Any Bourbon drinkers out there?
 

I've heard some good things about Buffalo Trace Bourbon.
http://www.buffalotrace.com/

Can't get it up here north of the border but, through a wine distributer I am able to order a case. Would like to hear from someone who knows their stuff and has tried it before I order.

Thanks

BOCF should be along and no doubt will give you the scoop, the whole scoop, and nuttin but the scoop--I can't stand the stuff.

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My favorite type of booze hands down. Try Bakers, only about fourty bucks, but my favorite, and I've thrown down on bottles that cost a few hundred bucks. I promise you'll enjoy and its pretty strong but tastes like heaven. Let me know what ya think?

Buffalo Trace used to be Ancient Age. IMO the taste has changed slightly with the name change. Pretty good, but not really one of my favorites.

I'd second the Woodford Reserve nod. My favorite affordable bourbon..... Surprisingly good for the price.

Knob Creek would be another very high recommendation.

Basil Hayden's

I have tried Woodford and Knob Creek along with a few others like Maker's Mark. All good. I've heard great things about Buffalo Trace and the fact that it's just so hard for me to get is quite intriguing.
Thanks guys.

Maker's is generally my drink of choice, and Knob is lovely as well. I am going to have to try this Buffalo Trace.

my libation of choice but that stuffs more than likely abit outta my reach.....top shelf.

Recently found Buffalo Trace

http://www.buffalotrace.com/ very smooth at a reasonable price. around STL it's $17 per 1/5th

Im all about makers mark

Haven't tried it.
I dearly love Crown Royal.
Maker's Mark is good too.
But Crown Royal is the schiznit. It's whiskey, not sure it can be classified as "bourbon."

I have pals who swear by Gentleman Jack, but still a bit too rough.

Still working on the bottle of Willet I picked up in Bardstown during last year's Kentucky Bourbon Fest.

http://www.kybourbonfestival.com/index.htm

agreed, the best i can afford.

that's my favorite as well. I alternate between B.H. and Wellers.

I think expensive bourbon tastes like shit. I honestly prefer the taste of plain old Jim Beam white label to anything Ive ever tried. Maybe its because its what Im used to, I dont know. I hate Crown, I hate Gentleman's Jack and all other Jack...I had some stuff that was about $100 a bottle, cant remember the name - hated it though.

How do you guys drink your bourbon? I like to sip it on the rocks, with a water back.

Woodford, or MM.

I don't mix bourbon. Only Sour Mash, and blended.

I too, prefer a sipper on the rocks with just a touch of water to take the alcohol off the nose and bring out the other flavors. I am open to all sorts of suggestions however on which to drink :D

I like crown and water for sippin
Canadian Myst as my cheap mixup
Jack is too expensive for me but that is all I shoot at bars because it is my thing to get a shot of jack and a beer to get the night rolling.
Gentlemen jack is good
beam is cheap but i love it too
i pretty much love whiskey of all types even though it ****s my world up

No mention of Wild Turkey? It's affordable and I find it tasty. On the rocks of course.
Also, it's done. I ordered the case. With shipping it's gonna cost a bundle but I've got some buddies who are willing to take some off my hands. I'll save a bottle for week 1. I'll need it.

Jack Black
 

Jack Black

Uh Oh.

ROFL too true

Canadian Club and Wink is one smooth mofo--bout the only way I'll mess with the dark stuff.

Need more suggestions so I have an excuse to sample different kinds of whiskey....

Wild Turkey, Knob creek, woodford - all good Bourbons

Crown is a good BLEND

Makers is a good WHISKEY

Damn, people get your shit together....

Of course Crown and Jack taste like poo, they are whiskey not bourbon.

Makers Mark is a Kentucky Bourbon

Well I didnt think there was much of a difference. the Jim Beam bottle says "Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey" so which is it?


EDIT: I guess for it to be bourbon it has to be made in Kentucky and aged for at least two years...not much of a difference...

And at least 51% corn.

Jack Daniels is filtered through charcoal which gives it a flavor akin to licking an ashtray.

