Rant/Rave: Bourbon

[Jocephus]

I'm going out in the hot tub for a soak. Bourbon is a better hot tub drink in the winter than beer.

[Jocephus]

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Has anyone tried or even heard of the corsair brand? There was this guy talking up the corsair triple smoke bourbon and it is like 45dollars but damn it sounded good. I guess the 3 smokes are peat...blah scotch whatever. Then cherry and beech wood both of which sound awesome in a bourbon. Anyway, trying to figure out what to buy next. Figured I'd ask here. Also, its 45 [expletive] dollars for a fifth which....thats like a handle of old Forrester!

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I'm about halfway through a bottle of Buffalo Trace and find it gets better every time I drink it. At first I wasn't all that keen on the stuff, but I've just been drinking it neat and, man, tis good.

[33anda3rd]

Corsair you're getting experiments in bottles a lot of the time. They crank out new, weird whiskeys the way nanobreweries crank out one-off beers. You're paying a premium at $45 for something that might not always please you or hit your wheelhouse, but that's fun to sip and think about a bit. Triple Smoke, the flavor is huge. It's not a mellow, wheaty, easy-sippin whiskey.

[33anda3rd]

Great point, 33. As the bourbon boom continues, there's more and more economic pressure for automated processes of distillation, as well as other ways to make the product available. Right now is a good time to buy bourbon, because the quality will likely decrease in the years ahead. For instance: http://wfpl.org/post/less-potent-makers ... y-kentucky

I do think quality will go up overall because of all the new distilleries. There are just so many. Consider one of my pets, Journeyman in Michigan. Wonderful juice, I really like it. And it's all really young. They've only been distilling for a short time. Their bourbon is not aged very long. It can't be, of course, because they're young. But they have lots of juice in barrels now, and if their young bourbon is tasty, I'm pretty stoked to see what it tastes like after 8, 12, 14 years in a barrel. There are a lot of distilleries like that. Within 1.5 hours drive from home there are probably 30 distilleries. None of them are old enough to have a 20-year bourbon or brandy, but they will. And that means when I'm sitting on a porch swing in retirement there are going to be 30 distilleries around me with a whole bunch of bourbon to try that doesn't even exist today! Exciting!

I do think quality will go down for the big houses in the interim between now and the time those small guys catch up. They will rush and cut corners. When the new guys catch up in aging and there's a lot more on the market with some barrel time on it, the old guard should lose out. Pappy 26 year should not cost $299 wholesale anymore because there will be other 20, 24, 26 year bourbons.

[thrill]

the precious juice

[JL21]

I just had a delicious Larceny Single Barrel at lunch. I want 4 more.

[jim]

I just had a delicious Larceny Single Barrel at lunch. I want 4 more.

I just bought a bottle last night. I've been drinking nothing but this for months because it's been on sale for $19 at a local store.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Just got a bottle of McKennas single barrel. http://heavenhill.com/brand/20

It was $25, is 100 proof which should be good to make some drinks with on NYE, and seems pretty good so far.

Thanks for the advice 33 on the Corsair.

Also, my dad and I on Saturday night did a blind bourbon taste test with some stuff we had laying around: Woodford, Makers, Buffalo Trace, Old Forester, and Jim Beam. Took a sip, added a small chunk of ice, swirled it and finished it. Before I say anything else, I don't know how people do blind taste tests of multiple brands. I just get too drunk to really keep a good awareness. We would wait about 10 minutes and eat some snacks in between. Still, by the end, well, I was pretty smashed.

I ended up ranking them straight in the order I tried them: Makers, BT, Woodford, OF, Beam. My notes went something from Neat: Good spice, sweet aroma, good finish. Splash: Opened up, maintained spice, smooth. To stuff like: Okay, puke water, bourbon (which is an, I imagine, accurate description for any bourbon...thanks for the vivid description, drunk self).

I will say, Woodford opened up the most with a splash of water which I imagine speaks to the complexity of the finish.

My dads was a little bit better. He only did tastes with a splash of water. His preferences were more traditional: Woodford, Makers, OF, BT, Beam.

In my drunkeness, I of course made fun of him for not having a sophisticated palette such as my classy self.

Anyway, there you have it. B/w the two of us they ranked MM, Woodford, (tied) OF & BT, Beam. IT was pretty fun, but I'll probably stick to only trying 2 or 3 in any future comparisons.