What bourbon are you drinking now? Part deux

[bluesbassdad]

Barry,

I offer my sympathy, and I commend you for your courage. Tia's trust in you to do what's best for her is well placed.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[monte]

I'm allergic to dogs, so I can't have one, but cocker spaniels are one of the sweetest breeds - truly great dogs with a lot of heart and a lot of soul. One of my earliest friends had a cocker spaniel and she was a great dog - I can understand why you are so fond... I can still remember her now, 30 years later.

So, I will raise this glass now and toast your wonderul pal... here's to her and her lasting memory!

All the best...

-monte-

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Reat in peace, Tia.

Ed

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

A little tour de force tonight. I started with couple of pours from a newly opened bottle of Ancient Age 80 proof. Not bad at all, a little light, not very spicy, not much wood. Followed that with a small pour of Ancient Ancient Age 10 year old 86 proof. Noticeably better. Still the AA was a nice pour and cheap, too. Half or less than what I usually pay for bourbon.

I later I had a pour of Old Fitzgerald 86 proof. Somehow the wheaties just don't float my boat. It isn't a bad bourbon and I know that a lot of people like it. I wonder what a really well aged wheatie would taste like?

I decided that it was time for a more flavorful bourbon and switched to Elijah Craig 12 year old. Killed my old bottle in fact. I then proceeded to spill most of it. Argh! Fortunately, there was a fresh bottle waiting in the wings! That is what I am drinking now. Not only is my boat afloat, it is hovering!

So, that is three distilleries tonight. Buffalo Trace (AA and AAA) not their very best offerings, (I was drinking them last night!) Brown-Forman (Old Fitz) and Heaven Hill (Elijah Craig)

So, I had to have a sip of Even Williams 7 year old (Heaven Hill) to compare it to the Elijah Craig. Lighter, sweeter, not as spicy. Awfully good though.

BTW, if I have mixed up the distilleries feel free to correct me. I have been looking for my reference books so I could check, alas, to no avail.

Ed

[bluesbassdad]

Edward,

BTW, if I have mixed up the distilleries feel free to correct me. I have been looking for my reference books so I could check, alas, to no avail.

You may find this list helpful. I can't vouch for the currency of every item, but I think Jim enlisted a StraightBourbonian to update it within the last few months.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[Ken Weber]

Quick FYI, Old Fitz is HH, not Brown-Forman. Old Forester is the BF bourbon.

Ken

[TNbourbon]

After some active trading (and sampling ), I've been down to just 3 bottles of A.H. Hirsch 16yo for a while, and have been hesitant to open another. But today, I was in a well-stocked store just to browse, and again spotted a line of gold-wax Hirsch 16 that has been there for some while. I decided to put back a couple of lesser items I'd picked up (just to have my hands full, you know ), and grab another Hirsch to open.

Well, it's open and I'm sipping it as I write. In an adjacent glass is some original Michter's decanted from a King Tut decanter, which was issued in 1978 -- so both whiskeys may well have been distilled in 1974 (we know the Hirsch was). The extra years in the wood are obvious in both the nose and the taste of the 16yo, though in appearance it is lighter than I would have imagined, at least compared to the younger Michter's.

As I've noted some other times, I believe I like the younger Michter's better, but in no way is that meant to disparage the Hirsch, which is a fine bourbon. But the years in barrel have added a medicinal astringency to it that is absent in the clean and crisp, fall-apple-like motif of the Michter's. And the underlying similarities are so striking it's no surprise the Hirsch turned into the outstanding pour it is -- it began as a wonderful base whiskey.

Afterthought/after-action report: I had the brainstorm with about a half-ounce of each left, to try a Gillmanesque (that is an accepted bourbon term, right?) vatting, fulling expecting the 16yo to overwhelm the younger, lighter whiskey. Boy, was I pleasantly wrong -- it really is a nice, equal-footing marriage. The oak is obviously present, but much subsumed by inherent fruitiness that was probably present in both renditions, but masked by the wood in the older version. To this old farm-boy orchard hand, the nose is a wonderful caramel apple/vanilla combo -- one of the nicest I've found. On the palate, the flavors are perhaps a little blander -- but, in the case of that medicinal acidity, that's a good thing. The finish has a light touch, but long temper -- it doesn't blow you away, but neither does it go away. If I don't drink all this good whiskey up doing this experiment again (and again!), I might bring these two to the Sampler for some others' opinions.

[monte]

I've vatted a mixture of Old Grand Dad 114 and Old Weller Antique (7 year, 107 proof) for my "road flask" and the results are mighty nice. I've done a 1:1 mixture of these two whiskeys, more or less, most of the time, and have been very happy with it.

I get a lot of the fine points of each component spirit, but have the benefits of addition in that the weaker aspects of each spirit seem to be compensated by the other spirit quite well.

I'm rather fond of this 'vatting' - check it out for yourself and let me know what you think!!

Regards,

-monte-

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

Thanks Ken,

I had the distillery right and the bourbon wrong. Old Forester 86 proof. That makes rye the small grain. Not a wheatie after all.

