What Bourbon Did You Pass On 2024

[fishnbowljoe]

11 hours ago, Kepler said:

 

Good job -- I pass on these at anything near that price as well.  The Old Forester BP bottles are NAS, and due to OF's heat cycling warehouses, probably no more than 6 years old max (if that even; OF might even be only 5 year old whiskey).  It's high time that Old Forester put an age statement on these high-priced premium single barrel offerings.  Until they do, I'll keep buying the OF1920 instead at 115 proof.

I oft lamented the fact that other members here found and purchased bottles of OF SB BP, and I’d never even seen one in our area. We did have a store here that did a regular 90 proof OF SB a couple of years ago or so. It was superb. It reminded me a lot of the OF BIB from back in the day. Long story short, over time I ended up buying around a case of it. I still have one left in the bunker. Then last year, that same store did a OF SB BP pick. I didn’t hesitate in purchasing one. This one was somewhere around 124 proof IIRC. FWIW, I usually don’t partake of my higher proof bottles very frequently, so they have a tendency to sit on my open shelf quite a bit longer than most of my other open bottles. Not this one. While I didn’t finish it in record time, it did disappear rather quickly. I also shared it with the guys in our bourbon/beer/cigar group. They all agreed it was pretty darned good. Just recently, said store did another ps OF SB BP. I didn’t hesitate at all in purchasing one. I have too many bottles open currently, so it may be a while before I open this one. When I do, I’ll be sure to post some tasting notes.

 

[jvd99]

Passed on all of this (already have the OGD from Costco)

 

 

[mbroo5880i]

19 hours ago, Kepler said:

 

Good job -- I pass on these at anything near that price as well.  The Old Forester BP bottles are NAS, and due to OF's heat cycling warehouses, probably no more than 6 years old max (if that even; OF might even be only 5 year old whiskey).  It's high time that Old Forester put an age statement on these high-priced premium single barrel offerings.  Until they do, I'll keep buying the OF1920 instead at 115 proof.

 

Good to know.  I always thought I was missing out because I couldn't find it.  It appears that I was not.

[Kepler]

21 minutes ago, mbroo5880i said:

 

Good to know.  I always thought I was missing out because I couldn't find it.  It appears that I was not.

Well, I still have a half empty SiBBP and 1 unopened of these to work through, so you'll see me drinking and posting about it from time to time.  But I'm not replacing these when they are gone ... unless the price drops or they start aging them longer.  I'd just as soon drink my 1920, which at 115 proof is enough for me.  Now, people say the current 1920 on shelves today isn't as good as the original releases, but mine are the old bottles and I haven't tried the new 1920 yet.  So I can't attest to that.

[NDN98]

Passed on Weller Full Proof and Weller 12 at retail.  It was a'pick one" table and they had ETL and decided to snatch it, since I had not seen a bottle at retail in 3-4 years.

[jvd99]

28 minutes ago, NDN98 said:

Passed on Weller Full Proof and Weller 12 at retail.  It was a'pick one" table and they had ETL and decided to snatch it, since I had not seen a bottle at retail in 3-4 years.

I’ve never even seen a Weller Full Proof in person, let alone one for sale. 

[PaulO]

On 12/8/2024 at 12:54 AM, Kepler said:

 

Good job -- I pass on these at anything near that price as well.  The Old Forester BP bottles are NAS, and due to OF's heat cycling warehouses, probably no more than 6 years old max (if that even; OF might even be only 5 year old whiskey).  It's high time that Old Forester put an age statement on these high-priced premium single barrel offerings.  Until they do, I'll keep buying the OF1920 instead at 115 proof.

The Old Forester house style is one of my favorites.  Having said that, I was gifted an OF 1920 several years ago for Christmas.  I did enjoy it.  I could tell it was supposed to be a premium product, but the more I got used to it, the difference between it and regular OF 100 seemed minimal or less pronounced.  Is OF 100 a great value pour @ ~ $18 - yes.  Am I a cheapskate - yes.  

[Skinsfan1311]

On 12/8/2024 at 12:54 AM, Kepler said:

 

Good job -- I pass on these at anything near that price as well.  The Old Forester BP bottles are NAS, and due to OF's heat cycling warehouses, probably no more than 6 years old max (if that even; OF might even be only 5 year old whiskey).  It's high time that Old Forester put an age statement on these high-priced premium single barrel offerings.  Until they do, I'll keep buying the OF1920 instead at 115 proof.

Over the past couple of years, I've bought a couple of OFSBBP picks that a friend of mine did.    I think I paid around $81.00 for them.

Question:   Does the age statement really matter if the whiskey is good?  Is it a about the transparency of the distiller?    That said,  I don't have the most sophisticated palate but I love the 1920, but like the aforementioned picks better than the 1920. 

