Favorite Whiskey?

After opening and tasting my very 1st Bookers on New Year's Eve this year. It was so good I though I'd better grab a 2nd bottle while they were still in stock.

 

Bad apples in every crowd, but I've found the whiskey community to be mostly filled with good folks. That and once you get exposed for betraying the trust of anyone in the community, word travels fast and your're pretty much done. Justice is swift and severe.

I don't think I expounded on the story from the drawing I went to a little before Christmas. It was at a WB Liquor attached to a local Costco. The drawing was set up so that you wrote your name on a piece of paper and put it in a box. It was supposed to be a limit of one entry per person. Now, they didn't have a good way of governing this so it was on the honor system - WB should have done a better job controlling entries. But, again, just be honorable...

Anyways, this guy was in there running a little stand and repping/sampling tequila. His name was Nick J____. When the drawing started, Nick comes out from behind his stand and participates in the drawing. First name, Nick says it was his friend who was parking and would be in soon. After waiting 10 or so seconds, we convinced the guy to keep drawing - must be present to win. The next name, Nick says was his fiance who couldn't be there because she is a nurse who is "taking care of sick kids". I genuinely appreciate her work, but that is irrelevant to the matter at hand. The third name was someone else who got a bottle of Van Winkle Lot B and the fourth name was Nick's, so he gets a bottle of Lot B as well. All is good for Nick as he goes to pay for his bottle.

The employee draws another name. Nick J____. All of us who play by the rules say to the employee that Nick should be disqualified - one entry per person. The employee didn't let him win a second time, but didn't stop Nick from buying the ill-gotten Lot B, either. We weren't amused. Anyways, the drawing continues and the employee keeps drawing cards and putting them aside without reading them. We look closely and they all say "Nick J____" on them. At least 15 or more by this point. People are really agitated, chiding Nick for his dishonesty, taking pictures of him with the brand he is representing, etc. Someone asks Nick if he feels good about cheating a community of whiskey enthusiasts who played by the rules. His response? "I put a bunch of names in and got a bottle of Lot B - yeah, I feel pretty good."

After the drawing, someone went and counted all the Nick J____ entries and found over 50!

Anyways, his name, picture, and story gets to social media pretty quickly. The tequila brand he was repping was notified on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Every recollection of the story I read was fair and accurate. By the next morning, the tequila company reached out to everyone that contacted them and notified everyone that Nick had been terminated from his job for not representing company values.

Swift and severe.

I don't *like* that a guy lost his job over a bottle of whiskey just before the holidays, but he played with fire that day just so he could flip a bottle of Lot B.

@BearfootGypsie , he was a member of DFW Bourbon Hounds, too, and was removed from the group before I even made it back home.

I'm meeting up to buy a 2015-01 Booker's from a dude tomorrow. I don't expect any issues .

My man!

Need to get me a bottle of that Kitchen Table, still .

 

@bvbull200 got some campfire like you suggested. I’ll update soon when I open

 

Not any in your area?

 

Doubled up, too! You didn't play around.

I hope you like it. I had some on New Year's Day. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

I haven't seen Kitchen Table on the shelf, yet. I'll keep my eyes peeled. TX is usually a little bit behind on Booker's releases, for whatever reason.

 

Haven’t seen it in the metromess either. I have my eyes out for the fall releases.

 

Ok let me know if it never shows in TX. I'll see if I can grab you a bottle here if any is still around.

 

As you may have sensed when it comes to bourbon and rye whiskey my heart generally lies in Kentucky. However, I recently had the chance to sample the full line of 291 whiskey. I have to say I thought it to be some of the better juice to come out of my fine state of Colorado. Not sure on how far their distribution goes at this point but if you see a bottle I’d suggest giving it a shot. (Full line of whiskey not represented in photo)

 

Much appreciated. I'll make another round of looking here in a week or so and see what the landscape looks like. I'll keep you posted. I appreciate the offer!

 

Wow. Crazy what someone would do for some pappy..

Swung by my spot and the other old Ezra was still on the shelf then went to take care of the trades..
Needless to say my experience was good this afternoon with other two members.

 

That trade for the Elmer T Lee is a nice one! I bought my bottle from my local liquor store. The owner sold it to me at retail as a thank you for my business. Paid $46 after tax. It is good whiskey. Like, REALLY good whiskey. It is what it is, but I hate that it has become so coveted. We should be able to buy it regularly for $40, but nooooooo. ETL is a few years ahead of where Eagle Rare is headed, I'm afraid.

You'll enjoy that bottle for sure.

If you happen to snag an extra Old Ezra 7, I'm just down the road and easy to deal with .

 

Elmer T. Lee is my go-to drink; has been for many years. He used to be a master distiller at Buffalo Trace distillery, and was forced to retire at 80 years old, but he continued to show up there for years afterwards, whenever they were ready with a new batch of his namesake and gave it a learned test before it was bottled. (probably what kept him alive for so long...) This was back in the 1990's so it's pretty unlikely he's still at it, but his whisky will live on forever.
If you're ever in Louisville, there is (or was...) a hotel downtown somewhere that has a 'bourbon bar' on the top floor. They stock well over 100 different brands of bourbon, cheap and expensive and offer small tastes, about a half shot of each to make it easy to decide. I was there in the late 80's for a company sponsored symposium and that's where I developed my taste for bourbon. Unfortunately, medical problems prevent me from imbibing anymore, but I have about 20-25 partially full bottles of bourbon in the cabinet, just waiting for my kids to discover the joys of corn mash.
Favorites (other than Elmer...) are Blanton's, Elijah Craig 18, and Pappy Van Winkle when I can afford it.

 

Yeah I am quite pleased with it and so is the GF; she really enjoyed the pours she had on New Years Eve. Excited to get to enjoy a whole bottle now

Store in Denton had a bottle of Elmer I inquired about and it rang up for $180. They also Blantons for $100. I laughed and declined to purchase... rediculous.

Eagle Rare isn’t my cup of tea fortunately. Don’t understand why liquor stores act like they have gold and hide a $30 bottle of hooch in back that you must inquire about when there are so many other good products out there at that price point. Is it the 10yr age statement people are drawn to or what?

@bvbull200 ill let you know if I decide to get rid of another Old Ezra 7 BS

 

With all this Elmer T talk, thought I should throw up a pic of my empty bottle of my Mr. Elmer T Lee scored (and drank) many moons ago! It was a fantastic bottle. Bottled at 93 proof the age he was when he passed.

 

What a cool bottle with a treasured story behind it. Thanks for sharing!

 

I'm not a fan of eagle rare, been making cocktails with it to get rid of the bottle I have.

 

What are you finding better at the same price point?

 

Well I guess part of the issue is I'm comparing it to more expensive stuff

 

I could agree. I'm fairly new to Whiskey's and I've never tasted anything beyond my bottles of Booker's or Blanton's.
And it is no Booker's or Blanton's. But for my 0.2¢ at a $30 price point it is hard to beat.