BourbonEnthusiast.com

I ain't got much else to do since I have had to forego the sauce for a bit because it wants to fight with some medicine the vet told me to take.

I am making Barleycorn (my bourbon loving dog to you newbies), sweat it out with me. He called the SPCA this morning and registered a complaint agin me. I may have to spend the night at the kennel and eat dry food.

Be that as it may, we BE learners and listeners have been treated through several threads to lively debates by knowledgeable people on the history and fortunes of bourbon making in the USA.

The recent discussion about the decline in the quality of bourbon is interesting to me since I really only have experience with bourbons available in the last few years (I suspect my A H Hirsh and my 12 YO Wild Turkey from the mid-nineties are the oldest bourbons I have have the pleasure of tasting).

I can only read and enjoy the comments and speculate about the accuracy of the claims. My own opinion is that there are some very fine bourbons available now, but gee, wish I could verify that they measure up to 'the good ole days'.

Can some of you historians tell me what my favorite American of all time, Mark Twain, would have had available to drink? Aside from the fact that he seems to have been a prodigious drinker, do we know what his favorite whiskey was? Do we know if he left any 'tasting' notes or other comments about why he liked whiskey so much?

I wonder if the kennel holding cell has interent access? Ah, surely they won't take the word of a dog agin mine.............hmmmm, less they start looking too close in to my background. Damn dog's gone and done it again!!

Mike,

I read this in a cigar magazine and can't vouch for it's accuracy, but Mark Twain left two cases of bourbon in the care of a London gentleman's club and that they are still there. One case of Old Crow, and one case of Old Taylor.

Linn

We're no historians, but we remember seeing an Old Crow ad from the 40's or 50's touting Old Crow as a favorite of Twain's. This would fit with Linn's info.

If true, Mr. Twain is surely rolling over in his grave with the current state of OC.

Mark Twain was a great lover of fine bourbon. I am sure he drank whatever bourbon he could get, but during his lifetime the bourbon with the best reputation was Old Crow. Other whiskeys of equal reputation in the 1870's through 1900, would be OFC (late Old Taylor after he left OFC), McBrayer, Oscar Pepper, James E Pepper, Bond and Lillard and Old Ripy. I am sure if any of these were available, he would have drank one one of them over some cheap blend.

Mike Veach

bunghole wrote:.. . left two cases of bourbon in the care of a London gentleman's club and that they are still there. One case of Old Crow, and one case of Old Taylor

Ah yes, Sir Spencer, and a fine answer indeed.
But that leaves the question...
What bourbon was in those cases that Sammy L. choose NOT to leave behind?
Things that make you go, "Hmmmm...."