What Bourbon Did You Pass On 2024

[b1gcountry]

On 7/11/2024 at 6:49 PM, bayouredd said:

 

I don't agree here. The bottles I have gotten in the past 5 years have all been stumbled upon and at $80 & less, I'll take it; I also don't chase. It also "IS" worth it's weight in gold as a gift as most non-SBer types think you have given the best gift at the party.

I understand picking up a bottle at msrp when you find it. Even then, it's still bland compared to 4R and WT bottles at $50 or so.

 

I can't understand hunting it, and I can't understand why you want 5 bottles except for showing off. 

[GeeTen]

On 7/10/2024 at 8:59 AM, b1gcountry said:

Blanton's frankly isn't that good and the bottle is annoying to pour.

 

IMO the only thing Blanton's is good for is showing off to the people that you spent more time or money hunting it than they did. 

 

OK, I'm guilty - although the folks at the SB.com Bardstown Spring Gathering a few years back when I brought a bottle of Blanton's Gold from our Bermuda trip to share at The Gazebo may disagree with you about how good Blanton's can be.  $76 from Duty Free at the airport and the animals (male and female) drank the whole bottle that beautiful Saturday night.  A great time was had by all!  

 

 

YMMV.  

 

Edited July 13, 2024 by GeeTen

[Kepler]

On 7/10/2024 at 7:59 AM, b1gcountry said:

Blanton's frankly isn't that good and the bottle is annoying to pour.

 

IMO the only thing Blanton's is good for is showing off to the people that you spent more time or money hunting it than they did. 

 

You know, not everyone who gets bottles of Blanton's, Blanton's Gold, and SFTB "hunt" them.  Some people are longstanding loyal customers who have local stores that save them a bottle when they get something in they might want. No hunting required and purchased at msrp.  Ever think of that?

[Skinsfan1311]

3 hours ago, b1gcountry said:

I understand picking up a bottle at msrp when you find it. Even then, it's still bland compared to 4R and WT bottles at $50 or so.

 

I can't understand hunting it, and I can't understand why you want 5 bottles except for showing off. 

Whoa!

I'm not a fan either,  but you like what you like....

[PaulO]

4 hours ago, GeeTen said:

 

OK, I'm guilty - although the folks at the SB.com Bardstown Spring Gathering a few years back when I brought a bottle of Blanton's Gold from our Bermuda trip to share at The Gazebo may disagree with you about how good Blanton's can be.  $76 from Duty Free at the airport and the animals (male and female) drank the whole bottle that beautiful Saturday night.  A great time was had by all!  

 

 

YMMV.  

 

How similar is that to Rock Hill Farms.

[mbroo5880i]

Not bourbon, while I passed on several of those today as well, but a rye.  KC Rye 10 for $59.99.  

[Double C's]

Passed a 4R SBBS pick OBSQ recipe. Not a fan of $105 pricing on the barrel strength pricing these days.

[GeeTen]

On 7/13/2024 at 5:02 PM, PaulO said:

How similar is that to Rock Hill Farms.

 

Honestly, I don't remember.  Haven't seen any RHF around these here parts for many moons now and, quite frankly, my memory ain't what it used to be!   

 

[0895]

9 hours ago, GeeTen said:

 

quite frankly

 

indeed!

[Anwalt]

On 7/13/2024 at 11:21 AM, b1gcountry said:

I can't understand hunting it, and I can't understand why you want 5 bottles except for showing off. 

 

I did hunt it. For fun. And because much of my access to "rare" bourbon is via trading. At this point I no longer hunt it. It comes to me, usually via small stores in Europe or friends on trips who volunteer luggage space. Just got 5 cases of SFTB from St Maarten (buddy with family on a cruise ship brought extra luggage). 9 bottles for me, 9 for trade, 12 for a friend at cost.

