I read the thread on Blanton's recently with great interest. I have a brother who likes Blanton's a lot and keeps telling me to add it to my bar. If I could purchase it locally I would try it, but the PA State stores don't carry it and so far I've been resisting buying it by mail. The last couple of bourbons I've tried have been Woodford Reserve double oaked, Whistlepig 6 year old, and irish whiskey Jameson's Black Barrel. I'm not a scotch fan, but I did get a 21 year old Glendronach bottle for my CPA son that he said was really good, as payment for estate work last year (he refused to take $$$).
What say ye Giants fans? What bourbon has helped you survive the last couple of seasons?
Anything by Buffalo Trace is great - and impossible to find.
Bottles you can actually find that are great bourbons:
Wild Turkey Rare Breed
Jack Daniels Single Barrel Barrel Proof (Bonded is good too)
Old Forester 1910 and 1920
Makers Cask Strength and Store Picks are good
Redwood Empire makes good bourbon
Supposedly the new Jim Beam 7 year black label is excellent for the price (haven't had it yet)
Harder to find but findable:
Track down some Elijah Craig Barrel Proof
If you can find a John J Bowman single barrel - that's it.
The good thing about bourbon is even cheap bourbon is pretty good (Wild Turkey 101, Makers, Old Grand Dad Bonded/114, Evan Williams Bonded/Single Barrel).
Anyways to answer your question, there are multiple categories.
"Daily" drinker - Buffalo Trace or Woodford Reserve
Cocktail mixer - Old-Grandad Bonded
"Special" Occasions - currently on-hand I have Widow Jane Decadence and EH Taylor Small Batch
As for Irish Whiskey - current preference is Bushmills Black Bush
I really like Basil Hayed as good mid priced choice. Michters makes a crew good ones too. Woodford Reseve is a other good one. Last one is Angels Envy. A ton of great mid range priced ones out there. Love Wellers but foot lick finding that
Funny part of this is one of my best friends lives 20 minutes from Buffalo Trace and was there this morning. Even at the distillery they sometime dont have any Buffalo Trace
What I mean is if you buy some shitty scotch and compare it with a high end single malt (from the same region) the difference is obvious.
When I drink high $$$ bourbons I don't notice the same pronounced gap in quality.
Besides many of the higher priced bourbons - Blantons, Angels Envy, Weller, etc. used to be $30/$40 per bottle and ubiquitous before they changed the production and allocation driving up the price. AFAIK the bourbon has not changed.
There are differences to be clear, but not as pronounced making the high $$$ bourbons IMO not worth the money.
Lastly, practically every mass produced bourbon is traced up to like 6 companies.
Sazerac owns Weller, Van Winkle, Buffalo Trace, Blantons, EH Taylor, Eagle Rare, Stagg, 1792, Bowman, and more.
Bean Suntory owns Jim Beam, Makers Mark, Knob Creek, Basil Haydens, Bookers, Old Grand dad, and more.
There is a couple more big ones.
Anyway, I do like Blantons, at this price, hard to justify it. I'd rather wait for Angels Envy to be available in the $45 range like I can sometimes find it or just buy something cheap and blindfolded most people wouldn't know the difference.
I recently found a restaurant that gets a bottle of Blantons once in a while. I had it for the first time recently and really enjoyed it.
As mentioned most Buffalo Trace stuff is good but allocated/hard to find. Eagle Rare is hard to find and usually marked up around NYC. EH Taylor is very good too. Was able to find a bottle of Stagg Jr. around fathers day. I need to bring the proof down a bit but its good stuff. Not worth what I paid for it but at least I can say I had it once.
Larceny Barrel Proof I really like too but throw an ice cube in it. The one I have is 124 proof.
What I mean is if you buy some shitty scotch and compare it with a high end single malt (from the same region) the difference is obvious.
When I drink high $$$ bourbons I don't notice the same pronounced gap in quality.
Besides many of the higher priced bourbons - Blantons, Angels Envy, Weller, etc. used to be $30/$40 per bottle and ubiquitous before they changed the production and allocation driving up the price. AFAIK the bourbon has not changed.
There are differences to be clear, but not as pronounced making the high $$$ bourbons IMO not worth the money.
Lastly, practically every mass produced bourbon is traced up to like 6 companies.
Sazerac owns Weller, Van Winkle, Buffalo Trace, Blantons, EH Taylor, Eagle Rare, Stagg, 1792, Bowman, and more.
Bean Suntory owns Jim Beam, Makers Mark, Knob Creek, Basil Haydens, Bookers, Old Grand dad, and more.
There is a couple more big ones.
Anyway, I do like Blantons, at this price, hard to justify it. I'd rather wait for Angels Envy to be available in the $45 range like I can sometimes find it or just buy something cheap and blindfolded most people wouldn't know the difference.
Bingo.
