10th Annual BourbonGuy.com Brackets: Round 1: Wolcott Bottled-in-Bond vs. Jack Daniel's Bonded

Here we go! Let’s get down to the competitions.  I hope that you guys are as excited by this as I am. Round 1 of the 2023 BourbonGuy.com Brackets opens with Division 1 Number 2 seed Wolcott Bottled-in-Bond versus Number 3 seed Jack Daniel’s Bonded. 

Wolcott Bottled-in-Bond is a Total Wine “Spirits Direct” brand. It was distilled in Bardstown, KY at distillery DSP-KY-12, better known as Sazerac’s Barton 1792 distillery. It was bottled in Frankfort, KY at distillery DSP-KY-113, otherwise known as Sazerac’s Buffalo Trace distillery. Though it is a Total Wine exclusive, it was purchased at Viking Liquor Barrel in Prior Lake, MN. It cost $46.97 for a 750 mL bottle or $3.13 per pour.

And their opponent is a relative newcomer to store shelves, having only been launched last year. Jack Daniel’s Bonded is a bottled-in-bond version of the iconic Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey. It has two distillery plant numbers on it, DSP-TN-1 and DSP-TN-4, both of which are part of the Jack Daniel’s Lynchburg, TN campus. This was purchased at Viking Liquor Barrel in Prior Lake, MN. It cost $34.99 for a 700 mL bottle or $2.50 per pour.

All of the competitions this year were tasted blind and we knew the winner of the competition prior to any reveal. Notes, thoughts, and conclusions were all from before we knew what was what. Needless to say, some of my conclusions were surprising to me. Tasting notes may be a little unusual since they were being tasted at the same time and could have influenced the perceptions of one another.

Whiskey A (Wolcott Bottled in Bond)

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $3.13

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Nutty with notes of mint and dusty oak.

Mouth: Bready, with notes of almond, cinnamon, caramel.

Finish: Medium length with notes of cinnamon, bubblegum, almonds.

Whiskey B (Jack Daniel’s Bonded)

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $2.50

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Chocolate, caramel, vanilla, and cinnamon.

Mouth: Chocolate, cinnamon, and caramel.

Finish: Medium length with notes of caramel rolls, cinnamon, and mint.

Thoughts:

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: "B" is much spicier in the mouth. It is also much richer and much sweeter. "A" is pretty good, but the richness of "B" puts it over the top.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from Wolcott. Knowing it is a bonded bourbon, I knew there wouldn’t be any “funny” business going on with it. But I had no idea how it would taste. I like a lot of Bourbons that come out of Barton 1792, but I also find a lot of the stuff they do for store brands to be kinda meh. Not good, but not terrible. And that is kind of how it worked out here. Jack Daniel’s Bonded was very good. Wolcott Bottled-in-Bond was meh. This was an easy choice.

Winner: Jack Daniel’s Bonded is advancing to round 2.

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10th Annual BourbonGuy.com Brackets: The Bottled-in-Bond Edition

Well, well, well…lookie who we have here. Is it bracket time again already?

No, I mean that seriously. I’ve been so caught up with getting all the paperwork for my new dog-sitting business in order that I completely forgot that it was March (and hence bracket season) until last Wednesday when my wife reminded me. In the time since, we chose the theme, bought all the whiskey, seeded the brackets, and, yes, did all the tastings. Oh, and also worked on the previously mentioned paperwork.

Now you might be thinking, “didn’t this used to be called the bottom-shelf brackets? I see some pretty expensive whiskeys up there.” Well, you’d be right about that. After dumping out approximately seven liters of bourbon last year, I felt like I needed to overcorrect in the other direction and instead decided to throw out the price restrictions entirely. Instead, I decided to follow a different theme: Bottled-in-Bond. Now, my local store has a pretty good bourbon section. And unlike Total Wine (where honestly, I spend most of my liquor money), it has a very good selection of Bonded Bourbons (or, in the case of Jack and Dickel, close enough for this little blog). So I bought them all there. And I didn’t even buy all they had, just the least expensive ones. I could have spent $90 for a sourced bourbon or $65 for a 10-year-old Henry McKenna, but I didn’t.

