I'm Very Fortunate

[Geekboy]

I'm in Louisiana and am not able to purchase Buffalo Trace here.
Over in Dallas I have a good friend that I visit once a year and last time over there I was able to bring back two bottles of BT.

I found it quite excellent. I intend to always bring back a few bottles when in Dallas.

I also have a friend at work who has family in Kentucky and I had him just last week bring me back a bottle of Ancient Ancient Age 10 year old. I was really scared to open this one. I knew that if I loved it it would be very difficult to get again. Fortunately I was so-so about it.

But the really nice thing is that my favorite bourbon so far is Elijah Craig 12 year old that I can get here where I live for $17 a bottle. I like it more than Trace or Ancient. So the whiskey gods have smiled down on me.

Shockingly for my everyday pour (and I mean everyday) I have been very deeply pleased with Kentucky Tavern. Very inexpensive and very satisfying.

[bourbonv]

Kentucky Tavern is a pretty good bargin bourbon. It has changed over the years. It was made at Glenmore in Owensboro, Ky. and then was replaced with Stitzel-Weller Wheated bourbon when United Distillers purchased Glenmore. United Distillers than sold the brand the brand to Barton and they are putting there whiskey in the brand now. I assume it is the same whiskey as Very Old Barton, but younger.

[cowdery]

Although 1792 is reportedly a different mashbill, all of the other Barton bourbons probably are the same, differing only in age and profile criteria. VOB is a six-year-old, Ten High is a four, and I think some of the lower shelf brands, including KT, may be 36-month, although that would have to be disclosed on the label.

A bar I used to frequent had an all-Barton well and Barton's Colonel Lee was the well bourbon. I tried it...once. Not good. In truth, bad, but only in the sense of being too young.

I have not had any Ten High recently but have always found it to be one of the best "value" brands. VOB is one of my favorites and I never leave Kentucky without a couple 1.75 L bottles of VOB BIB in my trunk.

[gillmang]

Thanks for that about Ten High likely being 4 year old VOB. I had recently some mid-90's VOB BIB with no age statement (thus 4 years old in all likelihood) that was superb.

I like VOB (which is 6 years old) but sometimes VOB has a woody edge. The mid-90's one did not (again it was not expressed as 6 years old, that particular bottle anyway), and I am looking for an equivalent whiskey in today's Barton range.

If I see Ten High in bonded form I might pick it up when at KBF in a few weeks. If it isn't bonded or 100 proof though I wonder if it will taste like that mid-90's VOB 4 year old. I agree about Colonel Lee. I thought in fact it was a blend but maybe not. One of the Barton's line is a bourbon blend (i.e., 51% at least bourbon), actually it is Kentucky Gentleman. I know it comes in both bourbon and blend, I had the blend. I had that and then added real bourbon to it to make it about 80% bourbon to the GNS or green whiskey. It was very good. Mike Veach was there and tried it with me, remember Mike?

Gary

[bourbonv]

Gary,
I am not sure if I remember the particular whiskey. Was this on the lawn at Spalding Hall during the festival last year? I remember you had a "Gillmanized" drink that was quite good but forget the particulars of the blend. For some reason, Knob Creek pops into my head as the bourbon mixed with a weaker product, but that may because of our experiment at the Sampler this year.

[gillmang]

Mike, yes it was at Spirit Garden. Kentucky Gentleman was the bourbon blend. It might have been Knob Creek that was added but possibly it was 1792 (to keep within the Barton range). It was a good tasting blend.

Gary

[bourbonv]

Gary,
I have no doubts that you are correct about the 1792. The Knob Creek probably comes to mind because of the Sampler - you mixed Basil Hayden and Knob Creek then I do believe. It seems we also mixed Four Roses Single barrel with Basil Hayden then too, but I may be wrong.

[gillmang]

I don't recall the latter two mixes but maybe we did! It is best I think to stick within a company's range but where I blend amongst companies I find using many whiskeys tends to give best results. I think in fact bourbons are more uniform than we sometimes think, as blind tasting often shows. Also, complex mixtures, even if not liked for neat sampling, make excellent whiskey cocktails.

Gary

[bourbonv]

Gary,
That was a pretty hectic night. I do remember getting two Four Roses Single Barrels and then going over to get two Knob Creeks. We then had a long discussion with Jerry Dalton. We did a switch and it may because we thought the pours were small.

[artfag]

Back to the Kentucky Tavern talk. The bottle I picked up today is bottled by Glenmore. Would that be safe to say it's a slightly older bottling? If so how old and how does it compare to the newer Barton bottlings?
I've only had a tiny sip to check it out and so far it seems to be a good buy for an everyday drink. I'm pleasantly surprised to find an enjoyable whiskey for little more than half the price of what I've been buying.

[Geekboy]

Art,

The bottles of KT I've been buying are bottled by Glenmore. Don't know really what that means but I've been VERY happy with them.

[bourbonv]

When Barton bought the Kentucky Tavern Brand from U.D. they also bought several other brands and the Old Glenmore Distillery in Owensboro. I have not looked at a label of Kentucky Tavern for a while, but it probably says something like "made by Glenmore Distillery, Bardstown Ky. and bottled Owensboro, Ky." Real old Kentucky Tavern will say " Made and Bottled by Glenmore Distillery, Owensboro, Ky."

[Geekboy]

Mine says "Bottled by Glenmore Distilleries, Owensboro, KY, Bardstown, KY-Atlanta, GA"

[artfag]

Oh well, no bother. Good whiskey's good whiskey.

[cowdery]

I assume it's Barton using Glenmore as a DBA.