 

Thanks!

[Jazz June]

On 12/8/2024 at 12:54 AM, Kepler said:

 

Good job -- I pass on these at anything near that price as well.  The Old Forester BP bottles are NAS, and due to OF's heat cycling warehouses, probably no more than 6 years old max (if that even; OF might even be only 5 year old whiskey).  It's high time that Old Forester put an age statement on these high-priced premium single barrel offerings.  Until they do, I'll keep buying the OF1920 instead at 115 proof.

The Old Forester BP picks are generally 4 or 5 years old. And the MSRP is up to $90, which is pushing it, even if the quality is often high (some are overly hot). The heat cycling obviously does make a difference, so I doubt Old Forester is likely to put age statements on products with bourbon of this age. Many (if not all) of their products with 10+ year age statements used to spend a significant portion of their lives in non-heat cycled warehouses, but I'm not sure if they have any such warehouses now. 

[Kepler]

4 hours ago, Skinsfan1311 said:

Over the past couple of years, I've bought a couple of OFSBBP picks that a friend of mine did.    I think I paid around $81.00 for them.

Question:   Does the age statement really matter if the whiskey is good?  Is it a about the transparency of the distiller?    That said,  I don't have the most sophisticated palate but I love the 1920, but like the aforementioned picks better than the 1920. 

 

Thanks!

 

I respect that different OF SiB picks vary and there are surely better ones out there than the couple I have experienced.  So there's that.

For me, it's not the lack of transparency of the distiller -- there are plenty of NAS bourbons out there that I don't have a problem with.

It's the "value" proposition here that gets me.  Old Forester (Brown-Forman) is charging a lot more for not adding water.  I assume that since the OFSiBBP is a single barrel product, they are curating the barrels and there is a manual selection process, which does has an extra cost.  But this product does not meet the typical value of "$10 per year of aging" rule of thumb.  My open bottle was purchased for $76 in 2021 and now they going for around $90 in my neck of the woods.  I just feel for that price, we should be getting a longer-aged product.  That's all.

 

Btw, I wouldn't say I have a sophisticated palate myself either

[Skinsfan1311]

35 minutes ago, Kepler said:

 

I respect that different OF SiB picks vary and there are surely better ones out there than the couple I have experienced.  So there's that.

For me, it's not the lack of transparency of the distiller -- there are plenty of NAS bourbons out there that I don't have a problem with.

It's the "value" proposition here that gets me.  Old Forester (Brown-Forman) is charging a lot more for not adding water.  I assume that since the OFSiBBP is a single barrel product, they are curating the barrels and there is a manual selection process, which does has an extra cost.  But this product does not meet the typical value of "$10 per year of aging" rule of thumb.  My open bottle was purchased for $76 in 2021 and now they going for around $90 in my neck of the woods.  I just feel for that price, we should be getting a longer-aged product.  That's all.

 

Btw, I wouldn't say I have a sophisticated palate myself either

Makes sense to me.

Thanks!

[PaulO]

Isn't the only version of Old Forester that has an age statement the Birthday Bourbon at around 10 - 12 years, depending on the release.

I bought a couple different years when it sat on a shelf for $39.99.  It was ok, but had sort of a dry wood finish, not really in my wheelhouse.  The contemporary "Signature" was really to my liking.  Then things got crazy with BB price and availability.  So glad I don't care at this point. 

[Jazz June]

4 hours ago, PaulO said:

Isn't the only version of Old Forester that has an age statement the Birthday Bourbon at around 10 - 12 years, depending on the release.

I bought a couple different years when it sat on a shelf for $39.99.  It was ok, but had sort of a dry wood finish, not really in my wheelhouse.  The contemporary "Signature" was really to my liking.  Then things got crazy with BB price and availability.  So glad I don't care at this point. 

Recognizing that they are Kentucky only, but President’s Choice and some 117 Series releases are age stated. King of Kentucky and Old Forester 1924 are both age stated, but the Early Times mash bill. Personally if I could design a product, I’d change the Old Forester 1897 to 6 years old and lower the price some. That would be a fantastic product I think. 

[Kepler]

On 12/9/2024 at 11:19 AM, PaulO said:

The Old Forester house style is one of my favorites.  Having said that, I was gifted an OF 1920 several years ago for Christmas.  I did enjoy it.  I could tell it was supposed to be a premium product, but the more I got used to it, the difference between it and regular OF 100 seemed minimal or less pronounced.  Is OF 100 a great value pour @ ~ $18 - yes.  Am I a cheapskate - yes.  

Well said.  Although Old Forester is not really among my favorites, I do like it.  Regardless I put OF100 right there alongside WT101, KC9 and Early Times BiB as some of the very best values in all of bourbon land.