In yet another “burn it all down” moment, I tossed out my usual seeding rules too. This year I went strictly by price. The most expensive price per milliliter was seeded number 1, and the least expensive was seeded number 4 for each division. Here’s how it worked out this year:

1. George Dickel Bottled in Bond (7.07 cents per mL)

2. Old Forester 1897 (6.67 cents per mL)

3. Wolcott Bottled-in-Bond (6.26 cents per mL)

4. New Riff (5.60 cents per mL)

5. Jack Daniel's Bonded (5.00 cents per mL)

6. Old Grand-Dad Bonded (2.93 cents per mL)

7. Old Tub (2.80 cents per mL)

8. Evan Williams Bottled in Bond (2.20 cents per mL)

Which gives us the breakdown above. As you can see, there are a lot of new faces this time. Based on the removal of the pricing restrictions, only two entrants have been here before. Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond and Old Grand-Dad Bonded have both competed previously. And they both won.

This one was a lot of fun. Who you got? Any upsets that you see on the horizon? Let us know down in the comments. I’m very excited to share the results with you.

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9th Annual BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Bourbon Brackets: 2022 Championship Rounds

Welcome back, folks! We come now to the end of the 2022 contest. Eight bourbons entered the arena. Four have fallen by the wayside. There have been some delicious treats and there have been some real stinkers. Let’s see how it all ends and see if we’ve learned anything along the way. First, we have the Round Two matchups.

Division 1: Arctic Mama (Evan Williams Bottled in Bond) vs Giant Charmer (Four Roses)

Thoughts: Giant Charmer has a nicer nose. Nothing wrong with Arctic Mama, but Giant Charmer is fruity and creamy which I really like in a bourbon. Arctic Mama is spicy on the mouth with notes of caramel and vanilla. Giant Charmer is spicy on the mouth with notes of mint and fruit. Arctic Mama has a nicer finish, showing lots of baking spice. Arctic Mama (Evan Williams Bottled in Bond) advances on the strength of that lovely finish.

Division 2: Fire Pirate (Banker's Club) vs. Quark Juggler (Evan Williams 1783)

Thoughts: The nose on Fire Pirate initially presented more grain notes and Quark Juggler initially presented more spice, but after a moment they both settled in and became very similar. Fire Pirate has a thinner mouthfeel and shows more grains notes. Quark Juggler is spicier and sweeter with a nicer mouthfeel and finish. Quark Juggler (Evan Williams 1783) advances to the Championship. Nothing wrong with Fire Pirate though. Nothing at all.

Championship Round: Quark Juggler (Evan Williams 1783) vs. Arctic Mama (Evan Williams Bottled in Bond)

The noses are very similar with Quark Juggler being slightly mintier while Arctic Mama is slightly fruitier. Arctic Mama is fruity and spicy on the mouth. Quark Juggler shows a lot of baking spice and some mint on the mouth. Arctic Mama wins a squeaker. It is a very well-rounded bourbon whereas Quark Juggler seems more focused on the spice. Both are very tasty and either would be an easy winner against other competition.

Congrats to Arctic Mama! Evan Williams Bottled in Bond is the 2022 Bottom-Shelf Champion!

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Lessons Learned:

This was an interesting contest for me. When I decided to set myself the restriction to only include bourbons that were sold by the handle and only for less than $35, I eliminated a lot of the usual candidates. There was nothing from Buffalo Trace, Sazerac did have one entry in Colonel Lee, but it certainly isn’t one of their best offerings. Beam only offered Old Crow in the price/format needed for this contest. All their Jim Beam branded offerings were too pricy in this market. Same with Wild Turkey. Usually I’d be able to at least get the 81 proof release, but it was not in stock at the stores that carry it at a low enough price.

All that left me scrambling to fill four slots. I was in the process of rethinking this crazy plan—which I really only implemented because I found a handle of the new 1783 on sale for $29.99 and I wanted all the bottles the same size so the photos would look better—when I wandered into Total Wine and decided that I could probably take a look at a few items that I really could only find there. So I ended up with four contestants that I’d never before included in the contest and three that I’d never even tasted before. That kind of thing is fun for me. At least before the first sips.

So what did I learn about each of these?

