another new bourbon!!

[upstate]

Still new to all of this, but have been posting my impressions so far, what a fun ride. Anyways it seems like I have a new favorite every time I open a new bottle. Ive been working on the cheaper bourbons and this week was EC12. Wow, what a step up from my previous experiences. I thought I liked JBB until I had this. The richness in taste is unbelieveable stays in the mouth for days. Butterscotch and vanilla dominate. yumm! The warmth from the alcohol feels perfect, not fire racing down my throat, but standing next to a woodstove after coming in from a cold, windy day. Is this what I have to look forward to as I climb the price ladder?

[T47]

I think so. I have found some incredible bottles, my current favorites are PVW 15 ($47.05), Rock Hill Farms ($45.85), and Bookers ($53.95). I also love the GT Stagg but can't ge that out here. All of these bottles are excellent to me, but the price prohibits them from being my everyday pour.

I have not found that as I move up in price to the PVW 20 that I found again a much flavor, its really good, but at $85.50 I would rather get 2 of the 15's for just a few dollars more. I don't see my self ever spending the $210.50 they want for the PVW 23, but maybe I will get to try it in a bar sometime.

:toast:

[kbuzbee]

And there is a point of diminishing marginal returns, as it were....

As you go from $20 -> $40 just about everyone will appreciate the improvement. From $40-$90, most will still see the quality rising.... Above $100 Most people will not find consensus. Sure, there may be one of those that hits you really well but how much more than GTS, Kentucky Spirit or Bookers???

I would rather have 3 bottles of GTS than 1 bottle of ANYTHING that would cost that much.

Ken

[jburlowski]

I have not found that as I move up in price to the PVW 20 that I found again a much flavor, its really good, but at $85.50 I would rather get 2 of the 15's for just a few dollars more.

:toast:

I agree... I find the PVW 15 much more interesting and complex.The 20 is a wonderful pour but seems more one-dimensional than the 15. I have had a similar reaction to Hirsch 16 vs. 20.

[Jazzhead]

A great thing about bourbon is that many of the less expensive pours are entirely satisfying. Bourbon doesn't need to be aged quite the same as scotch does, and there are some great tasty bourbons that have been aged for four, six or eight years. My list of personal favorites includes a few expensive ones, but just as many that are comfortably under thirty bucks a bottle, sometimes under twenty bucks. Eagle Rare, Old Forester, WTRR 101, Dickel No. 12, EWSB and ETL, for example, have never let me down.

[upstate]

I guess bourbon is quite a bargain, the 750 of EC12 I bought only cost 19.50. BTW I noticed no metallic taste that I saw mentioned on previous posts. There was an unusual, I guess I would say Alkaline taste on the back of my tongue is that it? BTW all I had to do to not taste that was to take a bigger sip. Dont know why though, But it worked. Thought the alkaline taste might be from limestone water? any ideas, could be I miss the point intirely though.

[ratcheer]

No, I don't think limestone water has an alkaline taste. While it does have minerals (primarily calcium carbonate), it is touted as being the freshest, cleanest tasting of all natural waters. Hence its prized stature for bourbon making.

It really is interesting to go to Kentucky and see the brilliant green rivers and "blue holes" near the limestone caves. The limestone cap over the land is said to be over 600 feet thick. This was created over a period of hundreds of millions of years, a shellfish at a time!

Tim

[bobbyc]

I guess I would say Alkaline taste on the back of my tongue is that it?

Could it have been the Camphor flavor?

[melting]

I think so. I have found some incredible bottles, my current favorites are PVW 15 ($47.05), Rock Hill Farms ($45.85), and Bookers ($53.95). I also love the GT Stagg but can't ge that out here. All of these bottles are excellent to me, but the price prohibits them from being my everyday pour.

I have not found that as I move up in price to the PVW 20 that I found again a much flavor, its really good, but at $85.50 I would rather get 2 of the 15's for just a few dollars more. I don't see my self ever spending the $210.50 they want for the PVW 23, but maybe I will get to try it in a bar sometime.

:toast:

Are you kidding me or what? $53.95 for Bookers? I can buy a bottle of Bookers and through in a bottle of Ardbeg for $60.00. Change your representation in the next elections.

Chris

[TNbourbon]

Are you kidding me or what? $53.95 for Bookers? I can buy a bottle of Bookers and through in a bottle of Ardbeg for $60.00...

Then consider yourself lucky (at least, regarding the Booker's) -- that's about the pre-tax price here, too. Then plan to pay the state almost 10% more for the privilege of buying it here. (But we don't have an income tax! Makes young mothers feel a lot better about paying that sales tax on milk and baby food.)

[Frodo]

A great thing about bourbon is that many of the less expensive pours are entirely satisfying. Bourbon doesn't need to be aged quite the same as scotch does, and there are some great tasty bourbons that have been aged for four, six or eight years. My list of personal favorites includes a few expensive ones, but just as many that are comfortably under thirty bucks a bottle, sometimes under twenty bucks. Eagle Rare, Old Forester, WTRR 101, Dickel No. 12, EWSB and ETL, for example, have never let me down.

I don't think this point can be overstated! The prime reason I'm not into bourbon as much as I'd like to be is the lack of choice and poor price point of most bourbons at the Ontario Liquor stores. Hearing what most US residents (outside NY state) pay for thier bourbon, this would be my first choice at this price by a country mile.

The quality of mid-shelf bourbon pours at reasonable prices - well, there's not much equvilant in the scotch world.

[ripvanfan]

Bookers is 42 dollars a bottle here in bourbon deprived Iowa.

[arsbadmojo]

...this week was EC12. Wow, what a step up from my previous experiences. ...Is this what I have to look forward to as I climb the price ladder?

Maybe, maybe not. Of the bourbons in the same price range as EC12 that I've had - it is the best by far of the bunch. Stepping up another $20 or so to RVW15 was a very pleasant experience, but the same could not be said for EC18, which I recently posted a thread about - I didn't care for it at all. So those are the only $40-50 range bourbons I've tried, one was fabulous, the other a dud.

There's so many more in the $20-30 range that I've yet to try, and having just had a pleasant experience with Kentucky Tavern which is very inexpensive - I just can't see myself spending a lot on my collection in 2007; I'm having too much fun in the low and mid-range.

[NYtaster]

There's so many more in the $20-30 range that I've yet to try, and having just had a pleasant experience with Kentucky Tavern which is very inexpensive - I just can't see myself spending a lot on my collection in 2007; I'm having too much fun in the low and mid-range.

I agree, I've tried a few of the "upper end" bottles, and my breakover seems to be in the $35-40 range here in Upstate NY (that gets WTRB and PVW15).It get harder finding much variety in a higher price range, I need to go online and the means planning ahead, not something I'm good at. But for the last several months I've been enjoying the "better but still bargins" out there, EC12, OGD114 and ETL are my current best friends.

Tim