Ancient Age 90 Proof

October 28, 2021 Eric Burke

I love getting emails from readers. You guys are literally the only thing that keeps me going as this is not, and never will be, a profit center for me. Between hosting, domain registration, email accounts, and of course purchasing new and interesting bourbons for review? Well, let’s just say that if the time comes where I need to really look at making cuts to the budget, the thousands of dollars per year that I spend on this site will be one of the first things thought of for the ol’ chopping block.

And you guys write in for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes to correct me, which I appreciate. Many times to give me the ol’ attaboy, which I love. And occasionally one of you will write in with a request for the type of thing you’d want to see covered in upcoming posts, which is super helpful.

Sometimes the requests are for certain brands, but by far the most common of request is for more coverage of inexpensive bourbons. I like that suggestion. I’m a frugal guy. To be honest, the main reason that I don’t cover more inexpensive bourbons is not because I don’t like them, but because after doing the Bottom Shelf Brackets for so many years, I’ve basically run out of them. Or at least ones sold locally that aren’t TerrePure. I’m never knowingly putting that shit in my mouth again.

So I knew it was going to make at least a few of you very happy when, on my last trip to Kentucky, I saw a 375 mL bottle of a whiskey that I’d never had before. And one from a beloved producer at that. I’ve never picked up the 90 proof version of Ancient Age before. I’d had the 80 proof numerous times. I’d had the 10- year-old back in the day. I’m unconvinced that I’ve had the Ancient Age 10-Star bourbon. I just can’t remember. But I knew I had never had the 90 proof. So I picked it up. This is distributed in Kentucky, Tennessee, and parts of West Virginia.

Ancient Age 90 proof

Purchase Info: $6.49 for a 375 mL bottle at Liquor Barn, Louisville, KY

Price per Drink (50 mL): $0.87

Details: 45% ABV. 3- years-old.

Nose: Delicate on the nose. Notes of caramel, vanilla, red fruits and baking spice.

Mouth: Spicy cinnamon touched with cocoa powder, mint, dried grains, dried fruits, and vanilla.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Notes of cinnamon, red fruits, and caramel.

Thoughts: While this won't win many awards, it is nothing to turn your nose up at. At only three years old and less than $1 per pour, this is much spicier than I had anticipated. Especially as I've had the 80 proof that is sold here in Minnesota and it has next to no spice to it. For the price, I like it. I'd probably reach for Very Old Barton first, but if I'm in a Buffalo Trace kind of mood, but don't have a Buffalo Trace kind of budget, then this'll do in a pinch. Kinda gets lost in an Old Fashioned but would work ok in a Whiskey Sour.

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Just A Bunch of Things I Found on Vacation

October 12, 2021 Eric Burke

IMAGE: A map with collectable lapel pins in it focusing on the states of Kentucky and Tennessee

I am an impulse buyer. Sure, I can make it through a grocery checkout line without buying a candy bar. But it isn’t likely that I will leave a liquor store, festival or distillery without buying at least something. Here are a few of the ones I picked up last month while visiting Tennessee and Kentucky. Even though some of them travelled almost as far as I did to get there.

Lincoln County Reserve Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup

Until my teenage years, we never bought syrup. My family made it. We tapped the trees and boiled the sap into syrup. But then we had a fire and the sugar shack we boiled sap in burned down. And since it was a collaboration between my grandparents and one of their cousins, the shack never got replaced. My brother has decided to carry on the tradition though, in order to teach his kids. I however buy mine from a 92-year-old lady who has been making it forever.

So, one could say that I am quite the connoisseur of maple syrup. Either that or you could say that I’ve been spoiled by amazing maple syrup my entire life. And I’m pretty biased. I really do think that the best maple syrup comes from the upper midwest. Fight me Canada. That said, I do like trying new things and so when I saw Lincoln County Reserve selling Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, I knew that a bottle would be coming home with me. And funny thing, that syrup was made in Wisconsin. Merrill, Wisconsin, a city of fewer than 10,000 people and an innumerable number of maple trees. This bourbon was aged in 10 gallon used bourbon barrels from Distillery 291 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

But is it any good? In a word, yes! It’s buttery with a nice bourbon flavor. The bourbon is not overpowering bringing a lot of brown sugar and caramel notes. It has a great mouthfeel, nice and thick. And let me tell you, it is amazing on French Toast and sausage. Highly recommended.

Freddie's Old Fashioned Root Beer

Let me tell you about my college life. I had a wife, a kid, a job, and a major that was deceptively time-consuming. You might think that a fine art degree would be a cakewalk, but at least at the university I went to, you’d be wrong. Multiple all-nighters per week were extremely common as, due to our finances, I tried to fit a five-year plan for college into as few quarters as possible. One way we saved money was by renting an old farmhouse about a half-hour outside of town. Honestly, it was a pretty nice place. It was maintained by the local student-housing property management company. Meaning it was not maintained at all except by the elderly owner who was paying the property management company to, supposedly, do all of that for him.

Anyway, this farm was near a very small village of about 800 people. There was one grocery store, though it didn’t carry much. But one thing it did carry was Dr. McGillicuddy’s Root Beer Soda. I had no idea that the liqueur brand had lent its name to a soda, but every time I went to that tiny store for something, a bottle of that root beer came out with me. Eventually, I finished college, moved, and couldn’t find anywhere that carried the stuff. Until I first visited the Buffalo Trace Distillery. Apparently, Sazerac was the producer of that root beer, and one of the few places it could be purchased was at the distillery. I was super happy to pick up a six-pack every time I visited.