With Evan Williams Bottled in Bond and Evan Williams 1783 meeting in the Championship, they prove once again that if you are looking for inexpensive bourbon, grab a Heaven Hill product. You have the best odds of getting something really tasty for not a lot of money with them.

Four Roses finally got out of the first round on their fourth try. I really like their “Beige Label” standard bourbon, but when you put it head to head with other products in the price range they are hampered by their signature mellowness. On it’s own? Delicious. But put it against a Bonded bourbon and it just can’t compete. You better believe that I’m still going to finish the handle though.

McFarlane’s Reserve lost in the only upset. And that was a huge surprise for me. For the price, I expected more. I honestly don’t understand the description that it got from my buddy Fred Minnick. In a completely blind tasting, I thought it was the worst thing in the contest. It pains me to dump a $35 handle, but there is now way this is going back in my mouth. I even liked the TerrePURE entry better.

And speaking of the TerrePURE entry, let’s skip ahead to Winchester. This was one that I hesitated on including. It claims to be a straight bourbon, but much like the conversation around flavored bourbons and their status as even being a bourbon, does the TerrePURE process constitute “flavoring” (thus disqualifying it as even being a bourbon, much less a straight bourbon)? But then, I figured I was overthinking things. If they got it approved as straight bourbon, and they want to compete with straight bourbons, then who am I to let keep them out of a silly little contest on a small whiskey blog? To the surprise of no one in this house, when the winners of each contest were revealed, Winchester didn’t make it out of the first round. It was just too unpleasant, minty and…weird.

I learned nothing from Old Crow. The last time I included it in the contest, I stated that I would never buy it again…I should have stuck with that philosophy because I’m probably dumping this bottle too. When I said: “if you had never had bourbon, had it described for you by someone who didn't like it, and then tried to make a bourbon using only their description as a guide, you would make this bourbon” I think I was being generous.

As long as we are on the topic of bottles to be dumped, let’s look at Colonel Lee. I like bourbons from Barton. I like all of their flagships. Very Old Barton and 1792 are very tasty bourbons. But Colonel Lee is just bad. Not as bad as Mc Farlane’s Reserve or Old Crow, but not much better either. At least Colonel Lee tastes like bourbon, bad bourbon, but still bourbon. It might taste like the bourbon you take multiple rounds of shots of just before bar close, but that is still bourbon. Old Crow merely resembled bourbon and McFarlane’s Reserve tasted like buttered raisins…that’s not a bourbon flavor.

So now the final, and the most surprising, contestant: Banker’s Club Bourbon. Banker’s Club is a line of spirits sold by Laird’s (the AppleJack people). It has gin, vodka, bourbon, etc in the line. Think of it like a Seagram’s, Mr. Boston, or Fleischmann’s line. Some of everything, none of it high-end enough to be worthy of its own brand name. Banker’s Club was the least expensive entry in the contest. In fact, it is the least expensive entry in the nine years we have been doing this contest. You’d have to round up to make one cent per milliliter. That’s a very inexpensive bourbon. And it’s decent. Not like, drink- it-neat-in-a-Glencairn decent. But certainly throw-it-in-a-whiskey-sour or use-it-with-coke decent. Heck I won’t be dumping the bottle. I’ll probably mix it with higher proof and more flavorful bourbons to make them last longer. I’m super impressed with this one.

Overall this was a fun contest. It ended up right about where I would have guessed and I got a few surprises along the way. And heck I even like trying bad bourbon once in a while. It’s fun to know what not to buy too. Though, with three of dumpable bourbons in the mix this time around, I’m thinking that I’ll be happy to switch to tasting the top-shelf Barton and Heaven Hill samples that have been stacking up while the contest has been running.

Once again congrats to Heaven Hill and their Arctic Mama, Evan Williams Bottled in Bond!

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Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2022: Round 1: Banker's Club Bourbon vs. McFarlane's Reserve

Tonight we feature a match-up of bourbons that I have never had before tasting them blind. One is the most expensive bottle in the competition and the other is the least expensive bottle. Should be fun.

First up is our number two seed for Division Two. Coming in at 90° proof, this bourbon is created by the secretive IJW Whiskey company. It is competing under the name Hamburger Advocate, please welcome: McFarlane’s Reserve!

