Favorite Whiskey?

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.

 

The liquor stores hide it only because it is in really high demand. If a store with reasonably high traffic were to put it on the shelf with no limits, they'd sell out to just a few individuals in no time at all. The age statement itself isn't the draw, necessarily, but a 10 year old whiskey from the same mash bill as Buffalo Trace and George T Stagg for $30 is pretty appealing. It is basically what Buffalo Trace would be if given the chance to age further and you know how often people recommend Buffalo Trace as a great bang-for-the-buck. That makes the demand just high enough for there to be people out there willing to pay $50-60 for a bottle of Eagle Rare since they can't find it locally. Low-risk flippers love those sorts of returns.

Personally, I love the stuff. Sweeter than I normally care for in a bourbon, but it works really well with Eagle Rare, to me. Caveat being I love it and it works for me at ~$30. Never paid a dime over $35 for it, usually under $30.

The good news is, Buffalo Trace Distillery has been aware of this for a while and investing heavily in increasing capacity. Extra barrels started coming of age last year and production went up. Should see another bump in production this year as well. Hopefully we're really close to Buffalo Trace and Eagle Rare being standard affair bourbons again.

 

I think it's nuts people are paying twice the price for a bottle. It's common near me for retail price as far as I can tell.

 

Agreed. It isn't common around here in the sense that I can walk in to most stores and grab a bottle, but it does get put out frequently enough that I could keep a bottle handy without much issue.

My equivalent to the imbalance of supply of Eagle Rare is Weller Special Reserve. Folks will pay $40-45 in some regions for a small bottle of that because they never see it on the shelf, while nearly every store near me has cases and cases of the stuff for ~$20.

 

I don't think I've ever heard of Weller until I found this thread lol.

 

I took the unopened one that had been in my cabinet for months over to my GFs dad for New Years. Of course he pours me one...at least with seven up it was drinkable. Still not my cup of tea. Finish is just strange imo..

I do enjoy the standard Buffalo Trace though.

 

I really enjoy for roses small batch for the $$

 

It's no bad. I prefer Elijah Craig or Bullet for about the same money.

 

I have a question for you Veteran Whiskey sippers. When I'm sipping Blanton's or Bookers I get this sorta chewy mouth feel. I think some refer to it as the chew maybe?? Have any of you noticed this? I really enjoy this mouth feel plus the taste of these two Whiskey's. I don't sip a couple of these every evening because the are hard to find at times here plus the price $70+ a bottle. My question is. Are there any other good Whiskey's that give you the "chew"? That are readily available most places, and that are reasonably priced?

 

The "chew" usually refers to the perception that the whiskey "coats" the mouth or tongue. You might see it called "mouthfeel" and I generally associate it with a long lasting finish.

Barrel-proof whiskies won't have been diluted by water after they exit the barrel, so they tend to be richer. If not barrel-proof, then higher proof whiskies *tend* to have less water in the bottled product, but not necessarily. You could use that as a general guide absent any other info.

For readily available, I'd maybe look at Russell's Reserve 10 yr ($30) or Single Barrel ($40) and then Henry McKenna 10 yr ($30). I think Old Forester 1920 ($50) has those characteristics that you are looking for as well. George Dickel Barrel Select ($35) has a pretty strong wood/earthy flavor to it that might satisfy the "chew" you're looking for. Only had a few pours out of it, but loved the stuff.

I don't personally put the "mouthfeel", if you will, of Blanton's in that category. It's a pretty light whiskey to me with a short finish. If you want a cheap substitute, look for Ancient Ancient Age 10 Star. $20 for a handle. It comes in a plastic bottle ( ), but is the same mashbill as Blanton's and has a similar flavor profile. It is a little shorter, still, on the finish, due to being a very young whiskey (3 years?) and isn't for everyone, but I have a bottle on the shelf pretty frequently. I never mind sipping it and it's plenty cheap to keep available for mixers.

 

I stopped by Total Wine today and saw a rack of discounted bottles, which is new for the store. These two were 50% off... I never heard of them and decided to pass. Anyone hear about or try one of these?

 

I’d buy the Mint 400 one just because of the name and bottle lol, wouldn’t have been the first time...

 

Batch 4 and a stagg jr acquired from Abilene. No rye or 30th to be found yet.

They had a bottle of black maple hill I thought about.. it was $100 thoughts?

 

Nice haul! Probably one of the last few remaining bottles on the shelf of batch #10 of Stagg Jr. anywhere. Batch #11 is out, but I haven't seen it nor heard much of it.

I found a store about 2.5 hours from me with batch # 10 of Stagg Jr. last year. They had a couple of cases of it. I could only buy one at a time, but happened to be going through that area on three consecutive weekends. I bought a bottle each time and had a couple other folks pick up a bottle for me. I think I ended up buying 8 or 9 total. They all went to members of our Whiskey Club at the price I paid. I couldn't believe that they still had some each time I went in. They sell out immediately anywhere else.

I've never had Black Maple Hill, but it has a pretty substantial following from what I can tell. Would love to hear some impressions if you decide to pick it up.

 

I have the Henry McKenna and I actually had a bottle of Russell's Reserve in my hands yesterday. Set it back and bough the last bottle of Eagle Rare they had. 2-3 months ago Eagle Rare was plentiful in every store. That was the 1st bottle I had seen over a month visiting 2-3 stores weekly just to check out the goodies. They only reason they had this bottle was it was on the display shelf behind the counter and was 1750 ml.

 

I meant to note on this:

Booker's Rye was released only one time in 2016. There were less than 10,000 bottles based on the 4 digit bottle numbers and likely far less than that. It would be a miracle of miracles to see one on a shelf that wasn't being sold for $700+.

The 30th Anniversary is recently released and limited as well. There is possibly an outside chance it could be found on the right random store shelf, but certainly not a high-traffic store - unless your timing is remarkably good.

That said, I do not intend to discourage and wish you the best of luck. Either would be an incredible score.

 

My mistake on the rye. Will have to keep my eyes pealed for the 30th!

 

@bvbull200

Two more of these bookers behind the counter. I got this one off the shelf. Surprised to see. Tri cities liquor lake dallas..$65.99

I cracked the 2018-2,3,4 and sampled them all side by side. Haven’t come up with which one I like most. Will take a couple more tastings

Parker’s came from GG in Lake Dallas. They have some “leftovers” from there raffle.

Happy hunting all