Thomm Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 Here's a nice Friday afternoon diversion that may cause you to put on your thinking caps. I overheard a cell phone conversation this afternoon in a local liquor store. I have no idea of the occasion being celebrated, but it seems a certain group of friends were planning to get together and purchase a basket containing some bourbon for another friend. The approximate price of this gift was to be $100. My first thought was, "Get out of here immediately and find a store that has reasonable prices." Despite my sarcastic editorializing (really, though. OF 1920 for $75?), the situation does present some ponderous noggin-calisthenics. Here's the scenario: you are the errand boy. You may fill your gift basket with as many or as few bottles as you wish, but they must come to approximately $100. I will not quibble about taxes. Disregard them for this exercise. Because I didn't know anything at all about the recipient, you don't either. I'm grabbing a handle of WT101@ $30 after a generous $6 Campari rebate, a FR SiB for $40, and an OF 100 for $26. What say you? I say I got 4 bucks left over. Hit me with your best basket. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kepler Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 (edited) This is always a fun topic. I remember playing this when I first got interested in fine sipping bourbons and my gateway internet source back then was Jason at Sour Mash Manifesto. My $100 went a lot farther when I could include EC12yr for $27 and Booker's for $45, haha. It's fun going back and re-reading old sources.. Sharing some old links in case anybody's interested: https://modernthirst.com/2015/04/30/if-i-had-a-benjamin-9-jason-of-sour-mash-manifesto/ https://modernthirst.com/2015/04/29/if-i-had-a-benjamin-post-central/ Edited February 10, 2023 by Kepler 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kepler Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 (edited) My 2023 version would probably be something like this. (I'll keep it to all 750ml sizes for uniformity and not including sales tax) WT101 $20 KC9 $29 4RSiB $42 That puts my basket at $91 so 9 bucks left over and includes everything I can't live without. Edited February 10, 2023 by Kepler 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry in WashDC Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 VaG 375 ml $6.50 (to taste a good bottom shelfer) Saz/BT thru ASBowman EWW 750 ml $20 (to taste a solid BIB) HH WT 101 750 $27 WT 4R YL 750 $20 4R MM 46 750 $24 (wheated) $97.50 Hit most of the majors and includes high rye SBW and wheated SBW. I left off OGD BIB on purpose. No need to encourage competition with MY buying habits. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kepler Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 And if I'm actually putting a gift basket together for someone I don't know and don't know what their preferences are, I'm opting for something a bit nicer and I'll sacrifice variety. Maybe something they might not have tried before, plus I'll cover opposite extremes, with one high-rye spicy bourbon and one nice wheater: 4R SmB Select $54 MM101 $35 That was fun. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bayouredd Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 55 minutes ago, Kepler said: My 2023 version would probably be something like this. (I'll keep it to all 750ml sizes for uniformity and not including sales tax) WT101 $20 KC9 $29 4RSiB $42 That puts my basket at $91 so 9 bucks left over and includes everything I can't live without. This tends to be my line of thinking, also. If the recipient is a rookie, he/she would taste this trio & think "bourbon is good!" Whatever, you need to make the math work, subbing in a MM101 or a 4R SB wouldn't hurt one way or another... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinjoe Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 2 hours ago, Thomm said: Here's a nice Friday afternoon diversion that may cause you to put on your thinking caps. I overheard a cell phone conversation this afternoon in a local liquor store. I have no idea of the occasion being celebrated, but it seems a certain group of friends were planning to get together and purchase a basket containing some bourbon for another friend. The approximate price of this gift was to be $100. My first thought was, "Get out of here immediately and find a store that has reasonable prices." Despite my sarcastic editorializing (really, though. OF 1920 for $75?), the situation does present some ponderous noggin-calisthenics. Here's the scenario: you are the errand boy. You may fill your gift basket with as many or as few bottles as you wish, but they must come to approximately $100. I will not quibble about taxes. Disregard them for this exercise. Because I didn't know anything at all about the recipient, you don't either. I'm grabbing a handle of WT101@ $30 after a generous $6 Campari rebate, a FR SiB for $40, and an OF 100 for $26. What say you? I say I got 4 bucks left over. Hit me with your best basket. If taxes not considered for the exercise, then rebates shouldn’t either. Yes, this is Wade, and I have hacked Smokinjoe’s account…. LOL!! