Bourbon

[Cigarsandmalts]

I tend towards cask strength. Noah's Mill and Bookers were both mentioned earlier and are excellent. A easier to find favorite is Wild Turkey Rare Breed.  Buffalo Trace (and Old Weller if you can find it) are go-to everyday pours. BTAC is fantastic if you can find it at or close to MSRP.  Pappy is way overrated, but if you can find a bottle, buy it, then sell or trade it for a box or two of Bushidos 

[jackattack]

You want to bring the heat and raise the mercury.....Booker's neat.

Silver medal goes to Old Weller's Antique.....feel the burn!

[dtrott]

[dtrott]

9 minutes ago, dtrott said:

Agree with all the positive comments on Blanton's and the Four Roses Small Batch.  I also have recently tried and would highly recommend Angel Envy and the Weller 23(if you can find it for anywhere close to the MSRP) 

 

 

[Bigronbee]

When trying new labels I usually stay away from non-distilled produced labels e.g. I look for whiskey distilled and bottled by the same producer.  The bottle will say where it was distilled and bottled. There are exceptions, like high west, but that helps me narrow the field and keeps me from buying essentially the same whiskey in a different dress.

i love four roses, especially the small batch. The single barrels are hit and miss, but they have 10 different recipes so that could be some of it.

Ill drink most things from high west - midwinter, rendezvous rye and campfire are my favorites.

old grand dad 100 or 114, same whiskey as basil hayden, but a lot cheaper and better imo.

I've had too many bad bottles of Jefferson's so I avoid them now except the Reserve.

If you want a complete change of pace checkout Charbay R5. It's made in Napa from Racer 5 IPA. Dangerous stuff.

Some other favorites,

rittenhouse rye

old forester 1920 prohibition

rebel yell 10

buffalo trace

 

 

[2skinny]

I live in Central Kentucky a few miles from Wild Turkey and Four Roses. My favorites are most of the Buffalo Trace bourbons: Blantons, Elmer, Stagg Jr., Eagle Rare, EH Taylor, etc. I also like Russels Reserve Single Barrel Bourbon.

Lately, I've been on quite the rye kick. Good ryes are Sazerac (baby Saz), Russell's Reserve Single Barrel Rye (Wild Turkey), Angel's Envy Rye, Pikesville Rye, and EH Taylor Rye.

For my money,

Bourbon: Stagg Jr.

Rye: Angels Envy finished in rum casks 

if you've never tried a rye, try one neat with a cigar.

 

[anacostiakat]

Not just for the winter!    I drink bourbon year round.  Regular drink is Buffalo Trace.  I also like the Four Roses Single Barrel and go to it regularly as well. Noah's Mill is nice. The Stagg, Weller and Pappy are extremely difficult to find in my neck of the woods. So I don't get much of a chance to get those any more.  I like to stick around 90 proof to 100 proof but go for higher octane when mixing. 

[schubb]

Henry McKenna 10yr bottled in bond is fantastic and a great value for the price for my tastes.

[saintsmokealot]

My go to is Four Roses Single Barrel. Right now I think EH Taylor Single Barrel is my favorite.

[Guest robitowitz]

My standard the 4 Roses single barrel...it's tough to beat.
Breckenridge, Whistlepig, and Weller round out my top 4 I always keep a bottle of around


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[canadianbeaver]

Bourbons are starting to exceed my single malts. So strange, but then again I have moved from Innis & Gunn to Guinness, so, hey.

My faves?

Jim Beam 1795 Edition

Buffalo Trace Experimental Collection

Breckenridge Colorado

[BarryNY]

Hi Guys. Not to be a "d-ck" but I have a TRUE interesting insider story.  In 1987 there was no such product that was called a Single Barrel Bourbon...

In 1987 I was the VP Marketing for Ancient Age Distillery - the owner of Blanton Bourbon.  At the time, we were selling maybe 100 cases/month across the entire USA...a pittance of volume...but millions of cases of Ancient Age.  We needed some type of marketing "hook" to get some traction for the brand.

I had come to Ancient Age from being the Marketing Director for Remy Martin America - importer of Remy cognac so I was familiar with "trendy" brands and brand marketing. Marketing always works best when you are honest with the customer.  We needed to look deep into the product history an/or production methodology to come up with something that we could use to communicate that the product was "better" than other bourbons - something we could use to differentiate the brand.

If you look at the label on each bottle, you'll see that they actually write in a specific barrel # and the date it was dumped.  This is entirely TRUE.  Unlike blended products with tremendous bottling facilities, Blanton had just one bottling line in Frankfort KY and each individual barrel was dumped to make that run.  It was the prowess of the Master Distiller to carefully select the barrel at just the right time to maintain the consistency of the product from bottle to bottle.

At the time, within the brown goods category, Single Malt Scotch had just started to make inroads into the "chic" niche that cognac had carved out for itself over the prior 6 years - so to try and make Blanton a more popular product we needed to compete with both cognac and single malts.

It was literally an aha moment when the concept of a Single Barrel Bourbon was created.  Although it was around 30 years ago, I can remember that moment as if it was just yesterday.  I was sitting with the President of the company (whom I reported to) and he straight up challenged me - what are you going to do to get this brand moving...

At that moment I just looked at him and said "you know how single malt scotch is hot right now - well we have a product that can compete - each bottle of Blanton is poured from a single barrel but we're really not communicating that to the consumer.  I said, let's start calling it Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon.  The second those words rolled off my tongue...single barrel bourbon...I knew we had it - he looked at me, smiled and said - that's it - from that moment on we changed up all the labels and started calling the product Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey.  And that's why they can truthfully say in their marketing "the world's first single barrel bourbon".  It wasn't until a few years later when other brands started knocking off the single barrel moniker that the company (I had since moved on) changed the label again, to, Blanton's The Original Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey.  I had created an entirely new liquor category.  And no, it didn't earn me a squat dime more!

