Bourbon Reviews

[TheIronMonkey]

ABC HERE IN Idaho is doing a lottery on these, any recommendations of ones you've had?

OLD RIP VAN WINKLE 10YR BOURBON - $99.95

VAN WINKLE SPECIAL RESERVE 12YR BOURBON – $109.95​

VAN WINKLE FAMILY RESERVE RYE 13YR - $169.95​

PAPPY VAN WINKLE 15YR BOURBON - $169.95​

PAPPY VAN WINKLE 20YR BOURBON - $279.95​

PAPPY VAN WINKLE 23YR BOURBON – $399.95​

EAGLE RARE 17YR KENTUCKY STRAIGHT BOURBON - $124.95​

GEORGE T. STAGG - $124.95​

SAZERAC RYE 18YR WHISKEY - $124.95​

THOMAS H. HANDY SAZERAC STRAIGHT RYE - $124.95​

WILLIAM LARUE WELLER - $124.95​

I’ve had earlier releases of everything on this list except the Van Winkle 13, Pappy 20 and Pappy 23.

All of those on the list are highly recommended. Because they’re organic products with ABV variations from year to year, I can’t speak as to how these new releases are, but I would sign up for all of them and buy any and all you might win. You could probably sell one bottle on the secondary market and pay for everything. I have loved many of the George T. Stagg releases over the years, the 2007, perhaps, my favourite ever.

I would agree with @Buckeyestime —the Van Winkles and Pappys are overrated. Worth getting if paying retail, but not the current going rate on the secondary market.

 

[johnnyflake]

You will do exceptionably well if you were lucky enough to pick this up!
As good as it gets: WILLIAM LARUE WELLER - $124.95

 

[Revnatorade C.P.G.]

While Blantons is amazing, 1792 Single Barrell is one of my favorites followed by Fours Roses Single Barrell and Angels Envy.

 

[Bengel]

I’m going to go for everything (but the pappies) and hope that I get one. A few years ago after a lottery I stumbled upon an Old Forrester birthday release that someone didn’t buy and they put on the shelf

 

[kcghost]

I was born and raised in the town that MGP built, Atchison, Ks. It employs the vast majority of the locals. We simply referred to it as "Midwest".

Do still hear Judy Garland singing the "Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe"??

 

[ItsKarl]

Ah, bourbon and me, we're like this
Say hi to Blanton's from me!

 

[BronzeAgePiper]

So are those basically Chinese prices now. I’m trying to think of what Ol Rip Van Winkle cost 10 years ago.. 60?

 

[K.E. Powell]

I've only begun to tip my toe with bourbon tasting, but the first couple that made me really excited were Woodford Reserve and Rabbit Hole Cavehill. Really enjoying them and experimenting with combining them with my cigars and pipe tobacco.

 

[carp rides again]

High west is my go to. Elijah Craig, Basil Haydens, Woodford reserve, the new Traveler w/Chris Stapleton is the jam

 

[pappymac]

For me I try to avoid anything from Indiana. That MGP stuff is used in everything. I want to see the skill of the distiller. So for me what is believe to be MGP free is Four Roses Small Batch Select and in the Rye category Maryland Rye Sagamore which had been MGP but is not now. They just started about 5 or 6 years back I think give or take. To make a properly aged rye takes time so they used MGP until theirs was aged well enough. I also grab Litchfield Distillery Port aged and double bourbons which is a local joint here in CT. Oh and there was a place in Tempe Az called Arizona Distillery making a bourbon with Arizona wheat and other stuff. That's a great local joint too.

"The true test of another man’s intelligence is how much he agrees with you?" - from "In Danger's Path" by W.E.B. Griffin

You must be a genius as I feel the same way about MGP. I always look at the label before i buy a new whiskey. If it doesn't say who distilled it, I don't buy it. I've seen a lot of new market bottles that are just marked "blended by" or "bottled and aged by" and always assume that means it was not "distilled by."

To me that means it is just a generic new make from a generic mash bill that is sold to companies that transfers it to barrels and age it at their location.

 

[pappymac]

IN MY OPINION....

There have been a lot of very good but overpriced whiskeys mention in this discussion - and none of them contain product distilled by MGP.

I actually understand the marketplace economics which means "as demand for a product goes up, the price of the product goes up." That being said, I find it more enjoyable to explore small local distilleries like Crittenden Distillery in Kiln, MS, J.T. Meleck Distillers in Branch, LA. and Oxbow Distillery in Baton Rouge.

Crittenden does some good, drinkable whiskies under the label "Cut Above". They distill and bottle on-site.

J.T. Meleck is owned by a family of rice (and crawfish) farmers and the produce vodka, gin and whiskey using a 100 percent rice mash bill. I keep a bottle of the whiskey on hand and drink it neat. To me it has a finish that reminds me of a créme brulee.

Oxbow Distillery is a rum distillery located in Baton Rouge. The family that owns the distillery are long time sugar cane growers with fields stretching from the Mississippi River to New Roads, LA (about 40 miles from Baton Rouge). You want a good sipping rum, they have it. You want a good mixing rum they have it.

 

[Bengel]

I’m going to go for everything (but the pappies) and hope that I get one. A few years ago after a lottery I stumbled upon an Old Forrester birthday release that someone didn’t buy and they put on the shelf

The game is afoot, we shall see

June 14 will tell
did win a Weller a few year’s ago

 

[Sobrbiker]

Jim Beam made me happy, Jack Daniel’s made me angry.
I developed an allergy, booze kept making me break out in handcuffs.

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

It can do that!

 

[sham]

The game is afoot, we shall see
View attachment 311639
June 14 will tell
did win a Weller a few year’s ago

The desirability of these bourbons is so high, I'd have checked them all. Win a bottle of pappy 23 and you could stock your whole bar with its resale value