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Requesting Assistance

Unread postPosted: Fri May 18, 2012 10:28 am
by JenniferO
Hi. My name is Jennifer. I joined the community because I thought that it would be a great opportunity for me to get advice about buying bourbon as a gift for my husband. We began drinking nicer bourbon recently. And with his birthday quickly approaching, I thought that this would be a fantastic opportunity to buy him a nice bottle of bourbon. However, he has all of the knowledge. So, that makes this purchase a difficult one for me. I've also noticed that it can be very difficult to find bottles of better bourbons because of the small batches. So, I was wondering if there was a good way to find the rare bottles.

We have recently experienced (from my limited knowledge):
Jefferson’s Reserve
Bookers
Woodford Reserve Masters Collection
Pappy VanWinkle (I believe it was 15yr)

Do you have any recommendations on what would be a special bottle to buy? I would be willing to spend in the $200 range, or more, if worth it. And how would I go about finding these recommendations?

And I apologize in advance if I am asking these questions in the wrong area. I tried to browse first and realized that this is all WAY over my head.

Thank you for your help!

Re: Requesting Assistance

Unread postPosted: Fri May 18, 2012 12:10 pm
by bourbonv
You do not need to spend huge amounts of money for good bourhbon. If you can get Old Forester Signature or Very Old Barton Bonded or Jim Beam Black, or Wild Turkey Russells Reserve or Old Grand Dad 114 or Fighting Cock or maybe half a dozen other under $50 bourbons, you will still have a great gift for your husband.

Re: Requesting Assistance

Unread postPosted: Fri May 18, 2012 12:16 pm
by Birdo
I found Bookers to hard core.

I would suggest Four Roses Single Barrel, Knob Creek or Elijah Craig 12. At your budget, I suggest getting all three, or possilby a large bottle.

Like the knowledgeable BoubonV said, you can get great bourbon for less money. The bottles I suggest are great, but come in stylish bottles, which I think is important when giving a gift. But the man is right Beam Black, Very Old Barton 100Proof, Fighting Cock, Old Forester are great but come in plain bottles.

Re: Requesting Assistance

Unread postPosted: Fri May 18, 2012 12:36 pm
by Roscoe
Another suggestion would be the Jefferson's 20 yr Presidential Select. The bottle is actually labeled 18 yr but the tag on the bottle says bottled in 1991 (I was told by the regional rep that they had extra bottles left over from the 18yr). This is still the old Stitzel-Weller batch that Pappy is from. The only difference is they added a fourth grain; a small amount of a bourbon with a high rye content. This is usually available year round.

I just received a limited bottling of the Four Roses 2011 Small Batch. Not a lot to go around so, if you can find it, I'd grab one.

Also, if you can find a bottle of E.H. Taylor warehouse C tornado survivor, bottled in bond at 100 proof.

Michters Small Batch is also a nice one.

Roscoe

Re: Requesting Assistance

Unread postPosted: Fri May 18, 2012 12:55 pm
by JenniferO
Thank you very much for your advice. I am looking into your suggestions. Is there a good way to go about finding liquor stores that carry the more specialized bourbons such as these? I have been very actively attempting to do web research to find stores and have been fairly unsuccessful. And short of calling stores and asking many questions, I find myself not having any other way to find out whether or not they are carried.

Re: Requesting Assistance

Unread postPosted: Fri May 18, 2012 1:13 pm
by Roscoe
Jennifer,

Try doing searches at http://www.wine-searcher.com/. You should be able to locate the items in your state.
What state are you in?

Roscoe

Re: Requesting Assistance

Unread postPosted: Fri May 18, 2012 2:28 pm
by JenniferO
I live in Michigan, zip code 48393. I used the site that you had suggested and unfortunately I am unable to pull up any of the unique names. I did call a local store that does carry some of the suggested names and I will be stopping by there tonight. I just thought that I would try to seek out some of the rarer bottles.

Re: Requesting Assistance

Unread postPosted: Fri May 18, 2012 2:51 pm
by Roscoe
Looks like Mega-Bev might be your best bet.

Roscoe

Re: Requesting Assistance

Unread postPosted: Fri May 18, 2012 7:00 pm
by EllenJ
How about a mini-collection?
You can present him with five really good (and different from one another) bottles of bourbon for well under your $200 budget. Michigan is a control state, but all of these are available at Michigan liquor retailers (you may have to make a few phone calls and drive around a bit, of course).
My suggestions are:

Hancock's Reserve
Baker's Bourbon
Wild Turkey Rare Breed
Ezra B
Very Old Barton

Here's a link to the Michigan Liquor Control Commission price book
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dleg/ ... 2054_7.pdf

Re: Requesting Assistance

Unread postPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 10:41 am
by p_elliott
If you looking for a rare bottle you could go with a Parker Heritage Collection Golden Anniversary for $100 or a Parker Heritage Collection 27 yr old for $199. You'll need to call around to find these. Or One of the E H Taylor Jr. One Time offerings There is the Old Fashion Sour Mash, Single Barrel and the Tornado. These run right around $70 again you'll need to Call around.

Edit I don't see the E H Taylor Jr listed on the MIchigan web site but you maybe can order it from Binny's in Chicago or The Party Source in KY.