Templeton Rye. Al Capone's favorite drink. You can find it in Hy Vee stores here in Iowa. Locals around Des Moines still have connections to folks with the original recipe.

I love Booker's...it is very distinctive, but pretty expensive...usually around $50 a bottle. I typically buy Knob Creek for sipping, but if cash poor will buy Wild Turkey.

The Poz got a whole lot less cool without that avatar of the chick with the ginormous tatas.

How's that?

Maker's Mark = Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky.

Knobcreek is my new favorite drink. Use to drink crown royal but my friend got me on Knobcreek. Real smooth.

You done good - Buffalo Trace is a really nice bourbon at it's price point. I buy it locally for $16/750 and it's a steal at that price. 90 proof, if memory serves, which is a nice proof for sippin'. I like 100 proof or 101, or even the 'barrel proof' whusk now and then, but for day in, day out drinking 90 is fine by me. A lot of vanilla, leather, spice. Good neat or on the rocks, nice in a Manhattan or Old Fashioned.

Bourbon doesn't have to be made in Kentucky, but it must be made with at least 51% corn, and it must spend 2 years in new charred oak barrels. There's some bourbon made in Virginia and Indiana, and we made McCormicks in Weston for decades. The Tennessee whiskey like Dickel and Daniels is basically bourbon made within Tennessee and filtered thru charcoal, and you're welcome to my share.
When you read the term 'straight' whiskey, it hasn't been blended with grain alcohol or other spirits (American blended whiskey like Kesslers) altho they may have mixed some 'straight' whiskey from a barrel made in 1998 with a similar barrel made 2 years ago, that mixture (or 'vatting') is still considered a straight whiskey (but not a blend. The word blend implies some bad things in US whiskey).
Sour mash - they just use some of the last batch of 'beer' to start the fermentation of this batch when they run it. Think sourdough, same idea, the yeast doesn't have to start from scratch. Bourbon is one of America's many gifts to the world. Y'all enjoy!

That's some smart and helpful info guys, thanks. Looking forward trying it out.

WL Weller

Rare Breed is my pick of the litter.

Really? Got a bottle for Christmas last year and I hated it. Strong as hell though. Just too damn harsh IMO.

i dont see how BOCF doesnt have his rep maxed.

Good stuff. NOT bourbon. Tennessee Sour Mash whiskey.

Woodward Reserve
Knob Creek
Booker's
Maker's Mark
Bullett
Evan Williams Single Barrel
Buffalo Trace
Jim Beam

all KY bourbon

Jack Daniels - TN whiskey

Crown Royal
Canadian Mist
VO
Canadian Club

all Canadians' are Blends

Irish whiskey
Scotch
Single Malt

I mentioned 'vatting' above, where you mix various straight whiskeys to 'vat' a new drink. I do this at home by mixing some 'dry' tasting bourbon with some 'sweet and spicy' bourbon, add some rye whiskey and drink it up.
If you're interested in trying this, just mix a shot of Wild Turkey with a shot of Old Charter, or what have you, add another shot or two, tasting all the time until you find something you like better than the original whusk. My current go-to recipe is 1 part wild turkey 101, 1 part old charter 8 year, 1 part wellers 7 year, 1 evan williams (black label), 1 Ezra Brooks and 1/2 part Old Overholt rye. I usually mix this with 1.75 'handles' of bourbon and a fifth of rye. I re-bottle and relabel the result and drink it year round + give some away to a few pals. It proves you don't have to pet to be popular, just show up with a bottle of tasty whusk and you're welcome almost anywhere.

I prefer a good Irish Whiskey myself but here's an interesting history on whiskey vs. bourbon
I read not too long ago.
................

Whiskies, whether they are spelled "whiskey" or "whisky" are always distilled
spirits made from a grain based product (Note: If you distill whiskey, or
any spirit to > 92% abv, then it becomes vodka).

You can essentially think that brandy is distilled from grape/fruit wine, and
whiskey is distilled from beer. (although that isn't quite right... the "wine"
that is distilled for whiskey doesn't include hops).

