The Bourbon Thread

[Ducatiboy stu]

Who likes a GOOD Bourbon..

My Favs are

Wild Turkey 101 and Rare Breed
Buillet
Makers Mark

But there are many out there that I have yet to try

oh.... and Old Crow/Woodstock/Jim are not Bourbons, they are paint thinners... :icon_vomit:

 

[brettprevans]

oh.... and Old Crow/Woodstock/Jim are not Bourbons, they are paint thinners... :icon_vomit:

Old Crow used to only be about 18% so its not even full strength. woodstock only marginally better. half the reason they are awful.

Jim Beam Small Batch Bourbon Collection are ok (in order of my preferance):
Booker's: aged 7 years, 120-127 proof (60-63.5% ABV)
Knob Creek: aged 9 years, 100 proof (50% ABV)
Baker's: aged 7 years, 107 proof (53.5% ABV)
Basil Hayden's: aged 8 years, 80 proof (40% ABV)

bookers is a top drop IMO. love it

JD is a fav of mine. no idea why, just something about it. I prefer it over makers and WT. As an veryday drinking bourbon hard to beat (just too damn pricey in Aust).

JD Silver label is also a fav

Woodford Reserve & Elijah Craig are on par with each other as being not bad but below Knob Creek IMO

Pappy Van Winkles stuff is pretty special. I havent seen it in Aust (but havent looked that ahrd either). Years ago a good family friend opened a bottle of the Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve (20yr) and it was fkn special.

and of course just like most of my spirits I either drink it neat or a few cubes of ice. normally neat

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Yes, definatly neat...with 1 or to cubes

I put mine in the freezer

God knows why people put coke in bourbon....Although I used to like WT with schweppes dry ginger, but never the post mix stuff. Some places wont serve spirits straight, or even on ice, so get dry ginger with it, then tell the barman he is a wanker :icon_cheers: . This usually saves me a lot of money as I only seem to get 1 drink

 

[Pennywise]

I'm a Scotch man myself. But one Burbon I do like, and used to drink a fair bit was Wild Turkey, usually the Rare Breed

 

[brettprevans]

God knows why people put coke in bourbon....Although I used to like WT with schweppes dry ginger, but never the post mix stuff.

yup, if it has to be mixed then dry ginger is the go

I'm a Scotch man myself. But one Burbon I do like, and used to drink a fair bit was Wild Turkey, usually the Rare Breed

scotch is my first preferance then bourbon. But any good spirit is fine with me, like drambuie, benidictine etc

 

[Bizier]

Not long ago, I thought that all bourbons just tasted like bourbon to me. I know that I was missing something, so I made a mission to taste some bourbons in the US, and found some spectactular ones at a whisky bar in SF.

Here are a couple I can recall as being very nice:
Black Maple Hill
George T. Stagg

I think I also tried:
Eagle Rare
Old Rip Van Winkle

Amazing difference to the monotonous stuff I knew as bourbon before that, very sophisticated and complex.

Also, the bartender poured me a selection of four on the house (perhaps 10ml ea) and after that it was either the great stuff for $8 a glass, or $10 for the best... Sigh.

I had to edit my 'on the house' volume down from 20, to 15, and finally to 10 after I looked at a measure... 20ml would not be a sustainable business practice, you'd be completely merry after 4.

 

[felon]

I like Rare Breed Turkey the best. It's so smooth. I now have a small still for essential oils and distilling water for my car battery which occasionally produces a non alcoholic essential oil which resembles bourbon. :icon_drunk:

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Lucky we only talk about Bourbon here

Stills.. sorry, not a good thing to talk about on here

There is a reason why we dont talk about stills on here. Its Illegall and not acceptable on this forum

Sorry, but thems are the rules :icon_cheers:

 

[DUANNE]

seems im on the outer here ,but i absolutly cannot stand scotch but really like a good bourbon. drinking slowly through a bottle of blantons at the moment wich is alright but the best ive had was from new york distillery or some such and was incredible smooth complex and just plain good.it was 20 bucks a shot were i tried it but worth every cent.

