not allow them to, then it may not be worth the premium price ($60) the local is asking. Actually I have a 12% off coupon and that would bring it down to around $53 which is still kind of high. For that money I can get Blantons or two bottles of Buffalo Trace. Edited December 20, 2015 by BourbonGuy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willmohawk5 Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 On December 18, 2015 at 5:42:54 AM, starhopper said: I must agree to disagree....I find that the latest batch of ETL is pretty darn good - so much so, I've bought 6 bottles recently at $32.95 ea. Now, I admit I don't know what it tasted like 3 years ago, but the current batch of bourbon being put under his label is very nice IMHO. I was being sarcastic lol trying to keep more of the stuff on the shelf lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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