Irish Whiskey basically came first (by most accounts), and is made from malted
barley. Scotch Whisky (note spelling difference) is also made from malted
barley, but it is dried over peat fires, which adds a very distinctive smokey
flavor to it.

Whiskey production got an early start in the US, even George Washington had
his own still where he made Rye Whiskey. We didn't have a lot of barley
growing over here, so we made our whiskies with what we had on hand, and ended
up (on the east coast) using primarily Rye. Corn, wheat, and other grains
would be added to the rye as well, but to a lesser degree. I "think" that
might have been because those other grains were more in demand for breads and
other food-stuff.

The "Whiskey Rebellion" (started in 1791) was the result of increased taxation
(and enforcement) on liquor and distilled beverages, and instead of putting up
with such attacks on their "freedom", many (but not all) whiskey distillers
moved west. Once settling on the plains of Tennesee, Kentucky, etc. they
started growing foodstuffs for sustancance, and before long had a goodly
amount of corn and wheat, but they weren't growing much rye... so the whiskey
they started making was prodominantely made from corn. What they didn't drink
themselves, was casked up and shipped down the Mississippi, originating from a
port in Bourbon County... hence it was often referred to as "Whiskey From
Bourbon"... which eventually just got shortened to "Bourbon".

On the east coast, they were still making Rye whiskey however, and it was so
popular that in most places "Rye" and "Whiskey" meant essentially the same
thing.

Now a quick trip to Canada...

There, whiskey had a bit of a different origin story.

The farmers, who grew the grains that would be made into bread and other
products, had to get their grains ground into flour, a task which few farmers
were set up to do themselves. They instead took their raw grain to the miller,
who would grind the grains for the farmers, in return for a fee. Many of the
farmers had little if any money, and so it was common for the miller to take
some of the resultant flour in trade, which the miller would either use
themselves, or sell.

Often, this ended up with the miller having a surplus of grain that would go
bad if it wasn't used in a timely manner. So an easy way of not only
preserving the flour, but also providing an alternative product, was to
ferment, and then distill the grain... producing whiskey.

One of the results of this, is that the whiskeys that were being produced in
Canada were a fairly varied blend of different ingredients.

Now back to the US... and a jump in time to 1919... Prohibition.

American Rye whiskey was still the most popular whiskey in the states... but
now, it was illegal to make or sell it. The distillers went underground. On
the east coast, it was harder to go underground, and so most distillers
switched to other businesses. In the mid west however it was easier to hide.
In Canada hosever, there wasn't any need to hide, and they were more than
happy to help sell their products to their thirsty neighbors to the south.

This brought a lot of Canadian Whisky into America, where we were still in the
habit of interchanging "Whiskey" and "Rye".

When Prohibition ended, it still took a lot of time for the American
distillers to bring their product back. Most of the eastern distillers were
out of business... having long since converted to other ventures. The mid-west
distillers were able to re-open their plants and start production of what they
new best... corn based whiskies, which were also known as Bourbon.

And thus today, the most common American Whiskey is Bourbon instead of Rye.
And Canadian Whisky is not Rye at all, althoug many people continue to
mistakenly call it that.

Bourbon has to be made from at least 51% corn, with wheat, rye, and other
grains making up the rest of the mashbill.

Rye has to be made from at least 51% rye, with corn, wheat, etc...

...there are other requirements, aging, barrels, etc, as well... but I think
I've alreay taken too long to answer your simple question.
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I spend a bit of time hanging out on the bourbon forums here. There's a lot of info there for those of you who're interested.

Cheers!

A friend here at work dropped off a bottle of Corner Creek Reserve.
http://www.cornercreekbourbon.com/

Any first hand experience out there?

Holy crap, you gotta be kidding me! One of my favorites, got a bottle for Christmas a few years ago and couldn't believe how much I loved it.

I drink mine straight 90% of the time. I like it over ice, and I usually let it sit for a few minutes, letting the ice melt into it a bit.

