I find the Elijah Craig 12 year a great balance between drinkability and affordability.

The UPS truck delivered an early Father's day gift from BamaVol Jr #1. I am now in possession of 750 ML of Colonel EH Taylor Small Batch bourbon. A 100 proof product of the Buffalo Trace distillery.

I will pour a shot on Father's Day so I can tell him what I think. He and his wife toured the bourbon trail last year and I suspect he remembered this one.

Well that's a fine measure of your parenting skills. Your kid buys you a top notch Bourbon. :D

Interested to hear what you think; I have a bottle, but it's one of the few I own which I haven't opened yet to try. I figure I have 50+ others open...

I don't have that many but there may be 5 or 6 unopened bottles at the moment. Being a Father's Day gift, it will move to the front of the queue.

Well, the family that drinks together ... :D It beats the macaroni necklaces they made back in first grade. Lots of love in either of course.

EH Taylor is a new old line for Buffalo Trace. Most of their products are bottled in bond, which has certain sub requirements. Also they really seem to like sweet tubes for their bottles. I've only had a bottle of the Warehouse C survivor which was much hyped but merely a mediocre bottle. The Amal batch and single barrel are both supposed to be solid options. Nonetheless solid work on raising a son who gets solid fathers days gifts. I'm still in the macaroni bracelet stage of life.

Elijah Craig 12 year is a superb bourbon. If you ever see the barrel proof offer ring try to give it a try. I love barrel proof products and this is one of my favorites (and a solid but at <$50). There's some question of whether the Elijah Craig will lose its age statement at some point (happens a lot) but the other possibility is that the supplies will dry up much like what happened to the 18 yo expression (one of the best value pours of yesteryear)

No eye thread but it seems like some rye talk ends up here. My favorite rye notes are typically peppery with a little spice so the Angels Envy doesn't really appeal to me. A lot of the sweetness you pick up comes from a Caribbean run finish that the whiskey spends time in. I'm not a huge fan of finishes to be honest; I feel that they most of them just add sweetness to the drink which I really don't like that all being said, Balvenies finishes are often quite subtle and tasty.

Fdw

Just made the mistake of looking for and finding this tread when I should be working on a report. Now I'm seriously tempted to pour myself a glass of Blandon's, even though it's not even 6pm in the UK....

You'd probably like the Midwinter's Dram from High West, then; it's definitely peppery and with a bit of extra spice to it--not sweet at all. And the rye doesn't have that "band-aid adhesive" subtext to it, which some seem to (I'm thinking of a couple of craft ryes I've tried, one from NY and one from KY in particular). It's also, unfortunately, $100+ a bottle. I haven't tried their other ryes, though their blends (Bourye & Son of Bourye, for example) are good but likely sweeter than you'd like.

I have found that in general, I like finishes. Yeah, I like a well-made, plain bourbon pretty well... but I find that one finished in sherry or port or Malaga or whatever is a bit more interesting. I know I have plenty of standby plain bourbons that I love, so it's fun to try things which are very different, too.

I think for Rye whiskey, we have a few years to wait before the really good ones have been aged enough. The rye craze only began about 4 or 5 years ago, right? At that time the makers put a big effort into it and maybe in another 3 to 5 years we'll get a really good aged Rye.

Oh the hell with it. I wasn't getting any work done anyway. Couldn't find the Blandon's, so a glass of Woodford Reserve it is. Cheers!

Woodford Reserve is free pour in many BA F lounges. So it can't be that good, right? Answer: It's very good!

Indeed. And if you're ever in Kentucky, their distillery tour is well worth the $10 ^

I have a bottle of the Midwinter's... I haven't opened it but I'll have to give it a try... I had High West's Rocky Mountain Rye last year and it was quite good.. I tend to steer away from their younger stuff (Campfire, Bourye, etc) but I do think it's good... I like the guys from High West; I find that they are very upfront about where their product is from which I respect.

Super aged rye is really really rare.. Hopefully in a couple years we will have more available... the Superaged Rittenhouses (21-23-25 yo expressions) have been gone for a couple of years; I hope that they have some maturing away... Some of the really rare old stuff (Nells, Redhook etc) have been gone for years.. and some of the stuff that still trickles out (Sazerac 18, Van Winkle 13) has been tanked for years with small bottlings every year.. SO yes, I hope that the super aged rye releases return.....

FDW

Poured the first shot over a single ice cube. It was hot today - heat index of 109. Notes of spice and citrus, possibly lemon. The alcohol of a 100 proof is not particularly noticeable. No remarkable finish. Not as sweet as a Woodford Reserve or Basil Haydens that I normally drink. Drank the second shot straight up. A little more spice, a little less citrus. Still no sense of the barrel. I like it and would describe it as unique - very difficult to compare to the other 20 or so bourbons I have tried.

just got an order in for a bottle of eh taylor barrel proof. hopefully will be here before the weekend.

125 proof. Will you be drinking it straight or cutting with a little branch?

normally neat, though I will try it with a few drops of water.