Ed

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

Thanks Dave,

I had seen this list, but had forgotten about it. You saved me a lot of work as i had been planning to try to sort out the distillers and their whiskies. Now all I have to do is sort out the mash bills so I don't say anything daft on that topic...

Ed

[RedVette]

I've vatted a mixture of Old Grand Dad 114 and Old Weller Antique (7 year, 107 proof) for my "road flask" and the results are mighty nice.

This one piqued my interest, so I am enjoying a blend of these two right now. Very strong alcohol, but still very tasty. Individually, both of these are my second favorites among their brands, I prefer BIB to 114 and 12 yr old Weller to Antique 107. This combination is still too aggressive to be an everyday pour, but for an interesting change of pace, it will do just fine.

[Gillman]

Great notes, Tim, wow, a vatting of the original and one-off Hirsch version of the classic Pennsylvania Michter's whiskies. Well done!

Gary

[Gillman]

Yes but how would it taste with a dash of good water? This combo sounds great to me, well done, Monte.

Gary

[monte]

This one piqued my interest, so I am enjoying a blend of these two right now. Very strong alcohol, but still very tasty. Individually, both of these are my second favorites among their brands, I prefer BIB to 114 and 12 yr old Weller to Antique 107. This combination is still too aggressive to be an everyday pour, but for an interesting change of pace, it will do just fine.

For some reason, I've been into higher proof bourbon recently, probably because it usually goes along with larger flavor (less dilution from the barrel). This mixture is pretty strong though, so I can understand why it might not be approachable all the time.

Part of what I find nice about this mixture is that I think both of these bourbons are flawed somehow but the mixture works out a lot better than either alone. And, the price of each component is very low compared to what a "real" bouron that tastes this good would normally cost.

I just cooked up a Weller 12 / OGD BIB mixture, and it is pretty nice, and a good bit more gentle. There's something about the old 'wood' in the weller 12 that I sometimes like, but sometimes find too prominent. Also, I miss the phenolic taste of the OGD114 countered by the sweetness of the Weller antique - sort of like a sweet-sour matchup. After a few minutes, the W12/OGD-BIB settles into something really much more sophisticated than it should be, so maybe there's something to this mixture??

Interesting stuff...

[monte]

Yes but how would it taste with a dash of good water? This combo sounds great to me, well done, Monte.

Gary

Hey, thanks for the nod... yes, it stands up to water pretty well in my experience, although I usually like "younger" spirits like this at higher proof.

Regards,

-monte-

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

I would really like to try this but I have never seen any of the Wellers. I have the OGD 114, can anyone suggest an alternative?

Ed

[RedVette]

I would really like to try this but I have never seen any of the Wellers. I have the OGD 114, can anyone suggest an alternative?

Ed

Makers is a wheater, like the Wellers, so it might work, but it is missing much of the wood in the Wellers. I think it might not fare so well against the brutal 114, the Makers might be too polite. Any of the Van Winkles would do, but I could never bring myself to blend any of them, I don't trust myself enough.

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

Thanks, RedVette.

I do have a bottle of Maker's Mark Red. A Gold VIP, too, but that is not open yet. I did try mixing the MM Red with Wild Turkey Rye once to see it what it was 'lacking' (My humble opinion only) was rye. I found from that experiment that I was missing the rye in the mash bill. The vatting wasn't really successful in the sense that I wanted to do it again, but it did tell me something about my taste in bourbon. I will try again with the OGD 114 and see what developes.

Ed

[clayton]

I shared a couple glasses of Weller 12 with someone last night who was completely unfamiliar with good bourbon, or any bourbon beyond JB White. She was thoroughly impressed, and I wouldn't be surprised if she leaves the vodka drinks behind.

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

I had a couple of pours of Knob Creek last night. Really nice bourbon. I followed that with a smallish pour of Booker's, it had better be small as it is 63.5 % abv, the KC is 45% abv. I should bring the Booker's down to 45% and taste them head to head. I will have to replace both of these bottles soon as they are getting rather low. Both of these are Jim Beam products.

I had had a pour of Knob Creek the night before after drinking some Wild Turkey Rare Breed. That night I had noticed a strong flavor of licorice or anise in the KC. Mainly in the first two sips then it faded. That is something that I have read about but never noticed in bourbon. It wasn't very noticeable last night. It just goes to show that what comes before has a big influence on what you see in what comes after. I will have to try them in reverse order, maybe tonight.

Ed

[musher]

I had a couple of pours of Knob Creek last night. Really nice bourbon. I followed that with a smallish pour of Booker's, it had better be small as it is 63.5 % abv, the KC is 45% abv.

Really?! I wonder why it is only 45%, since KC is 50% ABV here in the US.

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

Really?! I wonder why it is only 45%, since KC is 50% ABV here in the US.

Oops. I am going to have to move my whiskey bottles next to the computer. I guess I mixed up the age and the proof.

Ed

[monte]

Tonight it's Eagle Rare 10 SB, a whiskey that I liked a whole lot at the end of last year but didn't get to taste much of in the past months, as my attentions were turned elsewhere. Now, returning to it, I realize (once again!) how nice this stuff is! What a fine whiskey!!

-monte-

[brian12069]

Last night...a couple pours of Bulliet...