If you remember, I did a personal tasting of Eagle Rare 10 Year Bourbon about a week ago. The whole article and video can be found here.
So I wanted to do a little experiment. What would happen if I tasted the same bourbon (literally the same bottle) with a group of friends. Would my opinions change of the bourbon? Would I find something a little different? Would the other drinkers have the same opinions as me?
My tasting notes are similar, but I did drink this neat instead of on the rocks. I think it brought a little more flavor out of it than if it was iced down. We also went down a few rabbit holes while we were talking, so you are in for a treat!
In this video, I take some time to dive into the $25.99 bottle of Old Forester 100 proof. In the tasting, I explain why I like this bourbon and why it has a spot on my shelf (hint – it’s the price point and for my old fashioned).
If you don’t have time to watch the whole video, here are my tasting notes:
I smell a lot of caramel corn and butterscotch on the nose of this. I also got hints of cinnamon, toffee, and oak.
This isn’t the best bourbon in the world, but it is decent. I taste a lot of booze upfront, then I get some cherry, cinnamon, and weak oak. This would make a great old fashioned.
The finish isn’t something memorable.
For $25.99, this is a solid buy, but it’s not going to knock your socks off like something in the $40-$50 range. And it just doesn’t carry the deep flavor like some barrel strength bourbons. I will keep one on hand for mixed drinks and the occasional (I don’t know what to drink) pour.
After having a tasting of Garrison Brothers Straight Bourbon Whiskey, our friend Tom pulled out a bottle of Three Boys Distilling (aka Whiskey Thief) and decided we should all take a taste. I’ve been down to Three Boys before, but I haven’t tasted it in years.
The favorite of the night for me, this one was packed full of flavor. It was interesting to see the responses from the rest of the Bourbon Council as we all had a little different opinion on this one.
In terms of tasting notes, it had the following:
Heavy cinnamon and oak on the nose.
A boozy start to the taste followed by some serious cinnamon throughout. Lots of hints of oak and caramel.
A finish of almost straight cherry. Really really tasting.
I really enjoyed this tasting and I thought this was a killer bottle.
I’ve had a bottle from the Garrison Brothers a few years ago and loved it. So I was excited to get a chance to try this when I heard there was one nearby.
This bottle was sent as a gift from my father-in-law’s college roommate (Kurt – Thanks for the bottle!) and he was gracious enough to share it. So we decided to do a tasting of the bourbon after our weekly dinner.
I sat down and did this tasting with my Bourbon Council. If you haven’t met the Bourbon Council, you are in for a treat. Dave, Mike, Chris, and Tom are a few of the members and they have sat down this evening to taste a bottle of Garrison Brothers Small Batch Texas Whiskey.
Each of the Bourbon Council members brings a different perspective on their tasting and bourbon overall. None of us are right on everything and we always talk about the bourbon and other random topics. If you would like to be a member of the council and want to join, you can find out more information here: https://www.patreon.com/indianabarrelpickclub
As for the Garrison Brothers Small Batch Texas Whiskey, the video can give you the opinions of all of the people who tasted it. My personal opinion, the bottle was a little young and had a real strong corn taste. This used to be one of my favorite tastes as it had a lot of sweetness, but I’m starting to shy away from the strong corn flavor. I got a little bit of oak, but I was looking for more. I think I could sit there and drink this with the best of them, but I’m not sure I would spend the money (around $90) to get a bottle. I would default to other bottles in a heartbeat. I appreciate the taste, but I’ll be a little trigger shy with Garrison Brothers in the future. I’ll side with their older products.
I was walking around my local liquor store and I noticed something strange. A worker was carrying around 3 bottles of George Dickel that I had tasted at a recent tasting. I remember the Dickel being a rather rare bottle and it caught my eye when it walked by. As I was looking at the craft beer, I watched as the lady opened the door and there it was.
It was like the holy grail of bourbon.
I saw bottles that were hard to find and I just had to ask how in the world I could get my hands on them. She explained the process and I was there first thing the next morning. Since I was the first to see the bottles, I got first dibs on picking my bottle to purchase (which was awesome by the way).
I’m a man who always looks for a value, so I chose to get the large bottle of Eagle Rare (1.75L). It was like I was getting 2+ bottles instead of just 1. Biggest bang for my buck.
So now I have this large bottle of Eagle Rare 10 Year and I decided to do a tasting this evening for my YouTube channel.
I’ll let the video do the majority of the tasting, but I’ll leave you with this:
This is a great bourbon if you can get it at MSRP. It’s flavorful and right up my alley. I get a lot of caramel, vanilla, oak, and a sweetness. I also get some citrus on the nose and the finish. I wouldn’t pay a premium for this bourbon, but I would enjoy drinking it. It’s not the most complex bourbon I have ever had, but it’s very drinkable. I think a novice bourbon drinker would love something like this.
A year ago today, a close family friend gave me the opportunity to taste Pappy Van Winkle for the first time. It was a Christmas surprise that I throughly enjoyed. Since the Facebook memory popped up today, I want to take a few moments and reflect on my tasting and answer the question:
Is Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year worth the hype?
Well yes and no. Let me explain my review a little more.
Was it an amazing bourbon?
Yes. It might have been one of the smoothest bourbons I have ever consumed in my life. It was rich, flavorful, and down right incredible.
What makes it special?
The taste is the first thing that makes it special. Like I mentioned, it was truly an amazing bourbon. But there is more to it than that. The lore and the rarity of the bottle and the bourbon line in general is what makes it special. How many times in my life am I going to get to try something like Pappy? My guess is I can count it on 1 hand and I might already be at my limit. It’s a very special occasion to be able to taste this and it meant a lot that my friend was willing to share a taste last Christmas Eve.
