Bottom Shelf Finds?

[emr454]

26 minutes ago, Richnimrod said:

Yer Lucky!    I don't know of any Straight Bourbon sold in Michigan (at least stocked where I shop) that sells for any price lower than $17/750.

Same here! FRYL is about $25 when I can find it, WT101 $25+, and EW Black is about $30/handle. Can't get EWBiB here either. I need to take a road trip!

[JTaylor]

4 hours ago, emr454 said:

Same here! FRYL is about $25 when I can find it, WT101 $25+, and EW Black is about $30/handle. Can't get EWBiB here either. I need to take a road trip!

I picked up an Old Taylor 6 year old for $11... I bought it mostly as a bar decoration... 

[musekatcher]

4 hours ago, emr454 said:

Same here! FRYL is about $25 when I can find it, WT101 $25+, and EW Black is about $30/handle. Can't get EWBiB here either. I need to take a road trip!

 

Those are correctly priced for middle shelf, which is where they reside in my area.  Are you saying those are on your bottom shelf, and all other brands are higher?  Surely not?

[ken_mays]

1 hour ago, JTaylor said:

I picked up an Old Taylor 6 year old for $11... I bought it mostly as a bar decoration... 

 

"Old Me"

 

 

[emr454]

1 hour ago, musekatcher said:

 

Those are correctly priced for middle shelf, which is where they reside in my area.  Are you saying those are on your bottom shelf, and all other brands are higher?  Surely not?

These are basically my bottom shelf bourbons, because in this area anything less expensive than that is usually Jim Beam white, Ten High, or blended whiskey. Even OGD BiB is $25+, and any of the Dickel offerings are $30+. We don't get EW BiB, VOB, OWA, OC, etc in CNY very often. Similar to Richnimrod's situation, decent straight bourbon is always $20+ per 750mL. I visited some relatives in GA a few years back and was thrilled with the sub $20 quality bourbons available to them.

[emr454]

2 hours ago, JTaylor said:

I picked up an Old Taylor 6 year old for $11... I bought it mostly as a bar decoration... 

Money well spent!

[JTaylor]

1 hour ago, ken_mays said:

 

"Old Me"

 

 

Yep! For a little while my bottle of "Old Taylor" set next to the bottle of "Arrogant Bastard" my wife bought me... She would say the two are synonymous!

[fishnbowljoe]

2 minutes ago, JTaylor said:

Yep! For a little while my bottle of "Old Taylor" set next to the bottle of "Arrogant Bastard" my wife bought me... She would say the two are synonymous!

 

Now that's funny. 

 

Cheers! Joe

[musekatcher]

52 minutes ago, emr454 said:

These are basically my bottom shelf bourbons, because in this area anything less expensive than that is usually Jim Beam white, Ten High, or blended whiskey. Even OGD BiB is $25+, and any of the Dickel offerings are $30+. We don't get EW BiB, VOB, OWA, OC, etc in CNY very often. Similar to Richnimrod's situation, decent straight bourbon is always $20+ per 750mL. I visited some relatives in GA a few years back and was thrilled with the sub $20 quality bourbons available to them.

 

CNY=Central New York?  I still think you are overlooking classification and criteria.  You used the term "decent" and "$20" as per-requisites.  Instead, consider the cheapest straight bourbon you can find (typically on the bottom shelf, and not blended) - those are the candidates for a "find", being a sleeper bourbon that betrays its price, with acceptable flavor and value. 

[emr454]

8 minutes ago, musekatcher said:

 

CNY=Central New York?  I still think you are overlooking classification and criteria.  You used the term "decent" and "$20" as per-requisites.  Instead, consider the cheapest straight bourbon you can find (typically on the bottom shelf, and not blended) - those are the candidates for a "find", being a sleeper bourbon that betrays its price, with acceptable flavor and value. 

I see what you're saying now, I got stuck on comparing regional prices. With that in mind, I'll submit EW BiB, OGD BiB, FRYL, and WT 101 as my favorite "bottom-shelfers". I picked up a liter of EW BiB in Macon, GA for $10 on my last visit. Great pour, that is!

[Agalloch]

I like henry mckenna (80 proof?) And ezra brooks. Both are tastywhiskey for cheap money.

[PaulO]

On 1/3/2017 at 5:02 PM, ken_mays said:

What about the stuff like Kentucky Gentleman, Virginia Gentleman, Old Crow, Old Taylor, non-BIB Henry McKenna, Old Charter 8, etc.?

I don't know about the first two.  Easy pass on Old Crow white or black label.  Old Taylor 6 year old (discontinued) was ok 6 year old Beam @ 80 proof.  80 proof Henry McKenna is your basic HH bourbon around 4 years old.  Old Charter 8 year old (discontinued) was ok - haven't been interested to try the NAS.  I would just get Charter 101 instead.

