Hypothetical question about 10 bourbons

[ratcheer]

If anyone is intested here are the 10 bourbons that are going to be featured in the "Top Shelf" article. Thanks to all for adding your input. I would like to say I was not the only person picking these, so if you don't like the list don't kill me for it!! Some were chosen almost just based on availability. I added a few notes to give some reasoning. Curious to hear any thoughts or opinions on the 10 chosen.

1) Baker's (small batch, readily available and young)

2) Blanton's Original (the ORIGNAL single barrel)

3) Booker's (small batch, but vastly different from Baker's)

4) Hirsch 16 (a piece of history)

5) Pappy 20 (one of the best and my favorite)

6) Elmer T Lee (unbeatable for the price)

7) Stagg (the hazmat label and its quality)

8) Wild Turkey Tribute (arguably best in the WT class)

9) Eagle Rare 17 (another great one)

10) Distillers Masterpiece Port finish (why this one? we needed a "WOW" type bourbon for the article in which readers would get a bit mystified by this selection, plus it has a very elegant and photogenic look)

I will only comment on the ones I am familiar with:

1) Baker's - I didn't care much for this one. To me, it has a dry, astringent quality that I just don't enjoy.

2) Blanton's - I love it. Smooth, elegant, laid back. Every time I taste it, different flavors waft in and out.

3) Booker's - A very interesting drink, but too expensive for what you get.

5) Pappy 20 - Supremely elegant, deep flavors and aromas. Wonderful.

6) Elmer T. Lee - I don't care what it costs, this is easily in my top five bourbons. Rich aromas and flavors (tobacco, dark fruit, oranges, leather). And wonderfully sweet tasting . I currently look forward to each drink of it more than any other bourbon I know.

Tim

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

Hi Tim,

No cinnamon/nutmeg in the ETL?

Ed

[Vange]

need someone to doublecheck me here as well. i need the producers of each bourbon.

1) Baker's - Jim Beam

2) Blanton's Original - Buffalo Trace

3) Booker's - Jim Beam

4) Hirsch 16 - Michter's

5) Pappy 20 - Van Winkle

6) Elmer T Lee - Buffao Trace

7) Stagg - Buffalo Trace

8) Wild Turkey Tribute - Wild Turkey or is it Auton Nichols?

9) Eagle Rare 17 - Buffalo Trace

10) Distillers Masterpiece Port finish - Jim Beam

[barturtle]

#8- Austin, Nichols Distilling Company

Rest looks good.

[chasking]

Actually, the producer of #5 (Pappy 20) was Stitzel-Weller. Van Winkle selects and bottles its (his?) whiskey but doesn't distill it.

[Vange]

Stitzel-Weller is gone though?

[ratcheer]

Beats me! There are a lot of things going on in the flavor and aroma of this bourbon. But I haven't specifically noticed cinnamon or nutmeg, yet. Now that you've put them in my head, I might the next time I taste it.

Tim

[ratcheer]

Yes, it is gone.

Tim

[NorCalBoozer]

FYI, this site shows all the brands that BT produces.

http://www.greatbourbon.com/index.html

[ratcheer]

So, I just went and had a nice tasting of ETL. It was everything I said above plus a very nice, hot, black peppery rye spice. But, nothing reminded me of cinnamon or nutmeg. Also, when I say "dark fruits", it seems to be mostly prunes with a hint of raisins.

Tim

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

Hi Tim,

Ah, the magic of single barrel bourbon.

I have had several bottles of the ETL. I think that they all came from two different barrels. I cleared off the shelf after I opened the first bottle. It tasted much like you describe. I still have one of those open, only one pour out of it.

The second barrel, I have had several bottles of as well. Completely different whiskey. Enormous cookie spice presence. All the other notes are overwhelmed. They are there but they take a back seat to the cinnamon. I once left a glass with a few drops left in the bottom and nosed it for a week. The cinnamon never faded. Finally, I filled the glass with twelve oz of coke. I could still taste it. It will be a sad day when I run out of this. I wonder what happened at Buffalo Trace the day they bottled this.

Ed

[chasking]

Stitzel-Weller is gone though?

I'm not sure if it's gone as in dismantled, but that distillery is not producing.

Stitzel-Weller made some fine bourbon, and one of the reason that the Pappy Van Winkle line is so highly regarded and desired is that the Pappy whiskies are some of the very few left featuring bourbon distilled there (and choice barrels of it at that). In fact, as I understand it the Weller and Van Winkle 12-year-old products have lately ceased to be Stitzel-Weller whiskey, so Pappy 15 and Pappy 20 are the only relatively widely available bourbons brands on the market featuring S-W product. It is still possible to find old bottles of the younger Van Winkles, or Weller or Old Fitzgerald, that came from Stitzel-Weller, but that is getting tougher all the time. Tracking them down is a hobby for a number of folks in our little community here; poke around on this forum and you will find lots of posts dedicated to how to tell whether an old bottle of Weller or Old Fitz is S-W bourbon.

[barturtle]

I doubt that S-W is gettind dismantled anytime soon, the cost to clean up the asbestos would be substantial.

[Vange]

I didn't realize Pappy 20 was a S-W bourbon, but it does make sense. I guess I never put 2 and 2 together. More of a reason that it's my favoriye bourbon to date.

So, should I put S-W as the producer of the Papy 20 in the article?

[TNbourbon]

...I'm not sure if it's gone as in dismantled, but that distillery is not producing...

Although the building itself is intact, somewhere I got the impression that the still is either dismantled/recycled, or past functionality.

Can anyone confirm/dispute this? Chuck? Mike V.?

And I believe it was the magical copper in that still that played a large role in the quality of the whiskey.

[doubleblank]

I'm having a taste of a ETL SB picked by Civic Center Liquors in SF. This one definitely has the pie spice flavors I associate with ETL....but not the overtly sweet flavors that sometimes come with it. I like the pie/cinnamon/nutmeg flavors in a bourbon......I find a lot of it in the Van Blankle.

Randy

[chasking]

So, should I put S-W as the producer of the Pappy 20 in the article?

Thinking about it a bit more, I suppose it depends on what your audience will do with that information. I suppose one needs to be a fairly sophisticated whiskey enthusiast to really understand the significance. The Van Winkle operation does call itself the "Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery", so if a reader is looking for more information about the whiskey and does a web search that would probably be the place for them to go.

[Vange]

Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery it is then! Thanks guys for all your help.

[ratcheer]

Yes, indeed. In my opinion, that is the great attraction of any single-barrel bottling. Each barrel can, and should, have its own unique characteristics, while still being similar in general to the overall set of barrels of the brand.

Tim