fishnbowljoe Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 "Curiouser and curiouser." Biba! Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clueby Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 On 1/16/2019 at 8:37 PM, Harry in WashDC said: Our vattings are blends, and I really like the SB Blend and the Grandpa Weller 4 Grain. On the commercial side, I was skeptical of the Joseph A. Magnus attempts until I tasted them. If High West had not sold blends I liked, I probably would have stayed away from the JAM blends, and that would have been a shame. With the success of JAM's blends (and finishes), and Kentucky Owl's, I suppose the trend is "good". Consumer education is a best practice so that persons don't confuse a blend of bourbons with blended whiskey. Indeed, I just went to the TTB website to read up on when the label must say "blend" and got really confused. THAT suggests abuse is inevitable. EDIT - But then, I only spent about five minutes trying to parse the regs on "blended straight bourbon whisky" which consists of and how it differs from a "straight bourbon whisky" that is "a mixture of two or more straight bourbon whiskies provided all the whiskies are distilled in the same state". I think the former must be used when the straight bourbon whiskies being combined do NOT come from the same state. Maybe TTB should start requiring that BOOKLETS be attached to each bottle explaining what the heck is inside. Speaking of the SB blend, this has been making the FB round in St. Louis lately. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarthQuake Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 On 1/18/2019 at 5:50 PM, WhiskeyBlender said: @bayouredd, you are absolutely right, there are so many variants and possibilities both for turning out fantastic blends, but there's also the possibility of making total bombs. Just because you CAN blend two or more whiskeys with different mash bills, or from different distilleries, or different states, etc., doesn't necessarily mean that those flavor profiles will work together. Heck, even when you're blending barrels from the same distillery, same mash bill, with the same cooperage, etc., there are so many factors that come into consideration in making a good blend just with that alone. I'm sure I've said this many times before on this forum so pardon the redundancy, but in blending, 2+2 rarely equals 4. It is more like -5, or 12. I'm sure a lot of people on this forum put together their own home blends, or have infinity bottles, etc., like Joe's famous "Weller Blend." This story is personal and not from my professional life. I've been keeping my own "home bourbon blend/infinity bottle" for a number of years, which is normally very tasty. Well, a year ago, I added about 25 mL of WLW, which is one of my all-time favorite bourbons, to my home blend, thinking that it would augment the home blend that much more. Even though the WLW component was exceptional by itself, it completely ruined my home blend. It just didn't work in the least, and although I've tried to make some adjustments to the home blend, it hasn't been quite the same since I did that. I even had a bourbon buddy taste it, just to see if it was me or the blend, and he agreed that it didn't work. In my professional life, I would always test everything out with prototypes to make sure it would work, but I wasn't that careful at home. I could kick myself for being so careless with my home project! At any rate, it just goes to show that even though you have great components in and of themselves, they may or may not work together to create something even better. Cheers, Nancy I've had similar mishaps with my own home blends, where one element just takes over even if it's a relatively small amount. It's good to know I'm not the only one! I think it was a bottle of Dickel-source Barrell and it was less than 10% but it completely took over. I've messed up enough ones now that I tend to make a mini batch with the major components, generally about enough for a single serving, so I can test it out before committing. Though I did recently put 1oz of every bottle of Scotch I have open into an infinity bottle, and that seems to have worked out fairly well. It's very Ardbeg-y, which makes sense because that's about 1/3 of my open Scotches at the moment. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 (edited) 19 minutes ago, Clueby said: Speaking of the SB blend, this has been making the FB round in St. Louis lately. I laughed way too hard for what it is Edited January 26, 2019 by Kane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vosgar Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 21 minutes ago, Clueby said: Speaking of the SB blend, this has been making the FB round in St. Louis lately. I'm all over a bottle of this!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarthQuake Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 28 minutes ago, flahute said: You might be if it was column still only! Would pot still only Woodford be essentially Old Forester? Or is there a different mashbill and/or process for the two? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flahute Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 1 hour ago, EarthQuake said: Would pot still only Woodford be essentially Old Forester? Or is there a different mashbill and/or process for the two? Column still only would be closer to Old Forester. Mashbill, entry proof, and barrel char are the same for both OF and WR. Differences would be in age and maturation. Some Woodford gets aged in Versailles while some is aged in Shively and then it gets blended. OF is aged in Shively and because of the heat cycling in the warehouses they tend to bottle at a younger age. I'm not sure what of the column still WR is heat cycled or not but I don't believe the Versailles rickhouses are. (I don't know for sure). WR is likely a little older. Unknown also is if there are any differences in fermentation and distillation processes between OF and WR but it's possible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mosugoji64 Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 I had an interesting experience recently with blending Booker's and JBB 8yr. My intention was to down-proof the Booker's with a little JBB, but the result amped the JBB up to 11! The oak really stood out and it didn't taste like Booker's to me. It's fun and sometimes very interesting how these experiments turn out! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonNit Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Speaking of the SB blend, this has been making the FB round in St. Louis lately. I absolutely love this sticker, huge Dangerfield and huge Caddyshack fan. I’ve been wanting to make my own but have been hesitant because:A. I hate the PMP name as it doesn’t give credit to sB for coming up with this blend. I can overlook that as the humor of the label doesn’t really work if you don’t call it PMP.B. More importantly I’m not a big SB Weller Centennial blend guy. I find I enjoy the components more on there own than blended. Too bad as I enjoy blends like Grandpa Weller’s 4 grain. That being said I never let the cat sit more than a couple days. I do recall someone posting a very cool sticker they made a few years back that identified the blend as the SB Centennial blend. I’d be interested in perhaps making a label of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fosmith Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 On 1/25/2019 at 6:15 AM, PiraSea said: How about this... blending yourself at home? Yesterday, I opened a bottle HMK BiB 10yr. and I don't like it. All I smell and taste in it is wood - none of the vanilla and caramel and corn notes that I love about bourbon. So I mixed it ~50/50 with EW BiB and wow! The young qualities of the EW give life to the HMK and the woodiness of the HMK gives complexity and depth to the EW. The end result is way better than each of them. Maybe call it "Poor Man's HH BiB"? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzhead Posted February 21, 2019 Author Share Posted February 21, 2019 I just sampled the Joseph Magnus straight bourbon blend for the first time. It's bourbon pimped out like a Macallan. Absolutely delicious. It's tied with Little Book for the best whiskey I've had this year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiskeyBlender Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 On 2/21/2019 at 9:30 AM, Jazzhead said: I just sampled the Joseph Magnus straight bourbon blend for the first time. It's bourbon pimped out like a Macallan. Absolutely delicious. It's tied with Little Book for the best whiskey I've had this year. @Jazzhead, I assume you mean the JM Triple Cask whey you say JM straight bourbon? Have you tried the JM Murray Hill Club Blended bourbon? It has a lot more in common with Little Book than the JMB does. At any rate, I did a slight reformulation on the MHC about a year and a half ago, and I personally preferred it over the JMB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonNit Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Whenever I see this thread title I keep thinking blended whiskey and waiting for posts on how bad Kentucky Gentlemen and Beam 8 star are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiskeyBlender Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 10 minutes ago, HoustonNit said: Whenever I see this thread title I keep thinking blended whiskey and waiting for posts on how bad Kentucky Gentlemen and Beam 8 star are. @HoustonNit, yes, but blended bourbon is a totally different beast than blended whiskey. At least it should be. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonNit Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 No I absolutely get that totally different beast. Blended bourbon, blended whiskey............., blended whiskey with neutral spirits. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzhead Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 (edited) 20 hours ago, WhiskeyBlender said: @Jazzhead, I assume you mean the JM Triple Cask whey you say JM straight bourbon? Have you tried the JM Murray Hill Club Blended bourbon? It has a lot more in common with Little Book than the JMB does. At any rate, I did a slight reformulation on the MHC about a year and a half ago, and I personally preferred it over the JMB. Yes, @WhiskeyBlender, the Triple Cask. I didn't know this was your blend - I'm impressed! This is what is great about getting into blends - they are the artistry of blenders, and acquire reputation and credibility as a result. Just for fun, I've just poured a half and half of Outryder and the JM TC. It's the Macallanized bourbon with more