Here is a picture of a bottle from 1987 - before I created "Single Barrel Bourbon"....look at the neck label,,,,,and the date on the bottle.........

[btubes18]

Awesome story thanks for sharing


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[JohnS]

[Ken Gargett]

great story. now i have to chase the stuff.

[canadianbeaver]

And this is what it looks like in Ontario, Canada. My brother, who is a very knowledgeable fellow, brought it when we moved in.

 

[Ken Gargett]

2 hours ago, BarryNY said:

Hi Guys. Not to be a "d-ck" but I have a TRUE interesting insider story.  In 1987 there was no such product that was called a Single Barrel Bourbon...

In 1987 I was the VP Marketing for Ancient Age Distillery - the owner of Blanton Bourbon.  At the time, we were selling maybe 100 cases/month across the entire USA...a pittance of volume...but millions of cases of Ancient Age.  We needed some type of marketing "hook" to get some traction for the brand.

I had come to Ancient Age from being the Marketing Director for Remy Martin America - importer of Remy cognac so I was familiar with "trendy" brands and brand marketing. Marketing always works best when you are honest with the customer.  We needed to look deep into the product history an/or production methodology to come up with something that we could use to communicate that the product was "better" than other bourbons - something we could use to differentiate the brand.

If you look at the label on each bottle, you'll see that they actually write in a specific barrel # and the date it was dumped.  This is entirely TRUE.  Unlike blended products with tremendous bottling facilities, Blanton had just one bottling line in Frankfort KY and each individual barrel was dumped to make that run.  It was the prowess of the Master Distiller to carefully select the barrel at just the right time to maintain the consistency of the product from bottle to bottle.

At the time, within the brown goods category, Single Malt Scotch had just started to make inroads into the "chic" niche that cognac had carved out for itself over the prior 6 years - so to try and make Blanton a more popular product we needed to compete with both cognac and single malts.

It was literally an aha moment when the concept of a Single Barrel Bourbon was created.  Although it was around 30 years ago, I can remember that moment as if it was just yesterday.  I was sitting with the President of the company (whom I reported to) and he straight up challenged me - what are you going to do to get this brand moving...

At that moment I just looked at him and said "you know how single malt scotch is hot right now - well we have a product that can compete - each bottle of Blanton is poured from a single barrel but we're really not communicating that to the consumer.  I said, let's start calling it Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon.  The second those words rolled off my tongue...single barrel bourbon...I knew we had it - he looked at me, smiled and said - that's it - from that moment on we changed up all the labels and started calling the product Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey.  And that's why they can truthfully say in their marketing "the world's first single barrel bourbon".  It wasn't until a few years later when other brands started knocking off the single barrel moniker that the company (I had since moved on) changed the label again, to, Blanton's The Original Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey.  I had created an entirely new liquor category.  And no, it didn't earn me a squat dime more!

Here is a picture of a bottle from 1987 - before I created "Single Barrel Bourbon"....look at the neck label,,,,,and the date on the bottle.........

 

didn't take me long to track some down here, at a good price it seems (no spoilers till i actually have it). as well as the original single barrel, they also sell, at three times the price, blanton's 'straight from the barrel' bourbon. any info on it much appreciated? is it that much better?

 

[BarryNY]

20 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

didn't take me long to track some down here, at a good price it seems (no spoilers till i actually have it). as well as the original single barrel, they also sell, at three times the price, blanton's 'straight from the barrel' bourbon. any info on it much appreciated? is it that much better?

 

132.2 proof....holy s-it Batman!  Made for the overseas market only.  Is it worth 3x the price????

IMHO - I'd say that's wayyyy too strong to enjoy with a cigar....compared to the std 93 proof single barrel and the 80 proof cognacs.  I'd think the high alcohol content would tend to deaden your taste buds taking away the ability to savor the intricacies of a fine stogie........ 

[Ken Gargett]

13 minutes ago, BarryNY said:

132.2 proof....holy s-it Batman!  Made for the overseas market only.  Is it worth 3x the price????

IMHO - I'd say that's wayyyy too strong to enjoy with a cigar....compared to the std 93 proof single barrel and the 80 proof cognacs.  I'd think the high alcohol content would tend to deaden your taste buds taking away the ability to savor the intricacies of a fine stogie........ 

wow. had not noticed that - just going off a site at the moment and had to follow some links for that. yes, it is 68% in our measuring compared to 42% for the original. i'm much more likely to go the latter for the reasons you suggest.

there is also the single barrel special reserve, marginally less alcohol again, and just over $50 a bottle - pretty cheap for here.

[Turbo56]

For the money you can't beat Weller special reserve. If you enjoy makers, you'll love weller. Weller is a weated bourbon from buffalo trace distillery. Buffalo trace is another great bourbon for less than 25$. Eagle rare, is fantastic as is basil hayden. A new bourbon I just got introduced to is clyde may's straight bourbon is an absolute stunner but more pricey.

 

[saintsmokealot]

Great story Barry NY but do we have you to blame for the price increase of single barrels then? Lol!

[BarryNY]

6 minutes ago, saintsmokealot said:

Great story but do we have you to blame for the price increase of single barrels then? Lol!

"then"..........or "now".............LOL..........

I'll say this - in 1987 - we were perhaps the most expensive bottle of bourbon at the time..........

[saintsmokealot]

Man you paved a path. Super cool in my book!

[ThePolskiOgorki]

Evan Williams Single Barrel is a great sipping bourbon and it can be had in the USA for around $30 or around $50 in Canada. One of my favourite so I always keep a bottle on hand.

[LateApex]

Great Blanton's story!  Thanks for sharing.  I will add it to my bar immediately.