 

My ego is quite healthy. (OK, maybe "obese ego" isn't exactly "healthy").  I'll admit to showing off to assist in ego growth (cue Wifey eye roll). Ditto simply liking a full bunker. I'll also admit to giving away, directly, plenty of bottles. Or contributing to raffles. As someone mentioned, they make for great gifts, they create a good deal of delight for the price when given to the right people. I also sell to friends at cost - sometimes by the case. Because "friends". And, finally, I've shared a ton. One of my favorite tastings for people who are even newer than I to bourbon, and who have of course heard of "Blantons", is to try Black, Green, Regular, Gold, Red, and 2 SFTB proofs side by side. The difference between regular and Gold (for a mere 10 proof point) gets some fun reactions. Ditto when comparing 120 proof SFTB to 132 proof.

 

I am utterly unreprentent. I play the cards I'm dealt. I think my reasons for more than 5 bottles make sense...to me.

[mal00768]

21 hours ago, Anwalt said:

 

I did hunt it. For fun. And because much of my access to "rare" bourbon is via trading. At this point I no longer hunt it. It comes to me, usually via small stores in Europe or friends on trips who volunteer luggage space. Just got 5 cases of SFTB from St Maarten (buddy with family on a cruise ship brought extra luggage). 9 bottles for me, 9 for trade, 12 for a friend at cost.

 

My ego is quite healthy. (OK, maybe "obese ego" isn't exactly "healthy").  I'll admit to showing off to assist in ego growth (cue Wifey eye roll). Ditto simply liking a full bunker. I'll also admit to giving away, directly, plenty of bottles. Or contributing to raffles. As someone mentioned, they make for great gifts, they create a good deal of delight for the price when given to the right people. I also sell to friends at cost - sometimes by the case. Because "friends". And, finally, I've shared a ton. One of my favorite tastings for people who are even newer than I to bourbon, and who have of course heard of "Blantons", is to try Black, Green, Regular, Gold, Red, and 2 SFTB proofs side by side. The difference between regular and Gold (for a mere 10 proof point) gets some fun reactions. Ditto when comparing 120 proof SFTB to 132 proof.

 

I am utterly unreprentent. I play the cards I'm dealt. I think my reasons for more than 5 bottles make sense...to me.

We understand. Better to spend all that money on bourbon than let the wife waste it.

[Anwalt]

1 hour ago, mal00768 said:

We understand. Better to spend all that money on bourbon than let the wife waste it.

 

 

For both our sakes, I shall not mention this to her. One would not want my semi-secret plot exposed!

[fishnbowljoe]

On 7/13/2024 at 10:21 AM, b1gcountry said:

I understand picking up a bottle at msrp when you find it. Even then, it's still bland compared to 4R and WT bottles at $50 or so.

 

I can't understand hunting it, and I can't understand why you want 5 bottles except for showing off. 

I like Blanton’s. I didn’t and don’t hunt it per say. Before Covid and the bourbon boom, I could usually find a bottle at or around msrp without too much trouble. If available, I would even pick up a bottle at the distillery on my many trips to Kentucky. I beleive the last bottle(s) I purchased from the distillery was in 2018 and/or 2019. When Blanton’s disappeared, I vary rarely had a pour of it because I didn’t want to run out. I would stop at stores and see it at tater prices. A big pass. Even one store I used to go to started getting greedy. I saw some there a couole of years ago at $99.99. Again, a pass. My patience was finally rewarded. After not seeing any for quite a while, it finally started showing up sporadically here again in the last year or so. A couple of friends and I let each other know if we see it or any other bottles of interest while we’re out and about. When in certain stores, you have to ask because it and other bottles aren’t put out on the shelves. No locked cases, and too many were just disappearing. My pics of Blanton’s was just sharing my good fortune, not bragging. I’ve posted many such pics here over the last 17 years. I will continue to do so. Also and FWIW, one of my bottles was purchased at the request of a friend. He paid me for it. Another was given as a gift. I had between 1/2-2/3’s of a bottle on my open shelf. I shared a sample with a bartender who had  never tasted it before. The rest was shared with friends at a bourbon/ cigar get together, and I opened another.
 
