whiskey

I had the 10, was alright I guess. not all that

might pick up one of the 12s/15s if I can get over the price

recently went through a bottle of lagavulin 16 distiller's edn like it was water. so good

ardbeg uigeadail, lagav, & caol ila are my current faves

today im drinking this

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/417230/Lidl-is-tops-for-Bourbon-lovers

which is surprisingly good for under £15 ie most of that goes in tax

the wine society are selling a 25yr old islay at £33 which i will probably order too, they used to sell a 21 yr old highland park secondary bottling for about £28 which wiped the floor with anything else at that level

a couple years ago i got a bottle of black maple hill at astor wine & spirits in nyc
they've never had it whenever i go back
and in another store i went to last time i was in nyc the clerk told me it was now as hard to get as PVW?
anyone ever see this biz?

― socki (s1ocki), Wednesday, October 16, 2013 10:14 AM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

age-stated bmh is long gone, sadly. i have about a third of a bottle of 16-yo left, it's nice stuff.

i remember towards the tail end of its availability here the price at every store went up about 40-50 bucks from what i paid, that was cool

my brother in law gave me a bottle of 20 yr old A.H. Hirsch last christmas, which i dont know much about other than it's a legendary and no longer produced bourbon. still haven't opened it!

― ryan, Wednesday, October 16, 2013 10:19 AM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wow nice bro in law!

he also got a 23 year old pappy at the same liquor store in a posh part of Austin.

I mean, make up your mind, whiskey thread. A few posts above a couple was mocked for ignorantly searching the aisle at Costco for single-something bourbon. And then I get mocked for failing to realize, well, duh, every single person knows about this bourbon, especially some kid working at the daycare center.

Josh, I wasn't mocking anyone, just shaking my head at the fact that people are approaching whiskey -- which is good! -- after reading articles that are specious or emphasize certain brands or phrases. It's whiskey, it's all good, and if you don't know anything about it and don't know the difference between scotch and bourbon or know what the difference between single barrel and single malt are, then you're likely not going to be spending your money very well.

That's what I was kind of depressed by, people who have likely read a Wall Street Journal trend piece, or more likely an article in their local paper that was inspired by that trend piece, and decide they're going to go search out this delicacy. Not every single person is going to know about Pappy Van Winkle or whatever other rarely-found whiskey is, but it's likely that a number of people who do know don't have knowledge much deeper than those trend pieces.

In other words, there's a reasonable chance that the person who knows of PVW is the same person who has no idea what the difference between whiskies is. And that kind of sucks.

in sum, pr campaign: successful
i have managed to never hear of that rare drink before today, but i bet ppl who read magazines have seen the trend piece!

btw I bought a bottle of single barrel bourbon last night, eagle rare, $26, glug glug glug

Now here's another side of it. I was in a store today with ample Stagg Jr., so I mentioned my surprise, seeing as it was flying off the shelves elsewhere. And the guy noted that the trend with that one reversed after so many people descended on it and, go figure, didn't like it that much!

i wonder if my liking it so much is due to the very cheap bottle i just finished before buying it, so it seems great by comparison, or if my palate isn't that sophisticated. i love the original Stagg but it certainly isn't subtle to my tongue, and i figure a younger version would have much the same virtues.

the ppl who didn't like it probably weren't used to barrel-proof whiskey or didn't cut it or something dumb.

It is, as they say, a big whiskey.

http://www.state-journal.com/local%20news/2013/10/16/more-than-26k-in-rare-bourbon-stolen-from-buffalo-trace-distillery

Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye is aged for 13 years and is worth about $25 a bottle.

???

Josh in Chicago taking matters into his own hands, I see!

lol

how much does reserve rye retail for?

a couple years ago i got a bottle of black maple hill at astor wine & spirits in nyc
they've never had it whenever i go back
and in another store i went to last time i was in nyc the clerk told me it was now as hard to get as PVW?
anyone ever see this biz?

― socki (s1ocki), Wednesday, October 16, 2013 10:14 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

astor never seems to have good stuff anymore

Ha, I saw that Pappy theft story a couple of days ago, but I didn't see confirmation. That's like stealing bearer bonds, which leads me to only one suspect.

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120506183328/diehard/images/1/13/Hans_Gruber.png

how much does reserve rye retail for?

― 乒乓, Thursday, October 17, 2013 9:22 AM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

$80-90

Supposedly/ironically the hardest to find of the PVW line, too.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-milk-honey-distillery

You can expect an Israeli four year old to be more like a Scottish ten year old.

hmmm ok guys

i was in tennessee this weekend and got to drink a glass of hirsch 25-year old rye. this is supposedly the same as (one of) the ryes that makes up van winkle rye but aged a bit longer.

Got a George T. Stagg today and a Thomas Hardy rye! Feel very lucky.

