What Bourbon Are You Drinking Fall 2022

[Wedelstaedt]

4 minutes ago, fishnbowljoe said:

 

 

Appreciate the comment @Wedelstaedt.

 

And for both of you. I know it’s not fantasy football, but I already had my lineup set.  If not, I would have had a pour of FR, and joined you in Hail To The Cult. Cheers my bourbon brothers.

 

Biba! Joe

@fishnbowljoe, of course it’s the least I can do for a good guy like you.  

Enjoy your Wellers.

 

Be well 

Cheers

[Kepler]

2 minutes ago, fishnbowljoe said:

 

 

Appreciate the comment @Wedelstaedt.

 

And for both of you. I know it’s not fantasy football, but I already had my lineup set.  If not, I would have had a pour of FR, and joined you in Hail To The Cult. Cheers my bourbon brothers.

 

Biba! Joe

 

Thanks Joe, we are definitely Bourbon Brothers.  Hail to the Cult!  And cheers to us Weller Fellers! 

 

 

[PaulO]

17 hours ago, Sven Heuchert said:

EW Bib with a large cube. I like this stuff. Its got a lot of wood and earth, but almost no heat, that is for me. Really good, especially for the price. Btw, fishnbowljoe recommend me this expression. 

Heaven Hill has several brands of four year old (no age statement) bottled in bond: EW B.I.B., JW Dant, JTS Brown, TW Samuels, Rittenhouse Rye, Mellow Corn Corn Whiskey.  A lot of bang for your buck here, stuff I always come back to, keep in the rotation.  I'm a fan of bottled in bond.

[Phil T]

8 hours ago, flahute said:

I got muh super fancy 4R rocks glass out with the super thick bottom. Received the latest Bourbon Crusaders pick today - an 11yr 5mo OESO - and it is excellent. Did a SBS with an OESK from 2015 and our pick was the winner which is a great sign for how the current bourbons can still be great. Since the fancy glass is out a fancy bourbon is in order. 4R 2019 LESmB it is.

The OESO is my favorite E recipe. And at 11yrs+....super jelly. Enjoy my friend!!

 

Prost!!  Phil 

[MissMohawk]

Four Roses tonight.

[Harry in WashDC]

On 10/15/2022 at 2:38 PM, Sven Heuchert said:

EW Bib with a large cube. I like this stuff. Its got a lot of wood and earth, but almost no heat, that is for me. Really good, especially for the price. Btw, fishnbowljoe recommend me this expression. 

I like the whole EW line.  The 86 is great for newbie neat drinkers.  While the EWW is not as complex as other 100 proofers, it sure drinks above its bottom shelf price.

 

Today (Sunday 16 Oct), while watching Jets beat the Packers ( and I don’t care who wins btw), I’m sipping on VOB 100.  Had one oz. of WT KSBW 101 earlier today while doing laundry to keep me in the basement and attentive to my task and to reward myself for remembering to put the wet Wash in the dryer.  Not a true SBS, but I note that the VOB tastes like a Demerara sugar cube has been added compared to the Turkey.  Years ago, some SBer commented on VOB 100’s relative sweetness as a drawback.  And I now appreciate that comment. I still love how easy VOB 100 is to drink, which is a danger, but I now recognize where that danger lies.

Edited October 16, 2022 by Harry in WashDC
Duplicative adjectival clauses so I removed one

[smokinjoe]

It’s VOB 90 on a big cube before I head in to start dinner.  Re-upped on a family sized earlier this week. $24 for 1.75 liters? Crazy.  

[JT3NSB]

Woodinville Rye old fashioned.  
 

 

[Anwalt]

Sunday Funday.  I like all three.  Still making my mind up on Remus.  I know some of you love; so far I like.  Larceny - like a lot, really looking forward to the C922 release which is supposedly da bomb.  First time with Harpers 15, nice "smooth" low-proof, plenty of flavor, good deal at KL Wine price.

