Sippin' Bourbon

[blues]

My buddy picked me up a bottle of the McKenna BIB yesterday evening while he was at the local ABC store. $40 including tax.

Cracked it open with the missus last night and both of us enjoyed it. Very much like the Elijah Craig, (small batch, formerly 12 year old), flavor profile but a bit smoother despite the slightly higher proof, with no burn whatsoever. Would definitely buy this again.

That's two out of three Heaven Hill bourbons I enjoy. Don't care for the Evan Williams offering though I've only ever had the lower or standard end of that range through a friend who kept it on hand.

[RoyGBiv]

My buddy picked me up a bottle of the McKenna BIB yesterday evening while he was at the local ABC store. $40 including tax.

Cracked it open with the missus last night and both of us enjoyed it. Very much like the Elijah Craig, (small batch, formerly 12 year old), flavor profile but a bit smoother despite the slightly higher proof, with no burn whatsoever. Would definitely buy this again.

That's two out of three Heaven Hill bourbons I enjoy. Don't care for the Evan Williams offering though I've only ever had the lower or standard end of that range through a friend who kept it on hand.

Nice find! That's a hard to find bottle here.
If you like Buffalo Trace at all, you should try Bernheim. Also a Heaven Hill spirit, but wheated like BT. I find its flavor profile somewhere between McKenna and Buffalo Trace. Bernheim is usually not hard to find here and runs about $25/750mL, give or take.

http://www.bernheimwheatwhiskey.com/#/welcome

[RoyGBiv]

Here's a weird one... WifeGBiv and I stopped by the Western Son distillery last weekend while we were wandering around on a drive with no destination. I'm familiar with their Vodka (quite good... definitely recommended) and a few years ago they made Red River Bourbon, which was pretty good, but more expensive than things I like better. They sold off Red River to focus on flavored vodkas and hard sodas (they call them "canned cocktails" and IIRC, they're ~10% ABV... not to be trifled with). Well, they've since relocated, expanded, and bought back the Red River stuff, including their barrel stock. The aging barrels of Red River are stacked all around the distillery. I imagine that will be interesting to keep up with what flavors are generated in what parts of the site, but, I digress...

They are starting to bottle the Red River stock after 4 years or so of aging, and re-branded it as Western Son Bourbon, all of it single barrel. I don't think it's widely available yet, possibly only at the distillery. Again, it's good, but not quite as good as, and more expensive than, Bakers, which is my price/performance cutoff.

Now you've got the background.... Here's the interesting part.

They're re-purposing the empty bourbon barrels and making barrel-aged Gin in them. I'm not a Gin drinker, but, had to try some. It was surprisingly good. We tasted it straight and room temp in the tasting room then went to their hospitality room (bar) after the tour and the bartender made up some interesting Gin drinks with it. The winner was a Gin Mule with a sprig of Rosemary. I don't expect it'll be a regular drink for me but, it was a nice change of pace on a very hot day.

If you're ever near Pilot Point, TX (North of Denton), stop in and say hello. It's a very friendly place.

[blues]

Nice find! That's a hard to find bottle here.
If you like Buffalo Trace at all, you should try Bernheim. Also a Heaven Hill spirit, but wheated like BT. I find its flavor profile somewhere between McKenna and Buffalo Trace. Bernheim is usually not hard to find here and runs about $25/750mL, give or take.

http://www.bernheimwheatwhiskey.com/#/welcome

I thought the Buffalo Trace bourbon wasn't one of their wheated offerings and was a more standard corn / rye based bourbon. Is that wrong?

I have to spend more time with Buffalo Trace, (I've only got a trace left), to decide what my opinion actually is. I'm sort of betwixt and between at the moment.

ETA:

Checking some sites online seem to indicate that the Weller and Pappy lines are the wheated bourbon offerings. But not the standard BT.

[RoyGBiv]

I thought the Buffalo Trace bourbon wasn't one of their wheated offerings and was a more standard corn / rye based bourbon. Is that wrong?

I have to spend more time with Buffalo Trace, (I've only got a trace left), to decide what my opinion actually is. I'm sort of betwixt and between at the moment.

I always thought BT was wheated... It's been a while since I visited there... my recollection could be wrong..
http://bourbonr.com/blog/updated-buf...ry-mash-bills/

[Larry Sellers]

If anyone has Weller 12 or Antique 107 local to them and wouldn't mind sending me a PM I'd appreciate it.

Like finding hen's teeth around here.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[LSP552]

I thought the Buffalo Trace bourbon wasn't one of their wheated offerings and was a more standard corn / rye based bourbon. Is that wrong?

I have to spend more time with Buffalo Trace, (I've only got a trace left), to decide what my opinion actually is. I'm sort of betwixt and between at the moment.

ETA:

Checking some sites online seem to indicate that the Weller and Pappy lines are the wheated bourbon offerings. But not the standard BT.

You are correct, BT is not wheated. For my taste, it’s just OK. But I’d gladly drink yours.....

[blues]

You are correct, BT is not wheated. For my taste, it’s just OK. But I’d gladly drink yours.....

You have a standing invitation...even at the last minute.

[RoyGBiv]

If anyone has Weller 12 or Antique 107 local to them and wouldn't mind sending me a PM I'd appreciate it.

Like finding hen's teeth around here.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

I'm in for any extra 12.

[RoyGBiv]

You are correct, BT is not wheated......

After further checking.... this is correct. It's the Weller and Van Winkle stuff that's wheated, not the namesake.

Finished the BT the other day and haven't seen any on the shelf since I snagged the last bottle at the Costco liquor store opening a few weeks ago. I quit trying to search for hard to finds and made up my mind to let them come find me.... Bourbon Karma... Visited my local purveyor and asked if they had anything interesting "in the back". He was nice enough to find me a bottle of Elijah Craig small batch barrel proof (131.4!!). Pressing my luck, I asked if he had seen any Buffalo trace recently, and he replied "did you want the 750 or the 1.75?

Karma.

I need to focus on Weller 12 now...