Favorite bourbon/ whiskey...

Today was a good day!

 

And...


The Special Reserve at retail. The 12 year at almost double retail.

 

I can buy this for 175, what do you think? Never had it.

 

Larceny bourbon is damn good.

 

$175 is up there... it is really nice though. Been awhile since I've had it and I may not immediately open when I get home.

 

Pretty normal price on secondary. If I had to pick a favorite whiskey, it might just be W12.

 

Understand that this isn't an abnormal price, but it's a large markup over msrp. I'm always on the hunt for no markup or low-markup unicorns. =]

If you feel spending 4x the msrp is appropriate, then by all means.

Agree that this is a phenomenal bourbon.

 

Never seen this edition before, isn't that the Ford Truck trim level? They are making Bourbon out of trim levels on Trucks now? I guess we will have to keep an eye out for the Old Forester 1794 Edition... Hehehe.

 

The Ford King Ranch truck is named after the King Ranch in Texas. It was 1.2 million acres back in its prime. Still a massive ranch and very well known by most Texans. This is the first time they have done a bourbon with Old Forester that I’m aware of. 1794 edition…I guess you never know.

 

Sampler tasting from the other night. McKenna was the favorite.

 

Grabbed a couple to add to my shelves. Haven’t had the Bakers yet though. Still need to build some liquor shelves for my game room

 

I had my brother over for a bourbon and rye tasting. It was great to compare them all neat in a glencairn glass.

 

What were your top 3 in that lineup?

 

Yes, do tell...

 

Russell’s Reserve 13 was my top pick but it has the most heat to it. Weller 12 and Heaven Hill would be 2nd and 3rd pick. I always love the Elijah Craig Toasted! Old Forester King Ranch was my least favorite of the line up but it’s not bad at all.

 

That's interesting, it must be a flavor profile thing. As I am not fond of what you list as top except Weller products, thanks of letting us know.

 

I wasn't a fan of either of the Bardstown offerings you have there. I think Blanton's is good, but a bit overrated. I have two bottles of that exact Willet Rye and haven't opened either... maybe that's for tonight. I've seen the Russel's Reserve but haven't had the urge to buy it until now..

 

I was in California all week last week, and found all EH Taylor offerings available in a crappy little Santa Ana liquor store. They had them on the top shelf, behind the counter, way up high. They were sitting above stickers that say $99, $89, and $129, respectively. At that price I was a buyer. When I asked for them, the dude told me they had just done some rearranging and these bottles were actually $599 and up.

The Clase Azul that I have in my basement and purchased for $129 (retail price) was $899 there. They had another Clase Azul that was $1999. I asked him if he sold those bottles at those prices, and he claimed that they did all the time. Considering my local liquor store has 5-7 bottles of the white ceramic Clase Azul I'm thinking I should buy them all next time I go to LA..

 

That crap pisses me off ... Some of my go to liquor stores in San Diego started pulling that shit when the Pappy line started going up and retail stores were charging black market pricing. They were doing that w/Buffalo Trace, Sazerac (barrel strength), etc... nope screw you guys... At that time Blanton's wasn't what it is now, so I was buying that @ $49-$59, EJ Craig varieties (up to $50), and Weller Special Reserve and Antique were still only $40-$60 so I'd grab them when they were on the shelf.

Worse fucktardary that I had a clerk pull was when I found a bottle of Pappy 20yr w/a price tag on the damn bottle for $299, and the dipshit refused to sell it for that and said it was a mislabel and was actually $2,999... Every other bottle on the shelf was also labeled w/their normal retail pricing. !!!!!!!

 

The Willet Rye is good; strong spices and smoke (tobacco not peat)...

 

I went to a Total Wine recently, walked out with two bottles and a $350 bill.

 

I haven’t tried the Bardstown yet. I did see an article yesterday rating the château le Laubade as their top favorite bourbon. I have two bottles of the Willet Rye and finally got around to trying it last night. It was very good with some floral notes and a bit of spice to it.

 

What would you pick out of those for your top three? I’ve had some bottles like Blantons that tasted okay and others that have been outstanding, sometimes you get a honey barrel and sometimes you just wish you bought something else. Lol.

 

With the exception of Henry McKenna and one of the EC Barrel Proofs, I don't remember which batch my taste has migrated away from HH products. I get a distinct grassy, waxy flavor that I am not a fan of, though I have yet to try Parkers or the Willett for that matter and I used to really enjoy the early bottles of Evan Williams SB but they changed too.

So Weller 12, pretty happy with most OF products and Blanton's is a better flavor for me but not a favorite, The Discovery bottles were all very different from the 3 I tried. Yeah, my palate is kind of finicky which ultimately saves me money because I have stopped chasing every brand and stick with about 3-4 regulars

 

Ran out of Woodford DO so went I went to replace it and I happened on some Buffalo Trace, store pick whatever that means. You guys ever hear of this stuff, it was pretty cheap $32 a bottle for this and 53 for the liter size. Can't give the stuff apparently they had it stacked pretty high.

I was hoping for a sarcasm meter

 

Yep, this is my normal sipper. Used to be kind of hard to get but BT doubled or tripled their production capacity recently. Retail is $29 - surprised to see it with a small markup.

This is a great cheap sipper. Cheers!

 

The store pick is when the liquor store gets to pick out a barrel from the distiller. The distiller will send them samples from different barrels or the liquor store goes to distiller and taste 4 or 5 different barrels. Once the liquor store picks the barrel the distiller will send them all the bottles from that barrel. I've been to a couple of picks one at a local place here and another was mailed samples due to covid. It's a good time geeking out over some good whiskey. That is probably why they had so many bottles.

 

Finally found a CYPB. Any of you have a single barrel you want to trade for?
Also tried RR13 the other day. I thought it was outstanding!

 

That looks so good right now lol