[PaulO]

Accidently submitted above post twice

Edited January 5, 2017 by PaulO

[KrispinD]

Thirding (fourthing, fifthing?) WT101. In a perfect world where Weller SR can be found for msrp - it's $18 and worth every penny.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fishnbowljoe]

5 minutes ago, PaulO said:

Accidently submitted above post twice

 

Just what the hell were you thinking Paul?   All you folks from Greenwood..........

 

Cheers! Joe

[PaulO]

Hey, I was quoting from page 1.  When I pressed submit, it looked like nothing happened.  So I hit it again.  

And Joe, Greenwood just got a new store that's supposed to carry all the bourbons available.  I haven't even had time to check it out.

[musekatcher]

3 hours ago, emr454 said:

I see what you're saying now, I got stuck on comparing regional prices. With that in mind, I'll submit EW BiB, OGD BiB, FRYL, and WT 101 as my favorite "bottom-shelfers". I picked up a liter of EW BiB in Macon, GA for $10 on my last visit. Great pour, that is!

 

I consider almost any BIB to be a mid-shelf whiskey, but $10?  Wow, that's the lowest I've heard for any BIB, even Virgin 101 even in a fifth.   That sounds like another challenge:  cheapest non-bottom shelf straight bourbon.  You'd win!

[kwshannon]

I can find EW Black for $12, EW Green for $11, Ancient Age for $13, and Benckmark for $12.  All are fine drinking.  I have no hesitation suggesting any of those to people unfamiliar with bourbon who would like to try and not break the bank. 

[flahute]

2 hours ago, musekatcher said:

 

I consider almost any BIB to be a mid-shelf whiskey, but $10?  Wow, that's the lowest I've heard for any BIB, even Virgin 101 even in a fifth.   That sounds like another challenge:  cheapest non-bottom shelf straight bourbon.  You'd win!

I think you need to be more specific with your criteria. I've seen you refer to bottom and mid shelf in this thread. If we extrapolate your terms you have three shelves with the other being the high one. Given that I can walk into any liquor store and find regularly available bourbons for as much as $100, I consider $20 to be bottom shelf. If you consider that mid shelf, then your mid shelf is really damn big and bloated with a really wide price spread. The low $20 range is bottom shelf to me. All the bourbons in that range were mid to high $teens just a few years ago. So they've crept up in price. Everything else has too. Their relative relationship to all the other bourbons in the spectrum remain the same.

 

Or, I can go with the layout at my local Bevmo, in which the bourbons I mentioned up thread are all located on the literal bottom shelf along with Beam white label, EW black label, and a small selection of other $15-ish 80 proof-ish bourbons.

Alternativley, I can go into my local Total Wine where all the EH Taylor bourbons and the Four Roses private selections are all on the literal bottom shelf which means at that store, $80 is considered bottom shelf, OGD 80 proof is mid shelf, and ridiculous NDP's are top shelf. (I have no idea what their criteria is for shelf placement).

 

[GeeTen]

6 hours ago, flahute said:

 

Alternativley, I can go into my local Total Wine where all the EH Taylor bourbons and the Four Roses private selections are all on the literal bottom shelf which means at that store, $80 is considered bottom shelf, OGD 80 proof is mid shelf, and ridiculous NDP's are top shelf. (I have no idea what their criteria is for shelf placement).

 

 

"Alphabetical, by height!"   Honest . . . . . . .  

[musekatcher]

6 hours ago, flahute said:

I think you need to be more specific with your criteria. I've seen you refer to bottom and mid shelf in this thread. If we extrapolate your terms you have three shelves with the other being the high one. Given that I can walk into any liquor store and find regularly available bourbons for as much as $100, I consider $20 to be bottom shelf. If you consider that mid shelf, then your mid shelf is really damn big and bloated with a really wide price spread. The low $20 range is bottom shelf to me. All the bourbons in that range were mid to high $teens just a few years ago. So they've crept up in price. Everything else has too. Their relative relationship to all the other bourbons in the spectrum remain the same.

 

Or, I can go with the layout at my local Bevmo, in which the bourbons I mentioned up thread are all located on the literal bottom shelf along with Beam white label, EW black label, and a small selection of other $15-ish 80 proof-ish bourbons.

Alternativley, I can go into my local Total Wine where all the EH Taylor bourbons and the Four Roses private selections are all on the literal bottom shelf which means at that store, $80 is considered bottom shelf, OGD 80 proof is mid shelf, and ridiculous NDP's are top shelf. (I have no idea what their criteria is for shelf placement).

