Bourbon, Anyone?

[gypsydad]

Lots of good whisky's and bourbon's out there for sure. We like a good Manhattan, and stumbled on to Virgil Kaine Ginger Infused Bourbon while visiting 82 Queen for lunch...normally don't do Manhattan till dinner, but they recommended this one since local...with "shrimp and grits" of course; ended up having 2 of them and I had to purchase this local favorite. Next year we went too Halls Chop House, and again, same experience sitting at the bar...bartender recommended so of course, we enjoyed with their charcutier appetizer; great place. Ended up getting a case of this from the local liquor store, since not available in TX...learned they have several whisky's but limited distribution. We sold our home in Austin last year, folks who purchased were from NC; mentioned we liked Virgil Kaine, and he produced 2 bottles for us as a gift; they too like a good Manhattan. https://virgilkaine.com/

[GettinAway]

Originally Posted by richw46

I came across Tattersall bourbon, bottled in bond. Surprisingly smooth for a 100 proof bourbon. It's a Minnesota wheated bourbon.
https://www.tattersalldistilling.com/

Ok, that’s all I need for a recommendation. A guy from KY recommending a bourbon from MN. I generally like wheated bourbon.
Thanks

[Rich W]

Originally Posted by GettinAway

Ok, that’s all I need for a recommendation. A guy from KY recommending a bourbon from MN. I generally like wheated bourbon.
Thanks

Well I'm no expert, despite lots of sampling. A fellow fishing friend's standards are lower than mine: "It's brown and it makes me happy".

My son is a gymnastics coach and teaches the kid of one of the owners. They gave him a 750 ml and he passed it on to me. I do like it and have put it on my list of favorites for a future purchase.

[AgBullet]

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

I went back thru the thread and made a handy shopping list for everybody to cut and paste into your favorite smart phone app. Hope this works.

Angels Envy

Balconies Baby Blue
Barton's
Barton's 1792
Basil Hayden
Basil Hayden 8
Blanton's
Blue Grass High Rye
Booker's
Buffalo Trace
Bomberger’s Declaration Bourbon
Buffalo Trace
Bunnahabhain 12.

Eagle Rare
Early Times bottled in bond
Elijah Craig
Fire Oak (Texas)
Four Roses Single Barrel

Garrison Brothers (Texas)
George Dickel
George Remus
High West American Prairie Bourbon
High West Rendezvous Rye
High West Campfire Whiskey
Hudson's Baby Bourbon
Iron Wolf

Jack Daniels
Jack Daniels Single Barrel Select

Jefferson's Ocean
Jefferson Very Small Batch

Knob Creek Reserve Single Barrel
Knob Creek Rye
Knob Creek Sngle Barrel

Limestone Branch Minor Case Straight Rye.

Jim Beam
Jim Beam Black
Makers 46
Makers Mark
McKenna 10
Michter's US*1 Small Batch

Old Crow (tastes like Pappy Van Winkle?)
Old Forrester 1920
Pappy Van Winkle’s
Parkers

Peerless

Russell’s Reserve

Uncle Nearest 1856

Weller
Widow Jane
Wild Turkey
Willet
Willet Johnny Drum
Witherspoons (Maybe, the label is hard to read in the picture) (Texas)
Woodford Reserve

Well, on the "light side," I wonder if there are any updates to this thread. A bit of a diversion from EV engineering as an "off topic" or "Stella's Kitchen." The above is a great list!

[3OnOurWay]

Currently on tail end of a week here in Nashville and Louisville. Agreed, need to say for those who haven’t passed through. Amazingly kind people and Michter/ Angels Envy open late to host you.

So many choices here to sip however you prefer.

[urnmor]

Well if you can find it by Pappy. I believe it is sold only a few times a year and not all that pensive (ha Ha) at 2500 dollars a bottle and no I have never tasted it

[GOUSC]

A few more to add;

Anita’s Choice
Woodford Double Oaked
Woodford Double Double Oaked
Noah’s Mill
Rowan’s Creek
Kentucky Vintage
Old Forrester Statesman
Evan Williams Single Barrel
Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel
Elijah Craig Single Barrel
Weller 107
EH Taylor Small Batch
Bardstown Origin Series
Bardstown Fusion Series
Wilderness Trail Rye based
Wilderness Trail Wheat based
Pinhook Bourbon Resolve
1792
Smoke wagon 92.5 proof
Sazerac Rye (good for Old Fashion’s)

[AKNate]

I’d add Michter's Rye to the list.

[JeffKim]

We participated in Alumalina this year and there was a bourbon tasting where people can contribute a bottle. There was a pretty wide variety with a number I hadn't tried before. For me the winner was a Basil Hayden 10yr Rye that appealed to me (and many others). On the way to Alumalina we stopped to visit Buffalo Trace and I contributed a bottle. I didn't particularly like it, not much depth and a little harsh, but then it was not expensive.

