Wild Turkey Throwdown
Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:14 pmLast night as I pondered weak and weary in my office/computer room, I was awondering if it wasn't time for another Bourbon 'Throwdown'.
A Bourbon Throwdown is when you just give your senses a challenge with several (up to four for me) more or less equal bourbons (or more or less not equal bourbons............a Throwdown in my book is just whatever you want to throw down......each agin t'other).
I could do (and probably will do) a Van Winkle 'Throwdown' sometime but that was not foremost in my pea brain for last night.
I like lots and lots of bourbons, but the brand I think best exemplifies bourbon is Wild Turkey its own self. The 12 YO and 8 YO WTs were, in my opinion, masterpieces of bourbon art. Unfortunately they are no longer available and my supply of them is running short, short. They are not in this rat cheer 'Throwdown'.
I still have a most full bottle of Tribute that was hiding in a box that I thought was empty. I have a goodly portion of a bottle of American Spirit and the better part of a bottle of Kentucky Spirit. So there are the fellows that are going up agin each one another in this Wild Turkey 'Throwdown'.
Times they have changed, because my favorite today was.......well we will get to that in a moment.
American Spirit is a very good bourbon with lots of upfront sweetness and richness that fades a bit too quickly and ends with a touch of sourness to my palate. All the same, a first rate bourbon......that is overpriced and will not be replaced in my cache of bourbons.
Tribute is and always has been a great bourbon. It has a fantastic nose with a rich creamy taste that is complex and long lasting.
As to Kentucky Spirit, well, maybe it is my practical side taking over, because it is still available. But last night it was my favorite of the three.
All are characteristically and unmistakeably Wild Turkey (unless you put them in a blind tasting and all bets are off with me.......unfortunately my eyes and my taste buds seemed unaccountably to be linked with my nose and my taste and, if bourbon made noises, my hearing would be right there too............and let's not forget my pea brain, which always worms its way into the show too!).
So, it pleases me to say that for this old man who knows not shit from shinola, it is Kentucky Spirit that receives my 'best of show' in this 'Throwdown'.
While I still do not believe it to be the equal of the 12 YO (this bourbon has taken on mythical proportions in my pea brain and is going to be hard to dislodge from same.........as the last sip of my 12 YO is taken it will attain to truly mystical status and anyone who speaks ill of it will be banished from the kingdom (also mythical)), Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit gives me a great Wild Turkey bourbon to sip on that is not outrageously priced.
I stoutly maintain that by being a human being I can add my eyes and ears, not to mention my pea brain (if I want to) to the senses involved in bourbon tasting. And, I likewise claim, that this nonsense does not remove my tasting notes entirely from the realm of being objective, one foot yet remains..........as we all have heard, no man is an island.
A Bourbon Throwdown is when you just give your senses a challenge with several (up to four for me) more or less equal bourbons (or more or less not equal bourbons............a Throwdown in my book is just whatever you want to throw down......each agin t'other).
I could do (and probably will do) a Van Winkle 'Throwdown' sometime but that was not foremost in my pea brain for last night.
I like lots and lots of bourbons, but the brand I think best exemplifies bourbon is Wild Turkey its own self. The 12 YO and 8 YO WTs were, in my opinion, masterpieces of bourbon art. Unfortunately they are no longer available and my supply of them is running short, short. They are not in this rat cheer 'Throwdown'.
I still have a most full bottle of Tribute that was hiding in a box that I thought was empty. I have a goodly portion of a bottle of American Spirit and the better part of a bottle of Kentucky Spirit. So there are the fellows that are going up agin each one another in this Wild Turkey 'Throwdown'.
Times they have changed, because my favorite today was.......well we will get to that in a moment.
American Spirit is a very good bourbon with lots of upfront sweetness and richness that fades a bit too quickly and ends with a touch of sourness to my palate. All the same, a first rate bourbon......that is overpriced and will not be replaced in my cache of bourbons.
Tribute is and always has been a great bourbon. It has a fantastic nose with a rich creamy taste that is complex and long lasting.
As to Kentucky Spirit, well, maybe it is my practical side taking over, because it is still available. But last night it was my favorite of the three.
All are characteristically and unmistakeably Wild Turkey (unless you put them in a blind tasting and all bets are off with me.......unfortunately my eyes and my taste buds seemed unaccountably to be linked with my nose and my taste and, if bourbon made noises, my hearing would be right there too............and let's not forget my pea brain, which always worms its way into the show too!).
So, it pleases me to say that for this old man who knows not shit from shinola, it is Kentucky Spirit that receives my 'best of show' in this 'Throwdown'.
While I still do not believe it to be the equal of the 12 YO (this bourbon has taken on mythical proportions in my pea brain and is going to be hard to dislodge from same.........as the last sip of my 12 YO is taken it will attain to truly mystical status and anyone who speaks ill of it will be banished from the kingdom (also mythical)), Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit gives me a great Wild Turkey bourbon to sip on that is not outrageously priced.
I stoutly maintain that by being a human being I can add my eyes and ears, not to mention my pea brain (if I want to) to the senses involved in bourbon tasting. And, I likewise claim, that this nonsense does not remove my tasting notes entirely from the realm of being objective, one foot yet remains..........as we all have heard, no man is an island.