Jump to content

BOTM 8/18: Bulleit Bourbon


fishnbowljoe
This topic has been inactive for at least 365 days, and is now closed. Please feel free to start a new thread on the subject! 

Recommended Posts

Yeah, I'm early for a change. Every once in a while.......:P

 

I couldn't believe it's been over 10 years since this was the BOTM. So....... here we go. 

 

Much has changed with Bulleit in the last couple of years or so.  Four Roses is no longer in the picture, and speculation has it that BF and/or Beam is/are currently providing the distillate for Bulleit. Who knows? :huh:

 

To me, Bulleit is a decent bourbon. It isn't fantastic, but then again, it doesn't suck either. I can take it or leave it. In the past, perhaps knowing that it was Four Rose's distillate, I thought it was okay, and bought a bottle on occasion. Now, I'm not so sure. For the last few months, one store in my area has had 375's of it (and Bulleit Rye) on sale for $8.99 a bottle. Yes I bought both. The regular Bullet was tolerable, but somehow not quite the same. The rye, no comment. <_< I truly wonder what it will be like once they start using their own distillate. Anyway, I digress. The BOTM this month is Bulliet. Let's hear what y'all have to say.

 

Biba! Joe

  • I like it 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This was in the first batch of bourbons I've picked up in my life. Wouldn't buy another one. It just makes me content knowing that I'll always find a bottle of this at any bar anywhere in the world when all else fails.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The last time I had Bulleit I felt it had a strong resemblance to 4RSmb. The barrel proof version was ok but not worth the $70 most locals want for it. I'm curious to see how it may change in the future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, I'll take the bait here...

It's okay if folks don't like it & put the noose around those who do. I have always been able to think & taste for myself & if the masses come with the pitchforks, just remember, you'll never take me alive!!!

 

Sorry gang but I like Bulleit. To me the Frontier is one of the few bourbons that you can drink neat, in a cocktail or even shoot. It seems to be up for any occasion. I have tried to make Buffalo Trace a standard, but I like Bulleit more. All rookies getting Bulleit for the first time, seem to decide that they are now bourbon people without ever knowing that they were. Sure palates grow in sophistication & so has mine. I would rather a CEHT, Blanton's or various others, but I can take a Bulleit just the same. Of the three that I have tried, I much rather the 10 year.

So it's your choice here, bring me to the gallows or just hold out your glass; either way is cool with me... 

  • I like it 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My post here got lost in the outage the other day, so I guess I need to put something up again. I bought a 375ml bottle on sale a couple years ago to spend some time with it since I’d only previously had it at a bar. Anyway, I decided to finally open it after Joe, made it the BOTM and give it a more thorough tasting.

 

The conclusion is that it’s a pretty decent every day pour that is very reasonably priced. I’m guessing that my bottle is from the days of their 4R sourcing, so I don’t know if today’s sourced product tastes the same. Bulleit has received a lot of much deserved criticism over the years, but I have to give them some credit as one of the lower priced NDPs. They put out a pretty decent product for a very reasonable price, so I can understand why there are a lot of fans of their products even if they don’t get a whole lot of love here on SB.com.

 

  • I like it 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I liked it - I mean, the ability to get a readily available 10 year old, decently proofed, Four Roses product?  Sure, sign me up.  Now that it's not FR, though, and worse yet, we don't know its provenance anymore?  I'm out.

  • I like it 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/30/2018 at 8:55 PM, fishnbowljoe said:

  * * * * *

 

To me, Bulleit is a decent bourbon. It isn't fantastic, but then again, it doesn't suck either. I can take it or leave it.

 

  * * * * *  The regular Bullet was tolerable, but somehow not quite the same [as the original 4R distillate]. The rye, no comment. <_< I truly wonder what it will be like once they start using their own distillate . . .

 

Agreed.  For the price and proof, I opt for basic BT, but Bulliett BOURBON is ok if basic BT is not offered although I pass on Bulliett in 750s.  I find the rye undistinguished and undistinguishable so pass on it even in bars.  I, too, wonder about their own as they did a nice job blending and bottling the "original" Bulleitt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember looking forward to trying Bulleit when it first came out and how disappointed I was.  I wanted to like it as I found the name and bottle attractive.  But it was only average bourbon and lacked character.  I have not bought any in many years.  I also learned more about Bulleits dishonesty which put them on the Scumbag team along with Templeton and Michters.  Now add another factor, with being owned by Diageo you can forget about any transparency, so who knows what they are putting out now.  Even if they did put out something in writing about a source I would not believe them.  Once a liar always a liar.

