What Bourbon Are You Enjoying (Summer 2017)

[Whiskeythink.com]

Got to try a pour of this old dusty tonight. Not sure of the year, but that distillery in Peoria closed in 1981.

At first it was all cherry cough syrup, but after opening up that subsided. Then it was soft caramel, oak, & a kind of bitter green vegetable taste (not bad in a bad way). Finish was dry, oaky, little cherry, medium-short. Glad I got try this as I grew up in Peoria; my grandmother worked at National for many years.

[HoustonNit]

Finished off a W12 while grilling and enjoying some cowboy ribeye.

[cdcdguy]

26 minutes ago, HoustonNit said:

Finished off a W12 while grilling and enjoying some cowboy ribeye.

That looks really good!

[Bbstout]

Nice grilling skills. I always cringe when I see steak cooked medium or more.

[HoustonNit]

Nice grilling skills. I always cringe when I see steak cooked medium or more.

Cooking good steak over medium rare is a sin. I use to be a rare guy but have come to realize that medium rare better brings out the tenderness of a good steak better. I feel as though one was a couple degrees above what I think is optimal but still better than rare and much better than medium.

[Paddy]

I attended a large charity function tonight where all the majors were represented, along with most of the local cigar retailers.  I started with a Maker's lemonade, then ended up rolling through the rest of the evening by switching back and forth between Blanton's and 4RSB.  I didn't try to keep up with the number of pours, but I can tell you that I enjoyed three very fine smokes! 

 

Good food, good cigars and great bourton make for a very good time, for a very good cause. 

[Kepler]

Going back to a little of the 12 yr old bird tonight.  It's addictive

 

 

 

 

[Harry in WashDC]

While waiting for the arrival of a predicted thunderstorm to break the nine or so days of no rain, I had EW BIB with ice.  By the third one, the storm arrived.  Viele sturm und drang, nicht so sehr wasser. Maybe the next storm will do more than just entertain with lights and sound.  I'm going to have to run the hose tomorrow after all.

[cdcdguy]

24 minutes ago, Harry in WashDC said:

While waiting for the arrival of a predicted thunderstorm to break the nine or so days of no rain, I had EW BIB with ice.  By the third one, the storm arrived.  Viele sturm und drang, nicht so sehr wasser. Maybe the next storm will do more than just entertain with lights and sound.  I'm going to have to run the hose tomorrow after all.

So how is that bib. We don't have that around here. We can get JB bib and it's pretty good.

[LCWoody]

15 hours ago, Swamp55 said:

 

Michter's 20 yr., I see -- nice!

 

Care to share your current impressions from that bad boy?

It's a very good bourbon, has a dark chocolate taste. The '14 bottle was the last 20y that I bought, for me the price is just to high and quality went down. 

[BigRich]

So the Atlanta guys did this last night


Many thanks to smokinjoe for his hospitality and the Georgia Bourbon Society crew for the great bottles they shared. Old friends gathered. New friends were made. And damned if I didn't spend 30 minutes of my life trying explain distillation to troyce and I'm still not sure the pertinent facts were conveyed. Anyway, great time all around. Highlight pours were to ND OGB BIB, VW eye, Gold foil WT12, and PHC Cognac finished. After that I lost count.


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[MTNBourbon]

1 hour ago, BigRich said:

So the Atlanta guys did this last night


Many thanks to smokinjoe for his hospitality and the Georgia Bourbon Society crew for the great bottles they shared. Old friends gathered. New friends were made. And damned if I didn't spend 30 minutes of my life trying explain distillation to troyce and I'm still not sure the pertinent facts were conveyed. Anyway, great time all around. Highlight pours were to ND OGB BIB, VW eye, Gold foil WT12, and PHC Cognac finished. After that I lost count.


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That's alot!

[Harry in WashDC]

10 hours ago, cdcdguy said:

So how is that [EW] bib. We don't have that around here. We can get JB bib and it's pretty good.

As I've posted elsewhere on SB, I think JB BIB under $20 is a bargain.  I stopped buying JBB "Double Aged" for sipping and for mixing after the BIB came out.

 

Now, re: EW BIB (AKA EW White Label).  Even though it is a product of HH, I find it missing the sweet dimension I love in HH 6yr BIB.  For years, I used its 86 proof version (the EWB) as my base bourbon in bourbon cocktails.  When the EWW became easy to get back here (about three years ago which is when I think HH started pulling it from other markets while taking the occasional HH 6yr BIB away from us), I switched from EWB to EWW but almost never drank it by itself.