I tend to drink ryes a lot more than bourbons. FWIW, in ryes, I like:

Anything WhistlePig (Piggyback, 10yr)
Templeton 6yr
Bulleit Rye (everyday sipping)

I'd add that even pacing myself and taking small samples, I stumbled back to the trailer.

[AKNate]

Bulleit Rye is my go-to for everyday mixed drinks, unless Costco has something on sale. Makes a great manhattan. I like to sub out half the vermouth (Antica) with amaro (typically Averna and/or Cynar) for more complexity.

[gypsydad]

1792 is a great small batch, but have you guys tried Very Old Barton?? It's from same makers...(also have Buffalo Trace, and others) but this is a real "sleeper" with great taste and very low price, IMHO. We were introduced to it few years ago while touring and the gal doing the tasting with us told my wife and I, she can have any whisky/bourbon they make, but has this one every night. 1.75L is about $24 around here in TX...It's my go to and folks who like bourbon and have tried agree...price/taste excellent, despite the low price.

But one older tasting review: "If a score of 6 out of 10 seems like it’s not worth your time, then let me say that for the record, this is worth every dollar and then some. There are many bottles that populate the bottom shelf that go all the way up to $40 and almost all of them don’t give the complexity that this bottle does."

[Caffeinated]

Bulleit single barrel was opened last night, it’s very, very good.

Mike

[GOUSC]

Last nights lineup

[JeffKim]

Originally Posted by GOUSC

Last nights lineup

Umm... do you need any help with that?

[Boxite]

I haven’t posted my favorite bourbon here because:

1-It is a minor label, made by a major distiller already mentioned in this thread

2-It is not well-known

3-It is the mellowest of all I have tasted (and I’ve tasted almost all those already mentioned)

4-The distillery is one of the older ones in the country

5-It is not easy to find / not often carried in liquor stores

6- It is well Under-Priced ($20/ 1.75 litres)

7-It is sold in a plastic jug (and therefor draws very little attention, which may explain why it is often overlooked, so stores don’t see it as a volume-seller, and may also explain why few stores stock it)

8-Can be decanted into an unmarked decanter and every one recognizes it’s quality)

9-Wife makes her bread-pudding sauce with it and there are NEVER left-overs at Christmas Parties

10- I don’t want to name it because I already have a hard time finding it…and ..

11- Is why I usually buy 4 to 6 jugs of it at a time when I DO find it.


12- If it becomes too popular it will become even More Difficult and cost More

13- Hint: It is a Straight Kentucky Sour Mash whose name is misleading.


I sometimes surprise friends who cannot believe it until they taste it. If you can guess it…. send me a PM and I’ll let you know if you’re correct. (If you’re wrong…I will not respond)

[Boxite]

Here’s another Bourbon History Tid-bit:

During the Civil War the North was having a difficult time winning battles for the first two years. Several reasons for that but a major reason was that the battles were being fought in Southern backyards….where southern generals had the advantages of most neighbors being free intelligence-gatherers and suppliers, and where the terrain was well-known, and the enemy received little or no help from the general population. (When southern armies travelled into northern territory they suffered greatly from loss of those advantages.)

But in July 1863 a failed railroad engineer-turned-leather-tanner who was despised by his in-laws had returned to his former job as an army officer. His name was Ulysses Grant, and many of his fellow Union Officers did not particularly like him, seeing him as an army-quitter-returned-to-the-ranks because he couldn’t make it in civilian life.

But he had a knack for forging-ahead against unfavorable odds, and in 1863 he finally won significant victory in Southern Territory…. after almost a year …. he finally won the surrender of Vickburg on American Independence Day…July 4th.

Abraham Lincoln was elated! … because the general of the main union Army of the Potomac …George McClelland was a reluctant soldier who was great at building up an army…but failed to use it. Lincoln, tired of in-action on McClelland’s part…. once asked McClelland “If you are not going to use the Army…. May I borrow it?”
McClelland hated Lincoln and wrote disrespectfully of Lincoln on numerous occasions. (Once, while the president was waiting for a meeting with McClellad in the downstairs hotel lobby for over an hour…. McClelland simply went to bed without notice.)

Soo…. when the north Finally Won a Major Victory at Vicksburg… Lincoln decided to fire McClellands’ successor and replace him with Grant…promoting Grant to Commander of the Army of the Potomac.

Upon hearing of Lincoln’s plans, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton rushed to the White House and almost shouted, “You can’t promote him over all others!… He’s a drunk! He drinks WHISKEY!”