And its opponent, coming in at 80° proof, this bourbon is produced by the Laird’s company (of Apple Jack fame), please welcome: Banker’s Club Bourbon!

Reminder, all of the competitions this year were tasted blind and we knew the winner of the competition prior to any reveal. Notes, thoughts, and conclusions were all from before we knew what was what. Needless to say, some of my conclusions were surprising to me. Tasting notes may be a little unusual since they were being tasted at the same time and could have influenced the perceptions of one another.

Fire Pirate (Banker's Club)

Purchase Info: $16.99 for a 1.75-liter bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.49

Details: 40% ABV. Aged 3 Years.

Nose: Caramel, lots of vanilla, and a baking spice blend.

Mouth: Caramel, vanilla, honey, and a hint of oak.

Finish: Medium in both length and warmth. Notes of honey, toasted bread, and mint.

Thoughts:  This is actually quite pleasant.

Hamburger Arcade (McFarlane's Reserve)

Purchase Info: $34.99 for a 1.75-liter bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $1.00

Details: 45% ABV. Aged for a minimum of three years.

Nose: Buttered popcorn, white wine, and spearmint.

Mouth: This tastes like buttered raisins.

Finish: Mercifully short. Follows the mouth very faithfully.

Thoughts: I've only tasted something this bad once. Hopefully I never taste anything this bad again.

Winner: Fire Pirate wins big. Hamburger Arcade is the worst thing in round 1. Thankfully we are now on to round 2 and I can put all this behind me. Banker’s Club advances to Round 2.

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Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2022: Round 1: Evan Williams Bottled in Bond vs. Colonel Lee

Tonight we feature a fan favorite in Heaven Hill’s Evan Williams Bottled in Bond against a bourbon that has been considered and rejected multiple times for the competition. Colonel Lee is a bourbon that currently says it is “Bottled by Barton Distilling Company.” They do not list this brand on any of the Sazerac websites though apparently, it isn’t a new brand. This is either going to be a pleasant surprise or ass-whooping. Let’s see how it goes.

First up is our overall number one seed. Coming in at 100° proof, at least four years old, and the product of one distilling, please welcome: Evan Williams Bottled in Bond who is competing under the random, yet oddly appropriate, name of Arctic Mama.

And its opponent, who is looking so striking in an orange suit and competing under the name Sonic Berry, please welcome: Colonel Lee!

Reminder, all of the competitions this year were tasted blind and we knew the winner of the competition prior to any reveal. Notes, thoughts, and conclusions were all from before we knew what was what. Needless to say, some of my conclusions were surprising to me. Tasting notes may be a little unusual since they were being tasted at the same time and could have influenced the perceptions of one another.

Arctic Mama (Evan Williams Bottled in Bond)

Purchase Info: $28.49 for a 1.75-liter bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.81

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Mint, nutmeg, and honey

Mouth: Honey, mint, nutmeg, caramel, and cinnamon.

Finish: Medium length and warmth. Notes of butterscotch and oatmeal.

Thoughts:  That's pretty good.

Sonic Berry (Colonel Lee)

Purchase Info: $21.97 for a 1.75-liter bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.63

Details: 40% ABV. Aged 36 months.

Nose: Mint, dried grain, and an unpleasant earthy note.

Mouth: Fermented grain and mint.

Finish: Short but warm. Heavy on dried grain.

Thoughts: This is unpleasant. It will probably be dumped when we are finished.

Winner: From the first hint of Sonic Berry's nose, I knew Arctic Mama was the winner. Arctic Mama tastes like bourbon. Sonic Mama tastes like too many shots, hangovers, and bad decisions that you can't quite remember in the morning. Arctic Mama (Evan Williams Bottled in Bond) advances to round 2.

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Bottom Shelf Brackets 2022: Round 1: Four Roses versus Old Crow

Tonight we feature a match-up of bourbons that have competed before. In fact, Four Roses Bourbon has been in three of the previous eight competitions. And fun fact, neither of these bourbons have ever made it out of the first round. So no matter what happens we will see someone get their first win.

First up is our number two seed for Division One. Coming in at 80° proof, the former blended whiskey but now fan-favorite bourbon, and competing under the name Giant Charmer, please welcome: Four Roses!

