Opinions on Total Wine barrel picks?

[Charlutz]

I believe most of us are of the opinion that TW barrel picks aren’t necessarily great. I’ve read that they just take whatever the distributor offers them. On the plus side, they usually have a bottle open you can try before you buy. They also have a regular opportunity to get barrel picks.

 

I recently bought two TW barrel picks of OF. Both are good and i did a SBS with an OF barrel pick from a local shop that has a really good rep for picking barrels. I’m probably less careful when I buy a barrel pick of an OF or BT or WT barrel. To me, those distilleries don’t have as wide a range of quality in the barrels they put out there for barrel picks. On the flip side, I always try a 4R barrel pick (if I can) before I buy, not only from TW but from anywhere. IME 4R has a much wider range of what they put out there, not only just because of the 10 recipes, but also the age, proof point and randomness of whether a particular barrel is consistent with profile. I say that as a huge 4R fan. I definitely have more 4R store picks than anything else. 
 

So what say you? Do you buy barrel picks at TW? Are you more wary of them?

[bayouredd]

I have had some ok picks from TW. The stuff that they stamp for themselves are what I consider MGP of the week. My S-I-L seems sold on them and gifts them a lot. The Bondstone CS is really not bad and the Tumbling Dice OK as well. I tasted their Ezra Brooks and have tasted better so no buy. WR pick was a cut above standard but WRDO a step below other LS picks.

 

Bottom line try before you buy across the board...

 

P.S. It also seems to depend on location. The Dallas TW's (been to a couple different ones) do a better job of trying to please the customer than the local one here.

Edited April 6, 2024 by bayouredd

[JCwhammie]

I think it's location dependant. I talked to a guy local (St Louis) 4 or so years ago. He said they pick each barrel for all the STL stores. They had some excellent Russell's Reserve in 2020 (how could it not be excellent, though. CNF level 6). They also have had very good 4R BS Sib. The reason I don't buy their picks anymore is the big increase in price they charge for them. 

[Kepler]

Good question.  But I don't have much to contribute here.  I basically avoid TW picks in general because (A.) I don't think much of them as a company, and (B.) they usually charge a significant premium for their barrel picks compared to their competition.  There are better options in my neck of the woods for barrel picks.

 

Caveat:  I have purchased a few bottles from TW over the years.  I think two 1792 bottles (back several years ago when I basically bought anything that moved) and a couple of RRSiB picks more recently.  (I will buy a RRSiB pick from practically any retailer, because Eddie Russell basically doesn't allow bad barrels to go out with his name on them.)

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2024 by Kepler

[flahute]

In my area the TW picks used to be great. I attribute this to the early days of the boom when any barrel they chose from was high quality so they couldn't go wrong. Now I avoid at all costs. They are terrible. I heard about their picking process and they just don't care and pick one as fast as possible. Also, as Kepler said, they are now more expensive than the standard versions of the product.

[Charlutz]

Thanks fellas. I’ll continue to proceed carefully with TW picks. Hard for me to say no to OF BP but I’ve got maybe 5 at this point and can wait for good ones I can try before buying. 

[Jazz June]

I will buy picks from them that I trust regardless of the picker, which at this point is just Russell's Reserve SiB and Four Roses PS. They have started to mark these things up a bit, as some have noted. I have also bought Weller Full Proof picks from them, although those are generally unavailable elsewhere, making TW a decent option.

[Kepler]

On 4/9/2024 at 8:06 PM, Charlutz said:

Thanks fellas. I’ll continue to proceed carefully with TW picks. Hard for me to say no to OF BP but I’ve got maybe 5 at this point and can wait for good ones I can try before buying. 

 

I would be surprised if there is very much variation between picks of Old Forester BP.  That is one of the most consistent profiles out there from what I can tell (all OF bourbon are aged 4-5 years, maybe as high as 6). Curious if anybody disagrees or has had a different experience with different OF single barrel profiles.

 

[flahute]

On 4/21/2024 at 9:27 PM, Kepler said:

 

I would be surprised if there is very much variation between picks of Old Forester BP.  That is one of the most consistent profiles out there from what I can tell (all OF bourbon are aged 4-5 years, maybe as high as 6). Curious if anybody disagrees or has had a different experience with different OF single barrel profiles.

 

There can be a lot of variation! The only reason I know that though is because I did a blind battle of the single barrels with something like 32 OFSiB's. 

Outside of that very focused exercise though I'd agree with you that it seems very consistent.

[Anwalt]

15 hours ago, flahute said:

I did a blind battle of the single barrels with something like 32 OFSiB's.

Wow. Shades of He Who Must Not Be Named and his 100 bottle tastings? 

 

I really like the OFSiB's, they do seem to trend hot. I do sippy sips.

[flahute]

1 hour ago, Anwalt said:

Wow. Shades of He Who Must Not Be Named and his 100 bottle tastings? 

 

I really like the OFSiB's, they do seem to trend hot. I do sippy sips.

Ha! To be clear, this was done over many many days!

[steven s]

Never been lucky w total wine picks, except for the 1/2 dozen RRSiB CNF store picks i got several years ago. These are wonderful. I'm down to 2 I think.

[Anwalt]

12 hours ago, flahute said:

Ha! To be clear, this was done over many many days!

 

Fair! Seems to be The Way. I knew an OSU grad would get it right. Not like a Hoosier Mama grad or the like....

[MyBrainOnWhiskey]

I choose carefully when it comes to TW picks, but I still buy them on occasion.  The last two I purchased are both very good... an OF SiB barrel strength from warehouse L and a JDSBBP Rye.   

[IamMatt]

On 4/8/2024 at 12:45 PM, flahute said:

In my area the TW picks used to be great. I attribute this to the early days of the boom when any barrel they chose from was high quality so they couldn't go wrong. Now I avoid at all costs.

This makes a lot of sense.  I have had mostly unremarkable TW picks (Russell's Reserve, Four Roses) but I recently acquired the last of a Peerless TW pick that was delicious.  My guess is that there are a lot RR and 4R barrels out there that are more "generic" while a smaller distillery like Peerless would have fewer barrels that are likely to be better or more interesting (?)  Dunno.