Only if you're wearing a Madras or Seersucker jacket with matching white patent leather belt & loafers

White spirits are for sissies 12 months of the year!

Ahh didn't realize you were Baltimore based... it was $250. The Wolff Foreman group does do a solid job on food but yeah that was a little pricey. One bottle that is even more rare is the Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye. I've seen one bottle of it in my life. But apparently some comes out every year. I heard that Maryland got about 50 bottles.

Rebel Yell is a wheated bourbon. From what I understand, the Trader Joes Bourbon comes out of the 1792 Ridgemont Distillery- so maybe try VEry Old Barton?

Yep... though I have had some white dog that I'll drink as well.. I wear flip flops and shorts year round as well... I like to push the envelope...

FDW

Ahh didn't realize you were Baltimore based... it was $250. The Wolff Foreman group does do a solid job on food but yeah that was a little pricey. One bottle that is even more rare is the Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye. I've seen one bottle of it in my life. But apparently some comes out every year. I heard that Maryland got about 50 bottles.

Yep chilling here in Baltimore. I have never even heard of the Family Reserve Rye. Never seen a bottle. Do you remember how much it cost?

I have been into Willet bourbon lately. Their reserve rye is also damn good. Since youre in Baltimore you can pick some up, Ive been seeing it around lately. Should run about $40 or so.

The family reserve rye is labeled as a 13 yo product but it's closer to 19 yrs from what I've heard. Retail isn't too much, something like $70 but it's true value is more than 10x on the secondary.

The Willet folks put out solid stuff. Bear in mind that only the 2 yo rye is their own product. There is some 7 yo rye in the market and the grand marnier finished rye as well. The Willet Family Estate Bourbon (not the pot still bong shaped bottle) is much harder to find but can be amazing, depending on the barrel.

The four roses private barrels are excellent. Check out perfect pour who have had a couple excellent picks.

Fdw

Shawan liquors has had good 4r picks too.

Did Schawan ever do a barrel proof pick? I have a bottle of their single barrel, 100 proof pick, which was quite good....

FDW

CNN just went to Buffalo Trace and did a report on bourbon popularity overseas. Nice little video...

http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/03/news...rts/index.html

My local store has it in stock for the bargain price of $599.99.

Thats actually not terrible. I've been seeing it anywhere from $650-750 on the secondary market. But still a lot of $$$$.


Fdw

Doyle Dane Bernbach was right 60+ years ago, when he took a modest blended Scotch, put it in a new bottle, added a fancy label and box, then doubled the price and told his affluent US audience that Chivas was the Scotch to drink. They did, thus proving that folks will pay more for a pig with lipstick.

I must admit that about half the posters here are overcome with their own affluence, certain that the Bourbons for which they are willing to pay several times the shelf prices of "good" whiskies are immeasurably (or price-justifiably) better. I recall being invited a few years to watch a panel of "Whiskey experts" make a series of entirely incorrect IDs, and pick some modest bottlings over super premiums.

You would have thought they were wine freaks.....

Isn't Chivas like $20-25/bottle? Must have been super cheap before!

Overnight, the price jumped 30%, and sales skyrocketed. Back then, $20 whisky was a premium product. DDB performed a similar miracle for VW.

I blame Robert Parker. Before he wrote about the van winkles (or "pappy") in 2009 or 2010 the stuff used to just sit on the shelves. I could buy the 10 year expression pretty much year round. And the 23 would just sit, because nobody in their right mind would pay $200 for a bottle of American whisky. Then Parker wrote it up in wine spectator and now you can't find the stuff, and it's extended to other bourbons as well. The secondary market is absolutely nuts. But there are some real gems emerging now. Four roses is absolutely killing it right now. Their small batch whisky is the best value around. All of the American whiskeys are really stepping their game up. It's a good time to be a whiskey drinker because there's a lot of excellent stuff out there.

Fdw

You are right, the small batch distillery model is following in the footsteps of the craft brewing business. I don't feel like I can drink it fast enough to keep up. I think there is a market for smaller bottles (375 ml ?) of small batch bourbon, rye and single malt whiskies.