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomm Posted February 11, 2023 Author Share Posted February 11, 2023 2 hours ago, Harry in WashDC said: VaG 375 ml $6.50 (to taste a good bottom shelfer) Saz/BT thru ASBowman EWW 750 ml $20 (to taste a solid BIB) HH WT 101 750 $27 WT 4R YL 750 $20 4R MM 46 750 $24 (wheated) $97.50 Hit most of the majors and includes high rye SBW and wheated SBW. I left off OGD BIB on purpose. No need to encourage competition with MY buying habits. Looks pretty comprehensive. Your basket would look like a bourbon jackpot, indeed. In my area, the MM 46 would set me back a good 8 bucks more than you, but I guess I could shrink the handle of Turkey to a 750. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomm Posted February 11, 2023 Author Share Posted February 11, 2023 3 hours ago, Kepler said: This is always a fun topic. I remember playing this when I first got interested in fine sipping bourbons and my gateway internet source back then was Jason at Sour Mash Manifesto. My $100 went a lot farther when I could include EC12yr for $27 and Booker's for $45, haha. It's fun going back and re-reading old sources.. Sharing some old links in case anybody's interested: https://modernthirst.com/2015/04/30/if-i-had-a-benjamin-9-jason-of-sour-mash-manifesto/ https://modernthirst.com/2015/04/29/if-i-had-a-benjamin-post-central/ Thanks for the resource. Guess this shows how new I am to this. I honestly had no idea this was such a retread of an idea. I have to say, with all the OGD 114 love dating back to 2015 (and perhaps beyond), it is indeed surprising the stuff hasn't become impossible to find by now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven s Posted February 11, 2023 Share Posted February 11, 2023 Gosh, I would love to get stuff at some of the low prices I'm seeing listed, but here goes for my neck of the woods: WSR 30$ RRSiB 70$ small basket 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swamp55 Posted February 11, 2023 Share Posted February 11, 2023 OK, I'll put together a basket that hopefully would please either a novice or an experienced bourbon drinker: Four Roses Small Batch $31 Maker's Mark $22 Evan Williams 1783 $19 Knob Creek 9 yr. $30 Yeah, that does come out to $102, but the OP did say "approximately $100", after all! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kepler Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 On 2/11/2023 at 12:35 AM, Swamp55 said: OK, I'll put together a basket that hopefully would please either a novice or an experienced bourbon drinker: Four Roses Small Batch $31 Maker's Mark $22 Evan Williams 1783 $19 Knob Creek 9 yr. $30 Yeah, that does come out to $102, but the OP did say "approximately $100", after all! Very solid list. That could have been my own! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry in WashDC Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 On 2/10/2023 at 5:16 PM, Harry in WashDC said: VaG 375 ml $6.50 (to taste a good bottom shelfer) Saz/BT thru ASBowman EWW 750 ml $20 (to taste a solid BIB) HH WT 101 750 $27 WT 4R YL 750 $20 4R MM 46 750 $24 (wheated) $97.50 Hit most of the majors and includes high rye SBW and wheated SBW. I left off OGD BIB on purpose. No need to encourage competition with MY buying habits. I should have disclosed my source - Virginia ABC price listing, and even the rural store I sometimes visit almost always carries them all. Used Va ABC because it has a "better" search function than the websites of those DC stores even having a website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbroo5880i Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 My guess is the gift giver was looking for a single bottle. Lots of options for $100 or less. I would be more than happy to recommend Four Roses Small Batch Select. If looking at spending the entire $100, they could add a bottle of WT101. I was in a store today when a lady was with her daughter. She asked her daughter what her father was looking for. They finally called him. I asked what he wanted. She said Bulleit. I pointed her to where it was on the shelf. I didn't try to sell her on anything. Her husband said Bulleit. I then heard her on the phone asking it he wanted bourbon or rye. A single bottle is ok even if it is significantly less than budgeted. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzhead Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 Here's the basket I'd put together: 1. 1792 Small Batch - $28 2. RR10 - $32 3. Smooth Ambler Old Scout - $35 That leaves 5 bucks for a bag of pretzels. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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