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Jimbaround

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2 hours ago, RichUT said:


They are both solid and worth owning. I think the 10 year bourbon is slightly better than the 12 year Rye, but you can’t go wrong with either.

 

2 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

The Bourbon was sourced from 4Roses and some Barton. I know 10 year old 4Roses is delicious. The Rye is sourced from MGP which makes outstanding rye. Bulleit is owned by Diageo, but they’ve been sourcing the good stuff for decades so they have great connections obviously and good product. 
 

 

Welp, know where I’ll be tomorrow then. Thanks!

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Via a tip from a friend I was able to track down some Smoke Wagon Uncut/Unfiltered. Really elegant bottle, I hope the juice is just as good. I wonder if Kurt Russell and his Wyatt Earp mustache drinks this stuff? If not, he definitely should.

I also picked a bottle of Bowman SiB. This stuff is getting way too hard to find at Total Wine.  

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14 hours ago, stork642 said:

I picked up a liter of Weller SR yesterday and there was another one still in the shelf.  Guess I’ll be going back on Monday to get it if it’s still there.  Are y’all saying that Weller SR will be more difficult to come by in the future?

I’d say it depends on the city and the store. It’s very feast or famine in Houston.

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I revisited just now, and I will serve a qualifier that I’ve been drinking on the boat all day, BUT... I added a rock to the Old Tub and think that’s the move. It’s too hot to drink neat, but with a cube it’s basically just a higher proof Beam with a bit more linger.

As someone who drank Beam by the gallon in college, that’s no longer my thing, but I can understand why some would enjoy it, especially at that price point.

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Does anyone know the mash bill or story behind the Kelsey Creek SB from Goody? It’s actually pretty good, but it just has a Spec’s job written all over it. I had to buy it based on it being in the same bottle as RHF and Caribou.


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43 minutes ago, ousuxndallas said:

Cracked a Russell's Reserve store pick private barrel. Damn good. A little heat, but man way more flavor than the lower proof stuff I've been drinking. 6090f7f035b6abfcb3edb9cf3feb0ae9.jpg

My nominee as the best shelfer. Spec’s always has two rows deep of of store picks. 
 

I think Wild Turkey does a pretty good job of listening to their customers. Rare Breed Rye being a recent example. So I think they’ll bring back the Russell’s Reserve Rye SiB Store picks eventually. But 4 years is a long time to go without it. 

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3 hours ago, Party_Taco said:

I revisited just now, and I will serve a qualifier that I’ve been drinking on the boat all day, BUT... I added a rock to the Old Tub and think that’s the move. It’s too hot to drink neat, but with a cube it’s basically just a higher proof Beam with a bit more linger.

As someone who drank Beam by the gallon in college, that’s no longer my thing, but I can understand why some would enjoy it, especially at that price point.

I hated the recent relaunch of Jim Beam Single Barrel. Black Label is nothing special. White Label is putrid. Everybody likes Distiller’s Cut and they just make less and less of it.

I hope Old Tub is good, but I could see it tasting exactly like Beam Bonded. 

I love Knob Creek and Booker’s, but I’m going to stay away from the flagship label. 

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12 hours ago, H_Boogie said:

Does anyone know the mash bill or story behind the Kelsey Creek SB from Goody? It’s actually pretty good, but it just has a Spec’s job written all over it. I had to buy it based on it being in the same bottle as RHF and Caribou.


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Thought it was a Sazerac product.

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It is with a heavy heart that I reveal I caught a bad single barrel of Larceny 92 proof at Spec's. The barrel serial number is 6515659 barreled on 4/15/2013. It's perfectly drinkable, but it is straight nightmare hangover fuel. I'm talking the day after a Kentucky Derby Party level hangover. Proceed with caution. 

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It is with a heavy heart that I reveal I caught a bad single barrel of Larceny 92 proof at Spec's. The barrel serial number is 6515659 barreled on 4/15/2013. It's perfectly drinkable, but it is straight nightmare hangover fuel. I'm talking the day after a Kentucky Derby Party level hangover. Proceed with caution. 

I experienced the same thing with an EC Specs store pick. I tasted against two other EC store picks and the one from Specs was a burner compared to the other two.
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5 minutes ago, Yev Kassem said:

I think you’ll enjoy that Old Scout pick. I have one from Debs Liquor in Austin and it’s really good. They moved back to sourcing MGP instead of Dickel, so that’s a great development. 

I assume “Distilled in Indiana” is clearly printed on the back of the new Old Scout bottle? 

