Good bourbon?

If you don’t like the sweet lean towards high rye bourbons. Old Grandad 114 would be a good one as would Ancient Ancient Age, or Four Roses single barrel.

 

Evan Williams Straight, with the black label isn't terribly sweet, and at $22+ for a 1.75L, it's a great value. Ancient Age is also a great value in the $20+ range for a 1.75L but might be a bit sweeter. Supposedly aged in the same barrels as Blanton's. If you don't like Blanton's, avoid it.

 

Olds grand dad 20-30
Ancient Ancient Age 20
Four Roses single barrel $40

Well those are all within budget. Will have to try a couple.

Thank you,

Never tried Blanton's that I remember. Just looked and it popped up at $129 and I said, now I know why I haven't tried it, but then saw it was single barrel. I scrolled some more and see it for about $60.

I may give that a go, if you think it is worth it. @cpettit But does it really taste 3 x better than some of the other budget friendly ones you suggested?

 

For me it was more of waking up two/three times a night to pee. Not to mention the ole Covid 20 errrr 30 got me also.

Thus far I've played around with a couple things for the bourbon for different colors and flavors. Mind you I'm still a complete novice of this incredible art with opinions that are much like those whom are gun enthusiasts.

Plus my boys think it is cool so I have plenty of help with our uhm "Science Projects".

For me, the only way I can truly enjoy bourbon is with the large ice balls. If you have kids good luck keeping them in stock as mine simply vanish without anyone making more.

 

Ezra Brooks is good cheap boubon. 90 proof and good enough to drink straight or maybe with a few cubes. It's $27 for a 1.75 liter bottle, so on par with Evan Williams, which is also drinkable.

 

Okay, I'm happy for you but there is no way in hell I would work that hard for a drink. I will just pay more for a better bottle.

My kids bought me something more like this. I can make two round cubes in individual molds, easy to move anywhere in the freezer too. https://www.williams-sonoma.com/pro...9041&cm_ven=PLA&cm_cat=Google&cm_pla=Tabletop & Bar > Bar Tools&region_id=669090&cm_ite=5019041_14571728133&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8uOWBhDXARIsAOxKJ2FQwKCWLN0l8NG7SsLruc8OozHICnYrUqDZDY5OMpd6EdmdxYKV2y0aAt9zEALw_wcB

I wasn't able to embed it all pretty like you did. I must be doing something wrong.

Two is good enough for me and a friend. I don't need any excuses to have more than one cube for a drink. I can't drink that much in one sitting anyway. If I have more friends over, they probably want to mix with coke anyway, so they don't get the nice cubes. LOLOL

 

The whole infusion process for a bottle is rather simple.

The Wash and "Science Project" was for another product. Once I get the process down and make a few tweaks I might venture getting a oak barrel and head down the path of making my own Bourbon.

I have a Imgur account that I host all my photos for the forums. A few more steps but it is cleaner. Just make sure to set everything to private or you'll get community standards violations...

 

A lot of bourbon snobs will insist on only drinking it neat and at room temp. I've always been one to keep all my likker in the freezer, and I mainly make an old fashioned and use a big ice ball- but last weekend I had my usual 1783 handed to me neat in a solo cup, and it was damned good...different flavors came thru.

 

too late to edit- the EW is 1783, not 1792. About $38 for a 1.75L in OH

 

Yea, hopefully I'm not coming across as a snob. Since unlike @dsapsis, who knows a bunch about booze, I don't know sh.t about this stuff, just how I happen to like it. I actually usually use a big cube since the kids bought me that thing.

I got disciplined at a party once, for pouring a really good red cab into a dixie cup, when there were no clean wine glasses available. I told him, I wasn't washing a glass at someone else's party, besides it tasted perfectly fine to me in the red solo cup. LOLOL

 

Jeeebus, get it together newb!

 

LOL, by that point, it was only about 2 years ago, I had plenty of nice red wine knowledge.

I would still drink it out of a dixie cup today, if needed. It still tastes good. Now if it were a party at my house, I would make sure to wash some more glasses. Plus between stemless and stemmed glasses, I don't think we would run out for your average 5-20 person party.

My wife is excellent at throwing together parties and being organized for that stuff. Drives me nuts how she will over buy and prepare food, to make sure we have 2-3x more than people will eat, because she doesn't want to run out of something people like.

But she really is the hostess with the mostess!!!!

 

It’s not the most flavorful of bourbons out there, at least not the standard bottle from warehouse H. Still, it’s cool to say you have a bottle of Mr. Wick’s preferred bourbon in your cabinet. And also, it was the first single barrel to be sold to the publique, so you can’t call yourself a real bourbon drinker without having at least bought one bottle. Or at least, that’s what was written on the card for the bottle I received as a gift.

 

Well I'm definitely not a real bourbon drinker, since from what I can tell I don't even usually like the sweet stuff. It appears I need to sample some other types, to continue the education process.

 

No. Bourbon is only a mildly-protected term in the US. It must be:

1. Made in the USA
2. Made from at least 51% corn mash
3. Distilled at no more than 160 proof
4. Aged in new (not used) oak barrels at no more than 125 proof
5. Free of additives (like flavor)

... and that's it. Realistically, low-end Jose Cuervo bottles very nearly fit those requirements, as they're 49% corn and made in Mexico solely to qualify for the "tequila" label.

Bourbon is traditionally a sweeter whiskey than Irish, Scotch, and Canadian (Rye). So you're not off-base with your palate. I love Bourbons and Ryes, but like you I do find that Jameson is often the best bang for the buck for just a good smooth everyday whiskey.

 

Thank you very much for the education. That probably settles most of it for me. I may try another but “me no likely sweet whiskey”.

Funny I love deserts, but for main courses I don’t like sweet either. Like Hawaiian food usually isn’t very good to me. When my wife and I go to restaurants, I sometimes like to try different weird things, but always ask is it sweet? I love hot, spicy, sour, peppery, etc but no bueno on the sweet.

 

You don't think Jameson is sweet?

 

I may have to pour some tonight because I don’t find it near as sweet as the bourbons I’ve tried.

It is definitely not my favorite but I liked it for the price point. Although the Jameson I have at home now might be a different variety? I remember walking through Costco and they had a couple variations that were probably around $20-30 for 750ml and I bought them both. I think that is what I have currently?

Will report back, hopefully tomorrow.

 

I'm a fan of all the Old Elk variants, but the wheated is my favorite. Also Benchmark is a hidden gem so you should start a giant podcast and fuck it up.

 

I like regular Jameson ok, but after the initial "yumm" it seems kinda one note compered to bourbon