What I mean is if you buy some shitty scotch and compare it with a high end single malt (from the same region) the difference is obvious.
When I drink high $$$ bourbons I don't notice the same pronounced gap in quality.
Besides many of the higher priced bourbons - Blantons, Angels Envy, Weller, etc. used to be $30/$40 per bottle and ubiquitous before they changed the production and allocation driving up the price. AFAIK the bourbon has not changed.
There are differences to be clear, but not as pronounced making the high $$$ bourbons IMO not worth the money.
Lastly, practically every mass produced bourbon is traced up to like 6 companies.
Sazerac owns Weller, Van Winkle, Buffalo Trace, Blantons, EH Taylor, Eagle Rare, Stagg, 1792, Bowman, and more.
Bean Suntory owns Jim Beam, Makers Mark, Knob Creek, Basil Haydens, Bookers, Old Grand dad, and more.
There is a couple more big ones.
Anyway, I do like Blantons, at this price, hard to justify it. I'd rather wait for Angels Envy to be available in the $45 range like I can sometimes find it or just buy something cheap and blindfolded most people wouldn't know the difference.
The issue iw Bourbons IMO is that due to demand. What should be mid priced becomes high priced so as you mention the difference is not as noticeable. My first bottle of Blanton’s it was 45 bucks lol. Wellers was cheap the. As soon as people saw it was the same mash as Pappy the same.
There are a ton of good $40-60 bourbons. The issue is taste is very individual. So what one person loves an other likes something else. Great to try the very popular ones but I do agree the dangerous to just assume a big price tag will mean a big jump in quality
I like Knob Creek(9yr) in cocktails and to sip. 100 proof.
Some of the Pinhook bottles are interesting if you want to branch out.
Hillrock (from upstate NY) is spendy but really good.
Me too, unless it's true crap I enjoy most Bourbon and Rye that I've tried. That said, I do like focusing on small distilleries for home stuff now... SONO 14/20 is a fave. I like the stuff from Litchfield distillery. Also Mad River from Vermont has some really interesting whiskeys. Also My daughter's boyfriend is a bartender and turned me on to Uncle Nearest. Really good bang fer buck Whiskeys.
What I mean is if you buy some shitty scotch and compare it with a high end single malt (from the same region) the difference is obvious.
When I drink high $$$ bourbons I don't notice the same pronounced gap in quality.
Besides many of the higher priced bourbons - Blantons, Angels Envy, Weller, etc. used to be $30/$40 per bottle and ubiquitous before they changed the production and allocation driving up the price. AFAIK the bourbon has not changed.
There are differences to be clear, but not as pronounced making the high $$$ bourbons IMO not worth the money.
Lastly, practically every mass produced bourbon is traced up to like 6 companies.
Sazerac owns Weller, Van Winkle, Buffalo Trace, Blantons, EH Taylor, Eagle Rare, Stagg, 1792, Bowman, and more.
Bean Suntory owns Jim Beam, Makers Mark, Knob Creek, Basil Haydens, Bookers, Old Grand dad, and more.
There is a couple more big ones.
Anyway, I do like Blantons, at this price, hard to justify it. I'd rather wait for Angels Envy to be available in the $45 range like I can sometimes find it or just buy something cheap and blindfolded most people wouldn't know the difference.
This is so true, bourbon is limited by the 51% corn and new oak barrel requirements. Bourbon is still relatively inexpensive compared to scotch but then again good scotch blows bourbon out of the water.
I love 1792 full proof. It’s a delicious high proof at a great price point around $50.
I like Knob Creek(9yr) in cocktails and to sip. 100 proof.
Some of the Pinhook bottles are interesting if you want to branch out.
Hillrock (from upstate NY) is spendy but really good.
+1 for Four Roses.
Love Woodford for the price point as well
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Anyone who claims that there are no differences/undetectable differences in Bourbon has the tongue of an ass.
Anything by Buffalo Trace is great - and impossible to find.
Bottles you can actually find that are great bourbons:
Wild Turkey Rare Breed
Jack Daniels Single Barrel Barrel Proof (Bonded is good too)
Old Forester 1910 and 1920
Makers Cask Strength and Store Picks are good
Redwood Empire makes good bourbon
Supposedly the new Jim Beam 7 year black label is excellent for the price (haven't had it yet)
Harder to find but findable:
Track down some Elijah Craig Barrel Proof
If you can find a John J Bowman single barrel - that's it.
The good thing about bourbon is even cheap bourbon is pretty good (Wild Turkey 101, Makers, Old Grand Dad Bonded/114, Evan Williams Bonded/Single Barrel).
Great list. IMO the JD Barrel Proof is the best value in whiskey right now.
I'd like to add Jack Daniel's Triple Mash Bottled In Bond (might not be a bourbon). Around here in NJ it's under $40, and Russell's Reserve 10 Year, my favorite everyday drinker.