  Now the 10 year bottling was a favorite of mine and I have always kept a bottle on hand.  It was the "mystery bourbon" in VBT #640, and there I note how the taste has changed in the last few years.  I won't venture into if they are blending any remaining 4R stock with another brand or if the quality has deteriorated due to something else, but whats on the shelf now is no longer a repurchase.  I still have about 8 oz.

of circa 2014. The UPC has not changed but at one time it came in a box which I think was discontinued about 2014, so I keep a lookout for them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was on the bourbon aisle a month or so ago and couldn't decide. Noticed that Bulleit was on sale. I thought, haven't bought a bottle of that in a couple years and I can keep this for Old Fashioneds or when I have company so I grabbed it. I don't know why, but I really enjoyed it. In fact, polished off the bottle in less than a week, mostly neat. I think they still have plenty of 4R stock, but they may be blending it. Either way, I thought it was a solid bourbon and may pick up another bottle soon.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/5/2018 at 9:24 PM, Harry in WashDC said:

Agreed.  For the price and proof, I opt for basic BT, but Bulliett BOURBON is ok if basic BT is not offered although I pass on Bulliett in 750s.  I find the rye undistinguished and undistinguishable so pass on it even in bars.  I, too, wonder about their own as they did a nice job blending and bottling the "original" Bulleitt.

FWIW, I think the rye is MGP's 95% rye.  Hence, one can find it elsewhere cheaper although off-hand I can't remember which brands.  SO, tonight I am drinking a few oz. of BullBour with ice of the lower half of a 750 my wife bought early this year (because it was NAMED in a recipe and no substitutions were allowed).  I swear it tastes like basic OF or OF Sig with a few ice cubes.  Neither of those are faves of mine although I do like the 1897 & 1920.  Just saying.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^^^The most comparable rye is Dickel, in both proof (well, within two points) and price.

  • I like it 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is still plenty of 4R distillate in the current Bullleit blend. They are blending other stuff in however.

Don't ask me how I know.......but.......BF, Beam, and Barton are also in the mix.

The 10yr is likely still majority 4R.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, flahute said:

There is still plenty of 4R distillate in the current Bullleit blend. They are blending other stuff in however.

Don't ask me how I know.......but.......BF, Beam, and Barton are also in the mix.

The 10yr is likely still majority 4R.

How do you know ? :)  I have been drinking the 10 year from the beginning of it's being available and as to the blending going on it seems to be incrementally changing.  Maybe so it would be less noticeable ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, flahute said:

There is still plenty of 4R distillate in the current Bullleit blend. They are blending other stuff in however.

Don't ask me how I know.......but.......BF, Beam, and Barton are also in the mix.

The 10yr is likely still majority 4R.

I'm waiting for the bottled in bond version to come out. ????

Until then, I have plenty of good options for same or less $ (and not mystery juice).

I used to be an occasional buyer of Bulleit back in the early 2000s, when it was probably all sourced from Four Roses.  As a matter of fact, there was a window of time when this was my only way to get any Four Roses bourbon (for me).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/6/2018 at 11:14 PM, Paddy said:

^^^The most comparable rye is Dickel, in both proof (well, within two points) and price.

The Dickel gets run through maple charcoal filtering just before bottling so it seems a little less “dilly” than other young MGP Ryes to me. Makes it a decent cocktail Rye though.

Edited by tanstaafl2
  • I like it 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I myself, can take it or leave it....but at the 375 price of under $9 (here in town) I felt  I could not go wrong adding a bottle of each to my collection...but I do agree Fishnbowljoe, the rye is just “eh”....I wonder if I would pull the trigger or not on a 750 of the regular stuff at regular $$ (I would not on the rye, I know).......NOT to say that it is not suitable for many, just not for me......I do wish that I could have had a bottle when it was coming out of 4R... Good pick though, It still is deserving....Cheers ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Definitely a good introduction to bourbon, just don't like the mystery of their blending.  

  • I like it 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had never tried it so I picked up a 50 ml bottle. It had no better than average attributes. Everything about it was forgettable. Most similarly priced bourbons I have had are better. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I used to buy Bulleit, possibly due to the nice bottles as I've re-purposed a few. It is an ok Bourbon but ive since found better and more affordable bottles for my mixers: OGD bib, HH 6yr BIB. I still have a bottle of the 10 year that i drink neat , though I dont often go back to it. The fact that Diagio owns it doesn't help its cause.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am grateful that Bulleit bourbon makes it easy to boycott Diageo, since it lacks any particular unique strength. Coal Ila and Clynelish still haunt me.

 

Pikesville saved me from the rye, although I often still turn to it at bars and restaurants. Still, since everyone seems to have raised their prices so dramatically, I rarely go to bars and restaurants...

 

 

 

  • I like it 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I find the bourbon pretty good.  Nothing special or anything I'll seek out, but it's readily available at bars that have limited offerings.

 

I bought a bottle of the rye recently and I find it completely bland.  No real flavors to speak of.  It's not bad, but I didn't find anything good about it either...  Maybe a good mixer, but as a sipper it's disappointing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Their brilliant marketing overshadows the contents inside the cute bottle. I have never taken them serious because I sensed that they were a fraud from the very beginning and it turns out I was right.  Their 10 year tastes good, but there aren't many 10 year bourbons anymore that don't taste good compared to the underaged NAS stuff we have to compare it to these days.

  • I like it 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The regular, orange-label Bulleit is decent enough that I'll opt for it while out if there's nothing better that catches my eye. I don't think I've ever bought a bottle. It's not bad by any stretch but not something I'm compelled to keep around. The barrel-proof version, however, is another animal. I'm about to polish off a bottle that I picked up in KY before it was available here and THAT was some good whiskey! Now that our distributors have picked it up, I'll be replacing that one.

  • I like it 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.