My favorites:

Evan Williams (Yes I said it and I stand by it. Better than Beam and at 12.00 or so it's the finest "value priced" bourbons out there)

Turkey. 101. Rare Breed. Both Excellent

Knob Creek, possibly my favorite.

Bakers Damn fine as well.

Not a fan of Makers Mark. I mean, it's fine. But that's it. It does nothing for me, though I'm sure it should. Not sure what my problem is, but I'm just unimpressed with the Makers.

Regarding the OP: Buffalo Trace is pretty decent. Nothing I've felt the burning need to buy again. I'd rather have the Evans.

The Buffalo Trace Distillery is just a little over 20 miles from house.

We are fans of Maker's though, the Samuels are big supporters of the dePaul school where my youngest goes... for the last 3 years we have attended the deParty for dePaul auction/silent auction fundraiser, every year we put bids on the dinner at the Samuels house that includes tastings and bottle dippings... this year's is in about 3 weeks, we are going to push harder to win the dinner!

I'm mainly a Maker's & Knobb Creek drinker, tried the Maker's 46 the other night and been drinking that.

I love Buffalo Trace. Good price.

Also drink Maker's and Bulleit pretty regularly.

Was a die hard Makers guy until I tried 40 Creek. Smooth as silk, and a really nice finish. Every non whiskey/bourbon drinking friend I've had try it comments about how they never knew bourbon could taste so good. Oh, and it's not crazy-expensive, cheaper than Crown or Makers here.

DT

Had buffalo once. 12 ounces in 30 minnutes makes you feel good.

I like 40 Creek - but it's not bourbon. It's Canadian Whiskey, they have some different rules and regs, but their whusk won't qualify as 'bourbon' by definition. Good whiskey, but not bourbon whiskey...Canadian whisky.

http://fortycreekwhisky.com/

I'm telling you you gotta try Elijah Craig 18 year old bourbon. Oldest single barrel bourbon in the world and only $55 a bottle. I throw a lemon wedge in with most of my bourbons too. Pretty tasty.

Lemon wedge...never heard of that. What's the point? Sour it up a little?

I was knocking back 4 roses lately but actually forgot I had a 40 of Knob Creek at the back of the cabinet that I got for fathers day ( I think the wife hid it back there). It's almost gone now.
So, no one here has tried Corner Creek?

I've had Corner Creek. I like it a lot for the value. Not the fanciest or most expensive bottle, but it holds up pretty well, especially when compared to other bourbons you might get at that price.
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I like Corner Creek. The same fellow who bottles it puts up some stuff called Noah's Mill that I like even mo' bettah. Pretty good whiskey.

It all started drinking makers mark with a lemon wedge because it was just a flavor I got used to. I didn't like makers on its own. Then I started to try it with other bourbons and actually grew to like the lemon with anything on the rocks.

I just got a bottle called Widow Jane, cut with water from an upstate New York quarry. Pretty good stuff.
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This. Rare Breed is one of the most drinkable uncuts I've had. Drink it neat and it doesn't feel like the proof it is IMO.

Buffalo Trace is pretty good for the price point, but like someone else pointed out I'd rather pay a couple extra bucks and get the Evan Williams single barrel.

I am a big fan of a couple of BT's higher end things like Blanton's and George T. Stagg. Careful with that last one, it normally clocks in around 140 proof. It's drinkable at that, but really intense. I like to cut it down to about 115-120 which is where I feel like it shows best.

Others I've had recently that stood out: Noah's Mill is very good; Black Maple Hill is very good as well; Pappy Van 23 was good, but not a great value IMO.

I also like Rye quite a bit; a couple of those I've had recently that I thought were really good were Old Potrero and Copper Fox.

I'm spoiled...I live close to Jack Rose and get over there about once a week. I can try stuff by the glass there I'll never be able to find (they have 5 different Mortlachs FFS) or afford by the bottle. Their list is 36 pages long (I'd estimate they have about 1200 whisk(e)ys) and they have a rotating bourbon on tap.