Also, hearing more murmurs of a major Buffalo Trace shortage imminent. The distillery itself first warned about this back in May, but apparently some stores have recently been notified of anticipated shortages of Eagle Rare, Buffalo Trace, Blantons, Elmer T Lee, and (obv.) Van Winkle specifically, for supposedly up to 3 years. This is based on BTs 2009 projections and, as per our discussion(s) above, how quickly demand has outpaced supply. It seems fishy that so much of this stuff would become scarce, but between the death of Elmer T Lee and the stories I hear of Weller 12 being hard to find in some states, who knows? If enough of these rumors spread, there could at the least be a perceived shortage, as people stock the bunker.

there's been rumors abt etl and eagle rare for years. if it happens it happens, i guess.

nice job getting some btac. i think i missed the new hampshire state system drop by a couple days but i have a guy up there trying to order me a saz 18.

The silver lining of being out of work: Drinking whiskey (Old Granddad, 100 proof) without having to think about reporting to work tomorrow. Should I try the 114 proof expression next?

sure! the 100 is my fav tho.

i had given up hope but there is a bottle of saz 18 waiting for me today!

jealous of the BTAC acquisitions. i'd be more excited to find that somewhere than PVW.

It didn't seem that hard, tbh, with a little bit of legwork. It depends on what state you're in, though, and where you are in that state, and how attentive you are to when stock comes in (ie give your fave store a call now and then). I've managed by now to get two Stagg and one of the rest of them, though I know I could have gotten more; I was on a Binny's waiting list, and was surprised to get a call the other day, but I told them to let someone else have a shot (so to speak). Some places still have it online, but only for in-state pickup. A big help was getting in early on the PA state-store sale. My folks are still out there, and since I'm visiting in December, I had a couple of bottles shipped there for me to pack up and take home. Hopefully my Pappy luck holds up, though prices are getting too high for me to make a habit of this. The nice thing about the PA sale was that the bottles were up for MSRP. Binny's mark-up was a relatively modest $10, I want to say.

Me? I'm looking for a bottle of Four Roses 2013 Limited Small Batch. Any leads? :)

Some trivia: apparently this year's Eagle Rare 17 is actually 19!

oh man the 2012 Four Roses Limited Small Batch is one of my favorite bourbons ever. i didnt know it was out for this year already. another one to look for!

Man, this year's came and went like lightning, afaict.

oh man the 2012 Four Roses Limited Small Batch is one of my favorite bourbons ever.

― ryan, Wednesday, October 30, 2013 12:58 PM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is like my most anticipated unopened bottle.

That bottle of Stagg I bought was a good idea

That bottle of Beam Devil's Cut I drank half of in one evening, less so.

so is Four Roses Limited Small Batch different than the normal Single Barrel and the regular Small Batch? cause I can get those...

yes, it is different

I've never had a Four Roses special bottling that I didn't love, especially the single barrel uncut (comes in around 123 proof)

just reserved a midleton very rare 2013 for collection on saturday

I'm hardly a grabby-grabby greedy type guy, but through a bit of diligence and patience I've managed a bottle of each of the BTAC and (unrelated) a Nexus 5 (I've needed a new phone for six months). So I'm feeling lucky on the Pappy front. I'm gunning for a 20-year, but part of me wants to try for the 23, too, not just to finish my "collection" but mostly so that some other asshole doesn't get it just to flip it for 10x.

http://www.2020wines.com/pappy-van-winkles-family-reserve-bourbon-23-years-old-750.html

We're in the weeks before a move, so all my bottles have been going into storage anyway, but once we settle there's going to be one hell of a housewarming, an ounce at a time. Damned if I'll be the dick who doesn't share the wealth with my friends.

I've managed a bottle of each of the BTAC

wow, it is like a life goal of mine to do that one year.

i keep hoping the bourbon "fad" will fade and people will move on to something else, but that's perhaps wishful thinking.

please tell me you are moving to philadelphia xxp

It's got a few years left in it at least. I think the catch is it just takes time for these bottles to age, but since these distilleries have to keep moving product, they have by design fewer old barrels sitting around while the rest gets bottled into younger expressions. So the question is whether any of these limited bottles (only 7000 cases of Pappy, which is, what, 84,000 bottles?) will ever be less limited, and I guess that depends on whether the distilleries are housing more barrels specifically to answer demand. I'm not sure, though. Certainly Holy Grail bottles have been so hyped and so revered that I'm not sure what will ever knock them off their hard to reach perch.

Oh snap:

http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2013/10/buffalo-trace-is-about-100000-barrels-short-of-where-it-needs-to-be/

Ok, anecdotal data points are all adding up. I think the Buffalo Trace apocalypse is real. A friend who owns a high end whiskey bar was just told by a bt rep to essentially buy whatever he can from the extended Weller family.

last night's poker game turned into a bring-yr-own tasting

midleton 2013
connemara 12
glenmorangie 10
green spot
aberlour 12
jack daniels single barrel

happy days