I may have posted this before, but my nephew had a bottle of Blanton’s for a mutual friend. I picked it up on the 4th of July. Long story short, I bought an outdoor patio heater for my American Legion post last year. My friend made me take $80.00 for half of it. I kiddingly called him a jackass in front of a bunch of folks there when I opened an envelope he handed me that had $80.00 in it. It’s become a running joke between us and our friends at the Legion. “Hi Jackass!”, to me and or my buddy. My nephew got in on it too. Here’s a pick of the Blanton’s I picked up from my nephew.

 

 

[mbroo5880i]

14 hours ago, mal00768 said:

We understand. Better to spend all that money on bourbon than let the wife waste it.

 

Post of the year.  IMHO! 

[Harry in WashDC]

Blanton's discussion got me feeling like I made a mistake.  Was in a Virgnia ABC store and was having a problem with the cc reader.  Was trying to buy some Blue Sapphire gin, peach brandy, and some peach bitters for my wife's peach gin freezes, a PERFECT SUMMER BLENDER DR(NK.  Wife was waiting with TONS of groceries in the HOT car.  After a good 5 minutes of hassle, it turns out the terminal's cc reader, not my cc, was BROKEN.  At another terminal, a guy plopped down two ERs at MSRP.  While I stood there offering a second cc and being told that "We'll work out the problem with "your card" shortly", the guy told me there were a few still on the shelf.

 

I was so steamed about the checkout hassle that I PASSED on going through that "mess" at the terminal a second time.  Those couple of ERs would have looked good in the bunker, and I sort of feel bad about not going back through the long line a second time.

 

Commiserating by overconsuming JD Bonded after a day of errand-running with my wife.  GREAT lunch at our favorite upscale Chinese restaurant also helped me forget about the hassle for awhile.

 

DAMN!.  About the ER, not the lunch.

 

Lunch was cilantro fried rolls with sweet and sour sauce, hot and sour soup, stone pot poached fillet of fish with bok choi (Chinese cabbage) and mushrooms in garlic sauce and beef with wood ear mushrooms and snowpeas.  Tsingtao beer, of course.  Tsingtao is made in a "German" brewery built in 1903.   The capital (uh, money)  used to build it was from Mexico(?) - rumor has it that gold coins made up the bulk of that capital.  When I traveled through China in 1977 (before official recognition of mainland China by the US), Tsingtao and green tea was ALL we drank.  It still tastes like a German beer, and I lived in Germany for a year so have some subjective experience to support my opinion.  If it is on a menu in ANY restaurant I visit, I buy AT LEAST ONE.

[b1gcountry]

On 7/17/2024 at 8:03 AM, Anwalt said:

 

I did hunt it. For fun. And because much of my access to "rare" bourbon is via trading. At this point I no longer hunt it. It comes to me, usually via small stores in Europe or friends on trips who volunteer luggage space. Just got 5 cases of SFTB from St Maarten (buddy with family on a cruise ship brought extra luggage). 9 bottles for me, 9 for trade, 12 for a friend at cost.

 

My ego is quite healthy. (OK, maybe "obese ego" isn't exactly "healthy").  I'll admit to showing off to assist in ego growth (cue Wifey eye roll). Ditto simply liking a full bunker. I'll also admit to giving away, directly, plenty of bottles. Or contributing to raffles. As someone mentioned, they make for great gifts, they create a good deal of delight for the price when given to the right people. I also sell to friends at cost - sometimes by the case. Because "friends". And, finally, I've shared a ton. One of my favorite tastings for people who are even newer than I to bourbon, and who have of course heard of "Blantons", is to try Black, Green, Regular, Gold, Red, and 2 SFTB proofs side by side. The difference between regular and Gold (for a mere 10 proof point) gets some fun reactions. Ditto when comparing 120 proof SFTB to 132 proof.

 

I am utterly unreprentent. I play the cards I'm dealt. I think my reasons for more than 5 bottles make sense...to me.

All I can say is I'm glad you don't have better taste. 

 

I buy whiskey to drink it. It is pointless to me otherwise. 