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1 minute ago, TxTower said:


I experienced the same thing with an EC Specs store pick. I tasted against two other EC store picks and the one from Specs was a burner compared to the other two.

Who knows maybe I had a minor bug or something? I spent most of the next day in bed. I drink high proof stuff all the time and I never have that kind of hangover. 

Probably a Heaven Hill thing, it’s happened with subpar McKenna 10 SiBs as well. 

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2 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

It is with a heavy heart that I reveal I caught a bad single barrel of Larceny 92 proof at Spec's. The barrel serial number is 6515659 barreled on 4/15/2013. It's perfectly drinkable, but it is straight nightmare hangover fuel. I'm talking the day after a Kentucky Derby Party level hangover. Proceed with caution. 

I touched on this earlier in the thread this is part of why I don’t like Single Barrel bourbon. It’s just too much of a crapshoot. A truly bad barrel is rare, but a truly great one is just as rare. And a very good blend is always better than all but the best single barrels. 

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3 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

I touched on this earlier in the thread this is part of why I don’t like Single Barrel bourbon. It’s just too much of a crapshoot. A truly bad barrel is rare, but a truly great one is just as rare. And a very good blend is always better than all but the best single barrels. 

I still prefer single barrels, but I understand the “batch to taste” viewpoint championed by the Noe and Samuel Families. 
 

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3 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

I’m not familiar with that. Explain?

When asked about single barrels of Booker’s, Jim Beam Master Distiller Fred Noe said they’ll never do it because his father Booker Noe believed in blending barrels/batches to achieve the correct/consistent taste he wanted. I’ve heard they were friends, but Booker thought Elmer T. Lee was crazy for starting Blanton’s. 

The Samuels Family started Maker’s Mark and they obviously like blending batches as well. Maker’s and Jim Beam are very much related so you can see where the thinking comes from. 

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19 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

When asked about single barrels of Booker’s, Jim Beam Master Distiller Fred Noe said they’ll never do it because his father Booker Noe believed in blending barrels/batches to achieve the correct/consistent taste he wanted. I’ve heard they were friends, but Booker thought Elmer T. Lee was crazy for starting Blanton’s. 

The Samuels Family started Maker’s Mark and they obviously like blending batches as well. Maker’s and Jim Beam are very much related so you can see where the thinking comes from. 

Well obviously I agree. Look,  I always have Rock Hill Farms, Elmer T Lee and Blanton’s on hand, because they are always good, and always interesting. I’m not opposed to single barrel on principle, I’m just not impressed in practice with most single barrel product. 

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1 minute ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

Well obviously I agree. Look,  I always have Rock Hill Farms, Elmer T Lee and Blanton’s on hand, because they are always good, and always interesting. I’m not opposed to single barrel on principle, I’m just not impressed in practice with most single barrel product. 

It’s ironic that Fred Noe’s legacy will probably be the beloved Knob Creek 120 proof Single Barrels. 

Heaven Hill has fixed McKenna 10. I’m not sure they’ve fixed Larceny, and it’s so popular they might not want to. Elijah Craig 94 proof Single Barrel picks are reliably good. 

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8 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Maybe their own bourbon didn’t sell that great

Could be, I've only had one bottle and that was a few years ago when I knew they were Indiana sourcing.

Their vodka is one of my favorites. I know vodka should really be tasteless, but theirs had this oh so sub-tle hint of butterscotch that was really nice over a couple cubes. Thought it was my imagination, but the next time I had it the flavor was still there.

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I touched on this earlier in the thread this is part of why I don’t like Single Barrel bourbon. It’s just too much of a crapshoot. A truly bad barrel is rare, but a truly great one is just as rare. And a very good blend is always better than all but the best single barrels. 

After having multiple single barrels and store picks over the last few years, I’d have to agree with you to a point. Some great, some meh and few stinkers. For the average bourbon drinker I think this is sound advice. No need to play single barrel roulette when you can get consistent quality from what’s on the shelf. However it is fun to try SBs and come up with the occasional gem. I’m finding better results with some distillers than others and of course it’s always good to try before you buy if the retailer allows it. Getting to taste can take out a lot of the guess work (although COViD has recently put a damper on this practice).

Anyway, always appreciate your take on things Bozo.
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It was a productive drive into the office this morning.  I managed to snag a Weller 12, Buffalo Trace TW Single Barrel Select, and Elijah Craig TL Single Barrel Select (10yr).  At $30 a piece for the SBSs, I'm happy to take the gamble that I get something better than the norm for each of those bourbons. 

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