BourbonEnthusiast.com

OneCubeOnly wrote:Ima--

I think you misunderstood my post!? AAA 10yo is a personal favorite of mine! When I said it's a miscarriage of justice, it's because nobody I've *EVER* met who's not a bourbon fanatic has ever even tried the stuff, and it's largely because it's priced lower than Beam White.

IMO, AAA 10yo is the perfect "diamond in the rough"...an incredible bargain that few know about (at least among my drinking friends).

What makes you think it's a big seller!?

Yeah I guess so, Gary. Let's try this again!

I just go by shelf space and how depleted that space becomes after Friday night, as I often go shopping on Saturday mornings. It sells every bit as well as Henry Mckenna or Old Forester, and has more shelf space than Old Grand Dad, or I.W. Harper, or Maker's Mark combined. No it doesn't sell nearly as well as Beam or Evan Williams. Wild Turkey is a good seller in the Waynesboro Class 'B' ABC store. Hey it's the only liquor store we have!

ima

My wife and I, and two other couples went this year. We went to the Cigar, Bourbon, and Jazz event on Friday night. This was our third year and we plan to keep going back. We then visited Buffalo Trace, Jim Beam, and Maker's Mark. I found a liquor store just outside of Frankfort called Red Dot. They had a good selection, I picked up a case of Staggs, and they also had ER 17. I hope to meet up with some members from here next year.

I hope to meet up with some members from here next year.

That's the beauty of going to the Festival, IMHO. The tours are great, but it's even better to meet up with some great bourbon lovers and share sips, thoughts, and laughter.

dgonano wrote: I have heard that is is only available in Ky and Va. Does anybody know differently? I see Binnys has some available and some other Internet sites but I guess the 10 star goes to some other states.

That's right, Dave, though 'marketed' is a better word that 'available'. As you say, it's available from the bigger retailers who can make their own deals with BT, but the distillery itself only markets AAA 10yo in KY and VA because of relatively low volume produced.
It is, I'm told, the favorite of master distiller Gary Gayheart, so will not disappear anytime soon.
The dratted 10-star (6yo) is the only AAA in TN unless I luck into an overlooked 10yo bottle -- which happens occasionally, but not often enough.

NB: You'll note I'm quoting LeNell quoting me here in my signature. Not all of my friends have t-shirts quoting themselves, but I do thanks to LeNell.

Tim-

Exactly how bad is the "10-Star"??? Does it at least share the same flavor profile, or is it a different animal?

The 10-Star is not, in fact, 'bad' -- however, it is marketed in a bottle and with a label virtually identical to the 10yo, so that unsuspecting customers may well think they've got the 10yo. And, it's not as good as the 10yo, so it's a disappointment.
However, I can still occasionally find around here some of the older (late-'80s, early-90's white-label AA 90-proof -- presumably a 4yo -- in tall, slender bottles). I prefer it to the 10-Star.

At least I think I was. Let's see, drove east on 64 and hung a right at Louisville... Oh yeah, I remember now. Actually shared one of my favorite cigars with ya Dale, the one that tasted like a dog rocket for the first inch and then took off....should be a bit more mellow after sitting in my humidor for a few more months. We'll see at the Sampler.

As I came by myself, I spent most of my time at or around the hotel either drinking fine bourbon, buying fine bourbon, trading for fine bourbon or recovering from drinking fine bourbon. I made the WT tour but basically passed on the rest. Maybe it was just my way of mourning for that lost cooler...

We made the 2004 Festival and had a GREAT time. We met lots new friends, bought lots of bourbon, and did a few tours. Wild Turkey was great (got to taste WT white dog - WOW!), and we visited BT for the first time.

As far as pay events, we only did the Four Roses breakfast, and I'm quite glad we did. The food was good, the lecture was solid, even if it did cover some familiar ground. Still, there were some idiosyncrasies about the production of Four Roses bourbon I did not know. We really enjoyed the tour, too.

Best of all, the Four Roses distillery was in the process of rolling out the SB for the domestic market as well as celebrating its resurrection by the Kirin company. The mood was festive, and a new visitor's center was opened. We got to taste the product straight from the barrel, served by the master distiller himself. There was no limit, either - a large pitcher of barrel proof single barrel bourbon sat upon a table for self service if you wanted seconds (thirds? fourths?). The parting gift was a little bit of a let down - a vase. Oh, well. After I realized what the gift was, I just grabbed another serving of single barrel to go! I felt like I really got my $20 worth and then some. I also felt like we lucked into participating in a "once in a blue moon" type of event.

I didn't get over there (Four Roses) this year. Tell us what the new visitor center is like.

cowdery wrote:I didn't get over there (Four Roses) this year. Tell us what the new visitor center is like.

With the passing of three months plus the general mayhem on that day- it was really crowded - my description will not be very detailed and/or accurate most likely, but here goes.

The portion of the center we saw was downstairs (? private offices upstairs). As you entered the building, there was a foyer with a gift shop on the right and a bar/lounge area on the left. The gift shop was nice, but was very crowded that day, so not much browsing was done. You can buy the SB there, but it was about $36 as I recall. Even at Toddy's, it was $32. I think Toddy's even had whiskey from the same barrel as the bottles for sale in the shop. You can also buy a lot of Four Roses trinkets, apparel, etc.

The lounge was spacious but relatively plain. There was a small bar, three (I think) sofas, and some tables and chairs. This room is where the barrel was set up for tasting. I assume that tasting will probably follow tours in this room. I also assume it could accommodate some large groups/tours for a catered event.

Randy and Val were with us, and Brenda was also there. Randy may remember more specifics. As noted above, I had also been doing some sampling, so maybe my memory was impaired! I know Val hung around the center for a while as the rest of us toured, so she may be the best source of info.

I'll try to post some pictures, but moderators feel free to edit ad lib if I'm taking up too much space!

Here is a photo from the ribbon cutting ceremony for the center.

The bugler from Churchill Downs was there. Here is a photo of Tina with him in the foyer. You can see folks milling around in the gift shop through the glass display case in the background.

Here is an anonymous visitor nosing the barrel proof SB in the lounge area.

Dave goes back for seconds!

Go Dave! Only seconds??

BTW, the pictures look great. Having passed on going to 4 Roses this year, I'm happy to see how things look over there. I remember hearing that the barrel proof tasting was a lot of fun.