by PaulO » Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:23 am
By now folks may have realized I'm not online eveyday, but when I am I allways try and catch up here at this site. Anyway, I haven't had Beam white label in years. I did try recently some Beam black label (again due to several good reviews here). I thought it was pretty good. I also sampled some JB Rye. I thought their rye was a lot like the Old Crow; not awful, but not good either. In the same price range you could easily do better. Ironically I can reccomend Old Overholt Rye, that I believe is also made by Beam. I think of it as the straight whiskey made in KY alternative to Canadian Club or Segrams Seven.
As far as "dusties" my only real experience was when my neighbor in MI gave me a bottle of Old Fitzgerald Bourbon and one of J&B Scotch. Both from the mid 1970s. The stuff from the '70s tasted quite similar to modern incarnations except maltier and smoother in both cases. I suspect that back then stuff stayed in the barrel longer before being bottled. I am not sure how the other people get dusties so often (buying them online?).
Scotch can be good, but I have it only on rare occasions. Such as when I am a guest and my host has some single malt. Overall I have discovered a rule of thumb. You have to pay around twice as much for Scotch as Bourbon to get the same quality. Even without the price issue I still usually prefer straight Bourbon or rye.