What bourbon are you drinking now?

[NorCalBoozer]

Ed, I wonder if it may be that Stagg is unfiltered and seems to have quite a bit of particulate in it. Sometimes it produces a tickle in my throat and seems kind of like my throat is a bit irritated. Maybe this is what you are experiencing as well?

Its like the small wood particulates get stuck in my throat in a sense. I know it's not from the alcohol proof.

Hi Crispy,

You have said this before and many others have said the same. However, I find the Stagg Spring 05 (Which is the only Stagg I have had. I am half way through my third and last bottle.) very difficult to drink. I wonder why that is. I often enjoy high proof bourbon and other high proof spirits, too. Stagg usually burns, and burns badly, unless cut to wishy washy proof. Once in a while I have a pour and it is the perfect whiskey. Then on another occasion, one time later the same night, it is molten lead poured down my throat.

Time to try it again. Well, the stars are in the proper alignment and it is going down smoothly. In fact, it is wonderful! But so many times I have had to cut it down to about 70 proof just to get it down with out pain...

Ed

[The Duke]

Jeff,

The Walthens was recommended when the store I usually buy from did not have a bottle of George Dickel on hand. The manager recommended it as a nice change of pace. I usually find the nice vanilla aftertaste on George to be very enjoyable but I might be persuaded to include the Walthens from now on.

[BourbonJoe]

Tonight I had a pour of Eagle Rare Old Prentice Lawrenceburg 101. This stuff is VERY good (and very rare).

Joe :usflag:

[brian12069]

Thedford, first time pour.

[CrispyCritter]

I started out with a pour of good ol' BT, and now some WT 101. I'll probably pour some Dickel #12 for a nightcap...

[scratchline]

Doing a side-by-side of Turkeys: 8 yr and 12 yr gold foil. I am finally opening and trying these two bottles after a long and, thankfully, fruitful search. Actually opened the 8 yr several nights ago and was very impressed. But putting it beside it's older sibling really reveals the simplicity of the 8 yr bottling. A nice color and corn sweetness in the mouth. A great lively whiskey. But four more years in the barrel really ups the ante. The color is an amazing red. More intense cookie flavors in the nose: vanilla, brown sugar, chocolate. And in the taste much more leather and tobacco balancing the sweetness. It's a fantastic whiskey and I can see why folks are so enthusiastic about it. Next step is to pick up a bottle of the RR 101 and put that into the line up.

-Mike

[BourbonJoe]

Thedford, first time pour.

What did you think about it?

Joe :usflag:

[Whiskey River]

Having my first pour of Bookers. Although I'm new to bourbon, and have only had 2 other bottles ( Makers, amd Knob Creek) Bookers is by far the best whiskey I've had. My bottles of single malt scotch are being pushed farther and farther back in the corner.

[gothbat]

Bakers. Good stuff, I reached for this bottle because I can't find another place that has any Elijah Craig 18 though, if I had I'd probably be drinking that right now.

[brian12069]

What did you think about it?

Joe :usflag:

I enjoyed it but I had some spicey chicken beforehand, threw my taste buds off a little. I'll have to try this one again and keep you posted.

[mrt]

Jim Beam Black...and what comes to my mind now is "richer" than JD.

[brian12069]

What did you think about it?

Joe :usflag:

Regarding Thedford, I tried it again tonight and the first thing I thought was, thick and ritch, a hint of caramel. I really enjoyed this one.

[JeffRenner]

No, I don't mean the so-called "perfect manhattan," which is made with equal parts sweet and dry vermouth plus whiskey, rather than all sweet vermouth. I finally tried making one of those a few years ago and ended up pouring it down the drain. In my opinion, it lacked perhaps the most important component of an ideal cocktail (even in ones I don't personally care for) - balance.

No, I'm speaking of the one I have just finished, and which I am having a helluva time keeping myself from making (and drinking) another of - one made with the new Sazarac Rye.