rye spice; less of a fruit bomb because it acquires some of the Outryder's biscuit note. I picked up the JM TC in Elkton, MD; it's not available here in Pennsy. I travel to the DC area a few times a year, and always stop in Elkton for my whiskey fix Three of my favorite old-school liquor stores are there, including the incomparable State Line Liquors which is on the Delaware side. I had two "gets" for my trip last weekend, and got 'em both - the JM and Belle Meade Cask Strength. Both quality, creative presentations of well-aged MGP bourbon! Also got at State Line an OESQ store pic and, in downtown Elkton, a Classic Laddie. Edited February 23, 2019 by Jazzhead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiskeyBlender Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 (edited) 4 hours ago, Jazzhead said: Yes, @WhiskeyBlender, the Triple Cask. I didn't know this was your blend - I'm impressed! This is what is great about getting into blends - they are the artistry of blenders, and acquire reputation and credibility as a result. Just for fun, I've just poured a half and half of Outryder and the JM TC. It's the Macallanized bourbon with more rye spice; less of a fruit bomb because it acquires some of the Outryder's biscuit note. I picked up the JM TC in Elkton, MD; it's not available here in Pennsy. I travel to the DC area a few times a year, and always stop in Elkton for my whiskey fix Three of my favorite old-school liquor stores are there, including the incomparable State Line Liquors which is on the Delaware side. I had two "gets" for my trip last weekend, and got 'em both - the JM and Belle Meade Cask Strength. Both quality, creative presentations of well-aged MGP bourbon! Also got at State Line an OESQ store pic and, in downtown Elkton, a Classic Laddie. @Jazzhead, that's a fascinating blend! I absolutely love to hear about home blends. It doesn't matter to me if someone is using a bourbon I've worked on or not, I just enjoy hearing about how all these cool new flavors are created. And I think it really gives folks a new appreciation for the art of blending. Just because you have great components doesn't necessarily mean that they'll work well together in a blend. Also, glad to hear you enjoyed the Triple Cask! Of the Magnus line of whiskeys, I have to admit that the Cigar Blend bourbon is my favorite, followed by the MHC- Special Release, then MHC, and last would be the Triple Cask. TC and MHC are the whiskeys I have to make in order to recreate the original Magnus whiskeys from 125 or so years ago, while the others are more of a chance to play and have fun. At any rate, funny you mention WW Outryder! This afternoon, I've been revisiting a cask sample for the 2019 Outryder. It is the "rye-ish" whiskey that only has 48% rye in the mash bill, instead of the legally required 51% to be called a rye whiskey. At any rate, this is a sample I pulled back in late September, and it was 6 years and 10 months at the time of the barrel pull. As you may or may not know, we decided to skip a year for releasing Outryder, so that by the time we release it later in the fall, the whiskeys will be anywhere from 7 years 10 months to a little over 8 years old. This particular cask sample, though, is already getting a lot of matured qualities, and it has very good depth and length on the palate. I can't wait until this summer when we taste through the casks and start on the new Outryder blend! If you liked it at 5 1/2 years old, you'll REALLY like it at 7+ to 8 years! With that, have a great weekend, and happy home-blending! Cheers, Nancy Edited February 24, 2019 by WhiskeyBlender 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzhead Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share Posted February 28, 2019 @WhiskeyBlender, I'll be first in line to try the longer-aged Outryder; I'm well into my third bottle and gifted a fourth to my brother -in-law this Christmas. Will you be able to put it out again as a bottled-in-bond (same distilling season)? If you don't mind sayin", what other whiskeys do you construct blends for? The two I know about sure hit my throat just right (including when mixed together!). Blending is just one more way to detect and appreciate character, quality and distinction in a whiskey. Especially when I have information about the blender's choices, I can get interested just as I would be to try out a new mashbiill . A mashbill acquires a reputation for reliable enjoyment, and so can a blender's work, or a line of whiskeys, like Compass Box or High West, that is more or less transparent about what they're up to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzhead Posted March 4, 2019 Author Share Posted March 4, 2019 The Joseph Magnus has turned out to be a splendid tool for blending. Last night I mixed 1 part Magnus to 2 parts Pikeville Rye 110, and the result was both balanced and delicious. Better than the last bottle of Midwinter Night's Dram I had. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzhead Posted June 24, 2019 Author Share Posted June 24, 2019 Just found yesterday a bottle of Murray Hill Club blended bourbon. It has the "burr" of a fine blended scotch where the malt is softened by the grain in a way that suggests luxuriousness. A fine sipper! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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