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KY Owl rye batch 2?


BottledInBond
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Anyone tried the KY Owl rye batch 2 yet? I saw it has been released and also saw that they jacked up the MSRP to a nice round $200 which sucks. I liked batch 1 but have a hard time with the new pricing unless it is even better somehow, which I doubt. They said it’s a smaller batch so maybe they’re just trying to play the supply/demand dynamic to get the higher price this time. Shouldn’t surprise us at this point I suppose. 

 

I had a buddy pick one of these up for me as he found a store that had put it out with the batch 1 pricing still on it, so I was able to snag it for $117 + tax which I can live with based on how much I liked batch 1. I haven’t picked it up yet though so I can’t comment on how the juice tastes yet. 

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3 hours ago, BottledInBond said:

Anyone tried the KY Owl rye batch 2 yet? I saw it has been released and also saw that they jacked up the MSRP to a nice round $200 which sucks. I liked batch 1 but have a hard time with the new pricing unless it is even better somehow, which I doubt. They said it’s a smaller batch so maybe they’re just trying to play the supply/demand dynamic to get the higher price this time. Shouldn’t surprise us at this point I suppose. 

 

I had a buddy pick one of these up for me as he found a store that had put it out with the batch 1 pricing still on it, so I was able to snag it for $117 + tax which I can live with based on how much I liked batch 1. I haven’t picked it up yet though so I can’t comment on how the juice tastes yet. 

Please post your comparison to Batch #1 as soon as you can.  It's my favorite rye, and if batch 2 isn't better, then I'll pass on it and grab the few remaining bottles of batch 1 that are in my area.  I resisted buying them in anticipation of batch 2, but for $200 I can almost get 2 batch 1's for the price.  

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On 6/16/2018 at 9:00 AM, BottledInBond said:

Anyone tried the KY Owl rye batch 2 yet? I saw it has been released and also saw that they jacked up the MSRP to a nice round $200 which sucks. I liked batch 1 but have a hard time with the new pricing unless it is even better somehow, which I doubt. They said it’s a smaller batch so maybe they’re just trying to play the supply/demand dynamic to get the higher price this time. Shouldn’t surprise us at this point I suppose. 

 

That would be my guess and not a surprise at all. Getting as much of the secondary as they can for themselves I suppose. That is fine but as a result batch 1 will likely be my first, last and only bottle of Kentucky Owl. Good but not good enough to pay $120, much less $200, for me. YMMV!

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So the joke is on me I guess. The bottle I got just recently turned out to be a bottle from batch one, so I guess that explains why the pricing wasn’t jacked up. I guess the distributor had an extra case from last year they just gave this store. That’s fine with me actually, as at least I know I like that batch. Still would like to try batch 2 but I’m not in any hurry to pay $200 for it

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Ouch $200 retail? Batch one was $60 whiskey for $120, hell I'll take a $50 bottle of Pikesville over it any day, $200 is just nuts. Someone will pay it though I'm sure. Really hard to justify this at over $100 let alone $200 when you can snag excellent barrel proof store pick WhistlePig bottles at ~$80 any day of the week.

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1 minute ago, EarthQuake said:

Ouch $200 retail? Batch one was $60 whiskey for $120, hell I'll take a $50 bottle of Pikesville over it any day, $200 is just nuts. Someone will pay it though I'm sure. Really hard to justify this at over $100 let alone $200 when you can snag excellent barrel proof store pick WhistlePig bottles at ~$80 any day of the week.

Easy now with that kind of talk, you are making too much sense lol

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10 hours ago, EarthQuake said:

Ouch $200 retail? Batch one was $60 whiskey for $120, hell I'll take a $50 bottle of Pikesville over it any day, $200 is just nuts. Someone will pay it though I'm sure. Really hard to justify this at over $100 let alone $200 when you can snag excellent barrel proof store pick WhistlePig bottles at ~$80 any day of the week.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you on the price/value thing.

But I'm reasonably sure there is some (if not all) Barton Rye in batch one.

And if you're an aged Barton rye junkie like me, none of those others you mentioned scratch the itch.

And I can't get old Barton rye from High West anymore.

 

Probably will get one bottle of batch two if its offered to me, but if not, I'm glad I stocked up on batch one.

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On 6/20/2018 at 7:48 PM, 0895 said:

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you on the price/value thing.

But I'm reasonably sure there is some (if not all) Barton Rye in batch one.

And if you're an aged Barton rye junkie like me, none of those others you mentioned scratch the itch.

And I can't get old Barton rye from High West anymore.

 

Probably will get one bottle of batch two if its offered to me, but if not, I'm glad I stocked up on batch one.

Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to try Barton rye on it's own. I rather like some products that have some of it, like Bourye and Rendezvous from High West and I was really excited to try KO rye, but it was pretty disappointing. Not that it was bad, just that it wasn't $120 good. Overwhelming corn note, little spice, not really what I want in a rye. Maybe that's the Barton? I've got no clue. It's certainly unique.

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It was all over Connecticut last week, consistently at $169.00 everywhere it appeared. Easy pass given the lower proof, higher price-- and my lack of love for the first release.

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I was offered a bottle in CT, but passed at $200. 

 

Taters got 'em. 

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Still haven't yet seen batch 2 in the wild.  Fortunately, I did stock up on the Owl batch 1.  Got some good pricing averages so it was worth it to me.  I appreciate the debate on these boards on "value" and "worth" and it has helped my decision making overall, but this Owl batch 1, just really washed and folded all my laundry, so I bought a few more to keep around as I've found it to be quite special.  Price be damned.  

IMG_2222.jpg

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A semi-local store had some of batch 2 today at $176.49.  Still a pass. I liked batch 1..but that is too rich for my blood.

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I saw this near me for $200 now. I’ll probably fold and buy one but I want to make the purchase from one of my regular stores to maintain my regular spender status as much as possible, so no purchase yet. 

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So, ventured out for 4th of July supplies this morning and finally but the bullet and bought a batch 2 at one of my regular stores. I’ll report back when I get around to trying it

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On 7/3/2018 at 12:04 PM, mikeydk said:

 but this Owl batch 1, just really washed and folded all my laundry

 

I must've got a bad bottle.  My clothes are still all over the floor :P

Edited by 0895
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18 hours ago, 0895 said:

I must've got a bad bottle.  My clothes are still all over the floor :P

Haha, that's terrific!  :)  If you need to ship it off to Goodwill, I can lend a hand. :)  

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First one was great at 120 but yup I'll live on the stash if it's going to be 200 going forward.

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I passed on batch 2 today. I (very) mildly regret passing on batch 1. Even with that in mind I'm not dropping $200 on a bottle 11 year old rye.

Edited by Spade
Damn autocorrect
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  • 2 weeks later...

I finally tried batch 2. Wasn’t drinking it side by side with 1 but I’ve drank plenty of 1 to have a decent memory. 2 is certainly good whiskey, but not $70 better than 1. I assume this stuffto be some sort of blend, maybe all from one mashbill and/or distillery and maybe not. Whether it’s the proportions of the blend or the overall mashbill if this is all one, my suspicion would be that this has less rye overall than batch 1. I got a richer palate, with more brown sugar to it and less rye spice with almost no mint that I got from batch 1. I don’t regret having some batch 2 but I’m still glad I stocked up on batch 1

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Thank you to everyone that has commented on the 2nd release. NH is swimming in it at $200 a bottle. I almost popped for one since I missed the 1st batch. For some reason I hesitated and kept control. I surprised myself frankly. After reading these comments I feel like I just made a good fold in poker, lol.

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I tried both batches sbs this weekend  (both fresh, newly opened bottles right then and there).

 

Batch one tasted like good rye with soft, delicate spice.

Batch two tasted like caramel bourbon with almost no rye spice.

 

Save your money.  Batch two is just riding the coattails of batch one...

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On 7/22/2018 at 8:32 PM, 0895 said:

I tried both batches sbs this weekend  (both fresh, newly opened bottles right then and there).

 

Batch one tasted like good rye with soft, delicate spice.

Batch two tasted like caramel bourbon with almost no rye spice.

 

Save your money.  Batch two is just riding the coattails of batch one...

Sounds like your evaluation was pretty similar to mine. I’ve been surprised by the lack of reviews available for batch 2 so far but I suppose with what they’ve done to the price there aren’t a ton of people buying them and drinking them right away. This might be one where more collectors have ponied up the $ just to keep complete KY Owl sets going, etc. As I had said previously, I’m glad I stocked up on batch 1 now

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On 7/22/2018 at 9:32 PM, 0895 said:

I tried both batches sbs this weekend  (both fresh, newly opened bottles right then and there).

 

Batch one tasted like good rye with soft, delicate spice.

Batch two tasted like caramel bourbon with almost no rye spice.

 

Save your money.  Batch two is just riding the coattails of batch one...

Thanks for the notes.  That's pretty disappointing to me as I really enjoyed the KO Rye Batch 1.

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1 hour ago, JoeTerp said:

Thanks for the notes.  That's pretty disappointing to me as I really enjoyed the KO Rye Batch 1.

Sorry.

It did get slightly better as it sat and got some air time.

I guess it also depends on what you like.

I like spicy rye, and batch one just really speaks to me.

 

Two was just missing that wow factor.  It doesn't have much personality.

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