Kentucky-only bourbons?

[dgonano]

Gary,

I am currently enjoying a recently opened bottle of Weller 12. It is available in Maryland. Not likely at Montgomery County stores but elsewhere in the state. I bought one at Cranberry Liquors in Carroll County.

[OneCubeOnly]

Gary,

I am currently enjoying a recently opened bottle of Weller 12. It is available in Maryland. Not likely at Montgomery County stores but elsewhere in the state. I bought one at Cranberry Liquors in Carroll County.

Wow! Thanks for the heads-up! I'll have to make a trip there sometime soon.

[TNbourbon]

I did see the Weller 12 a few places in KY on my trip 2 weeks ago, but I, too, was surprised I didn't see it everywhere. I didn't bother to pick any up because it is available (though only in 1.75L, which lasts me a heck of a long time, since I drinkly both lightly and severally) here in TN.

[angelshare]

Envy aside, glad you had a good trip! Hope you enjoy the VOB BIB. We think that VOB bottlings are some of the greatest bourbon bargains ever. Looks like you made a good choice on the Ridgewood Reserve stock-up.

Welcome home!

[Gillman]

I picked up a bottle of Ridgewood Reserve at Toddy's. Guthrie was nice to sell me one at the regular $29.95 sticker price. His counter phone was ringing as I was making the purchase early two days ago from people who want to snap them up.

I had an excellent time at the Sampler and it was great to see and chat with Cliff, Dane, Randy B. and spouse, Ed and Patty (thanks again for the lift to the Sampler), Chuck as always (thanks for the lift back!), Bobby, Bettye Jo (and thanks for those great pics), John Ed and father (those stills from Michters wowed me, it was a privilege to see them), Craig Beam, Marvin, Brenda, Jeff, and sorry if I left anyone out. Many fine whiskeys were essayed and Randy's BMH was particularly good. Of the ones at the Sampler I liked Russell's Reserve and Elijah Craig 18 year old the best but they were all good. I was reminded how traditional and well-balanced is Very Old Barton's on this trip. The taste of the current Van Winkle rye more than pleased, it seems more concentrated and complex than the earlier bottlings.

I tried Woodford Reserve at the airport bar at Louisville, the bar fitted out to look like a barrel warehouse (they did a nice job). I thought the whiskey was particularly good: silky, perfumed, complex. It seemed deeper and richer than the one we get in Canada. I wonder if Brown Forman keep the best of it for Kentucky. Maybe the newest bottlings are getting more pot still whiskey from Woodford Reserve (the former L&G facility) than previous bottlings.

Interesting how the industry seems to be going ever more in the direction of premium bottlings.

In sum, an excellent time was had by all, me not least.

Gary

[dhooch]

Interesting how the industry seems to be going ever more in the direction of premium bottlings.

... and the bourbon drinkers. I know I have been leaning towards the premiums over the lower priced bourbons. I don't go for all the premium bourbons, but many of them. Besides taste, the tie-breaking attribute is price. As others have mentioned, why buy a 96 scored bourbon for $100 when you can get $35 bourbons that score in the range of 92-94? That's almost three bottles to one.

If I were Independently wealthy, however, ...

[gr8erdane]

I somewhat agree with you, but I have come to question the ratings systems employed. As we all know, ratings are subjective according to what the taster likes. And I beg the question: How many bourbons have you seen rated less than 80? In my short tenure as a student of the drink, I can't recall one. To me that basically turns into a scale of 1-20 and a couple of points can be a major jump compared to a scale of 1-100. Add to that the probability that the 100 dollar bottle is probable produced in a limited quantity and you may find that you get more enjoyment out of the few pours of a 100 dollar bottle than you do out of the many you get from 3 35 dollar ones. But of course that is IMHO.

