Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond, Fall 2019 Edition

January 9, 2020 Eric Burke

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

IMAGE: A sample bottle of Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond, Fall 2019 Edition. Copy says: Made: Fall 2004. Bottled: Fall 2019. Proof: 100. Age: 15 yr.

Ok. Time for me to eat a little crow tonight. When I first heard about this new Air Fryer fad. I was skeptical. In fact, I’d tell anyone who would listen that the one time I had “air fried” food, it arrived cold and burned. Well, it seems my wife did not listen to me because she bought one on Black Friday. We didn’t start out too fancy. Just a few breaded chicken tenders (yes, I’m actually a child). I’d been making that kind for a long time and these were the crispiest I’d had. So we tried burgers. The burgers were great too. I was such an instant convert that I opened the larger one that I had purchased for my mother so I could have two and make two things at once. I really like mine. So I need to eat crow. My wife was correct and I was not.

And just like I was initially skeptical about the air fryer fad, I was also skeptical about the new Limited Edition versions of Old Fitzgerald when they first came out. I figured it would be good, but I was a bit butthurt that the price was so high. As you know I am an innately frugal person. I’ve had trouble accepting the new pricing reality that the last ten years have brought. So I assumed that there was no way that an 11-year-old bourbon would be good enough to charge $110. And when I read the reviews, I figured I was right. Not that it mattered much, the only time I saw that one on a shelf they were asking over $200 for it.

So when the sample of the Fall 2019 edition came in, I was interested. When I saw that the price had gone up to $150, I was skeptical. Let’s see if that skepticism was warranted.

Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Fall 2019 Edition

Purchase Price: This sample was graciously provided by Heaven Hill for review purposes. The suggested retail price is about $150.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $10

Details: Made: Fall 2004. Bottled: Fall2019. 50% ABV. 15-years-old. Wheated.

Nose: Caramel, oak, vanilla, cinnamon

Mouth: Mouth-coating, rich mouthfeel. Sweet caramel, chocolate, and vanilla with oak and baking spice.

Finish: Warm and on the longer end of medium length. Lingering caramel, coffee, cocoa, and cinnamon.

Thoughts: This is delicious. Next time I'm in Louisville, I just might plunk down the cash in one of the bourbon bars for a pour of this one since I doubt I will find a bottle. Though if I did, I would certainly consider it, doubt my frugal nature would allow me to pull the trigger, but I would at least think about it.

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Old Fitzgerald Prime Bourbon: Revisited

January 7, 2020 Eric Burke

IMAGE: Old Fitzgerald Prime Bourbon laying in some leaves.

It has been two thousand, one hundred and twelve days since I last reviewed Old Fitzgerald Prime. It was during the first edition of the Bottom Shelf Brackets. Back then, Old Fitzgerald was the name that Heaven Hill sold their wheated recipe under. It was available in most of the US in both a bottled in bond version and an 80° proof “Prime” version.

Over the course of the last five to six years, Heaven Hill released Larceny as their new flagship wheated label and pulled Old Fitzgerald Prime back to being sold in a very small and select number of states. They also discontinued the affordable Bottled in Bond version and in the last few years, started to release a yearly luxury release of Limited Edition Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond. Its been a busy few years for the brand that Pappy started so many years ago.

Back in 2014, I had this to say about it:

This is a tv watching bourbon. It’s something to sip that tastes good for when you don’t want to concentrate on, or think too hard about your bourbon. It wouldn’t be my first choice for a pour, but I’d be happy enough to have it brought to me.

Let’s see how it holds up, shall we?

Old Fitzgerald Prime

Purchase Info: $16.99 for a 750 mL bottle, The Party Source, Bellevue, KY

Price per Drink (50 mL): $1.13

Details: 40% ABV, NAS

Nose: Spearmint, bubble gum, hints of baking spice

Mouth: Caramel, baking spice, hints of mint

Finish: Short and gentle with notes of cinnamon and caramel.

Thoughts: This is a very gentle bourbon. A decent enough sipper in a pinch if you aren't a proof-chaser. If like me, you like a little more heat in your bourbon, you might find this more than a little on the tame side. But the flavors that are there are very good and I agree with 2014 me. This would work just fine when you are playing cards, bullshitting with a group of friends, and not really paying attention to what is in your glass. I’m giving this one a meh. But I wouldn’t fault you at all if you liked this or even if it was your favorite. My rating comes solely down to how gentle it is.

