Favorite Bourbons to Hunt

[Madhatter]

9 hours ago, Kane said:

Like you said, you can't go wrong with the new one either...

 

As for the mashbills, afaik nobody knows for certain, but they are both of the barely-legal ~51% rye variety. Regardless, when I did a SBS with my last drop of the old juice, they were worlds apart, and it was a sad day for me. I jumped on the Woodford rye at release thinking that it could be similar, but no dice... Old Rittenhouse is the stuff of legends in my book, didn't taste like rye, didn't taste like bourbon, but was exceptional in its own way.

 

In addition to the mashbill question, we know we cannot overlook the influence of the yeast.  BF may have used HH yeast, or it might have been some variation on it.  No guarantee that the yeast influence between old HH dsp, BF dsp, and dsp - 1 are the same.

 

Last night I opened my last dsp-354 bottle.  Happy to get back to it.

[smokinjoe]

For my tastes, I enjoy the DSP-1 more than DSP-354.  When they went over to the new distillate, I picked up more spice notes that improved the almost too bourbony 354.  Frankly though, Ive never been a big fan of either.  Pikesville is another story, however...

[flahute]

6 minutes ago, smokinjoe said:

For my tastes, I enjoy the DSP-1 more than DSP-354.  When they went over to the new distillate, I picked up more spice notes that improved the almost too bourbony 354.  Frankly though, Ive never been a big fan of either.  Pikesville is another story, however...

It is no surprise that my twin brother would have the same opinion about this all as I do. 

[smokinjoe]

1 hour ago, flahute said:

It is no surprise that my twin brother would have the same opinion about this all as I do. 

Of course!  And, I'm sorry that we couldn't make it up for Christmas, as we had to go with Mrssmokinjoe's family this year.  

[Vosgar]

2 hours ago, smokinjoe said:

For my tastes, I enjoy the DSP-1 more than DSP-354. 

Once again Joe and I disagree. It's amazing to me (and kind of fun!) to have someone with who you agree on so many whiskies but disagree on many others. Obviously there's no right or wrong on what tastes good to you, but I wonder how that happens 

2 hours ago, flahute said:

It is no surprise that my twin brother would have the same opinion about this all as I do. 

We'll never be triplets  (maybe a brother from another mother?)

[smokinjoe]

Exactly, brother from the milkman...There is no right or wrong and seeking consensus is a fools folly! It is fun to find agreement and disagreement on opinions of pours among us, and vet those out.  

 

 

[paradoxical3]

If I see a bottle of Stagg Jr on the shelves, I will buy it if it's under $80.  Finding three while on vacation in CT for $47 each was a LOT of fun for me, never even seen it on the shelf for MSRP before.  Here in KY my local store has one bottle for $89 that sold.  Ridiculous.

I used to enjoy hunting for CEHT before I realized that KY was the only place in the USA it was rare.  Now ever time I go to CT I can pick up as many bottles as I want (I typically bring back 4 small batch and 4 single barrels each time, always within a few bucks of msrp).

Edited December 26, 2017 by paradoxical3

[marshbound]

Went to a family Christmas party last week and my bro's Father in law, being the good host, pulled a few dusties out of the bin to make sure he had some whiskeys for us.  He doesn't care for whiskey but had accumulated a few over the years.  My jaw hit the floor when, among others, I saw this Very Old Fitz that was distilled in 1957, and bottled in 1965, the year of Pappy's death.  

 

The level was just below the neck so we thought maybe it should be tested before the evaporation accelerated.  The cork disintegrated at the touch, bits falling into the bottle.  I strained a bit into a glass and with trepidation took a nip - then delivered the bad news to the rapt audience -"this bottle has turned, it's no good.  Here, let me dispose of it for you".   

 

They saw threw my expression, I could not contain it.  This was immediately one of the best two whiskeys that I've ever tasted, and everyone wanted a taste.  FIL was all in, we enjoyed the heck out of this.  We originally thought to cork the remainder after tasting but nobody could lay off it.

 

Just a couple of drops of water and it opened up, incredibly smooth and rich, modest leather and tobacco but bright caramel and a lingering finish that had me avoiding appetizers for an hour.  I didn't want it to end, but alas it did and we killed the bottle.  Amazing.