 

 

I think the criteria is very clear:  bottom shelf means the shelf nearest the floor.  All discussion of middle shelf and cost was to try and help redirect folks to the bottom shelf.  In my area, the bottom shelf is mostly blended, but I've counted as many as 10 KSBs that Ive seen down there, and all of them were/are under $14.  Examples that don't fit, like WT101 nor GD12 have never been on the bottom shelf, in any store I've been in - that includes AL, MS, GA, TN, NC, LA, KY, FL, and others.  Someone offered FRYL, which is on my local top shelf right now!  

 

What we are finding that isn't clear, is that there is some scatter and overlap of whats on some bottom/middle shelves depending on geography - at least in CNY and MI.   I can imagine a few stores bypass the most modest brands, and populate their bottom shelves with well known brands like EW, WT, GD, etc.   as their lowest cost selections.   Review sites support a demarcation line that corroborates bottom shelf selections as a definite class, and several replies also corroborate a consistent bottom shelf selection list in the low teen dollar range.  I wanted to avoid dollars for the very reason someone actually found a heavily discounted bottle of EWBIB, in a litre no less, for a drop jaw amazing $10!  While that was great to hear and worthy of celebration, EWBIB shouldn't be on anybody's bottom shelf, with HH having lots of other cheaper priced candidates for instance.  

 

  I think I'll collect the suggestions, do some more research on the review sites, and setup a poll instead?  That should help standardize the criteria. 

[musekatcher]

37 minutes ago, GeeTen said:

 

  7 hours ago, flahute said:

 

Alternativley, I can go into my local Total Wine where all the EH Taylor bourbons and the Four Roses private selections are all on the literal bottom shelf which means at that store, $80 is considered bottom shelf, OGD 80 proof is mid shelf, and ridiculous NDP's are top shelf. (I have no idea what their criteria is for shelf placement).

 

Yes, seems like we have an inconsistent selection on the bottom shelf in limited areas.   I'm wondering if this is a new phenomena, driven by the drastic escalation of bourbon interest, and attempts to inflate the perceived value and pricing for the other shelves?   While "bottom shelf" has always meant the most modest brand offerings from distillers,  like HH, and still used in reviews today by that meaning, some areas don't follow that convention.  See my post above for a possible solution -

 

- edited some grammer

Edited January 5, 2017 by musekatcher

[musekatcher]

40 minutes ago, GeeTen said:

 

"Alphabetical, by height!"   Honest . . . . . . .  

 

That is very interesting!  And not sure why your content was stripped in my quote of yours above. 

Edited January 5, 2017 by musekatcher

[JTaylor]

7 minutes ago, musekatcher said:

 

I think the criteria is very clear:  bottom shelf means the shelf nearest the floor.  All discussion of middle shelf and cost was to try and help redirect folks to the bottom shelf.  In my area, the bottom shelf is mostly blended, but I've counted as many as 10 KSBs that Ive seen down there, and all of them were/are under $14.  Examples that don't fit, like WT101 nor GD12 have never been on the bottom shelf, in any store I've been in - that includes AL, MS, GA, TN, NC, LA, KY, FL, and others.  Someone offered FRYL, which is on my local top shelf right now!  

 

What we are finding that isn't clear, is that there is some scatter and overlap of whats on some bottom/middle shelves depending on geography - at least in CNY and MI.   I can imagine a few stores bypass the most modest brands, and populate their bottom shelves with well known brands like EW, WT, GD, etc.   as their lowest cost selections.   Review sites support a demarcation line that corroborates bottom shelf selections as a definite class, and several replies also corroborate a consistent bottom shelf selection list in the low teen dollar range.  I wanted to avoid dollars for the very reason someone actually found a heavily discounted bottle of EWBIB, in a litre no less, for a drop jaw amazing $10!  While that was great to hear and worthy of celebration, EWBIB shouldn't be on anybody's bottom shelf, with HH having lots of other cheaper priced candidates for instance.  

 

  I think I'll collect the suggestions, do some more research on the review sites, and setup a poll instead?  That should help standardize the criteria. 

 

My local has OGD 114 on the bottom shelf along with the BiB and standard OGD I assume just to keep them all together. OWA and WSR are also down there together... I think the term "Bottom Shelfer" is very subjective, probably too subjective to be defined within a rigid set of parameters unless you only use price. Say, everything below $17 is considered a "bottom shelfer" On the other end of the spectrum, there are many bourbons found on the top shelf that many here would not call "Top Shelf" bourbon.

As we're fond of saying here, YMMV...

 

JT

[Flyfish]

14 hours ago, fishnbowljoe said:

 

Now that's funny. 

 

Cheers! Joe

Yes it is. One of the great things about SBers is we take our drink seriously but we don't take ourselves seriously. Well, most of us anyway.