MB Roland Wheated Bourbon

December 19, 2019 Eric Burke

Paul and Merry Beth of MB Roland are my friends. Because I might be biased, I have decided to disclose that bias so that you can decide how much to trust the review. In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, I am reviewing a bottle that they gave me as a gift. This was not intended by them as a review bottle, but I like it and wanted to share.

IMAGE: A bottle of MB Roland Wheated Bourbon leaning against a tree

Hey Bourbon Folks,

This is going to be the last post of 2019 as I take a little time to spend with my family over the holidays. BourbonGuy.com will be back to its regularly scheduled twice per week posting as of January 2nd, 2020.

Holy Crap! 2020?!? I’m getting fucking old! In a little under two weeks, it will be the start of the sixth decade in which I have been alive. That’s nuts. But it makes sense that I feel the passage of time especially hard as this decade ends and another begins. I mean, my life has changed dramatically in the last ten years.

When the decade began, I had never traveled east of my home state. I’d been to a majority of the states west of the Mississippi, but my home state of Wisconsin (and a tiny bit of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) were my only forays east of it. I’ve now traveled to every part of the country except the Northeast. And I’ve been international a couple of times. I even decided to move away from Minnesota at one point and spent a lot of time exploring new locations to live, both digitally and in person. But then my daughter had a pregnancy scare, and we decided that it might be best to stick nearby for any future grand-kids that might happen to pop out.

As 2010 arrived, I was happily employed in Corporate Marketing. And I honestly couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life. These days, I run three separate businesses of my own, and the majority of my money no longer comes from the only employable skill I had in 2010.

I fell in love with spirits in general and bourbon in particular shortly after the turn of the last decade. For most of the first half to two thirds of the decade, I wanted to start a craft distillery and set about learning everything I could about distilling. Instead of that, I now have this site and all of you who share my bourbon journey with me. Not only that, but I also get paid to write the occasional article for other publications and to host a tasting now and then, which is not a bad gig if you can get it.

During the last decade, my wife got sick with cancer and beat it. I’ve lost many friends and family members due to age, sickness, and time; but I gained a lot of new ones as well. Many of my new friends live in Kentucky, which is nice because I have fallen in love with Louisville. I’ve gone at least once a year for most of the last ten years.

This list is only scratching the surface of the changes that my life has gone through during the last decade, and even though I decided on a different life direction than starting a distillery, some of the friends who I’ve met over the last ten years do, in fact, own distilleries. And in fact, the bottle I am reviewing tonight was a gift from one of them. It is a wheated bourbon from my friends at MB Roland. They gave my wife and I this bottle as an anniversary present back in September. Obviously, I sat on it for a while before enjoying it.

MB Roland Wheated Bourbon

Purchase info: This was received as an anniversary gift from my friends at MB Roland. I image the price is somewhere in the mid $50 to $60 range.

Price per Drink (50 ml): No idea for the reason stated above.

Details: Batch 7. 55% ABV. Mash bill of 74% white corn, 6% malted barley, 20% red winter wheat. Barrel had a #4 char. Aged stated as “at least two years.”

Nose: Dried corn, mint, cinnamon, cloves, baked apples.

Mouth: Spicy cinnamon candies, caramel, chocolate.

Finish: Warm and long with lingering caramel, cinnamon and chocolate notes.

Thoughts: I really like this one. I've been very impressed with both the wheated bourbon and the wheat whiskey that MB Roland has made. I guess I like their wheat. Both of them have had very nice chocolate notes that I wouldn't have expected to find in a whiskey that is age-stated at about two years old. That said, there are still some young notes in here, but once again the proof helps to push them aside.

As stated above , before I got distracted by the end of the decade, BourbonGuy.com is going to take the holidays off to spend time with family. Regular posts will return January 2nd, 2020. (2020!?!)

Larceny Barrel Proof

December 17, 2019 Eric Burke

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

IMAGE: A bottle of Larceny Barrel Proof Bourbon sitting in the snow. Batch: A120, 123.2° proof.

ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! TheExpanseisback!TheExpanseisback! Ahem. I mean… The Expanse is back and I couldn’t be more excited!

Now you might be wondering just what the Expanse is and why I am so excited. Well it is possibly the best science-fiction tv show. Period. Possibly ever. And I am a sci-fi nut from way back. So much so that my seventh-grade English teacher felt the need to tell my mother during parent-teacher conferences that I should be encouraged to branch out from the genre. You know because it wasn't “serious” enough for someone that was as smart as I was.

I still think that’s a pretty weird way to give a parent a compliment.

Now the books that the TV show is based on are phenomenal. Some of my favorites ever. And yet, I can see why maybe people wouldn’t have heard of it. The Expanse had the misfortune of starting on SyFy, which is not exactly known for high-quality programming these days. Luckily, for some reason, the network decided to pour enough money into this show to make the show look really good. And then they canceled it after three seasons because it was too expensive. Luckily Rich Uncle Pennybags…err…Bezos of Amazon fame liked it as well and decided to save it and bring it over to Amazon Prime.

I don’t have a lot of nice things to say about Amazon, but I am thankful for this.

And even though I have about 10 shows that I am currently bingeing, I am totally starting over to rewatch the Expanse from the beginning. Some people say that too much of a good thing is actually a bad thing. Whether it is amazing tv shows, college football Bowl games, or good food. But one thing that almost no one says is a bad thing is more proof on your whiskey.

Knowing that, Heaven Hill has recently decided to put out a barrel proof version of their flagship wheated bourbon, Larceny. I’ve been a fan of Larceny since it was first released way back in 2012. In fact, Larceny is one of two wheated bourbons that I’ve consistently had on my shelf over the years. So when I heard that Heaven Hill was releasing a barrel-proof version, I was super excited. I was even more excited when a generously large sample landed on my doorstep.

Much like Heaven Hill’s other barrel-proof offering, Elijah Craig, Larceny Barrel Proof will be released in batches throughout the year. It will feature the same naming scheme with a letter denoting which release it is, a number indicating which month is was released and the year. So this release, A120, means it is the first release of the year in January of 2020. And yes, you will have to wait until January to get your hands on this. And at a suggested retail price of about $50 or so, I’d keep an eye out for it.

Larceny Barrel Proof

Purchase info: This was graciously provided by Heaven Hill for review purposes. Suggested retail price is $49.99.

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $3.33

Details: Batch number: A 120. 61.6% ABV

Nose: Brown Sugar, cinnamon, clove, oak

Mouth: Mint, ripe berries, tobacco, honey

Finish: Long and hot. Mint and honey notes initially which are replaced by a long-lasting cinnamon candy note.

Thoughts: This is delicious! It is a warm one though, luckily it takes water or ice very well. Compared to Larceny, this is similar on the nose. Obviously this is hotter than the standard Larceny but has a lot of the same notes on the mouth. Basically, it is just richer and the flavors are more concentrated. As you would expect.

Much like the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, this is one I will pick up every time I see it on the shelf.

Weller Special Reserve

December 12, 2019 Eric Burke

Today I find myself easily distracted. Well, I am most days. Even on my best days, I could be classified as "especially distractable." But as the holidays and end of year get closer, I am finding that my already short attention span has shrunk to almost minuscule sizes.

There is work to be finished and billed before I close out the books for the year. Receipts to find and organize. There are presents to buy. And tons of emails with suggestions on what those presents should be.

All in all, the next few weeks are shaping up to be busy. I plan to cope by immediately doing any task that finds its way into my head, hopefully before the next one replaces it. My plan hasn't been going too well so far. Or maybe my plan is flawed. In either case, I know that I've tried to start writing this three times, and so far, I've found myself digging an old AppleTV out of my basement and digging through my freezer in search of who-knows-what. Luckily the third time seems to have been the charm.

So far, at least.

Weller Special Reserve is the green-labeled, entry-level bourbon of the W.L. Weller line. It is bottled at 90° proof and is a wheated bourbon, meaning that it uses a mash bill of corn, malted barley and wheat. And like most of the Weller line, it isn't especially easy to find these days. At least not in my neck of the woods.

