What are you drinking tonight? (Summer '07)

[barturtle]

This evening trying a beer that's new to me:

Pierre Celis Signature Selection

Grotten Flemish Ale

7.7% Golden ale, I think it's in the Duvel mold, quite good.

I was hoping for something a bit more along the Flanders sour range, but am not upset about it

[ILLfarmboy]

WT Rare Breed. It's nice to experiment and drink other bourbons, other whisk(e)ys for that matter, but it's nice to come home to an old favorite.

[CrispyCritter]

First an experimental drink that I'll call the Chocolate Cherry Bomb:

• 2 oz. OGD BIB
  
• 1/2 oz. Cherry Heering
  
• 1/2 oz. chocolate liqueur (I used part of a mini I had of Godiva Dark)

I might want to tinker with proportions on this one, but this version is quite tasty anyway.

Now, a Johnnie Walker Black/Punt e Mes variation of my Front Street cocktail.

[pausted]

Some Jim Beam Black on lots of rocks.

[Aged In Oak]

Blanton's, neat. For some reason, seems to taste slightly different than the last time I had some a couple months back. Maybe my palate is becoming more refined? That, or I just have a bad memory. :slappin:

[ggilbertva]

WLW '06 with a splash of water.

[SBOmarc]

Blanton's, on one cube in a low ball. More than one...

[wadewood]

AAA 107 @ Palominas in Seattle

[HighTower]

I started off with a mint julep made with Maker's Mark. Then moved on to a freshly opened Buffalo Trace, confirming the pour I had of this from the other night was a bad bottle. I then proceeded with some Canadian Club 20yo.

Then I got into the Blanton's straight from the barrel, followed by some 06 WLW with a piece of chocolagte fudge. Superb!

What's next? Only time will tell!

Scott

[RedVette]

EWSB 1997. This is a Heaven Hill Bourbon, and it is pretty tasty. Might just have to have another one, or two.

[OscarV]

More yellow label Four Roses ala Bourbon Mist.

[melting]

Johnnie Walker Black watching the Bristol Race.

Chris

[Snoogins47]

Weller Antique 7 neat here, though earlier I finally picked up a bottle of 'Lot B' and had a bit of it neat as well, talk about delicious.

[ggilbertva]

Too much tonight. Had a BBQ with family and started sampling a bunch of open bottles:

WLW '06

Old Forester BIB (70's)

Eagle Rare 101 10 year

Old Charter 7 year (82)

Eagle Rare 17

RR 101 10 year

This was my first try of the Eagle Rare 101. Really nice nose of candied fruit, maybe malt balls. Great entry and a some tang on the finish.

[mozilla]

Greg,

was that Charter 80 or 86 proof. Tboner hooked me up with a taste of the 86 and IMO it was much better than the 80.

[ggilbertva]

Greg,

was that Charter 80 or 86 proof. Tboner hooked me up with a taste of the 86 and IMO it was much better than the 80.

That's the 86 proof. I opened a 200ml tonight from the same timeframe as the two I picked up today. The nose has a distinct floral note to it. Did you pick up the same?

[blux]

Eagle Rare Single Barrel 10. What a great taste. I have been drinking this one for six or seven nights in a row and ignoring my other bottles. It just tastes so good!

[Jake_Parrott]

So it's quite warm in my house right now (most of the back of my house faces SW and is windows), so I just wanted something soothing, on the rocks. Like many of us, I have a lot of old/dusty bottles open, whiskeys that deserve more consideration (and/or comparative tasting) than was the order of the day right now. So I reached toward the back, and what did I spear? Current-release BT. As soothing as your favorite warm blanket. Or at least the equivalent on a hot day.