 

[thelastspud]

I never really thought about bourbon being good probably due to excesses when I was a kid. But I went to a presentation by Marker's Mark a few years back and learned all about it. We got to taste maker's at all the different ages from white spirit straight out of the still to over aged. Something really interesting about MM is that its the only spirit thats graded by taste, I mean that they age the bourbon and after a few years they start tasting it, the have about 8 official tasters I think it was, so they do a blind taste test to see if what came out of the barrel is the same to the bottled stuff. If they're not the barrel goes back on the rack and gets tasted again later. All the bottles are hand dipped and the lady said all the dippers have there own style and she could tell who was working on the line by the look of the wax.
Another interesting point was because of the huge temp range they have there in Kentucky 1 years aging is equal to 4 in Scotland.

 

[WitWonder]

Not that I'm a massive spirits man, but I am quite partial to bourbon and in particular makers or woodford. When I was in Canada we went to a spirits bar and had some nice shots of a number of things but what stood out were the $20 shots of tequila. Man, I thought that stuff was just for poor mexicans but that was seriously good. No idea about the brand/label but just the fact that I had a perception of something which was completely shattered that night.

 

[brettprevans]

what stood out were the $20 shots of tequila. Man, I thought that stuff was just for poor mexicans but that was seriously good.

ok slightly OT, but tequila does get a bad rep. there are some fkn awful stuff passed of as tequila and if you tried selling it in mexico as tequila you'd be killed. the proper good agave tequila (which most tequilas on the market arent made from) are awsome. there are grades of tquila and you get what you pay for.

a mate of mine lived in chille for a year and has travelled extensively through out south america and has boughtback some of the best tequila and spirits ive tasted. Pisco is a grape liquor and is truely awsome. The chillian pisco IMO is the best. Ive tried most of the grades of pisco. some are better than others but the cheaper ones make the best mixers and the more expensive ones are just a pleasure to drink neat.

anyways back OT

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Got a bottle of Buffalo Trace ( $55 ) rather nice and peppery, seems to have a fair amount of rye in it

 

[Bizier]

I would appreciate people posting some suggestions of GOOD Bourbon brands that are available here in Aus.

 

[brettprevans]

I would appreciate people posting some suggestions of GOOD Bourbon brands that are available here in Aus.

what wrong with the brands we have already rated above?

all except 2 or 3 are available in australia.

 

[Bizier]

what wrong with the brands we have already rated above?

It is simply that I don't respect your opinion CM2, nothing personal.



Kidding. I should have thought before I posted that. I should have politely asked something more along these lines: I have found that I have only enjoyed small batch style American whiskies. I would appreciate suggestions for ones available in Australia. I really like the ones that have those candied fruit and vineous characters. I am not too fond of the widely available popular products, but I will have to give Knob Creek another try. I will keep an eye out for Bookers and Buffalo Trace.

One more thing, even when I thought I did not like Bourbon, I love whisky sours, say what you will, but that is a nice cocktail.

 

[Tanga]

It is indeed.

If I'm drinking spirits straight I usually go for a good irish whiskey. I didn't realise that there was bourbon good enough to drink the same way. I'll have to keep an eye out for some of these.

 

[brettprevans]

It is simply that I don't respect your opinion CM2, nothing personal.



Kidding. I should have thought before I posted that. I should have politely asked something more along these lines: I have found that I have only enjoyed small batch style American whiskies. I would appreciate suggestions for ones available in Australia. I really like the ones that have those candied fruit and vineous characters. I am not too fond of the widely available popular products, but I will have to give Knob Creek another try. I will keep an eye out for Bookers and Buffalo Trace.

One more thing, even when I thought I did not like Bourbon, I love whisky sours, say what you will, but that is a nice cocktail.

Candied fruit and vineous characters huh. Sounds like the more expensive brands. It's really a personal taste thing, what I like u might not etc. It's probable just a case if buying a few to try or doing some online research. There are a few good bourbon review sites on the net. Mostly US sites but some of the bourbons will be available in Aust.

 

[Bizier]

Candied fruit and vineous characters huh. Sounds like the more expensive brands.

I would say that I like the expensive ones, definitely. BUT they astounded me. To use the comparison again, like the difference with good tequila.

I really enjoyed George T. Stagg, that and the Black Maple Hill literally converted me within a matter of seconds. I see that it is made my the same people as Buffalo Trace, so I am keen to give that a try.

Holy mother of ... I did not realise George T Stagg was ~$400 here!!! I was expecting it to be around the $100 mark. Well, I won't be buying that any time soon.

 

[Bizier]

Man... posting on Android is almost impossible.

This caught my eye at uncle Dans.

Good stuff.