Bourbon

[Nevada Ed]

Tried and sampled plenty over 50 years of "Legal Drinking" age.

They remind me of a western;
the good, bad and the ugly.

Ugly was the time I was testing the Father-in-laws bar after getting married and shooting down a shot of................
Ever Clear !!

 

[S42N8]

While I keep coming back for Woodford, the Garrison Brothers varieties are excellent, but pricey. The Baker's is also good as a sipping bourbon. The Devil's Cut was kinda disappointing; more burn, but not more flavor. The Angel's Envy port finished and rye are very nice, and the price is good.

 

[tarsam]

Jim Beam Black for me.

 

[RSBH44]

Here it is. I just read on their web site that it can now be ordered on line.
http://www.adirondackdistilling.com/cmsresources/601bourbonCropped.jpg

 

[Ogandydancer]

Bench Mark almost as smooth as Buffalo Trace. Really like both. Not a fan of Southern Comfort waaaayyyy to sweet. I am usually a Scotch or Irish drinker.

 

[ContinentalOp]

Blanton's when I can afford it. Maker's Mark when I can't.

 

[Mexican Kerry]

There are probably a ton of different bourbons I've never tried as we only get a sampling available here in my neck of the woods (western Canada) but my favorites when i'm feeling flush are:

Blanton's Original
Four Roses Single Barrel
Elijah Craig 12 Year
Eagle Rare.

But I've rarely met a bourbon I didn't like. Two that come to mind are:

Buffalo Trace
Rock Hill Farms

One whiskey I recently found I like is Tin Cup from Colorado.

As for rye and scotch, I usually pass. Never liked it. Guess I'm not a real Canadian. I'd rather spend my time on a S&W forum than watch a hockey game too!

 

[Amp]

I see we have as many opinions on drink as we do on guns

 

[Absalom]

Booker's is not allocated. It is on every shelf I look at. That may change. Among allocated whiskies are the Van Winkle collection, Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, Parker Heritage, and some others.

According to the inside chatter, Booker's will go on allocation together with a serious curtailing of production and the upcoming doubling of the price. Lots of unhappiness about that, but Beam seems to believe "premiumizing" the label will pay off. Remains to be seen.

....
P.S. I drink more Jack Daniels' than anything else, but the proof has gone from 90 to 86 to 80 in my lifetime. Any lower and I'll have to add chocolate syrup as I do to milk...

Try to find the current 150th anniversary edition. It's select barrels of No. 7 bottled at 100 proof. Pricey, but great stuff.

 

[bigchuck83]

I just finished a bottle of Woodford Reserve double oaked last week i honestly felt it is way overpriced. Was gifted a bottle of Knob Creek for Christmas and will start on it tomorrow night, for drinking on the rocks i like Jim Beam Black, Evan Williams single barrel. i normally use Evan Williams black label as a mixer. Still need to get a bottle of Blanton's to try out, I'll pass on drinking Booker's, not a fan of it.

 

[chief38]

I just finished a bottle of Woodford Reserve double oaked last week i honestly felt it is way overpriced. Was gifted a bottle of Knob Creek for Christmas and will start on it tomorrow night, for drinking on the rocks i like Jim Beam Black, Evan Williams single barrel. i normally use Evan Williams black label as a mixer. Still need to get a bottle of Blanton's to try out, I'll pass on drinking Booker's, not a fan of it.

I have not tasted the Woodford's DOUBLE OAK yet, but LOVE the standard version. The Blanton's (have not seen it on the shelves lately) is very good but IMHO not worth the price of $70.00. For less $$ I actually prefer the Jack SINGLE BARREL which I get for $47.99 on sale.

BTW: the only real difference between Jack Daniels Sour Mash Whisky and Bourbon is that the JD is Charcoal filtered. Strangely enough the REGULAR JD #7 tastes almost identical to Makers Mark - especially after the first one. When I do blind taste testings of those two most guys can NOT tell the difference - even on the first drink! The SINGLE BARREL is another story and isa bit better and worth the extra $$ IMHO.

 

[LittleCooner]

I'm a Maker's Mark Brand Ambassador and have a barrel at the factory with my name on it. I like Maker's 46 very much but am also a big rye fan. I bought myself a bottle of High West Double Rye for Christmas, and my son gifted me with a Four Roses Single Barrel.
Flavored whiskeys? Consider this, you know the bottom shelf stuff down there near your feet in the store? Ten High and the like. Careful observation will show that in the last few years there are fewer and fewer bottom shelf bourbons and more and more middle-shelf flavored whiskeys. Distillers of premium brands have considerable "waste" product that isn't good enough to be labeled Maker's Mark or Woodford Reserve. They used to get rid of that stuff by wholesaling it in bulk to other bottlers who blended it, often with grain neutral spirits (think Everclear) and it ended up in 1.75L plastic jugs on the bottom shelf.
Then some marketing genius thought up adding cinnamon or maple or some other ersatz chemical flavoring to the juice to hide the taste, give it a cool label and presto, a new premium brand.
To each his own, but I'll pass on the flavored stuff. That Four Roses Single Barrel is almost like dessert itself.

Thanks for the information on where the flavored drinks are actually being produced. I have tried a few of these different flavored products, even buying a bottle of high end brand stuff at the local store. All this stuff I have tasted is not worth drinking, some of it is terrible. To each his own, but the flavored stuff is just one step above pouring down the kitchen sink IMHO.