[Special Reserve]

On 12/8/2024 at 1:15 PM, fishnbowljoe said:

I oft lamented the fact that other members here found and purchased bottles of OF SB BP, and I’d never even seen one in our area. We did have a store here that did a regular 90 proof OF SB a couple of years ago or so. It was superb. It reminded me a lot of the OF BIB from back in the day. Long story short, over time I ended up buying around a case of it. I still have one left in the bunker. Then last year, that same store did a OF SB BP pick. I didn’t hesitate in purchasing one. This one was somewhere around 124 proof IIRC. FWIW, I usually don’t partake of my higher proof bottles very frequently, so they have a tendency to sit on my open shelf quite a bit longer than most of my other open bottles. Not this one. While I didn’t finish it in record time, it did disappear rather quickly. I also shared it with the guys in our bourbon/beer/cigar group. They all agreed it was pretty darned good. Just recently, said store did another ps OF SB BP. I didn’t hesitate at all in purchasing one. I have too many bottles open currently, so it may be a while before I open this one. When I do, I’ll be sure to post some tasting notes.

 

I picked up a bottle of OF SB BP at my favorite store after tasting a sample. I need to go back and pick up a couple more.

[flahute]

On 12/7/2024 at 9:54 PM, Kepler said:

 

Good job -- I pass on these at anything near that price as well.  The Old Forester BP bottles are NAS, and due to OF's heat cycling warehouses, probably no more than 6 years old max (if that even; OF might even be only 5 year old whiskey).  It's high time that Old Forester put an age statement on these high-priced premium single barrel offerings.  Until they do, I'll keep buying the OF1920 instead at 115 proof.

Having done a number of these picks I can tell you that they are in the 4-5 year range. OF100 on the other hand is 6yrs.

[mbroo5880i]

9 hours ago, Special Reserve said:

I picked up a bottle of OF SB BP at my favorite store after tasting a sample. I need to go back and pick up a couple more.

 

That's the key.  Being able to sample the product before purchasing.  Often a liquor store will provide samples, most grocery stores cannot. So, you have to buy and try.  However, by the time you try, they are all gone.

[mbroo5880i]

1 hour ago, flahute said:

Having done a number of these picks I can tell you that they are in the 4-5 year range. OF100 on the other hand is 6yrs.

 

I really like OF100 from a QPR standpoint.  However, I find it a mood whiskey.  It is great when I am in the mood but average when I am looking for something to wow me.  In a straight up competition without price consideration, I would pick KC9, WT101, OF100, in that order.

[mbroo5880i]

Finishing off a bottle of KC9 while watching Home Alone.  I find it a boring yet compelling movie.  Once it is on, I find it better than the other options, especially Hallmark. 

[Skinsfan1311]

3 minutes ago, mbroo5880i said:

 

I really like OF100 from a QPR standpoint.  However, I find it a mood whiskey.  It is great when I am in the mood but average when I am looking for something to wow me.  In a straight up competition without price consideration, I would pick KC9, WT101, OF100, in that order.

I feel the same, except I'd I would pick WT101, KC9 & OGD BiB,  in that order...

[Special Reserve]

11 hours ago, mbroo5880i said:

 

That's the key.  Being able to sample the product before purchasing.  Often a liquor store will provide samples, most grocery stores cannot. So, you have to buy and try.  However, by the time you try, they are all gone.

100% agree, I probably would not have bought without a taste first. What I really want is to get on the tasting team. I think that would be awesome, now that I control my schedule.

[PaulO]

The other day, I passed on Rittenhouse Private Barrel (single barrel).  It was at a grocery store, so no sampling.  There is a significant up charge from the regular version (around 30%).  I'm of the old school when single barrels cost the same as the regular version, or a special sale price (a buck or two less) because the retailer got a volume discount on a whole barrel, and had extra inventory to move.  I know the way single barrels go, could taste virtually the same as the batched version, better, worse.

I bought other things.

[Kepler]

21 hours ago, flahute said:

Having done a number of these picks I can tell you that they are in the 4-5 year range. OF100 on the other hand is 6yrs.

Ok thanks for confirming. This seems familiar but I probably forgot.

[Davesnothere]

We were in Georgia this week and Eagle Rare was on every shelf for between  $44.99 and $49.99.  It was difficult to pass by but we have enough bunkered for the forseeable future. 

[mbroo5880i]

1 hour ago, Davesnothere said:

We were in Georgia this week and Eagle Rare was on every shelf for between  $44.99 and $49.99.  It was difficult to pass by but we have enough bunkered for the forseeable future. 

 

I rarely see ER on the shelves in the Indy area.  While I have had several stellar bottles of 10 year ER SiB, those days appear to be gone. I find the most recent standard bottles of BT and ER to be meh.  However, I know people who really enjoy it so I understand why it is popular.