The place is heaven. There's probably 10-15 ft more bar out of frame to the right.

http://jackrosediningsaloon.com/wp-c...ing-saloon.jpg

I agree..pretyy tasty.

One I haven't seen mentioned that I really enjoy is Elmer T. Lee single barrel. I'm more of a Scotch drinker, but this is good stuff and the price is much less than comparable quality Scotch.

Any other Elmer fans?

I don't drink at all but I'm about to get some bourbon for sundays

I like Elmer T. Lee - the whiskey and the man. He's a pretty nice guy, from all accounts - still kicking - and responsible for some good whiskey being released as 'special' bottles. We have him to thank for the 'limited release' or 'single barrel' whusk, instead of just dumping it all and taking your chances on a good, cheap bottle. I still have half an old bottle of Elmer T. Lee, made before they started selling it in the current 'nice' bottle.

If you're looking for a pretty good buy, I'd recommend Old Ezra 101 - it was originally marketed to match the proof of Wild Turkey, it's 7 year old 101 bourbon - note that they no longer sell Wild Turkey @ 7 years old/101 here in the US (they may in other markets). I like it a lot, at it's price point. You can spend a lot of money on good bourbon these days. But you don't have to.

How have I missed this thread?

As I have gotten into more and more bourbons over the years one thing stays the same, Wild Turkey 101 is still my go to bourbon. On those days where the shit hits the fan and I need a stiff drink, it's Turkey that I turn too.

Booker's is in my top 3 favorite bourbons. Wonderful stuff.

I bow to your knowledge on such subjects but, from everything I've ever read it was US law that for it to be Bourbon it had to be made in Kentucky. Has that changed? Or is that just lore that has been taken as fact by everyone under the sun?

:thumb: Currently have a bottle sitting in the cabinet. In fact was sipping on some just a couple of nights ago.

Bourbon can be made anywhere in the US - we had a bourbon distillery here in Weston MO for many years. There's still a lot of bourbon made in Illinois - no one says it's really good. Kentucky is where most bourbon's made, but the only real 'made here only' thing is still Tennessee whiskey. Guess where they have to make that stuff?

Dry counties in Tennessee.

It was my understanding that it could only be called Bourbon if it was made in Kentucky but that changed. Basically, it has to be a 51% sour mash and it doesn't have to be made in Kentucky to be called bourbon. Also, Tennesee whiskey is essentially bourbon isn't it?

In any case, I loves me some...

This thread is gold. I love bourbon and don't get to drink it nearly enough...

Had some stuff called Fighting Cock a couple weeks ago. Not a big fan, tasted too much like lighter fluid.

I might have to try Wild Turkey 101 again. I drank way too much of that one time in high school (along with way too much vodka) and spent the night barfing all over the waterbed I was sleeping in. Haven't touched it since..

Woodford Reserve, Knob Creek, Bookers, Buffalo Trace, Maker's Mark all good to me. But my favorite drink is mixed with rye--a Sazerac. Absolute beverage perfection.

Great thread.
I want to try that Rare Breed. That sounds good.
Right now my fav Bourbon is Cedar Ridge.


http://chicagolakeliquors.com/liquor...1346942112.jpg

When the team heads for the shitter, there's always booze. Go Bourbon!
Just got off the horn with a couple of the boys and after all this talk we're organizing a Bourbon taster night. Should be a dinger of a night.

Yep, Tennessee whusk is essentially bourbon - but they run it thru a bunch of charcoal as one part of their process - and it must be made in Tennessee. Jack Daniels is pretty famous Tenn. whusk, there may be a couple of others. George Dickle is the other one I've got on the shelf. I will refrain from making recommendations, that charcoal thing kinda throws the taste off for me - but YMMV. When it comes to whiskey, it's all pretty good. Some I'll buy again and again.

Sounds like a personal problem. ;)

Has anybody had Pritchard's double barrel?

I gotta hookup through a buddy that a guy brings us back a case of stuff to split every time he goes home to KY. This time it's Noah's Mill, which I know, and Pritchard's which I don't.

Just want to know what to expect from it.