I second that. I live in Dayton, OH so it is only a relatively short distance for me. STIMPY -if you go on the Delta forum there are always great comments about Woodford. ^

Wowsers - that is some fair old spirit! ^

Very true. I tried it once a while ago and was really surprised. Since then there's always been a bottle around.

Hint to to anyone in the UK: Waitrose is selling it at £23.50 a bottle until 30 June

Just went by Gerry's in Covent Garden and bought myself another bottle of Blanton's. I'll be moving onto that after my G&T dies down.

I got a bottle of Eh Taylor BP a few months ago and love it. I cut it with a single small ice cube and couldn't be happier. I am interest in your thoughts. Enjoy!

it was 127 - had it with just a few drops of water, didn't need to be cut. was delicious and highly recommended.

Bourbon experts: please recommend something in the $25.00 range for a 750mL.

Bulliet. I even found it on sale for less than $20 at Rite Aid once.

Thank you. Been meaning to try their Rye as well.

+1 I second that recommendation - especially at that price point. Enjoy

At that price point, I also like Larceny (which in VA runs ~$27) and Buffalo Trace, the former more than the latter.

Elijah Craig 12
Eagle Rare 10
Four Roses Small Batch/Single Barrel
Evan Williams Single Barrel
Old Weller Antique 107

These should be in the 25-30 range...
Even better if you can find private barrel picks that some liquor stores do..

Sazerac is a great rye that should be about in that range too

FDW

Tough to beat this for the price...

Very good indeed--just hard to find for me. I picked a bottle up in NE earlier this year, but never see it locally.


Agreed. Easier to find IME than the Old Weller Antique 107, but still not widely available in VA unfortunately (our ABC stores got some in about a month ago and almost all quickly sold out... don't even ask about the aged Sazerac...)

Even tougher to beat was the 18 yo expression.. sadly that is gone.. I used to get a two pack for $70 a couple years back... they've come out with 20, 21, 22, and 23 yo expressions that just keep escalating in price.. I got a bottle of the 21 but was underwhelmed (or rather overoaked) and didn't think it was the worth the price... I do hear that they are bringing the 18 yo back but at a much higher price point. If you can find the barrel strength 12 yo give that a try.. very very tasty...

If you're ever in the Baltimore area and are interested in a bottle, give me a shout... I've got a good amount of the OWA107 because one of my locals has done a private barreling of it twice in the past two years... and I may or may not have purchased a case each time (make a great gift). I hit the Sazerac 6 yo hard during the summers for my manhattans... the 18 yo is extremely difficult to find but the key is to have a good relationship with your local (I think the VA ABC system makes it impossible). My local always takes care of me... what I'm really looking for is a CC that offers bonus spend at liquor stores- I for some reason tend to spend a lot of money there....

FDW

Giving Wild Turkey 101 a try tonight. It's scared me off for a while because it reminds me of crappy liquor being passed around at a college party.

However with a mfg coupon at the Safeway near my hotel for the summer in the Bay Area it was $13.99. At that price I'm willing to give it a shot to last me until I head home.

It's not that bad. Heck I was raised on the stuff! I used to buy it by the case, long ago when there wasn't much choice. Then Bookers came out and...

It took me forever to finish a bottle. Not enough of a fan to buy again at any price. Too cheap to throw it out.

I have a bottle of 1792 that I bought as a gift for someone who will not now be visiting. I may open it or possibly give to the next one of my kids I see. I bought with no knowledge whatsoever. Anyone tried it?

I like it. It's one of the open bottles I have at home which I fall back on when not quite sure what I want for the evening. It definitely has some burn to it (more noticeably so than a few higher-proof bourbons I have, FWIW), but something about it makes me think of sitting in the library with a good old book. Less sweet than other bourbons I typically like.

I like how smooth the Bulleit bourbon is but I also like the burn of Blanton's. Pappy is all good but more expensive... #OneWomansOpinion

I love Pappy as well. Especially a nice 23 year old Reserve with Coke and some ice.

Or not......

Had some Eagle Rare the other night in a hotel bar...very nice, and I may try and get me a bottle of that.

Which expression. They make a 10 yo expression and a 17 yo; which are really two absolutely different products.

The 10 yo expression used to be a single barrel product but has recently had the single barrel title removed. It's a fairly solid value bourbon; should be between $30-35 a bottle and fairly reasonably available at your local liquor store.

The 17 yo expression is part of the Buffalo Trace Antiques Collection that is released each fall. Retail is $75 but it can be quite a scarce bottling. Last year I think there were somewhere in the 4500 bottles released. Most liquor store stores will receive maybe a 3 pack.

Both bottles are worth getting; the latter will be a mug more elusive hunt!

Fdw

It was the 10 yo. (Enjoyed it with a nice Romeo y Julieta cigar at the Grand Hyatt in Berlin).

Certainly something worth seeking out (it's priced at ca £35 here, seems ok) and I enjoyed it more than the Bulleit 10 yo I tried earlier.

I'm writing this sipping a little Blantons...