[fishnbowljoe]

1 hour ago, JT3NSB said:

Woodinville Rye old fashioned.  
 

 

Nice  cocktail @JT3NSB,  but I really like that lamp.

 

Biba! Joe

[markandrex]

Sipping on a pour of Weller blend (WA/W12) after dinner.

[Bob_Loblaw]

Few more details and thoughts some may be duplicates from Saturday's post. 

 

As @flahute mentioned recently, there are some absolutely fantastic single barrels out there right now and it showed throughout the weekend.  On Friday I blinded my cousin and my wife with EC12; Old Charter French Oak; A 12 year EC store pick; Van Winkle 13 year Rye; and the best Eagle Rare I have ever tried.  The task was to simply rank by taste preference 1-5 and then just for fun try to find the rye.  My wife choose the EC 12 year pick as her favorite and the Eagle Rare second.  Her bottom two were VWFRR and EC12.  She correctly identified the rye both on nose alone and confirmed on palate.  My cousin had the ER first, the Rye second and the EC 12 year pick.  They both agreed that the EC12 was by far the worst which was a very interesting result.  FWIW the ER pick is out of this world IMO.

 

After the blind, my wife bowed out and we went downstairs for a few pours of Wild Turkey.  My cousin was recently in Korean and brought me back one of the new 12 year WT101 bottles.  Wow!  It had that sweet candy coating (pastel Easter time M&Ms) that I associate with dusty bourbon.  Refined, elegant, it was absolutely fantastic.  After that we tried both releases of the Russel Reserve 13 year.  No real differences between the two releases, both with some deeper, darker flavors, but also more bolder than the 101.  Final verdict, all three were excellent, there as no need to dissect, and we just enjoyed.  

 

Saturday's blind was a Stagg Store pick, Batch 17 of Stagg Jr. and Batches 9 & 10 of EHTBP.  My cousin and I have the same order with the Stagg Store pick ahead by a mile followed by the EHT Batch 9; Batch 10 and then last the Batch 17 Stagg.  The Stagg pick was just a huge cherry bomb on the nose and in your face, while both EHT's were softer and occasionally I get a very unique root beer/sassafras note that I associate with the EHT.  Very happy with the results as I participated in the Stagg Pick.

 

Blanton's gold is pretty great and in my opinion the best of that lineup.  WLW (2020) is also consistently amazing and you can put me firmly in the camp that KoK > GTS, and I am not sure its close.  Runner up Best pour of the weekend was EHT Warehouse C and the winner by unanimous decision was 2019 Old Forester Birthday Bourbon.  All in all a lot of fun was had.  

 

But then there was this sample of Heaven Hill Select Stock finished in cognac barrels for 19 months and the barrel was picked by the members of SB.com in 2013.  Now I am openly not a fan of finished whiskeys and my running analogy is that it is akin to sauce on a nice steak.  Can it work and be absolutely wonderful? Absolutely.  But I think it more often is taking away from the steak itself and in the case of bourbon a vehicle to hide flawed whiskey.  Being both barrel proof and finished we slotted the whiskey towards the back of the tasting and it was very surprising.  Not overly sweet, drank waaaay below its proof and did not feel like a finished whiskey.  So I put some aside and have been revisiting as I type on a clean palate.  Wow, this is a great pour.  Now that I am focusing solely on this I do pick up some white wine flavors on the nose.  The palate is very very honeyed and viscous and goes down like a drop of syrup.  Then up comes a great kentucky hug and the cognac sweet grape with it.  Just marvelous. 

 

All in all a blast of weekend, including attending a terrible TNF game.  Although weather was nice and the ending was entertaining.   

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by Bob_Loblaw

[mbroo5880i]

40 minutes ago, Bob_Loblaw said:

Few more details and thoughts some may be duplicates from Saturday's post. 