I do think this may be the best manhattan I have ever had. I just spent a very enjoyable but tiring day brewing a batch of dry Irish stout on the hard concrete floor of my brewery, err, I mean, my garage. It went wonderfully well. But I am beat, my old knees are achin', and I was looking forward to a preprandial cocktail.

I had picked up a couple of bottles of the Sazarac Jr. in KY a couple of weeks ago (despite the shelf label "one to a customer"), and had had it neat a couple of time. But this was the first time I'd tried it in my favorite cocktail.

Well, now it's gone, so I'll have to try to remember it. I used two ounces Saz. Jr. to one ounce Boissiere sweet vermouth, with two dashes of Angostura bitters and garnished with a maraschino cherry.

The balance was perfect, and the spiciness of the rye is what made it so distinctive. Maybe I'll try to describe it more precisely another time, but for now, let me just say that it seemed to me to be just about a perfect manhattan.

Jeff

[gothbat]

Rock Hill Farms. Picked it up today, along with a few others, at this awesome liquor store I found about an hour away from my house.

[wku88]

Heaven Hill 10 Year old...again. This stuff gets better every pour. Might even be better than the EWSB, even though it comes from the same place... and MUCH cheaper.

[sc500mbsc]

In my Reidel bourbon glass tonight is some Russell's Reserve. I am just now starting the process of tasting and not drinking, so each taste isa new experience. I look forward to broadening my horizons over the years. I have come to realize that I will have to venture outside of Alabama to find some of the more exoctic pleasures of the bourbon world.

[gothbat]

Old Rip Van Winkle 10 YO 107. I'm enjoying this one alot more than I did the RHF I had last night.

[gothbat]

Enjoying the last sip of the Elijah Craig 18 that's in my snifter right now and going to bed. This stuff is great!

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

Ed, I wonder if it may be that Stagg is unfiltered and seems to have quite a bit of particulate in it. Sometimes it produces a tickle in my throat and seems kind of like my throat is a bit irritated. Maybe this is what you are experiencing as well?

Its like the small wood particulates get stuck in my throat in a sense. I know it's not from the alcohol proof.

I don't think that is the case. My first two bottles seem to have had very little sediment. Even the last pour had only a little charcoal powder in it. I drank it that way it was a bit rough on the throat, in the way you describe, but not in a burning sort of way.

Ed

[brian12069]

Right now...OGD 114...delicious.

[gothbat]

Fighting Cock 103. One of my favories and it's probably the cheapest bourbon I buy.

[CrispyCritter]

Right now, I'm sipping some W.L. Weller 12 (90 proof), after some standard WT101 and an earlier pour of (Irish) Redbreast 12. Three very different whiskeys, all delicious. :yum:

[pepcycle]

Thanks to Jeff Renner for turning me on to this one. I just never seemed to have picked it up.

This is a goodie. If you have the 1993 EWSB, then you probably know what this tastes like, but for less than half the price. Move over VOB 100. My new favorite everyday pour. (Till I find another)

Nicely balanced, sweet aroma matched by caramel and "Heaven Hill" essence.

[Ambernecter]

Bulleit 80 proof AGAIN!

I have moved to a smaller town out of London for a while and the availability of good Bourbon is a problem... I have the RHF I bought on my last London visit but am, for the time being, resisting temptation!

Give me strength!!!

[JeffRenner]

Thanks to Jeff Renner for turning me on to this one. I just never seemed to have picked it up.

At your service - you are most welcome!

I was, in turn, tipped off by Jim Murray's Whiskey Bible. Murray gives it a 93 and writes of it, "an astonishing bourbon, the type that makes you glad to be in the know. Brilliant."

There I was a couple years ago in a Kentucky liquor store, standing in front of this $9.99 retro-looking bottle and label, reading this praise. It wasn't hard to decide to buy it. And then when I got home, I found that it was all he said.

Jeff