[b1gcountry]

7 hours ago, fishnbowljoe said:

I like Blanton’s. I didn’t and don’t hunt it per say. Before Covid and the bourbon boom, I could usually find a bottle at or around msrp without too much trouble. If available, I would even pick up a bottle at the distillery on my many trips to Kentucky. I beleive the last bottle(s) I purchased from the distillery was in 2018 and/or 2019. When Blanton’s disappeared, I vary rarely had a pour of it because I didn’t want to run out. I would stop at stores and see it at tater prices. A big pass. Even one store I used to go to started getting greedy. I saw some there a couole of years ago at $99.99. Again, a pass. My patience was finally rewarded. After not seeing any for quite a while, it finally started showing up sporadically here again in the last year or so. A couple of friends and I let each other know if we see it or any other bottles of interest while we’re out and about. When in certain stores, you have to ask because it and other bottles aren’t put out on the shelves. No locked cases, and too many were just disappearing. My pics of Blanton’s was just sharing my good fortune, not bragging. I’ve posted many such pics here over the last 17 years. I will continue to do so. Also and FWIW, one of my bottles was purchased at the request of a friend. He paid me for it. Another was given as a gift. I had between 1/2-2/3’s of a bottle on my open shelf. I shared a sample with a bartender who had  never tasted it before. The rest was shared with friends at a bourbon/ cigar get together, and I opened another.
 
I may have posted this before, but my nephew had a bottle of Blanton’s for a mutual friend. I picked it up on the 4th of July. Long story short, I bought an outdoor patio heater for my American Legion post last year. My friend made me take $80.00 for half of it. I kiddingly called him a jackass in front of a bunch of folks there when I opened an envelope he handed me that had $80.00 in it. It’s become a running joke between us and our friends at the Legion. “Hi Jackass!”, to me and or my buddy. My nephew got in on it too. Here’s a pick of the Blanton’s I picked up from my nephew.

 

 

This is 100% reasonable.

 

And regarding ER, I actually enjoy that quite a bit. I buy it whenever I find it at msrp.

[fishnbowljoe]

1 hour ago, b1gcountry said:

This is 100% reasonable.

 

And regarding ER, I actually enjoy that quite a bit. I buy it whenever I find it at msrp.

Odd thing here. Even though it’s the same distributor, most times BT offerings don’t seem to show up at the same time. Blanton’s will appear one week, Weller SR another, ER another, and  EH Taylor SmB yet another. Sometimes a week or so between when things drop. Regular BT is really odd. Not a bottle to be found for a couple of weeks or more, then we get inundated with it. This distributor has been known to play games in the past. It was really odd during Covid. Restaurants were closed, so they were almost begging stores to order more product. I happened to be in the right place at the right time when some allocated stuff was on the shelf behind the counter. I asked the store manager what was going on. I was told a sales rep showed up with the delivery truck. He said  they had some extra allocated items on the truck and wanted to know if they wanted any.   Crazy stuff here. At least I got a Weller 12.

[Anwalt]

9 hours ago, b1gcountry said:

All I can say is I'm glad you don't have better taste. 

 

I buy whiskey to drink it. It is pointless to me otherwise.

 

Thank you for your opinion & snark. Here's some back atacha:

 

I like SFTB, don't really care if you do or do not. Gold's OK too. I can leave the remainder of the Blanton's insofar as the personal consumption goes.

 

You have no idea as to my taste.  I did mention that I trade/sell at cost most of it since bourbon is limited where I live. I frequently post what I drink, a very high percentage of it was traded for. I use what resources I have. Newish, still learning. Usually snarky about politics, but not others' bourbon proclivities. Willing to make exceptions for the deserving.

 

Plenty of people have bunkers full of bourbon that they shall one day drink. I'm one of them. And there are some here who started earlier and have quantities of amazing stuff. Good for them! No skin off my back, happy for them, truly.

 

Good for you that you drink every, single bottle you buy and have better taste than other, benighted sorts. There are plenty like you in the bourbon community. A group that feels itself very righteous & pious because "they drink every bottle" and "don't like Blanton's". They are like vegans, they tell everyone, repeatedly with that same, righteous tone. Participation Trophy with Extra Super Righteous Ribbons are in the mail.

