a Pappy 23 question

[OscarV]

For the people who have had all of the following four releases of Pappy Van Winkle's 23 year old,

I would like to know in what order would you rank them?

1. December 2005 release to the general public

2. StraightBourbon.com Barrel #1

3. StraightBourbon.com Barrel #2

4. Kentucky Barrel Society 2007 Barrel C

Thanks

[mgilbertva]

This may be such a rarefied level of bourbon drinking that even sb can't help out.

Anyone? No...?

[Rughi]

This may be such a rarefied level of bourbon drinking that _only_ sb can help out.

C'mon, someone field this one for our man Oscar.

[ACDetroit]

I only wish I could!!:grin:

Tony

[SBOmarc]

I have 3 of the 4 and have not even sniffed the one I am missing.

On the other hand Pappy 20 was found in 2 bars in town and was also purchased by a friend and given to me for Christmas.

[luv2hunt]

Be patient grasshopper! Yes, we've had them all..

[bobbyc]

If there's anyone left in the world who doesn't think the elite bourbon connoisseurs frequent here please refer to the post previous to this one.

[TNbourbon]

Be patient grasshopper! Yes, we've had them all..

And another thing Dawn doesn't say -- she tasted three of them out of the barrel!

[cas]

I've only had the first one.

It's good.

Craig

[SBOmarc]

And another thing Dawn doesn't say -- she tasted three of them out of the barrel!

That defines "Over The Top"

[AVB]

I only have 3 of the 4 so if you want to send me a Barrel "C" I'll be able to answer your question

[doubleblank]

I'll take a stab at answering the question with this caveat....I usually don't like these extra aged whiskeys.

From a style standpoint, any 23yo whiskey is going to have a lot of flavor influences from the barrel. Lots of oak and tannins which can give the whiskey a very dry finish. This can mask the sweetness and spice flavors found in younger whiskey. Generally speaking, the regular Pappy23's carry enough sweet flavors to help balance out the wood flavors. IMO, the single barrels we selected carry more sweet and spice flavors to offset the wood than the standard bottlings.......but this was what we selected. We could have chosen "woodier" barrels and went for an extremely dry finish. But why do that when you're looking for the SW character in the bottle.

OK, here's my ranking.

1. SB.com's Barrel No. 2. It was my favorite of the barrel selection originally. I detect a little cotton candy sweetness still there after all these years.

2. I like the SB.com Barrel No. 1 and the KBS bottling equally and find them similar. And very good.

3. Regular Pappy 23. I get a little more wood flavors and dry finish in them. Not unexpected from a blend of many old barrels.

I don't drink a lot of old bourbon because I usually want a sweeter finish on my evening pours. But these are at or near the top of the heap when looking for extra aged bourbons.

Randy

[OscarV]

Thanks Randy,... and just in time.

With the crew I am hosting this weekend my first thought was to uncork the Pappy 23 release for the masses AKA Dec '05 release.

But then again, it is a wine crowd so I'll let them sit for a while longer and wait for the proper bourbon crew.

I know what you mean by wanting that sweetness in the finish, I recently have been shying away from long aged bourbons,... now that I have a load of oldies.