And its opponent is the former favorite of generals and presidents. Even though this one has fallen on hard times, please welcome: Old Crow!

Reminder, all of the competitions this year were tasted blind and we knew the winner of the competition prior to any reveal. Notes, thoughts, and conclusions were all from before we knew what was what. Needless to say, some of my conclusions were surprising to me. Tasting notes may be a little unusual since they were being tasted at the same time and could have influenced the perceptions of one another.

Giant Charmer (Four Roses)

Purchase Info: $29.99 for a 1.75-liter bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.86

Details: 40% ABV.

Nose: Vanilla, mint, and caramel.

Mouth: A little thin on the mouth. Notes of vanilla, caramel, mint, and after a moment, cinnamon.

Finish: On the gentle side. Notes of cinnamon linger.

Thoughts:  This isn't bad. Wouldn't be my first choice but I wouldn't turn it down if offered.

Barrel Shakes (Old Crow)

Purchase Info: $21.99 for a 1.75-liter bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.63

Details: 40% ABV. Aged “for a full 3 years.”

Nose: Buttered popcorn and yeast bread.

Mouth: This is weird. Brown sugar, cinnamon, and an oddly chemical oak note.

Finish: Longer than I'd like. Oddly bitter.

Thoughts: If you had never had bourbon, had it described for you by someone who didn't like it, and then tried to make a bourbon using only their description as a guide, you would make this bourbon.

Winner: Giant Charmer and it isn't even close. Four Roses gets their first win on their fourth try. They will be advancing to round 2.

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Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2022: Round 1: Evan Williams 1783 vs. Winchester

Here we go! Let’s get down to the competitions. I hope that you guys are as excited by this as I am. Round 1 of the 2022 BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets opens with Division 2 Number 1 seed Evan Williams 1783 versus Number 4 seed Winchester. 

These are two newcomers to the contest, at least in their current forms. Evan Williams 1783 recently went through a reformulation that gave it a proof bump. And for its opponent, well, I’ve never allowed a TerrePURE product in previously. In fact, I almost disqualified Winchester right up to the moment of our tasting because of the TerrePURE process. But then, I remembered that TerrePURE claimed early on that they were not trying to make high-end bourbons, but were instead looking to compete with budget whiskeys. In that case, then there was no contest they belong in more.

So, first up is the small-batch version of the number two selling bourbon in the country. Looking good in its svelte new outfit, and competing under the name Quark Juggler, we have Evan Williams 1783!

And their opponent is a collaboration between Total Wine and TerrePURE. Aged for two years before being subjected to fancy scientific processes, please welcome Winchester Bourbon!

All of the competitions this year were tasted blind and we knew the winner of the competition prior to any reveal. Notes, thoughts, and conclusions were all from before we knew what was what. Needless to say, some of my conclusions were surprising to me. Tasting notes may be a little unusual since they were being tasted at the same time and could have influenced the perceptions of one another.

Quark Juggler (Evan Williams 1783)

Purchase Info: $29.99 for a 1.75-liter bottle, MGM Wine & Spirits, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.86

Details: 45% ABV.

Nose: Mint, orange, cinnamon, and a dusty note.

Mouth: Cinnamon candies, oak, and honey.

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Notes of oak and cinnamon.

Thoughts:  Warm with lots of spicy baking spices. Tasty.

Horse Jacket (Winchester)

Purchase Info: $34.97 for a 1.75-liter bottle, MGM Wine & Spirits, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $1.00

Details: 45% ABV. Aged 2 years.

Nose: Wintergreen, caramel, vanilla, and almond.

Mouth: Smokey brown sugar and wintergreen.

Finish: Robust and kinda bitter. Very perfumey.

Thoughts: It's a minty bourbon. some people love those, some hate them. I'm mostly ok with them. This one however just feels off somehow. It's as if all the pieces for a tasty bourbon are there, they were just put together in the wrong order.

Winner: I feel like this had the opportunity to be a very close matchup. Because there is so much inconsistency at the lowest end of the price scale, we often get a powerfully flavored 90° proof versus an 80° proof that is thin and watery. But not here. Both of these were full-flavored, robust bourbons. The problem was in the nature of that robust flavor. Horse Junkie was so minty that it felt just weird in the mouth. Very reminiscent of Pepto-Bismol. Just way too overpowering on the wintergreen note.

