Originally Posted by
LondonElite
Evan Williams and Elijah Craig are the stand outs to me... the old Old Grand Dad was excellent; the newer stuff is ok...
Originally Posted by
toomanybooks
Forgot about this thread and just stumbled back upon it.
I see that Herb687 has mentioned the LEX Horse and Bourbon DO, which we run (mostly) every 6 months. Version VIII coming up. Link to the Oct. 2015 version in my sig. Thread now in Community Buzz looking for peoples' preferences on April 2016 dates. Looking likely that it will be April 15-17.
Went to Four Roses this last time and had a very good visit. I am not clear on the nomenclature of their products, but the top-of-the-line ones were readily available at $72. Several in our group bought them. I am not a bourbon expert, but they were NOTICEABLY better than the $30 and $40 products. Quite good, we thought.
The tour guide at Four Roses was a chirpy, chunky, young good-old KY gal and we suspect she thought one of our guys was cute. The tour was maybe 25 people and the three offered samples were of the lesser stuff, but she quietly told us to hang back afterward and "she'd see what she could do." So we got to try the really good bourbons. Good sales(wo)manship, as the group ended up buying about 4 bottles.
Also hit a very neat place called Barrel House, which looks like some medieval alchemist's lab. They are just putting out their first bourbon and we got to sample the final bottle from the sold-out run of the spring. Very nice. New one coming I think in a few months. Also rum, vodka, moonshine, and barrel-aged moonshine (quite nice). The tour guide was the only fellow there, and he does everything. Very engaging and welcoming.
Anyway, I encourage everyone to come to this DO at least once. Bourbon fans should definitely visit at least part of the KY Bourbon Trail sometime.
I have a liquor store guy in LEX and he kept a bottle of Weller 12 back for me. Very nice, my first time. But it goes for $50 in LEX.
Four Roses has 10 recipes, that vary the amount of rye and the yeast strain. The bottles you were tasting at the distillery are all single barrel products, barrel strength. The stuff you see on the shelf is either small batch which uses 4 of the recipes (OESO, OESK, OBSO, OBSK) or the single barrel (which is always OBSV).. so you got to taste some of the more uncommon stuff...some of the best semi available products are the private selection picks... that's when a liquor store or restaurant picks the actual barrel and usually has it bottled at barrel proof (though some opt for the standard single barrel 100 proof)... it's fun tasting all the different recipes... I did a tasting of all 10 one night and wow was that quite the night....
Weller 12 is impossible to find here in MD, but it's not a $50 bottle of bourbon.. shelf cost is closer to $30-35....
I would love to make it to the DO one day...
Originally Posted by
BamaVol
BamaVol Jr #1 visited this past weekend and brought a bottle of Rogue Dead Guy whiskey. Not a bourbon, although I'm not sure what it is classified as. Kind of spicy, but on the harsh side. Maybe they'll get better at it, but for now I'm going to leave what remains in the bottle, in the bottle and pour it for the next visitors.
Originally Posted by
exerda
Similar to what I've heard. I haven't tried it, and with such mixed reviews, don't imagine I'll plonk down the $50 it runs in VA to give it a shot any time in the near future. Too much better stuff to enjoy first.
Rogue makes great great beer but their whiskey is awful.. I gave it a try a couple years ago and it made my list of one of the worst whiskeys I've ever tasted.. fortunate for them, I have since tasted Cleveland whiskey which takes the title now....
FDW