What Bourbon Did You Purchase Today (Fall 2019)

[El Vino]

1 hour ago, fishnbowljoe said:

To be honest, I’m not a fan of barrels stored this way. But not for the reason you think.

 

I work for a company that distributes truck parts for Peterbilt and Kenworth trucks. The warehouse that I work in is around 270,000 sq feet. We have approximately 40,000 parts. Many of our larger and heavier parts are stocked/stored on pallets. Over the course of 26 plus years, I’ve seen a fair number of pallets break and parts fall. Our heaviest “parts” are hoods, cabs/ sleeper cabs, engines, engine blocks and cylinder heads. Some of our engines weigh over 4,000 pounds (2 tons). A full barrel of bourbon weighs approximately 500 pounds. Four barrels to a skid  equals 1 ton per skid. Six skids in a stack equates to 6 tons per stack. I’m a certified equipment trainer at my warehouse. I certify and train employees on our moving equipment, such as order pickers, reach trucks, turret stock pickers, and forklifts. If I do say so myself, I’m pretty good on our equipment. I have to be. I have to admit that I’m just a little skeptical when I see those stacks of palletized barrels. Makes me shudder just a bit. No thank you man.   Big props to the forklift drivers at that warehouse. 
 

Biba! Joe

Thanks for the info!  Getting back to FasterHorses’ bottle, does that mean that they stack 20 levels of pallets high?!?  That’s a lot of weight on the bottom levels and a risky proposition moving the barrels around. 

[Harry in WashDC]

On 11/24/2019 at 8:08 PM, BigRich said:

I haven’t been buying bourbon lately. Not zen per se, just not much available these days that I consider to be worth the scratch. Well, I was out getting Thanksgiving wine and happened on a Little Book 3, Hancocks, and KC 12. So what the hell. First bourbon purchase in a while.

PLEASE tell me you hated the Little Book 3.  I passed three days ago (at $148!!!).

[JCwhammie]

10 minutes ago, Harry in WashDC said:

PLEASE tell me you hated the Little Book 3.  I passed three days ago (at $148!!!).

I had a pour of it on Friday. I thought it was a nice pour. The law of diminishing returns heavily kicks in for me at $60ish (I'm a huge RR SiB fan, so it better knock my socks off if I'm spending more than one of those). I'd sleep soundly at night knowing that $150 was still in my account. 

[Soberiquet]

Wow this rickhouse/palette conversation is great! O just happens to be my favorite WT rickhouse, but I knew nothing about it other than loving the picks I have had from it. Does anyone know of a source I could use to learn more about WT rickhouses?

[clearmoon247]

Picked up a couple bottles of a store pick of Blanton's from one of my favorite shops. They have such amazing taste in their picks, I haven't been lead astray yet from them. Purchased at $64 each

 

 

[Iron ghost]

3 hours ago, BottledInBond said:

There are pro/cons. The reason that some distilleries like them and use them include that it is way simpler/faster/cheaper to build the wide open structure, and there is a lot less human labor to move barrels around the building. Instead of rolling barrels around, they drive the pallets around with a forklift. 
 

There are other considerations though. Changes in wood contact, air flow around barrels, and the height limiting as examples. For a place like Four Roses that uses single level rock houses pallet used would be fine. However some places have very tall structures, and they like the more extreme temperatures on the high floors, etc. and you can’t pallet-stack barrels nearly as high as a tall traditional Rick house gets.

 

There are some interesting theories around about insects and other issues causing problems with wood rock houses in KY these days. It won’t take too many more issues like a Barton collapse and I think we’ll see more places trend this way with their newer expansions. 

 

 

From what I understand, at WT the bourbon barrels that are palletized aren’t aged on the pallets or remain there for long, it’s more of a temporary staging area. 

 

[Iron ghost]

Picked up a RR 6 year rye, a 2017 RR single barrel and a 2013 WT101 1.75L. 
 

[Iron ghost]

1 hour ago, Soberiquet said:

Wow this rickhouse/palette conversation is great! O just happens to be my favorite WT rickhouse, but I knew nothing about it other than loving the picks I have had from it. Does anyone know of a source I could use to learn more about WT rickhouses?

Eddie talks about them on one of the bourbon pursuit podcast interviews, and Rarebird101 talks about them quit a bit on his website. 
I actually messaged him on Instagram about my bottle and he’s the one who told me about Rickhouse O being palletized and a little about what that entails. 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Iron ghost

[Kepler]

On 11/24/2019 at 2:52 PM, GaryT said:

Couldn't pass on a Baker's for $42.  