Apparently Stanton failed to recall that Lincoln not only once partnered in a saloon… but Lincoln’s Father once sold the family farm for ten barrels of whiskey! The Lincoln family had No Aversion to Whiskey.

So when Stanton burst into the room objecting to the promotion of Grant because Grant was a Whiskey-Drinker…. Lincoln didn’t bat an eye…and replied, “Well, Find out what brand he drinks and Send a Barrel to ALL my Generals!”

(Grant drank “Old Crow”)

(no, that’s not the brand I challenged in the previous post)

[GettinAway]

Interesting story about Grant and Lincoln. I don’t know any whiskey drinkers I don’t trust.
My son in law has a knack for finding very old bottles of whiskey in liquor stores and in bars. We were goose hunting in western Nebraska and he noticed three old bottles of old crow on a back shelf behind the bar, covered in dust. He asked if they might be for sale, and bought all three. We opened one later, and it was fantastic. I’m not sure when, but apparently there were a lot of very good bourbons 20 to 30 years ago. I don’t know what changed, but many of the newer bourbons just aren’t as smooth. I try to keep an eye out, but I don’t know enough about it. I generally just look for a store pick when I’m shopping. I trust someone else’s judgment more than my own.

[G8trwood]

Turkey
EH Taylor
Elijah Craig single barrel

[Boxite]

Originally Posted by GettinAway

….. I’m not sure when, but apparently there were a lot of very good bourbons 20 to 30 years ago. I don’t know what changed, but many of the newer bourbons just aren’t as smooth. …..

It’s my belief the change occurred with the promotion of corn for ethanol-for-fuel-additive production.

Bourbon is distilled from corn by legal definition. In the past corn was produced and hybridized for it’s kernel …flavor and quality being uppermost.
But modern corn production used for fuel additives uses the Entire Plant…(cellulosic-biomass increases output) for ethanol production…. ear, stem, leaves, root…. and is less dependent upon flavor of sugar/starch.

This has resulted in corn hybrids which differ from those focussed on flavor of the kernal upon which the taste of whiskey depends.

I’ve noticed that some brands of bourbon have changed to a slightly more bitter aftertaste than previous…and I’ve quit buying certain brands I once favored that have had to go to cheaper corn sources to maintain price-competitiveness.

(or maybe my tastes have changed…. I used to drink sweet “kidde-beer” but now prefer more sophisticated types.)

[AgBullet]

Originally Posted by Boxite

Here’s another Bourbon History Tid-bit:

During the Civil War the North was having a difficult time winning battles for the first two years. Several reasons for that but a major reason was that the battles were being fought in Southern backyards….where southern generals had the advantages of most neighbors being free intelligence-gatherers and suppliers, and where the terrain was well-known, and the enemy received little or no help from the general population. (When southern armies travelled into northern territory they suffered greatly from loss of those advantages.)

But in July 1863 a failed railroad engineer-turned-leather-tanner who was despised by his in-laws had returned to his former job as an army officer. His name was Ulysses Grant, and many of his fellow Union Officers did not particularly like him, seeing him as an army-quitter-returned-to-the-ranks because he couldn’t make it in civilian life.

But he had a knack for forging-ahead against unfavorable odds, and in 1863 he finally won significant victory in Southern Territory…. after almost a year …. he finally won the surrender of Vickburg on American Independence Day…July 4th.

Abraham Lincoln was elated! … because the general of the main union Army of the Potomac …George McClelland was a reluctant soldier who was great at building up an army…but failed to use it. Lincoln, tired of in-action on McClelland’s part…. once asked McClelland “If you are not going to use the Army…. May I borrow it?”
McClelland hated Lincoln and wrote disrespectfully of Lincoln on numerous occasions. (Once, while the president was waiting for a meeting with McClellad in the downstairs hotel lobby for over an hour…. McClelland simply went to bed without notice.)

Soo…. when the north Finally Won a Major Victory at Vicksburg… Lincoln decided to fire McClellands’ successor and replace him with Grant…promoting Grant to Commander of the Army of the Potomac.

Upon hearing of Lincoln’s plans, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton rushed to the White House and almost shouted, “You can’t promote him over all others!… He’s a drunk! He drinks WHISKEY!”

Apparently Stanton failed to recall that Lincoln not only once partnered in a saloon… but Lincoln’s Father once sold the family farm for ten barrels of whiskey! The Lincoln family had No Aversion to Whiskey.

So when Stanton burst into the room objecting to the promotion of Grant because Grant was a Whiskey-Drinker…. Lincoln didn’t bat an eye…and replied, “Well, Find out what brand he drinks and Send a Barrel to ALL my Generals!”

(Grant drank “Old Crow”)

(no, that’s not the brand I challenged in the previous post)

Great history lesson!