I got this bottle because a my wife's coworker happened to be doing a little hunting down in Texas. She got him hooked on wheated bourbon years ago when Weller was still easy to find and so when he happened to see a 750mL bottle and two 1.75 liter bottles on the store shelf, he gave her a call, said he was getting the 750 and asked if she wanted any. My wife is a Weller fan and so she said "yes, get me both the handles."

My wife doesn't mess around.

Weller Special Reserve

Purchase Info: $48.99 for a 1.75 L bottle at King’s Liquor, Caldwell, TX.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $1.40

Details: 45% ABV

Nose: Vanilla, blueberry, cinnamon, wood, bubblegum

Mouth: Spicy Cinnamon, blueberry, bubblegum, vanilla, breads, oak.

Finish: warm and medium length. Lingering notes of baking spice, berries, oak, and bubblegum

Thoughts: It's been a while since I've had a Weller product. I like it. My wife thinks I'm nuts, but I get a blueberry muffin vibe from this. Like a really good blueberry muffin. The kind where the blueberries are big and fresh, the vanilla tastes amazing and there is sugar on the top that provides a nice texture. That's the vibe I get from this. Which is great since I love an amazing blueberry muffin. They make me happy. And so does this.

George Remus Bourbon

December 10, 2019 Eric Burke

I’m sitting here tonight in the middle of chaos. I have a young, yet large, chocolate lab who just arrived. He seems like a good boy. He’s just big and energetic. Plus, since he just arrived, he is a little overstimulated at the moment due to all the toys I have around. Well, that I’ll have around for another hour or so. He seems to be tearing through them at a fairly rapid clip.

My dog does not like him. She seems to think that his particular brand of energy leaves a bit to be desired. So as he is yelling at us to play with him, she is yelling at him to settle down. It’s been a fun half-hour or so. Luckily dogs usually only take an hour or two to settle in and read the room. In the meantime, I’ll be sitting at the table watching the chaos unfold around me while I write.

And throw a ball…It gets worse if I don’t throw the ball.

Tonight I finish up the George Remus line of bourbons. We’ve talked about all of their limited-edition releases in the past. We’ve discussed who the namesake of the brand was and how he was a terrible person. I guess all that is left for this one is to talk about the bourbon itself.

MGP acquired the George Remus brand from Cincinnati’s Queen City Whiskey Company in 2017. In that time they have released three Remus Repeal Reserve limited editions as well as this year’s Remus Volstead Reserve. Through it all though, they have had the standard George Remus on the shelf just waiting for me to try. George Remus Bourbon is a non-chill filtered, high-rye bourbon bottled at 94° proof.

George Remus Bourbon

Purchase Info: $36.49 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50ml): $2.47

Details: 47% ABV

Nose: Earthy notes of the forest floor predominate initially. Beyond that are hints of mint and baking spice.

Mouth: Spicy and warm on the tip of the tongue. Sweet. Mint, oak, and baking spice

Finish: Spicy and warm. Mint leaves, baking spice and caramel linger.

Thoughts: This is a decent bourbon. Nicely spicy with a good sweetness. The nose is a little funky but the mouth and finish are great.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com . And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Knob Creek Quarter Oak

November 26, 2019 Eric Burke

Hey Bourbon Lovers,

It’s a holiday week so I thought I’d dispense with the anecdotes and just take a moment to wish you all a very happy and safe Thanksgiving! I know some of you will be visiting with family and, for some of you, that will be a wondrous thing. But I also know that family can be…frustrating for some people. I have had my fair share of “grin and bear it” holiday gatherings so I know what it can be like. Just remember, we all have something or someone that we can be thankful for and that you are loved no matter how those who should accept you unconditionally act or what they think. My trick is to concentrate on those who do love and accept me and ignore those who don’t.

I also want to say that I am thankful for each and every one of you. And I love each and every one of you just how you are. Thank you for spending a little time with me each week.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

To avoid ruining the mood I’ll just let Jim Beam speak for itself on this one:

With its latest release, Knob Creek explores and deepens the influence of oak on its flagship bourbon. Knob Creek Quarter Oak takes the brand's Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, crafted in the pre-prohibition style fans expect from Knob Creek, and finishes it for a minimum of four years in quarter cask, American oak barrels to increase the amount of contact between the whiskey and wood. A small amount of this unique, secondarily finished whiskey – which delivers richer notes of oak – is then mingled with Knob Creek® Kentucky Straight Bourbon to create the final product that boasts a harmonious balance of oak influence and traditional, sweeter notes.

