AH Hirsch 18 Year

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AH Hirsch 18 Year

Unread postby knadeau1003 » Thu Dec 18, 2008 4:22 pm

I was given a bottle of A.H. Hirsch Reserve 18 Year Old Bourbon. It was distilled in the Spring of 1974, same as the Hirsch 16 that seems to never end. Bottled by Hirsch Distillers Laurenceburg, Kentucky. It has a very heavily dipped gold wax closure. As I said it was given to me by a co-worker who said he acquired from a shop in San Francisco where I now work, and of course no one remembers it. Any one have any ideas? Thanks everyone and Happy Holidays. Also I have no intention of selling this bottle, so please hold your offers.
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Re: AH Hirsch 18 Year

Unread postby barturtle » Thu Dec 18, 2008 6:18 pm

I'm not sure what you're asking, but my advice is: open it and drink it and report back your findings.
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Re: AH Hirsch 18 Year

Unread postby knadeau1003 » Fri Dec 19, 2008 2:41 pm

That is my plan one day. In the meantime I still haven't found anyone who knows anything of this particular bottling. Has anyone seen an 18 year Hirsch before?
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Re: AH Hirsch 18 Year

Unread postby bunghole » Fri Dec 19, 2008 5:53 pm

knadeau1003 wrote:That is my plan one day. In the meantime I still haven't found anyone who knows anything of this particular bottling. Has anyone seen an 18 year Hirsch before?


No, I have not, and this makes me more than just a little leery. You may have been taken for more than just a short drive. From what I know, this seems like just another counterfit to me. Bourbon counterfits abound in Europe.

Breeth DEEP, and repeat after me....."I will drive [fly , or swim] to Kentucky." "I will buy from honest retailers".

"I will tell stupid assed greedy ebay bastards to go to hell!"

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Re: AH Hirsch 18 Year

Unread postby Bourbon Joe » Sat Dec 20, 2008 3:52 pm

NICE Jeff.
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Re: AH Hirsch 18 Year

Unread postby cowdery » Sat Dec 20, 2008 9:47 pm

All modesty aside, I'm pretty sure the most complete and reliable telling of the A. H. Hirsch story was published by me in The Bourbon Country Reader in 2006. (Back issues are available.)

The 18-year-old was among the bottlings done by Julian Van Winkle at Old Hoffman outside Lawrenceburg, KY. It was bottled in November of 1992. If you do the math, 1992 minus 1974 is 18 years. Up until that point, most of the Hirsch was going straight from barrel to bottle and the age statement was whatever age it was. This was the only bottling of an A. H. Hirsch 18-year-old and there were 37 cases of it.

That was some of the last of that 1974 distillation still in wood. Most of it had been dumped and kept in stainless since 1991. The last batch of barrels was emptied in April of 1995 and sold as 20-year-old. That was the end of the line for Lawrenceburg in the Hirsch saga, and the end of the line for Gordon Hue, who had started the whole thing a decade before.
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Re: AH Hirsch 18 Year

Unread postby BuffaloBill » Thu Jan 08, 2009 1:31 pm

Don't mess with Cowdery!!! The man has got the facts... heh... and in all honesty guys = I REMEMBER seeing that bottle of that particular Hirsch around that time while working in the business, ain't kidding. One RARE bottle in the hands of a happy camper. BB
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Re: AH Hirsch 18 Year

Unread postby knadeau1003 » Sat Jan 10, 2009 6:02 pm

Thanks for the info everyone, especially you Chuck, I'll be sure to put tasting notes up when i find an occasion worthy of such a bottle.
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Re: AH Hirsch 18 Year

Unread postby whiskeysmuggler » Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:46 am

Hello from Germany,

first please excuse my English - I'm still learning and sometimes it's very difficult for me.
I'm collecting American Whiskey since 10 years and this are my A.H.Hirsch bottlings:

A.H. Hirsch.jpg
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The different bottlings are:

2 x 15 y.o. with different labels
3 x 16 y.o. dumpy with different labels incl. Boone's Knoll
3 x 16 y.o. long neck with different labels
1 x 17 y.o. gold wax
1 x 18 y.o. gold wax
1 x 19 y.o. red wax
1 x 20 y.o. red wax

I hope you like them !?

Cheers

Bernd
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Re: AH Hirsch 18 Year

Unread postby cowdery » Fri Feb 20, 2009 10:02 pm

Mazel tov.
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Re: AH Hirsch 18 Year

Unread postby Dump Bucket » Sat Feb 21, 2009 6:25 pm

whiskeysmuggler wrote:
2 x 15 y.o. with different labels
3 x 16 y.o. dumpy with different labels incl. Boone's Knoll
3 x 16 y.o. long neck with different labels
1 x 17 y.o. gold wax
1 x 18 y.o. gold wax
1 x 19 y.o. red wax
1 x 20 y.o. red wax

I hope you like them !?

Cheers

Bernd


No hope needed... nice set... I am booking tickets right now to fly over and help you taste all of those :wink:

Welcome to teh site... I would love to hear your thoughts on the difference between the 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20....
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