I am a bourbon fan, so I thought a thread of favorites or interesting ones tasted would be worthwhile. I think my favorite price/quality is Elijah Craig Small Batch. It’s not quite as good as it was a few years back when the product was switched from Elijah Craig 12 year to Elijah Craig Small Batch but it is still a good value.
I think I may go to an allocated bourbon event on Black Friday. Here is a list of what they will have, many in quite limited qualities. If they are all available when your turn is up, what bottles are you bringing home?
a lot depends on the cost. Would like to try the Magnus
These will likely be at suggested retail for each of them, not marked up. So for Russell’s Reserve 15, probably $250, where other places might mark it up to $400-500.
i have a shenks from 2022 (opened and it was awesome) and 2024 (not yet opened). I have a russeel’s 10 single barrel that is awesome, so the 15 interests me.
the rest…i don’t have the links between others i like and the ones listed (like I know michters and shenks are related) to know what I’d want to try.
I can swing $100-$150 and not care. utility dies for me after that range for some reason.
I know most of the brands, but no almost nothing of the difference between, as an example, the three different Makers, as well as the difference to the one I might normally drink.
I’m going to do some more research, but off the top of my head here are some of my priorities if they are available to me:
Russell’s Reserve 15
Weller 12
A Smith Bowman Cask Strength
Four Roses Ltd Ed 24
Bookers the Reserves
Blanton’s Gold
Another thing interesting about some of the rarer ones here: don’t throw away the bottles, as many are worth something empty. I wish I hung onto all the Pappy bottles I tossed back in the day before it got cult status.
I might grab a bottle of Stagg as a later value item. I bet it’s selling for under $70.
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Booker’s, if is the 60%+ strength. I had a bottle of that a few years ago.
I currently have a Basil Hayden Small Batch (red wine cask finish) that is pretty good. I used it for my kielbasa crock-pot on Saturday (only a few tbsp’s). I notice that it is also a James Beam product.
Otherwise, I think my local specialty shop might have some of these (possibly marked up).
Here is a review of the Bookers I have my eye on above:
I have had Bookers plenty of times, but not gotten my hands on this particular bottle.
Not sure how the particular floor of a particular warehouse for a particular number of days affects the taste or finish or whatever.
So, the list is a bit amusing to see published.
My Booker’s had a similar list. Only six different places, though. Nearly half from Warehouse Z. (I kept the list.)
This place doing the allocated bourbons is a high volume operation, maybe the largest in the city. These bourbons will be fairly priced, and probably everything on this list gets sold this week if not during the event.
There are some smaller shops that might have a handful of these allocated bourbons here and there with major markups. There’s another shop near me where the guy sometimes has a small number of rare bourbons at markup. More than once he has asked to wheel and deal with me: “I’ll sell you this bourbon at a better price if you’ll buy 2 other bottles from that rack over there”. I think I’ve only taken him up on his deals once or twice.
It is possible that it is how he got his allocation, having to buy several bottles/cases of the low-quality stuff for each of the high-quality stuff.
Could be. Also while he is a small shop I think he does pretty good volume. It’s one of the few liquor drive thrus and is in a good location. I never drive thru, but I see cars there all the time.
Same here, but my heart is devoted not to the whiskey of Kentucky, but to the whisky of Scotland.
I just bought a bottle of Macallan 12y/o because it was pretty cheap at costco at $62, and that will last me until Superbowl Sunday at least.
I can not and will not fall into the hype train of multi-hundred dollar liquor bottles.
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I think the vast majority of these bottles will be under $200, with quite a few nice ones under $100 too.
FWIW another year at this same spot I got selected for a bottle of the Van Winkle 12 year. I don’t remember how much I paid for it, but it was definitely well under $100. I could have sold it for many multiples of that. I still have some left, and when it’s gone I could probably sell the empty for more than I paid for the full bottle.
Friend owns a liquor store. Said he’d have to buy like 50 cases of michters to get one shenks. But then he has to store a year+ of michters as it sells at the usual pace.
I lack the energy to pursue allocateds. If they fall into my lap, great. Not even sure id wait in a line for it. If i was there already id ask about it, but thats it
my go to
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I have sampled some cask strength and/or overproof whisk{e}ys over the last couple of years, but I tend not to like them. The heat for me just overpowers the flavor of the grain.
What say any of you about the triple digit proof boozes on offer?
Most of the Michters line moves really fast. If he’s got any Michters 15 Rye I’m in.
id prefer not to have the triple digit proofs. heat and/or such small amount to sip. that said I have a lot of 110-120 proof rums and while they are great, i don’t often think to pour any bc i have to treat the pour w such care or else it just slams me