voigtman Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 Some have said that a given pair of bourbons are as different tasting as night and day, while others say the same pair taste almost exactly the same. Tastes vary quite a bit, even for a given person, depending on all sorts of things (food, time of day/night, what else they drank, etc.). Fine. But, if you had to pick just two bourbons, mid-shelf and/or top shelf, which two would you say taste the most different? Or, maybe I should say, taste the least alike? In my case, with limited, but growing, experience, it would be Maker's Mark (standard one with the red wax) and Hirsch 16. If I had to pick 3, tasting as far apart as possible, I'd toss in Stagg 03 with the Maker's and Hirsch. Anyone else have a pair or trey? Cheers, Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNbourbon Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 Great question: in thinking about it, I realized I'm liking bourbons at extremes -- my picks for most different would be Stagg '03 and Eagle Rare Single Barrel, both of which I like immensely -- and tend to disregard those in the fuzzy middle, though there have been precious few I wouldn't drink in a pinch. As to the Stagg and ERSB, the former is big, bold and brash, with up-front power -- the subtleties are layered underneath. On the other hand, the ERSB is all subtlety until the richness arrives mid-palate and makes you wonder where all that complexity came from. (Kinda sounds like Stagg's the man, Eagle Rare the woman, huh? -- well, I guess they are different!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneCubeOnly Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 Gosh, there are so many criteria you can analyze bourbon with, it's difficult to say which ones are most dissimilar. Here are a few I thought of:Harsh vs. mellow: Virginia Gentleman 80 vs. Eagle Rare SBSimple vs. complex: Ancient Age vs. StaggWheat vs. rye: Maker's Mark vs. Old Granddad 114Mild vs. spicy: Basil Hayden's vs. OFBBBarbaric vs. cultured: Kentucky Tavern vs. Pappy 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendaj Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Tim, Yeah, I'm from Venus...you're from Mars.,, Kinda sounds like Stagg's the man, Eagle Rare the woman, huh? -- well, I guess they are different Just kidding, I celebrate that difference everyday! I really agree with what you said about the Stagg & ERSB. They are also in the same price catagory. Disclaimer: While I am a firm believer that there are great, reasonably priced Bourbons out there (EW 7yr. old, and for a few more bucks...Weller 12), I think to make it fair, we should follow the money here. Weller 19 & WT 12. Bj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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