Blanton's Various Bottlings

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There have been a lot of comments in various threads regarding Blanton's lately. Blanton's is produced at five different proofs. Several have hated the Straight From the Barrel....others have preferred the Silver or the Gold, etc. Myself, I have had two different bottles of Straight From the Barrel and enjoyed them both. One was opened at the Gazebo and was liked as I recall. Anyway, in discussing this with two different BT people who should know, barrels are selected that fit the "Blanton's" flavor profile. The barrels are not identified as "these two are for barrel proof.....these four are for the gold...etc". They are simply Blanton's barrels and if they need a couple of barrels bottled as Silver, the next two barrels in line get bottled that way.

My guess is that if you hated it at barrel proof, you wouldn't have liked that barrel at 80 proof either. As to it's flavor profile, I usually get a slight mustiness or earthiness as others find. If that flavor displeases you, dilution might reduce that flavor component to a pleasurable level.

And when you look at prices of the bottlings, going up in proof is an expensive process. You're not getting a specially selected barrel, just less water.

Randy

[wadewood]

I flew out of Houston IAF airport last October and was able to make duty free purchase. They had the Blantons Gold and the straight from the barrel. The weird thing was the higher proof straight from the barrel was $5 less expensive.

[Gillman]

When the Gold and the straight from the barrel were available in Ontario, the Gold was about $10.00 more. I thought at the time it might have been an error of some kind of the LCBO, it appears not.

Gary

[jbutler]

There have been a lot of comments in various threads regarding Blanton's lately. Blanton's is produced at five different proofs. Several have hated the Straight From the Barrel....others have preferred the Silver or the Gold, etc. Myself, I have had two different bottles of Straight From the Barrel and enjoyed them both. One was opened at the Gazebo and was liked as I recall. Anyway, in discussing this with two different BT people who should know, barrels are selected that fit the "Blanton's" flavor profile. The barrels are not identified as "these two are for barrel proof.....these four are for the gold...etc". They are simply Blanton's barrels and if they need a couple of barrels bottled as Silver, the next two barrels in line get bottled that way.

My guess is that if you hated it at barrel proof, you wouldn't have liked that barrel at 80 proof either. As to it's flavor profile, I usually get a slight mustiness or earthiness as others find. If that flavor displeases you, dilution might reduce that flavor component to a pleasurable level.

And when you look at prices of the bottlings, going up in proof is an expensive process. You're not getting a specially selected barrel, just less water.

Randy

I've never had the barrel proof from a bottle Randy, but when we sampled it during our tour of BT a couple KYBF's back, I thought it superb.

How did you come by the barrel proof bottlings?

[Gillman]

Randy, I know what you are saying and in fact all Blanton's bottlings in my experience have a house taste, a common element. Still, I have found Gold, and Original also, often better than the others (except the Silver which I have not tried). I think the answer may be, sampling them at a certain proof really can make a difference. Many people think a bourbon or rye has an ideal proof level, and it may be, for some people, that this is achieved at 100 proof or close to it for this brand. But at the highest and lowest ends of the proof range I have tried, I have found the brand just not to my taste.

Gary

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In London and Paris, the Straight From the Barrel was considerably more expensive than the other bottlings. The addition of the Gold and Barrel Proof in Houston Duty Free must be fairly recent. I had stopped checking here as they never had anything better than regular Blanton's. I'm flying to Buenos Aires in a few weeks, so I'll have to pick one up to take down there.

Jim....I picked them up in London a few years ago.

Randy

[barturtle]

I picked up a couple bottles of the Straight form the Barrel in Paris at La Maison du Whisky when I was there this summer. Price was 59 Euro, works out to a current exchange rate of about $76.

Barrel 74 Warehouse H Rick 6 Bottled 9/25/2002 131.6 proof. I wanted to get bottles from different barrels, but even though they list several on their site, they don't keep different bottlings in the store.

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

It is interesting to know that barrels are selected for Blanton's not for particular expressions, Black label, Silver, Gold, Straight, etc.

It seems to me that the Blanton's flavor profile has a range. It always tastes like Blanton's, but sometimes more so than others if that makes any sense. I know that I sometimes fall in love with a bottle only to find that the next one is merely very good. My last two bottles of the Gold and Silver (I finished them off just last night) were in the latter category. They lasted me quite a long time, much longer than bottles that I really loved. The SFTB I have on the go is one I am in love with. I haven't had any for a long while since the next time I drink it will be the last, there is just one biggish pour left.

I have to buy another bottle soon. Knowing it is all Blanton's anyway price will be an important factor in deciding which expression to get. I like high proof whiskey so I will probably get something 93 proof or higher, but if the 80 proof is a great deal cheaper than the others on the shelf I may get that for the first time in years. I will pay more for the SFTB than for the others.

As for pricing here in Japan, it varies greatly from store to store. The Gold is usually the most expensive. I have seen it for over $100, but it is usually closer to $40. Here are some prices from Japanese website in Yen.

Blanton's Proof Price in Yen

Special Reserve 80 proof 2,363

Blanton's 92 proof 2,394

Black Label 80 proof 2,709

Silver 98 proof 2,625

Gold 103 proof 4,148

SFTB 131.8 proof 4,462 Of course the proof will vary with this.

By the way, today's exchange rate is 121.2. That means the STFB is $36.81 US. Gosh, what am I waiting for?

Based on this the Silver looks like the best deal to me. I like Blanton's at that proof and the price is in line with the lower proofed ones. Indeed it is cheaper than the much lower proof Black Label. I don't think I will buy the Gold again, unless I see it at a price much closer to the Silver than this. I will buy the Straight From the Barrel again. I am willing to pay a premium for unfiltered, barrel proof bourbon.

Ed

[ThomasH]

I went To Cancun last March and had a connection in Houston. I checked 2 different duty free stores and one had regular Blantons and the other had none. Their selection of Blantons must be improving!

Thomas

[ratcheer]

I have only ever had the "regular" Blanton's, the one that is around 95-proof. It is good, one of my favorite bourbons.

Tim

[wadewood]

I went To Cancun last March and had a connection in Houston. I checked 2 different duty free stores and one had regular Blantons and the other had none. Their selection of Blantons must be improving!

Thomas

I goofed! We went to Cancun as well, but I now correctly remember that we flew through DFW and not Houston airport. So, it is the DFW airport that had the Gold and Straight from the barrel. I hope nobody booked a flight out of country routing through Houston on my advice!

[ThomasH]

If I go to Cancun again, it will be a direct flight with no connection and will be from either Cleveland or Pittsburgh so who knows what I will find. My wife had a connecting flight in Charlotte,NC on her way to Cancun a few years ago and found me a bottle of Blantons silver. Houston wasn't all bad though, I got bottles of JD silver select and a liter of Dalwhinnie scotch that cost 40.00. A 750ml of Dalwhinnie goes for 50.00 in Ohio. I have learned to always be prepared as you never know what will turn up in duty free!

Thomas

[ggilbertva]

I'll be hitting Duty Free next week and have on my list the Blanton's Gold, Silver, and SFTB. Additionally, I'll be on the lookout for WT 101 12 Year and Freedom.