 

As @flahute mentioned recently, there are some absolutely fantastic single barrels out there right now and it showed throughout the weekend.  On Friday I blinded my cousin and my wife with EC12; Old Charter French Oak; A 12 year EC store pick; Van Winkle 13 year Rye; and the best Eagle Rare I have ever tried.  The task was to simply rank by taste preference 1-5 and then just for fun try to find the rye.  My wife choose the EC 12 year pick as her favorite and the Eagle Rare second.  Her bottom two were VWFRR and EC12.  She correctly identified the rye both on nose alone and confirmed on palate.  My cousin had the ER first, the Rye second and the EC 12 year pick.  They both agreed that the EC12 was by far the worst which was a very interesting result.  FWIW the ER pick is out of this world IMO.

 

After the blind, my wife bowed out and we went downstairs for a few pours of Wild Turkey.  My cousin was recently in Korean and brought me back one of the new 12 year WT101 bottles.  Wow!  It had that sweet candy coating (pastel Easter time M&Ms) that I associate with dusty bourbon.  Refined, elegant, it was absolutely fantastic.  After that we tried both releases of the Russel Reserve 13 year.  No real differences between the two releases, both with some deeper, darker flavors, but also more bolder than the 101.  Final verdict, all three were excellent, there as no need to dissect, and we just enjoyed.  

 

Saturday's blind was a Stagg Store pick, Batch 17 of Stagg Jr. and Batches 9 & 10 of EHTBP.  My cousin and I have the same order with the Stagg Store pick ahead by a mile followed by the EHT Batch 9; Batch 10 and then last the Batch 17 Stagg.  The Stagg pick was just a huge cherry bomb on the nose and in your face, while both EHT's were softer and occasionally I get a very unique root beer/sassafras note that I associate with the EHT.  Very happy with the results as I participated in the Stagg Pick.

 

Blanton's gold is pretty great and in my opinion the best of that lineup.  WLW (2020) is also consistently amazing and you can put me firmly in the camp that KoK > GTS, and I am not sure its close.  Runner up Best pour of the weekend was EHT Warehouse C and the winner by unanimous decision was 2019 Old Forester Birthday Bourbon.  All in all a lot of fun was had.  

 

But then there was this sample of Heaven Hill Select Stock finished in cognac barrels for 19 months and the barrel was picked by the members of SB.com in 2013.  Now I am openly not a fan of finished whiskeys and my running analogy is that it is akin to sauce on a nice steak.  Can it work and be absolutely wonderful? Absolutely.  But I think it more often is taking away from the steak itself and in the case of bourbon a vehicle to hide flawed whiskey.  Being both barrel proof and finished we slotted the whiskey towards the back of the tasting and it was very surprising.  Not overly sweet, drank waaaay below its proof and did not feel like a finished whiskey.  So I put some aside and have been revisiting as I type on a clean palate.  Wow, this is a great pour.  Now that I am focusing solely on this I do pick up some white wine flavors on the nose.  The palate is very very honeyed and viscous and goes down like a drop of syrup.  Then up comes a great kentucky hug and the cognac sweet grape with it.  Just marvelous. 

 

All in all a blast of weekend, including attending a terrible TNF game.  Although weather was nice and the ending was entertaining.   

 

 

My only complaint is that similar to mine, your weekend sounds like it didn't last long enough.  Sounds like great whiskies and great times!

[FasterHorses]

3 hours ago, Anwalt said:

Sunday Funday.  I like all three.  Still making my mind up on Remus.  I know some of you love; so far I like.  Larceny - like a lot, really looking forward to the C922 release which is supposedly da bomb.  First time with Harpers 15, nice "smooth" low-proof, plenty of flavor, good deal at KL Wine price.

I need to try to Harper again.. been a long time. Surprised at the lack of excitement with the Remus buy I am a big MGP fan when they get a little age

[Clueby]

First some KC120 and now on to some VOB100.

