kaiserhog Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 According to blogger Eric Burke, The Bourbon Guy, EWBIB is tasting younger and he fears that they are sacrificing some quality to get more of it on the market. I just bought a jug and it still tastes the same and good to me. Of course, my local liquor store doesn't turn it over as bigger stores do. Do any of you have any thoughts on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinjoe Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 Blame it on more corporate greed to increase production at the expense of quality. I guess I’ll have to stock up on my beloved dusty 4yr-0 day-0 Hour-37 minute EW BIB, now that HH is mindlessly pumping out inferior 4yr-0 day-0 Hour-18 minute juice. I’m so glad we have these super-taster bloggers to let us know when these corporate profiteers are up to their shenanigans...Damn, these guys are good. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsangster Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 Haven't noticed a difference in taste but the owner of the store that I frequently visit after work says HH is raising price on Black and Green by $1 / bottle. $2 / bottle for BIB. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiserhog Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share Posted October 27, 2018 3 minutes ago, tsangster said: Haven't noticed a difference in taste but the owner of the store that I frequently visit after work says HH is raising price on Black and Green by $1 / bottle. $2 / bottle for BIB. A price increase is fine as long as the product stays intact. HH does a great job of making great bourbon and keeping it affordable. EWBIB is my favorite go to bourbon. I've heard that it is aged 5 years. Of course, it has to be at least 4 years old, but it is reasonable to conclude that that extra year does a lot of good things to the whiskey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinbrink Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 I doubt that EW BIB has ever been anything other than a 4 year old bourbon as Joe pointed out colorfully, if the profile changes it probably has more to do with weather/temperature over the 4 year period. Since BIB comes from a single season it is inherently more prone to batch variation as blending in older or even younger stock is not an option to hit a profile. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flahute Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 EWBIB has always tasted too young to me, but not in the grainy white dog flavor way you get with really young whiskey. All of the HH non age stated BIB's (which means they are at least 4yrs old of course) have this wet cardboard flavor. HH6 BIB on the other hand tastes mature. EWBIB has been a minor step up from the others but the flavor has always still been there for me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guss West Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 I get that wet cardboard (and peanuts!) from EWBIB much more than the EW black. Been awhile, I am planning to SBS them soon. Bottles are on deck. I also get the wet cardboard from a lot of the KBD stuff. Thought I read somewhere it was from a wider cut into the tails that gives this note, but have no way of confirming this to be true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fosmith Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 4 hours ago, kevinbrink said: I doubt that EW BIB has ever been anything other than a 4 year old bourbon as Joe pointed out colorfully, if the profile changes it probably has more to do with weather/temperature over the 4 year period. Since BIB comes from a single season it is inherently more prone to batch variation as blending in older or even younger stock is not an option to hit a profile. EW black had a 7 year age statement until about a dozen years ago so I doubt that they would/could drop it by 4 years and keep a similar flavor profile. If black was 7, I assume that white was too but I don't know because it only started showing up here 5 or 6 years ago. Most blogs/review sites say it's 5 to 6yo. Here's a quote from Breaking Bourbon's 2016 review of EW BiB: " Despite the lack of an age statement (though a minimum of four years can be inferred from the label), Evan Williams BiB is actually a five year product according to Heaven Hill Brand Ambassador Bernie Lubbers..." My recent experience is that the new batch of white label with the faux tax stamp is noticeably deeper and more complex than the earlier stuff so I would't think it's getting younger. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fosmith Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 8 hours ago, smokinjoe said: Blame it on more corporate greed to increase production at the expense of quality. Isn't HH the only privately held major distillery? Maybe greed of the Shapira family but not corporate greed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinjoe Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 (edited) 5 minutes ago, fosmith said: Isn't HH the only privately held major distillery? Maybe greed of the Shapira family but not corporate greed... Sorry, no sarcasm emoji available. Either way, you gotta watch saying things like that. As I learned a few weeks ago, there’s a whole subtext thing going on... Sazerac is private, too. Edited October 27, 2018 by smokinjoe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyfish Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 4 hours ago, kevinbrink said: I doubt that EW BIB has ever been anything other than a 4 year old bourbon as Joe pointed out colorfully, if the profile changes it probably has more to do with weather/temperature over the 4 year period. Since BIB comes from a single season it is inherently more prone to batch variation as blending in older or even younger stock is not an option to hit a profile. I think you're on to something. There are undoubtedly significant variations based on whether the juice is from the Jan.-June season or the July-Dec. season. We should lobby for a clarification of the BIB regs so we can know when we are buying whiskey from the superior season--which, of course, is the fall season. March is just crappy in Frankfort. That is far more important to me than if it is 4 YO + 18 minutes or 4 YO + 37 min. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flahute Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 1 hour ago, Guss West said: I get that wet cardboard (and peanuts!) from EWBIB much more than the EW black. Been awhile, I am planning to SBS them soon. Bottles are on deck. I also get the wet cardboard from a lot of the KBD stuff. Thought I read somewhere it was from a wider cut into the tails that gives this note, but have no way of confirming this to be true. You probably read that from me. I was talking to a local distiller back in February and mentioned that wet cardboard taste in young whiskey and he said that was a result of the distiller getting greedy and going deeper into the tails. So, it would make sense that a distiller like HH would do that if they know they are distilling BIB's or bottom shelfers that day so they can maximize distillate from each run and because the highest of quality isn't as important. I'm not saying that HH does this because I don't know, but I see the logic if they do. I also get wet cardboard from a lot of the KBD stuff which makes sense because a lot of their whiskey is from HH. Their own distillate however is different. I get over the top cinnamon from that which I don't like. It's more present the younger the whiskey is. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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