[BottledInBond]

On 7/9/2024 at 7:25 PM, IamMatt said:

Saw McKenna 10-yr down to $55 at Total Wine today but still passed.

What are there 1,000 bottles on this pallet? $51.99 here. Crazy how this stuff went scarce for a few years, and now apparently an unlimited supply. That’s the age of social media hype cycles. 

 

i miss the days on the ugly older style bottle when it was under $25 and nobody paid any attention to it at all

[IamMatt]

My local Costcos have very weak bourbon game.  Never see stuff like that. 

[Clueby]

2 hours ago, BottledInBond said:

What are there 1,000 bottles on this pallet? $51.99 here. Crazy how this stuff went scarce for a few years, and now apparently an unlimited supply. That’s the age of social media hype cycles. 

 

i miss the days on the ugly older style bottle when it was under $25 and nobody paid any attention to it at all

I'd buy the 1792 BIB first!

[Skinsfan1311]

2 hours ago, BottledInBond said:

What are there 1,000 bottles on this pallet? $51.99 here. Crazy how this stuff went scarce for a few years, and now apparently an unlimited supply. That’s the age of social media hype cycles. 

 

i miss the days on the ugly older style bottle when it was under $25 and nobody paid any attention to it at all

Same.

Crazy how that works, isn't it?  On a recent vacation in Florida, there were cases of BT stacked at the LS, for $26.99 bottle and the owner said that they always have it.   Around here, (Baltimore Metro area), it's somewhat scarce and overpriced with an average cost of $45.00.   Go figure.

 

With the exception of a bottle signed by the distiller back 2017 I quit buying McKenna 10 yr when the cost went North of $35.00.   It's too hit-or-miss and there's a ton of great whiskey out there in that price range.    I think that the HH BiB 7 is a better value, even though it's overpriced as well.   It's a much more consistent whiskey than the Mckenna.   JMHO, of course...

Edited July 19, 2024 by Skinsfan1311

[BottledInBond]

21 minutes ago, Skinsfan1311 said:

Same.

Crazy how that works, isn't it?  On a recent vacation in Florida, there were cases of BT stacked at the LS, for $26.99 bottle and the owner said that they always have it.   Around here, (Baltimore Metro area), it's somewhat scarce and overpriced with an average cost of $45.00.   Go figure.

 

With the exception of a bottle signed by the distiller back 2017 I quit buying McKenna 10 yr when the cost went North of $35.00.   It's too hit-or-miss and there's a ton of great whiskey out there in that price range.    I think that the HH BiB 7 is a better value, even though it's overpriced as well.   It's a much more consistent whiskey than the Mckenna.   JMHO, of course...

The blessing and curse of single barrel products, that variation. Some great, some not. That’s why I’ve always loved the barrel pick process. 
 

The distribution variances state to state have always been a little mind boggling. One example is Weller was historically more widely available in Texas versus some other states that never got as much. Not sure if that’s still the case as I don’t following things as closely as I used to. The prevalence of Blanton and it’s variants outside the US had also always frustrated some folx, but a lot of those people have never understood that AI calls the shots on that not BT.

 

By the way the last international trip I was on I looked in a duty free shop and saw Blanton’s for $350. What a deal! 

[Skinsfan1311]

3 hours ago, BottledInBond said:

The blessing and curse of single barrel products, that variation. Some great, some not. That’s why I’ve always loved the barrel pick process. 
 

The distribution variances state to state have always been a little mind boggling. One example is Weller was historically more widely available in Texas versus some other states that never got as much. Not sure if that’s still the case as I don’t following things as closely as I used to. The prevalence of Blanton and it’s variants outside the US had also always frustrated some folx, but a lot of those people have never understood that AI calls the shots on that not BT.

 

By the way the last international trip I was on I looked in a duty free shop and saw Blanton’s for $350. What a deal! 

Ain't that the truth?

Last September,  I saw Blanton's at a  Duty Free store in the Aruba airport, for $99.00.  I almost bought a couple, but passed.