[Anwalt]

8 hours ago, FasterHorses said:

Surprised at the lack of excitement with the Remus buy I am a big MGP fan when they get a little age

 

Like it, just don't love it.  At least not yet.  But then again, I know my palate is fickle.  Plenty of things that I now consistently like took time & sampling to get there.  WTRB & RR SiB come to mind. As I try sooo many more things....what I trend towards moves some.  Part of the fun, I suppose.

[StarSurfer55]

So I walked into my local Mega-Bev last week and they had  a barrel pick of Yellowstone on sale for $79.95.  Since I did not know a lot about this bourbon, I went to several sites I use for whiskey reviews.  The consensus from all of them was that it was good bourbon but not exceptional.  This was based upon an MRSP of $39.95.  The summary was "In an Ocean of $25-50 bourbons, Yellowstone fails to differentiate itself.  So I passed on the Mega-Bev selection but found  it on the shelf of my local grocery store at MRSP ($39.95).  So I decided to take a chance on bottle at that price point.  

 

After trying it, I have to agree with the other reviews.  It is squarely in the middle of the bourbon category.  A bit thin on the finish for me.  My wife liked it and thought that it was an easy drinker.  I think this would make a good entry bourbon and would use it as  Basil Hayden's substitute albeit at a higher proof point (93).  So if you can find it at MRSP and you have non-bourbon drinking friends that you want to introduce to the category, then this would be  a reasonable choice. 

[Anwalt]

I've heard You People discuss when Boogers was better.  In which case I should like to try it, for the 2021-4 strikes me as very good indeed.

 

In the spirit of things, it is Llama Approved.  Though my llama does appear to enjoy certain substances common to the Andes.

[mbroo5880i]

6 hours ago, StarSurfer55 said:

So I walked into my local Mega-Bev last week and they had  a barrel pick of Yellowstone on sale for $79.95.  Since I did not know a lot about this bourbon, I went to several sites I use for whiskey reviews.  The consensus from all of them was that it was good bourbon but not exceptional.  This was based upon an MRSP of $39.95.  The summary was "In an Ocean of $25-50 bourbons, Yellowstone fails to differentiate itself.  So I passed on the Mega-Bev selection but found  it on the shelf of my local grocery store at MRSP ($39.95).  So I decided to take a chance on bottle at that price point.  

 

After trying it, I have to agree with the other reviews.  It is squarely in the middle of the bourbon category.  A bit thin on the finish for me.  My wife liked it and thought that it was an easy drinker.  I think this would make a good entry bourbon and would use it as  Basil Hayden's substitute albeit at a higher proof point (93).  So if you can find it at MRSP and you have non-bourbon drinking friends that you want to introduce to the category, then this would be  a reasonable choice. 

 

I recently grabbed one for $24.99. It was 50% off the listed price.  I occasionally see it in the upper $30 range.

 

It was decent bottle at $24.99. But, a difficult buy when I can get WT101, OF100 and OGDBIB cheaper.  

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by mbroo5880i

[mbroo5880i]

13 minutes ago, Anwalt said:

I've heard You People discuss when Boogers was better.  In which case I should like to try it, for the 2021-4 strikes me as very good indeed.

 

In the spirit of things, it is Llama Approved.  Though my llama does appear to enjoy certain substances common to the Andes.

 

I haven't tasted Boogers since I was a kid. I don't recall liking them much. 

[Anwalt]

11 minutes ago, mbroo5880i said:

I haven't tasted Boogers since I was a kid. I don't recall liking them much. 

 

Like many things, they were surely better Back Then.  

[mal00768]

Just a boring old BT old fashioned. Bitter like I like.

[markandrex]

I will Jon you in a pre-dinner BT. Cheers!

[fishnbowljoe]

Last night I continued climbing the Weller Ladder that I started  Saturday night. There’s a slight chances I may have repeated a step or two.   I had pours of my 2021 Weller Blend, a ps OWA, and 2021 WLW. Sadly, a few bottles will probably soon pour their last.  The worst loss will be my 2021 Weller Blend. 🥹 
 

Biba! Joe 

[markandrex]

On to a pour of ER10 after dinner.