I suffer from the same affliction. I picked up 2 Baker's last week. Mine were 40, but I ain't bragging. 

[Soberiquet]

6 hours ago, Iron ghost said:

Rarebird101 talks about them quit a bit on his website. 

Thanks, I do check his site somewhat regularly. Hopefully one day he will write a piece all about the rickhouse minutiae.

[Double C's]

12 hours ago, JCwhammie said:

I had a pour of it on Friday. I thought it was a nice pour. The law of diminishing returns heavily kicks in for me at $60ish (I'm a huge RR SiB fan, so it better knock my socks off if I'm spending more than one of those). I'd sleep soundly at night knowing that $150 was still in my account. 

I also had a pour of LB3 on friday. I liked the first sip, then on the 2nd and 3rd sips I started noticing that the finish had a bit more of a pepper spiciness to it. I think that I will me much happier with my Booker's 2019-03 purchase in the long run. I will not be trying to hunt down a bottle of LB3 as a result of my taste test. 

[BigRich]

PLEASE tell me you hated the Little Book 3.  I passed three days ago (at $148!!!).

I like it but $148 would’ve probably passed. Mine was $119.99.

[evasive]

A. Smith Bowman (a subsidiary of Saz/BT), Fredericksburg, VA, palletizes.   The photo above could be from their space IIRC, although I think they only stack 4 high but I could be/likely am wrong.   The guides on more than one occasion have told me that the four or five bunches of barrels (like the one bunch in the photo) that fill the warehouse (an old FMC battery factory) STILL have sweet spots that produce honey barrels.

4 high is what I remember from Bowman.





Before internal combustion engines, rolling barrels on their sides was the most efficient way to move them around a warehouse. Forklifts have changed that. Some operations will stick to tradition of course, but I expect we’ll see more palletized warehouses as time goes by.

[Harry in WashDC]

37 minutes ago, BigRich said:

I like it but $148 would’ve probably passed. Mine was $119.99.

I could live with $120.  OTOH, there are things I KNOW I like at $120.  Head to head, I'll go with what I know.

[Ckh]

Barrell Bourbon batch 18

Anyone care to share their thoughts/ opinion 

 

[Ckh]

On 11/21/2019 at 5:27 PM, JCwhammie said:

I got this in the mail from a kind internet soul. I love this label. I'm incredibly excited to crack it open.  I've never seen it on shelves here in STL.  I'm saving it to be my first pour when our first son is born in late January or early February (I told the Misses she should hang on till Feb 29. She didnt think that was funny).

I also picked up a pair of EC SiBs. 

Passed on a bottle today for $48. Go back and get it?

Story was Jimmy and Eddie weren't to happy with the SRP.

 

[Supercharger]

12 minutes ago, Ckh said:

Passed on a bottle today for $48. Go back and get it?

Story was Jimmy and Eddie weren't to happy with the SRP.

 

I’ve bought many like that and will probably go back and get more in the next week or two at that price point. I have not heard your rumor before, but I thought it was fantastic and worth the $100/fifth. 

[StephenH34]

Picked up my first bottle of Rare Breed to share with the family on Thanksgiving. Seems fitting for Turkey Day. 

[flahute]

40 minutes ago, StephenH34 said:

Picked up my first bottle of Rare Breed to share with the family on Thanksgiving. Seems fitting for Turkey Day. 

I predict you will be extremely happy with this choice.

[BigRich]

I could live with $120.  OTOH, there are things I KNOW I like at $120.  Head to head, I'll go with what I know.

Harry, I got to try it first a couple of months ago. I am admittedly on a Beam down swing right now and I would not have bought it blind. I didn’t buy either of the first two LBs.

[Chefjohn]

Henry McKenna 10 year BIB. 

[Double C's]

I stocked up on some WT101 today because a store(I try not to buy from them usually) had it on sale for a price to good to pass up. $20 for a 1.75L. I was even able to locate some 2018 bottles with a LL/GK code on them. 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Weller 12. a second KC 11 year single barrel, and a WhistlePig 10 year store pick cask strength Rye.  Really looking forward to the latter.

 

Then grabbed a 4 pack each of Phase Three Brambleberry Chantilly and Hop Butcher Blazed Orange to bring for the family tomorrow.  Plus some wine for the wife.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Bob_Loblaw

[Chefjohn]

Makers Mark 101

[Whiskeythink.com]

45 minutes ago, Bob_Loblaw said:

Hop Butcher Blazed Orange to bring for the family tomorrow.  

Got a Blazed Orange on hold for me, gonna see if its up to the hype. But they didnt mention W12...