BourbonEnthusiast.com

Yesterday I was in Maryville MO I stopped by the Hy Vee Liquor store and picked up a WT 101 Rye why because it's WT 101 Rye do I need a better reason? This is one of my favorite pours the wow factor is just amazing if you have never tried it get a bottle. I picked up a BT because I remember I thought the first bottle I had was pretty good it's been a while and I thought it was time for a revisit. But what I'm here to talk about is what the Fed ex guy brought, the entire BTAC with an extra WLW. Why? Because last year on the advice of Dump Bucket and ACDetroit with the help of ACDetroit I got a WLW. I think it's the best bourbon I have ever had and if the rest of the collection is in the same ballpark I will be a very happy camper.

Finally picked up a bottle of Stagg 09 and Handy 09 today!

I'm really anxious to compare them to last years offerings. Looking over the Stagg sheet, it made me kind of sad to see that 49.81% of the original whiskey was lost to evaporation

No sign yet of any of the rest of the BTAC...

mozilla wrote:snip snip
Do you find that you enjoy the softer or spicier flavors?
snip snip
I would also give the EC12 another try. Or, at least another older Heaven Hill offering...they can be tasty, most of the time.

I definitely like the bolder spicier stuff.
WT Rye is probably the best rye i have had, as other's have said jimmy russell knows american whiskey.

I've been under the weather for a couple days so I haven't cracked the saz 18 or stagg yet but I hope to have my horizons expanded a bit by both.

What older Heaven Hill offerings do you mean in particular? I did spot some "Old Heaven Hill Very Rare" with an 8-Year age statement on it, dusty glass bottle (I think I read something about them selling this in a plastic bottle now?) this worth $11 you reckon?

mozilla wrote:I believe it does come in handles. Call your local distributor...not the liquor store, but the people they get their stuff from...and they should be able to direct you to some stores that have ordered it from them. Ask for customer service and tell them the label and size bottle you are attempting to locate. They should be able to pull it up on their computer, quickly.
Good luck with your hunt.

ps. if you like rye...check out Old Forester(any proof), Wild Turkey Rye and Rittenhouse Rye.

Jeff,

Thanks for the hints - you're right on the money (or I am!). Old Forester is next on my list of things to try. My local shoppe has the 86 proof and I'm looking around for the 100. I've got some WT rye and it's one of my faves. So far I haven't found Rittenhouse anywhere, but that's another I've been meaning to try. If I see a bottle, it's coming home with me.

I'll definitely have to check on the handles.

Mike

This weekend I will be trying the Old Fitz that was sent to me by Mike from Conyers GA. It has a very dark color and an 03 on the bottom of the bottle. It has an 8 year age statement on the neck, so I'm thinking this is approximately 15 year old. Making the distillate from 1993 - 1995. Am I correct in saying this is Bernheim stock? As I thought BT bought out Bernheim in 1999? The dark coloring makes me thing the juice may have been older than 8 years when it was bottled in '03. I am really REALLY looking forward to this as it is one that isn't sold in Idaho or Oregon (my two closest states). I will put a review here once I crack into it this weekend!

mozilla wrote:Bernheim was bought by Heaven Hill. HH also ownes the Old Fitz labels, while BT ownes the Weller side of the familly.

If your bottle has an '03 bottle date and you believe it to be 15 years old...then that would be juice made at the SW site by United Distillers in 1988. If it is really closer to 10 years...then you are probably getting juice that was made at Bernheim soon after they remodeled the site.

Thanks Jeff for the clarification! I'm still learning. Do you think that the color of the juice has anything to do with its age? It is as dark or darker than the bottle Cowdery posted in another thread.

Brought home a bottle of Van Winkle 20yr today.

I haven't seen this whiskey around much... so I bought it purely on scarcity and reputation. I'm also a big fan of the Van Winkle 12 yr Lot B. So It will be an interesting comparison for me.

enzo wrote:Brought home a bottle of Van Winkle 20yr today.

I haven't seen this whiskey around much... so I bought it purely on scarcity and reputation. I'm also a big fan of the Van Winkle 12 yr Lot B. So It will be an interesting comparison for me.

That stuff is so good it's going to blow you away! And ruin you for anything less!

Linn

haha... I'm looking forward to it

Sounds strange, but in the finish of this 20 year old, I get a taste of peaches.


Gayle

Went into the "other" ABC store on my route to work and to my surprise they added a ton of new bottles. I call it the other because the people that work at that store could not pour piss out of a boot with the direction on the heal but I digress. They had the following new bottles OFBB 09, WTRB in a very nice wood box with Rare Breed glass,(Ri)1, WT101 rye and WT tradition the new 14yo offering. I ended up taking the OFBB 09 home. I have heard others say that it is not BF's best but I will never know til I pull the trigger. As far as the rest of the lot. I didn't but Jim Beams Ri when I was in FL for 24.99 so I am not going to spend 47.99 on it here. The WT Rye is going to become a daily pour for me now that I can get it locally. The RB gift set is a good deal at the standard price of the RB so it will get a new home in the coming weeks. The WT tradition is a hard sell. At 131.00 I have a problem with it. Why was WT's 15 yo American Spirit only 80.00 and this is a year younger and 50.00 more. I'll tell you all why the packaging.

Bourbon HQ wrote:Sounds strange, but in the finish of this 20 year old, I get a taste of peaches.


Gayle

Peaches... sounds tasty

Russell's Reserve Rye, this is my entry into the more exotic Austin Nichol's products. Hoping for an even better version of WT Rye.

Brought home my first Elijah Craig 18 yr. The Liquor Barn reviewers gave it a score of 96-100("Best overall value"). I've never seen a range of values for a score on beer or bourbon. Not sure why they did that. Anyone know of a major variation in barrels that might contribute to this rating? Too busy polishing off the Eagle Rare with visiting family, but I'm excited about trying it very soon. I always get distracted by great brews and lose focus on the bourbon. We have some Two Hearted Ale, Anchor Porter, Young's Stout, and Fuller's ESB in the house so the bourbon tasting is on hold. I hope to try it Monday.

independant wrote:...The WT tradition is a hard sell. At 131.00 I have a problem with it. Why was WT's 15 yo American Spirit only 80.00 and this is a year younger and 50.00 more. I'll tell you all why the packaging.

I'd rather they went less with packaging, and BT's offering next month for $350 is a lot o' packaging. But when these guys are proud of something they sometimes think it deserves a better package? or maybe their marketing guys think that will help move it? Either way, it's probably a good drink if they are that proud of it. But yea, tradition is moving slow .