Quark Juggler doesn't so much win this as Horse Jacket loses it. Quark Juggler or Evan Williams 1783 is advancing to round 2.

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9th Annual BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets: The Handles (Without Handles) Edition

Arctic Mama versus Sonic Berry? Quark Juggler versus Horse Jacket? Hamburger Arcade?

Eric, have you lost your damn fool mind? What kind of nonsense are you spewing?

Well, I thought that this year I’d give you a peek behind the curtain as to how we do these brackets every year. We used to do an entire convoluted routine so that we could both have a blind tasting. It involved people leaving the room. Pieces of paper. Cyphers. It was very confusing, and if you made a mistake (or just needed more whiskey to help you make a decision) there was no way to recreate what happened.

But nowadays, we have an ever so simple process. I seed the whiskey in the bracket. Then I pour 200 mL bottles of each of the contestant whiskeys and label them with a nonsense name. Finally, I make a separate bracket with the nonsense names and give that and the 200 mL bottles to my wife. After that, she takes care of everything. She has no idea what is in each bottle due to the nonsense name. She pours and keeps track of the winners while we do our tastings. And all I need to do is taste and write. It’s a pretty slick system.

And it means that everything is a true surprise. When we finished the final tasting and revealed who won each round, there were real surprises. It was more fun for us than when we knew who was in each tasting but didn’t know which glass was which whiskey.

So who are the participants and how did they get chosen? Well, every year I try to put in limitations that will force me to choose a new set of participants. Well, mostly new, anyway. This year I limited myself to only whiskeys that are available in handles (1.75 L bottles for those unaware of the term). Now trends in packaging have made it so that the term “handle” is not really appropriate anymore. I can’t think of a single “handle” that actually has a handle on it these days. A grip maybe, but not a handle. And many don’t even have that. But in any case, I like the shorthand of not needing to say 1.75-liter bottle.

Here are the rules that governed who was chosen. These are based on the same rules that I’ve used for most of the prior eight editions of this contest.

1. It has to be Straight Bourbon Whiskey. No blends or whatever. And if it is straight and doesn’t say it? Too bad. If the words Straight Bourbon Whiskey don’t appear on the label you are not qualified. A man needs standards after all.

2. My usual rules state that bottles need to be $15 or under for a 750 mL bottle or under $20 for a liter bottle. Following the math, that means handles need to be under $35.

3. Participants were seeded based on age and then proof. If you are over four years old, you don’t need to put the age on the label. Under that and you are required to say how old it is. If you stated the age and didn’t need you, you would get a nod. If you did it because you were required to, then someone else got the nod over you. After that, higher proof means a higher seed.

4. These were tasted completely blind. Until the final tasting was completed, neither my wife nor I had any clue what was in each bottle.

And now that we know how they got here, let’s meet the contestants under their real names. The number one overall seed is Arctic Mama otherwise known as Heaven Hill’s Evan Williams Bottled in Bond. As the highest proof entrant in the four-year-old or older age range, it gets the first seed. It starts out going against Sonic Berry aka Colonel Lee. An old brand that is now listed as being bottled by Barton Brands. It was chosen by a coin flip as one of three bottles that were three years old and 80° proof. The number two seed is the Giant Charmer, Four Roses who will be facing off against Beam Suntory’s Old Crow, aka Barrel Shakes.

Across the way in Division Two, we have Quark Juggler or Evan Williams 1783 in the number one spot facing off against Total Wine’s TerrePURE brand Winchester otherwise known as Horse Jacket. Finally, we have the most expensive entry, a bottling from IJW Whiskey, coming in one penny under the rules at $34.99 in Hamburger Arcade or McFarlane’s Reserve going up against the least expensive entry in Laird’s Banker’s Club Bourbon (Fire Pirate) which I bought for under $20 for the handle.

A lot of new faces this time. Only three have been here before in the form they are now. Evan Williams 1783 has competed previously but has undergone a proof bump and reformulation since then. This one was a lot of fun. Who you got? Any upsets that you see on the horizon? Let us know down in the comments.

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