Grew up reading Jack O'Connor, He made a life long gun lover of me and a bourbon drinker of me also. His idea was that only "good branch water" should be mixed with good bourbon. Anything else was a sin. I have to agree.

I make a hit Christmas morning. Delivered several bottles of "Forty Creek" Canadian whiskey to people under the tree. New find for me, this stuff is really smooth and should only be cut with a little branch water over ice for a nice drink after dinner. Advertised as better that Crown Royal and we all agreed, way better than any Crown we had tasted before.

 

[Skeet 028]

Y'all are sounding like a bunch of winer elitists now with all the critiquing. First thing ya know yer gonna be talking about noses and letting that linker breathe. I do get it that there are some better and some terrible whiskies out there. I mean I even had a drink of Pikesville Rye once. But I WAS desperate. But after the first drink your taste buds are pretty much shot. Lol.

 

[chaparrito]

Thanks for the information on where the flavored drinks are actually being produced. I have tried a few of these different flavored products, even buying a bottle of high end brand stuff at the local store. All this stuff I have tasted is not worth drinking, some of it is terrible. To each his own, but the flavored stuff is just one step above pouring down the kitchen sink IMHO.

Grew up reading Jack O'Connor, He made a life long gun lover of me and a bourbon drinker of me also. His idea was that only "good branch water" should be mixed with good bourbon. Anything else was a sin. I have to agree.

I make a hit Christmas morning. Delivered several bottles of "Forty Creek" Canadian whiskey to people under the tree. New find for me, this stuff is really smooth and should only be cut with a little branch water over ice for a nice drink after dinner. Advertised as better that Crown Royal and we all agreed, way better than any Crown we had tasted before.

Forty Creek is a flat steal at 20 bucks. It is of course Canadian and not Bourbon, but it's the most bourbon-like Canadian I've tasted. The original Crown Royal escapes me why anyone buys it. Keep your fishing reel in an old sock for pete's sake and save yourself some money. Crown Royal's newly released Northern Harvest Rye, on the other hand, is very tasty. Unlike the U.S., not everything labeled "rye" in Canada is actually made from rye grain. The Crown Royal rye is an all-rye mash bill I'm told. A great buy at under 30 dollars.

 

[steamloco76]

I love a good Bourbon and like some of the high end stuff (Buffalo Trace, Makers Mark, Wild Turkey Barrel Proof) however, my go to Bourbons are:
1. Wild Turkey 101
2. Jim Beam Black Label
3.(tie) Ezra Brooks or Evan Williams- both are a real bargain
4. Jim Beam Bottled in Bond single season
5. Elijah Craig- another bargain.
6. Heaven Hill- best cheap stuff, hard to find in PA
7. Jim Beam White Label- every bar has this one

 

[okiegtrider]

This has been a fun thread to follow. Several here, along with myself, have expressed some affection for Maker's Mark.

I thought I'd share my story as to how Maker's became my personal favorite.

A few years ago I was contacted by a prosecuting attorney for the Commonwealth of Kentucky and asked to assist them with locating some witnesses in our state. The request was related to their chore of resentencing a convicted killer in Bullit County, KY, after an appeals court set aside the death penalty in his case.

Michael Dale St.Clair hails from the area where I live and some of the witnesses Kentucky needed for their case were local to me. He was already an acused murderer and an infamous character hereabouts when he and another escaped from our local jail and went on a killing spree across several states.

I assisted by tracking down these folks, including the ex-wife of the killer, sometimes acting as a go between for the prosecutor and the witnesses. All this back and forth developed a friendly working relationship between myself, the Kentucky prosecutors and one of their investigators. They were appreciative and thanked me for working on their behalf here in Oklahoma. I was glad to do it, it really was all in a days work.

Those nice people in Kentucky and I both thought that would be the end of it, and hoped it would be. But about two years afterward, the case was again sent back to the trial court for resentencing.

Wasn't long before I heard from my Kentucky friends. I ended up tracking down again all the same people here in OK as before on behalf of the prosecutors in Kentucky. At least this time around the witnesses were familiar to me and they weren't hard to find a second time.

The process included some cajoling, some calls, some emails, a bit of shoe leather, a few miles driven. But we got them all back to Kentucky for yet another round with the justice system.

After they were successful in handing St.Clair a death penalty for the third time, a package arrived at my office.

Inside? A nice bottle of Maker's and note of gratitude from the prosecution team. It has been my go to to whisky ever since.

Murderpedia has something of a profile and timeline on St.Clair, not entirely accurate, but hits the high spots.
Michael Dale St. Clair | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

The victim in Bullit County Kentucky? Frances C. Brady, a distillery worker.

 

[Donn]

I ain't polluting good bourbon with honey, apples, spices, etc. I'll drink any good bourbon or sour mash without that.

I'm with you, Charlie. It's Blanton's or Buffalo Trace for me. It's just fine as is.

 

[mike from st pete]

Two Stars is my favorite bourbon

 

[smitty_bs]

In no particular order......Woodford Reserve, Maker's Mark, Bulliet, Knob Creek and occasionally Buffalo Trace. I've always wanted to try Maker's 46 but everytime I see the price tag my arm flinches when reaching for my wallet.

 

[Amp]

You guys that like Maker's got to try their cask strength.
And please don't pollute it.