Store Barrel Selects

[kcgumbohead]

8 minutes ago, Old Hippie said:

I am not aware of any changes in the OF barrel program. Hopefully they will get caught up and release more barrels. I think the 90 proof works just fine for the barrel program. They already have 2 - 100 proofs in the signature and the 1897. As for cost, the OF SB is generally under $50, and is a fair value.

One change I would love to see in barrel programs across the board is the option to have the pick bottled at standard proof for the given expression if not a native barrel proof bottling OR, allow the selection to be bottled at barrel proof, NCF.

We have an EC pick that I really enjoy as it sits at its standard 94p, I enjoy each and every sip its a great pick and had I never tasted it out of the barrel I would be more than happy with it. The only thing is that every time I have a pour there is that flashback to the fresh from the barrel sample that was just that much better. I would then have the option to proof down if I wished and all that jazz but the option would still  be mine.

I can see the logic in picks bottling at standard for the expression proof, there are many cases where the client would likely prefer this, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t love to have that option.

Perhaps one day.

[squire]

On 6/3/2019 at 9:59 PM, PaulO said:

Are they selected by lawyers?

Nah, lawyers drink scotch, well, most of 'em.

[ThirstyinOhio]

On 5/27/2019 at 2:47 PM, Richnimrod said:

I wonder if fishnbowljoe was actually saying he believed it to have been a purposeful act on the part of the folx at BT?   

I know from personal experience that PS bottlings picked by either the distillery (likely) (or the distributor, maybe not likely?) are not necessarily wonderful selections. 

In fact they can be downright substandard, though these may indeed just be due to lack of 'quality control' in the process of picking barrels to sample, before the samples ever arrive for selection by the store, rather than off-loading of a bad barrel on purpose. 

Of course even store selections can be less than stellar as well.....

When a few friends and acquaintances (along with the owner) gathered to pick a barrel for my local retailer a few months ago, we had in front of us only 3-samples of Blanton's (proofed down to bottle-proof).    Every one of those samples were downright poor, and not just compared to the usual profile of Blanton's ... these all were bad, even if we were choosing a barrel for some bottom shelf dreck.   The owner wanted to go ahead and pick one anyway, even though everybody agreed none were even a little bit good.    His reasoning was that being Blanton's, he could easily sell it all off within a couple weex.     By this time Blanton's had become so hard to find his reasoning was likely correct from a strict sale-ability perspective.    I'm not saying these were intentionally lousy samples; but the fact is they all were lousy, however they came to be in front of us.    Ultimately, we all prevailed upon him to refuse all of them and ask for 3-new samples.    Though he was afraid of offending BT, or the distributor, he did just that.   A few weex passed, and 3-new samples arrived.   All were at least good, and 2-of the 3-were better than average.   Draw your own conclusions from that story.

I use to be a big fan of store and private barrel picks and focused heavily on purchasing them but that has changed over the last couple of years.  I personally think the quality of the offerings has gone down dramatically and even picks from stores that almost always knocked it out of the park have often been average at best lately.  My group has selected over 30 barrels and the difference in what we are offered now compared to when we started picking barrels is amazing.  We too recently picked a Blanton's, which has just been bottled with 252 bottles coming out of this barrel, and it is very average at best.  We would have passed on it except that we have 2 bars who get some of the bottles who didn't want to pass up on the opportunity of getting a large supply of Blanton's as they otherwise get 1 or 2 bottles a month at most.  We did an EC pick last fall and since we usually take 2 barrels, the rep brought 6 samples, none of them older than just over 10 years and they weren't even close to the quality of any of our previous EC picks.  We also did a recent Knob Creek Bourbon selection on site and they rolled out 6 barrels as we planned on taking two but 5 of the 6 were all just over 9 years of age, distilled on the same day, aged on the same floor, in the same rick....the 6 barrel was aged a week or two before the other 5.  We ended up just taking one of the KC as it was a solid barrel but to say that we were disappointed is an understatement and the KC reps seemed perturbed that we were only going to take 1 instead of 2.  We asked them to send us some samples of older barrels and that we would likely take another if they did, but we haven't received those samples yet so we shall see.  

I don't know if distilleries are simply running through too many barrels through their single barrel programs that they have added a lot more barrels to their programs that would have not made the cut even just a few years ago or if some of the distilleries just don't really care about prescreening at all and figure that we will simply buy anything they roll out.  I am done buying store picks unless I can either try it myself first or talk to someone who was on the pick who's palate that I trust.   

 

[Guss West]

I second that emotion. 

 

Thought maybe it was me, but when I go back to my PS bottles from just a few years ago they are heads and shoulders above what I get to pick from this past year.      

 

I've not gone deep on any PS bottling in a couple of years now; holding out hope for this year's ER but not holding my breath either. 

[Arkady]

On 6/3/2019 at 8:32 AM, Old Hippie said:

I'm with a BF wholesaler in SC. For OF we get allocated 6 barrels a year. I conduct all the picks locally or go with the customer when they do distillery picks. When done locally we get three 100ml samples at barrel proof. Typically I have the customer taste all neat, then repeat with a drop or two of water. Once they select their choice I help them proof it down closer to bottle proof and try them again. As far as the samples we receive, I have never had one I was disappointed in. Also they generally offer 3 distinctly different taste profiles, and yes the location of the barrel in the warehouse varies. At OF they heat cycle their warehouses so there is a little less delineation from floor to floor. When picking at the distillery they will have 5 barrels set out. They customer is asked to choose three then those are drilled for samples. 

As far as what happens to the whiskey that is not chosen, that barrel either stays in the SB pick rotation or goes back into the general population of barrels. As barrels age it is not predetermined as the the expression it ends up in (with the exception of Birthday Bourbon). They do, however have a pretty good idea of the cherry locations. I cannot fathom any reputable distiller pulling a crap barrel for the SB selection. What would be the point? It is easy to hide the lesser barrels in 200 barrel batches that go into making their every day offerings. 

I'm pretty sure that I have hydroplaned down I-40 in a Suburban with you.

[Old Hippie]

10 hours ago, Arkady said:

I'm pretty sure that I have hydroplaned down I-40 in a Suburban with you.

Hah! Absolutely! Perhaps on a trip to Lynchburg?

[Arkady]

On 6/18/2019 at 8:13 AM, Old Hippie said:

Hah! Absolutely! Perhaps on a trip to Lynchburg?

Yep. Good to see that you post here.