Knob Creek Quarter Oak

Purchase Info: $50.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50mL): $3.40

Details: 50% ABV. Some of the bourbon in this blend was finished in a 13-gallon barrel for at least 4 years before being blended back in.

Nose: Spearmint, vanilla custard, and cinnamon red hots

Mouth: Sweet with a strong initial hit of vanilla. After the vanilla fades cinnamon and oak appear.

Finish: Medium length with fairly gentle heat. It starts with oak and cinnamon. After they fade there is a bloom of peanut.

Thoughts: This isn't bad, though I like standard Knob Creek a lot better. If you can, I’d see if your store pours samples of it before buying a full bottle. I wish I had, it just doesn’t hit right for me. I’ll give this a like, but it’s on the border between a like and a meh.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Old Forester 1910: Old Fine Whisky

November 21, 2019 Eric Burke

Every so often, mania gets ahead of reality. Oh, who am I kidding? This is the whiskey world, mania always gets ahead of reality. In this case, however, I found the demand very strange. Every release of Old Forester’s Whisky Row series has been readily available (at least in my area). There has never been a shortage of them or a time when you couldn’t find them just sitting on the shelf — not even 1920, which was the best of the bunch.

But for some reason, 1910 was different. The first batch quickly sold out everywhere. When it came back, because it sold out so quickly, some of my local stores decided that they needed to throw it in their lottery pile. Which, cool for them, I guess, but I just checked online, and you can go to at least one Total Wine location and pick it up off the shelf.

So what makes this bourbon so sought after? Well…I have no idea. It is finished in a second barrel, but that is hardly new. Woodford Reserve Double Oaked and Jim Beam Double Oak have both been on the market for quite a while now. Maybe the company website can shed some light on this:

On October 22nd. 1910, a fire on the bottling line halted production of Old Forester. Mature whisky ready to be bottled, instead was stored in a secondary barrel. What emerged was a delightful whisky, remarkable enough to become an entirely new expressions – Old Fine Whisky.
Today mimicking this historic bottling, this unique expression of Old Forester has undergone a second barreling, granting it exceptional character, a smooth and sweet flavor and a clean, crisp finish. Entering the second barrel at a low 100 proof allows more of the sweet wood sugars to dissolve into the whiskey. 1910 Old Fine Whiskey is the fourth and final expression of the Whiskey Row Series, presented at 93 proof.

Not really much insight there. I mean a low entry proof for the second barreling is interesting, but can hardly be the reason that this is in such high demand. I’d guess that it might be because 1920, the previous release, was so good, but that expression has rarely, if ever, been out of stock. So I’m left with mania as the only excuse I can think of. It got popular because some people were interested and then as it started to sell, more people got interested, and things got out of control. I shouldn’t be surprised, I guess it’s an all too familiar story in the whiskey world.

Old Forester 1910: Old Fine Whisky

Purchase Info: $58.99 for a 750 mL bottle at the Old Forester Distillery gift shop, Louisville, KY.

Price per Drink (50mL): $3.93

Details: 46.5% ABV

Nose: Cherry cough syrup, cocoa, vanilla and caramel

Mouth: Vanilla, caramel, cherry cough syrup

Finish: Warm and fruity with lingering strong cherry and sweetness

Thoughts: This is one of those bourbons that I like a lot less in a Glencairn than I do in a rocks glass. The Glencairn accentuates the cherry notes making it feel like you are taking notes on Robitussin. In a rocks glass, the cherry flavors are more muted and don't overpower the drink as much. I dislike this in the nosing glass, but in a rocks glass, it is merely meh. It’s too fruity for my tastes, but there is nothing actually wrong with it.

In the end, I guess I don’t mind that it is/has been hard to find. I prefer the more easily found 1920 and in the future, will be picking that one up instead.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Blog

Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Fall 2019 Edition

Old Fitzgerald Prime

MB Roland Wheated Bourbon

Larceny Barrel Proof

Weller Special Reserve

George Remus Bourbon

Knob Creek Quarter Oak

Old Forester 1910: Old Fine Whisky