Would I pay MSRP for a bottle?
I would pay the MSRP of $199.99 any day of the week for this bottle. In a restaurant, I would pay up to $30 a pour for it (no questions asked).
Would I pay a premium for a bottle or a pour?
This is where the “no” starts coming in as I look at the question of is it worth the hype. I don’t think it’s worth the secondary market price. I get this is a rare bottle of bourbon, but you are not going to see me shelling out over $300 for a bottle of this, let alone thousands of dollars. I don’t believe a bottle of bourbon can be worth that much for the taste alone. I think it’s really more about the luxury idea of having a bottle and that just isn’t something I am into.
When I drink bourbon, I want to share and enjoy with my family and friends. I don’t want to put it on a shelf and never take a drink. If I paid $1,000+ for a bottle of bourbon like Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year, I would be scared to death to ever open it. And that’s just not how bourbon should be.
So is Pappy worth the hype? Yes, but only to a point (a certain price point that is). After that (and it will vary by person), I think you are better off spending your money on other bottles of bourbon.
Have you tried anything else in the Van Winkle lineup?
Yes I have. About two weeks before trying Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year, I found a reasonably priced pour of Old Rip Van Winkle at a bourbon bar in Indy. I was out celebrating the end of a semester of teaching and I was with my wife and a good friend. My wife convinced me to splurge and try it, so I didn’t argue with here smarts.
And I would say the same holds true to my comments above. This was a great pour of bourbon and one I won’t soon forget, but I wouldn’t pay a premium for it. I think there are other bourbons at lower price points that give me a bigger bang for my buck. Don’t get me wrong, I would never turn down a pour of a unicorn bourbon, but I’m not sure I’m willing to shell out the cash to have one drink. I would rather spend that same amount of money on a few great bottles of other whiskey (barrel selects or other allocated bottles).
That’s just one man’s opinion and as my wife tells me from time to time, that one man can be wrong. What are your thoughts on the Pappy family of bourbon? Are they worth the hype? How much would you be willing to spend to get a taste (or a bottle)?
If you read my blog post about Kentucky Tea, you know that I recently had a chance to try the Booker’s 2022-03 Kentucky Tea Batch bourbon. And from some of the feedback I have received, some of you want a review of the bourbon. As you can tell on the blog, this will be my first time reviewing a bourbon.
So here we go:
Notes From the Distiller:
The batch is made up of six production dates that were aged in six different warehouses. The breakdown of barrel storage for Booker’s “Kentucky Tea Batch” is as follows:
2% came from the 3rd floor of 7-story warehouse 5
1% came from the 4th floor of 7-story warehouse X
1% came from the 4th floor of 9-story warehouse D
12% came from the 4th floor of 7-story warehouse 1
24% came from the 5th floor of 7-story warehouse Q
14% came from the 6th floor of 7-story warehouse Q
46% came from the 6th floor of 7-story warehouse Z
This batch was pulled on a hot and humid day in July. The color of this liquid is golden amber, and you embrace the dark, sweet vanilla aroma right away. With just one taste, your mouth is filled with rich and sweet flavors of vanilla. The lingering finish isn’t overpowering, so soon after you’ll want another sip. I made myself a Kentucky Tea with Kentucky Tea Batch, and it brought back memories of my dad sitting at his own kitchen table enjoying his Kentucky Tea with supper.
My Tasting Notes:
My tasting was a decent size pour of bourbon from a good friend. It was consumed on the rocks in a glass. I had consumed a few beverages prior to the tasting, so my mouth was primed and ready.
When you first smell it, you get a huge hit of vanilla and oak. I think the tasting notes nailed that one spot on. It’s really vanilla forward. At first taste, you get a big punch in the face of alcohol and then it starts to tone down a bit (or I just got used to it). Once my mouth got used to the heat from the alcohol, I could really start to taste the flavor of the bourbon. And it was tasty.
I got a lot of vanilla (I think a lot of it came from the nose) and then I got into the yummy nuttiness, butterscotch, and caramel notes. I could tell this bourbon had a lot of character and body to it. When I think of really good bourbons, this is in the ballpark of what I would think of. Really heavy in the oak, caramel, and even a little brown sugar. Please note: I’m not expert, but I do enjoy a good pour of bourbon. So my descriptors might be a little off.
When thinking about how to drink this, I would recommend neat, with a splash of water, or on the rocks. I think each of these variations would bring out different flavors in this bourbon. I would also consider the “Kentucky Tea” variation mentioned on the bottle. I think something like that brings you a little closer to the way the professionals enjoy a good bourbon when they spend all day tasting bourbons.
Overall Ranking:
Was this the best bourbon I have ever had in my life?
No.
Was this in the top 20?
Quite possibly.
It was really tasty and I would love to have another drink of it. I think there was a lot of skill that was put into picking and blending that bourbon and it shows when you drink it.
Score (for those of you who like numbers) = 9 out of 10.
Have you had Booker’s 2022-03 Kentucky Tea Batch? What are your thoughts? Did you like it as much as I did? Do you other opinions? Leave your comments below!
If you are an actual midwesterner, you know that we love our breaded tenderloins.
That being said, it would be stupid for me to try to tell you what to pair withe a breaded tenderloin. Instead, I’ll defer to my good friends Chef Jason Reynolds and Jeff Clark. This is a great video with a pairing between bourbon and food. If you haven’t subscribed, you need to make sure you do (and ask for a cameo of Chris in the next tasting).