[ggilbertva]

I went back to the Old Forester BIB tonight. At first nose, I'm picking up ripe apples. I had this on Saturday, but to be honest, I had sampled many bourbons and think my palate was a little numb by the time I hit the OFBIB. Tonight though, it's simply wonderful. :grin:

[Sijan]

I started off with a tasting of a newly acquired dusty bottle - Benchmark Premium Bourbon. This is before it was acquired by Sazerac and labeled McAfee's. It says "Distilled by the Old Benchmark Distilling Co., Louisville, KY." Has a faux tax stamp and bottom of the bottle appears to indicate it was bottled around 1987. It is fairly sweet and simple, with a reasonably enjoyable standard bourbon finish. Nothing real exciting, no complexity, but also nothing real objectionable and a pleasant bourbon overall. At 80 proof it feels a bit weak and watered down.

I 'm also drinking OGD BIB tonight. I'm doing a comparison between the DSP-KY-14 bottlings I just acquired and a current bottling of OGD BIB from DSP-KY-230. The dusty bottle find has print on the faux tax strip that reads "Aged 8 Years / Bottled Fall 1989." (After tasting it, I'm somewhat surprised - and a bit skeptical - that it's only 8 years old.)

Curiously, at least in this first tasting, I think I like the newer OGD BIB better. The older OGD has a really good nose - both floral and spicy, and is very rich and spicy early on the palate, but then some really strong wood and acerbic, astringent notes take over and follow through in a finish that I find somewhat unpleasant. It reminds me of an old, overly woody Heaven Hill whiskey, like EC18. It is definitely more intense than the newer OGD BIB, but not in a good way for me. I am surprised that a bourbon could become this woody in just 8 years...

The newer OGD, by comparison, seems to have a milder, lighter nose and comes on much more slowly on the palate, but then has a much more complex, evolving combination of flavors as it drains off my tongue. The finish is still a bit acerbic, but not nearly to the degree of the older OGD and there is none of the real heavy wood taste.

Not sure what to make of this. Had heard great things about the OGD BIB from DSP-KY-14, but it doesn't seem to be my cup of tea at all. We'll see how it evolves now that it's been opened and has some oxygen get into it, I guess.

[TBoner]

Dan,

If you find that the older OGD BIB is not to your liking, let me know. Seriously. It's my favorite whiskey ever. I'll be happy to buy or trade.

Oxygen should help it, though. It always has for me.

[Sijan]

Tim, I do have enough for trade. PM me.

So, do you notice some of the same things I mention in my tasting notes, and you just enjoy that taste/experience, or do you experience the bourbon differently?

[TBoner]

I do pick up a lot of the floral and spice notes you mention in your notes, which you say you love.

I have a few bottles that were bottled in 1988 with an 8-yr age statement on the faux tax strip, so they should be comparable to yours. I definitely get more wood on the palate than in current OGD, but it doesn't seem excessive to me. Instead, the dominant experience for me is one of rich fruitiness: plum and apricot, mostly. I also find the spice is a bit subdued by the wood as compared to the current version, but there's still no doubt it's a high-rye bourbon.

You mention an acerbic finish, which I haven't found in the bottles I've sampled. I have definitely detected it in some other overly woody bourbons, specifically some EC. It's possible that even though your bottles and mine have similar age statements and are from the same era, the whiskey in your bottles is either much older or was aged in a different part of the warehouse(s) and picked up barrel character much faster. It could be the same batch of distillate aged one year longer, which turned out to be one year too long.

I have found most all ND products benefit from bottle breathing, so see what a few days worth of oxygen does for the whiskey.

[Sijan]

It sounds like we appreciate the same types of things in our whiskey. I'm either perceiving this whiskey differently than you or it is substantially different from the ND OGD BIB that you enjoy. Perhaps it will improve with more oxygen exposure.

Just curious - when you say "bottle breathing" do you mean leaving the cap off the bottle, or cappling the bottle and letting the bottle "breathe" the new oxygen to which it's been exposed. I assume most folks mean the latter, but it strikes me as not altogether implausible that one might leave a cap off of a bottle for a day or two to achieve a similar, albeit much more accelerated, oxidizing effect. Anyone tried this?

[SBOmarc]

It has never occured to me to do that. As I remember posts here cautioning that leaving the cork or the cap off would be harmful to the whiskey. I do notice changes once the bottle has been opened.