Sazerac 10 Year Old

[sku]

Someone I know from another whiskey forum pointed this out: http://www.samswine.com/sazerac-quotsam39s-selectionquot-year-proof-p-10046508.html

It's a Sazerac 10 year old from Sam's Wine & Spirits in Chicago. They call it a "Sam's Selection." I've never heard of a 10 year old Saz and the bottle picture is the basic BabySaz bottle. I didn't know BT did special retailer bottlings, but I figured someone on here would know.

Has anyone heard of this? Tried it?

[jinenjo]

Yup. Tried it and it's delicious. Slightly richer than the regular baby Saz. It seemed pretty close to the normal bottling, and no where near the oak level of the 18 y.o. Never did get to do a side by side though.

Binny's also has their own Saz Jr. selection. I just ordered two bottles. It was, or may still be, on sale. I don't know the age on those. I should email Brett and get back to this post.

[BkBlue]

Cork & Bottle in Covington, KY had one of their own as well when I was stopped by over the holidays. I actually found it kind of disappointing, to be honest. Tasted muddy to me, and ironically made for a bad Sazerac cocktail. Maybe I got a bad bottle, I dunno. I've been happy with the special bottlings C&B has picked out in the past.

[ThomasH]

Party Source in Bellview, Ky also had their own bottling that was a 10yr. old when I was there last September. It was 24.99 a bottle!

Thomas

[cowdery]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume there's no 10-year age statement on the label.

With these retailer-selected single barrels, the barrels offered are always "eligible" for the brand's regular bottlings. As you know, age-stated products can contain whiskey that is older than the age statement and, in fact, they frequently do.

The retailer-selected bottlings are frequently a couple years older than the "normal" or stated age of that expression. For example, I have some Weller Special Reserve from Everett's that is nine years old, in spite of the label statement of 7 years.

[spun_cookie]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume there's no 10-year age statement on the label.

With these retailer-selected single barrels, the barrels offered are always "eligible" for the brand's regular bottling. As you know, age-stated products can contain whiskey that is older than the age statement and, in fact, they frequently do.

The retailer-selected bottling are frequently a couple years older than the "normal" or stated age of that expression. For example, I have some Weller Special Reserve from Everett's that is nine years old, in spite of the label statement of 7 years.

I bet there is... (though I don't bet often because I am wrong), but all the "over aged" bourbons i have bought always advertise the "extra age" because there is extra cost... I have a 13yr Weller Centennial that says 13yr on the label....

[smokinjoe]

I bet there is... (though I don't bet often because I am wrong), but all the "over aged" bourbons i have bought always advertise the "extra age" because there is extra cost... I have a 13yr Weller Centennial that says 13yr on the label....

On the regular label? Or, is it on the little retailer ID label they affix to the bottle that states whose special bottling it is? I would be very surprised to hear that a distiller would change his everyday label, to support a change in age, for a single barrel sale to a customer. From what I understand, changing a label is a time-consuming and costly endeavor, and all full of regulatory mumbo jumbo.

JOE

[TomH]

There is no age statement on the extra label (at least on barrel #1 for Sam's). If memory serves me correctly this one came out about a year ago and I believe it was the normal Saz price. (I think I picked it up WhiskeyFest weekend).

Also, back to sku's first post, Sam's has done previous special bottlings from BT. I have a couple of different ETL bottlings from Sam's.

I will also add that I think Dave has a pretty good record of picking nice barrels for his bottlings.

Tom

[spun_cookie]

I will look at the 13yr Weller Centennial when it gets here... but... i thought is was in the writing on the black portion where but normally says 10 yrs...

But now you say it... the others always had it on the "extra" label as stated...

hence why I don't bet...

[cowdery]

My assumption is that BT provides the "special" labels and prints on them whatever the customer wants, but since they aren't TTB-approved, the customer has to affix them. That's perfectly legal, but to change the actual label for a one-off bottling would require a whole TTB-approval process. They're not going to do that for one or, probably, even for a dozen barrels.