 

While we use more JB BIB than EWW for cocktails (due to the preference of the bourbon moderator: "What?  ANOTHER bottle?  Don't you have enough?"), we use EWW exclusively in any cooking recipe calling for bourbon.  I also use EWW or EWB for cocktail batches like punches or premixed pitchers' worth.

[flahute]

3 hours ago, BigRich said:

So the Atlanta guys did this last night


Many thanks to smokinjoe for his hospitality and the Georgia Bourbon Society crew for the great bottles they shared. Old friends gathered. New friends were made. And damned if I didn't spend 30 minutes of my life trying explain distillation to troyce and I'm still not sure the pertinent facts were conveyed. Anyway, great time all around. Highlight pours were to ND OGB BIB, VW eye, Gold foil WT12, and PHC Cognac finished. After that I lost count.


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The indoor version of the Gazebo!

Well done gentlemen.

[flahute]

Last night I had the final two pours out of a PH Promise of Hope. In between, a pour of Baker's from a freshly opened bottle. I have to agree with smokinjoe's comment somewhere up thread that Baker's is perennially underrated. It really hits a sweet spot in Beam age (though I'd love to try barrels of the same quality at a higher age) and it is proofed right where a bourbon nerd likes it at 107. As always, I ask myself why I wait so long to open another bottle when I finish one.

The real star of the night was PoH though. It was criticized when it came out due to the price for "only" being 10yrs old and 98 proof, but man is there something special about the Deatsville rickhouses it came from. It has the perfect balance (for me) of caramel sweetness, oak spice without being tannic, and just a little barrel char smoke.

 

[DCFan]

OF1920 on the rocks waiting for the start of the Nats/dbacks game.

[cdcdguy]

4 hours ago, Harry in WashDC said:

As I've posted elsewhere on SB, I think JB BIB under $20 is a bargain.  I stopped buying JBB "Double Aged" for sipping and for mixing after the BIB came out.

 

Now, re: EW BIB (AKA EW White Label).  Even though it is a product of HH, I find it missing the sweet dimension I love in HH 6yr BIB.  For years, I used its 86 proof version (the EWB) as my base bourbon in bourbon cocktails.  When the EWW became easy to get back here (about three years ago which is when I think HH started pulling it from other markets while taking the occasional HH 6yr BIB away from us), I switched from EWB to EWW but almost never drank it by itself.

 

While we use more JB BIB than EWW for cocktails (due to the preference of the bourbon moderator: "What?  ANOTHER bottle?  Don't you have enough?"), we use EWW exclusively in any cooking recipe calling for bourbon.  I also use EWW or EWB for cocktail batches like punches or premixed pitchers' worth.

Thanks for your well detailed reply Harry. I don't recall ever seeing EWW around here. My wife loves bourbon in cocktails, but I prefer drinking with just a splash of water. I know there is no wrong way to enjoy it!

[troyce]

4 hours ago, flahute said:

Many thanks to smokinjoe for his hospitality and the Georgia Bourbon Society crew for the great bottles they shared. Old friends gathered. New friends were made. And damned if I didn't spend 30 minutes of my life trying explain distillation to troyce and I'm still not sure the pertinent facts were conveyed. Anyway, great time all around. Highlight pours were to ND OGB BIB, VW eye, Gold foil WT12, and PHC Cognac finished. After that I lost count.
 

Did we talk about distillation last nite?

[Hop]

Enjoying a pour of ECBP B517 while enjoying the front porch view of the new home.


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[OldFitzWithTheGoldLabel]

Blind tasting. This is my rankings from left to right.


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[0895]

Enjoying a store pick Jefferson Ocean voyage 3.

While Jefferson is usually mediocre for me, I do enjoy the ocean once in awhile.

I know it's gimmicky, but it's good to my palate.

This was a good barrel pick.

Bottoms up!

Edited July 23, 2017 by 0895

[Clueby]

35 minutes ago, OldFitzWithTheGoldLabel said:

Blind tasting. This is my rankings from left to right.


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With a few minnor differences mine would have been almost right to left.

[OldFitzWithTheGoldLabel]

With a few minnor differences mine would have been almost right to left.

I could see that. My friends are crazy about Eagle Rare. It tastes wretched to me.

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[Richnimrod]

21 hours ago, Bbstout said:

Nice grilling skills. I always cringe when I see steak cooked medium or more.

I think most folx who appreciate a fine cut of beef would agree; but, I'd never denigrate someone for cooking his own steak any way he/she prefers it.     ...Just don't leave mine on that long, please.

[flahute]

3 hours ago, troyce said:

Did we talk about distillation last nite?

I have no idea how you got my name to quote @BigRich 's post, so no, we were not talking about distillation last night! I believe you were with BigRich though!