[pepcycle]

I think its time we standardized our rating system. The "pants away" system fell by the wayside. We need to set up a Gage R&R using a middle of the road whiskey as a benchmark and giving it a score of 50. Then rank everything else in comparison to that. We'd need to leave room at either end for a really lousy or unexpectedly excellent bourbon that isn't around yet. The consensus on this site is that Weller 12 is decent all around bourbon. Let's set that as 50 and then rank everything else around it. Nothing says we have to agree. I can rank Ridgeburg Special as a 90 and you can rank it as a ten, but the mean and range of the results would eventually give a pretty good rank to the bourbon.

We could pick a few bourbons at a time and set up voting matrix.

Any takers?

[jeff]

I'm game, but if we use Weller 12yo as middle of the road, most of my ratings will fall in the bottom half of the field. I would humbley suggest maybe BT, EC12, AAA 10yo or EW 7yo as our benchmarks. Thoughts?

[OneCubeOnly]

I would humbley suggest maybe BT, EC12, AAA 10yo or EW 7yo as our benchmarks. Thoughts?

Sounds great, but I predict no matter which one(s) you choose as the middle-of-the-road benchmark, there will always be those who object because it's their personal favorite. I for example consider BT to be better than a good 80% of other bourbons I've tried...so can it be a "50" for me? That'd be tough. I love the concept though!

[pepcycle]

Since its all relative, It really doesn't matter. We just have to make the benchmark bourbon something with sufficient room above and below that will allow all other bourbons to have enough room to spread out. (We don't want 30 bourbons with a 99)

If we think of 50 as good, on a terrible, bad, OK, Good, better, really good, excellent scale, we should be OK.

Time for an executive decision.

The benchmark needs to be middle shelf, reasonably price, and taste "good".

OK, the question goes out.

What bourbon is Average??? I think the Ancient Ancient Age and EW 7 are excellent candidates.

Jeff, Can you do that vote thing. Let's get 10 or so nominations and then put to the forum for a vote.

Ed

[jeff]

Good idea. I'll put together a poll this evening. If you have a nomination please post now and I'll compile them into the poll.

[brendaj]

Hey Guys,

I really think we could split the poll into wheat and rye. They are different enough to warrant individual middle-of-the-roaders. Say, Weller 12 or AAA 10yr. for the wheat, and EW 7yr. for the rye side.

Just a thought...

[pepcycle]

Brenda,

I was thinking about having a profile to accompany the bourbon rating with several "scores".

I think a Wheat to rye scale would be a good one.

I would like a sweet scale, fruit scale, wood scale, tannin

scale, proof scale and then comments on "other flavors" like tobacco, grass, vitamins etc. Bar graph kinda stuff.

I'll make one in Excel and attach it.

I think overall score should be overall score with no breakdowns.

Ed

[pepcycle]

First try on Rock Hill Farms. I just took a poke at the rankings.

Ed

[TNbourbon]

The benchmark needs to be middle shelf, reasonably price, and taste "good".

I'd suggest Jim Beam White label 7yo. After all, it is the 'default' brand -- in terms of sales, anyway. And, I don't think anybody here really hates JB White -- it's just ordinary, and isn't that kinda the definition of "middle-of-the-road".

[SteveZZZ]

If this is going to be effective, the benchmark has to be nationally available. There's no Buffalo Trace or AAA that I can find out here, so I'd be unable to use or relate to that scale. JB White 7 would work. While I confess to never having had it, it is readily available and affordable, and I can grab some at any time.

Steve

[SteveZZZ]

If this is going to be effective, the benchmark has to be nationally available. There's no Buffalo Trace or AAA that I can find out here, so I'd be unable to use or relate to that scale. JB White would work. While I confess to never having had it, it is readily available and affordable, and I can grab some at any time.

Steve

[gr8erdane]

Oh my goodness, look at what I started. The problem with any rating system is objectivity and agreement on the criteria to judge on. I say we take all the Miss USA contestants, put a different bottle of bourbon in front of each of them and a small glass. Have each take one ounce drinks of the bottle in front of them every five minutes. I'll stand in front of them, and the ones that find me attractive first are the highest rated and on down. This is imperative: they must keep drinking until they all find me attractive.