In 2019, Sazerac rebranded that root beer after beloved tour guide Freddie Johnson. He is a great guy and this is a great root beer. So I think it is a great match. But how does it taste? Caramel at first, followed by wintergreen. Unlike some root beers, the wintergreen is not overpowering though. This is subtle. After that is vanilla. The vanilla lasts long after you swallow. The thing that makes this so good is how well-balanced these flavors are. They're melded together so well that it is hard to tell where one ends and another begins. It has a nice creamy mouthfeel as well. This is my favorite root beer. A good part of that is nostalgia, but let an old man have that, ok?

IMAGE: The pink labeled bottle of MB Roland Dark Cherry Moonshine

MB Roland Kentucky Dark Cherry Moonshine

This was a gift from my friends at MB Roland, but I found a great use for it so I wanted to share. Thought I’d mention that since everything else on this post was purchased.

The folks at MB Roland are some of the nicest people I’ve met. And one side effect of them being so nice, I gave their whiskey a try shortly after they opened. That whiskey was the start of my personal whiskey journey. So I guess what I’m saying is that if you enjoy reading BourbonGuy.com, on some level you have them to thank.

We visited them while on vacation, spent the afternoon just hanging out, and since they are good friends we were given a bottle of MB Roland Dark Cherry Moonshine. Something we hadn’t tried before. I’m a big fan of this in cocktails. Especially this Cherry Manhattan from FoodandWine.com. Scroll down the page, it’s worth it. But since this could be consumed alone, let’s give it the ol’ tasting notes treatment.

Ripe, dark cherries on the nose. The month is sweet with a strong, natural dark cherry flavor. No artificial flavors or cough syrup flavors here. Very little alcohol flavor so be careful drinking neat if you really love cherries. Works great in cocktails like the one above. I could also see this playing nicely with lime juice in a cocktail or even a highball. It does need to be refrigerated after opening, but a little fridge space is a small price to pay for delicious cocktails.

IMAGE: a tiny bottle of Old Forester Oleo-Saccharum.

Old Forester Oleo-Saccharum Lemon Oil Syrup

I first heard about Oleo Saccharum in David Wonderich’s book Punch. I reviewed it here. Spoiler, I really liked it. It’s basically sugar and lemon peels left together until the sugar draws the lemon oils out of the peels and dissolves in it, creating a syrup. Easy to do, if a little time-consuming. So it was with interest that I saw this little bottle of premade Oleo-Saccharum at the Old Forester Distillery Gift Shop in Louisville, KY. I was staying in the Whiskey Row Lofts which are basically upstairs and had the thought that I might make a few cocktails with it. I did not and so it came home with me.

But what did I think of it once I did open it? It has a strong lemon nose. It’s very sweet and lemony on the mouth when you taste it by itself. It does really well in the champagne cocktail on the bottle (1 oz bourbon, 0.5 oz syrup, 4.5 oz brut sparkling wine, ice, lemon twist). It’s good, but at the end of the day, a lemon oleo-saccharum is too easy to make for me to buy this again. Especially since you use a quarter of the bottle for one cocktail. Maybe if I was on the road, travelling. But not for home use.

Sample Roulette: The I'm Still Tired from Vacation Edition

July 1, 2021 Eric Burke

As I said earlier this week, I didn’t have the time, opportunity, or desire to do much whiskey tasting while on vacation last week. The weather was hot. I really lucked out on the timing of the trip, having it land right in the middle of a very unusual and long-lasting heat wave. The first week had temps over 105 every day. Which meant getting up before dawn to visit Utah’s lovely National Parks before the heat became dangerous.

Let me tell you, I’ve seldom loved a hotel room’s cooling system more than I did during this trip.

Of course, we got to see beautiful sunrises this way. Sunrise at Arches National Park is a sight to behold. So was the one we watched from a hot air balloon 1000 feet over Moab. We didn’t see the sunrise in Lake Powell, but we did get to drive fast in a rented speed boat and go swimming in a couple hundred feet of flooded canyon. That helped beat the heat as well. Plus sleeping in until the sun came up gave us the time in the evening to sip on a few blind surprises while we watched the sun set from our hotel room.

As before, these samples were all laid down between 2011 and 2017. The labels were covered up in September of 2020. And they have lived in a box untouched since, except for the occasional adventuresome sip now and then. They made a fun vacation sip too. I mean you’re out on an adventure, it is only fitting that your nightly tipple be an adventure as well.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 1:

Nose: Delicate nose. Hints of caramel, vanilla, and mint.

Mouth: Mint, baking spices and fruit notes.

Finish: Medium in heat and length. Lingering notes of dried grain and cinnamon.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is ok. Not great, not terrible, just kinda meh. I'll probably finish the pour, but probably won't be sad to see it go.

Reveal: Ezra Brooks

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Wow! Super shocked on this one. This has gotten so much better since I put this sample away!

Blind Whiskey Sample # 2:

Nose: Caramel, cherry, pipe tobacco.

Mouth: Cinnamon, caramel, smoke, and floral fruit.

Finish: Smoky and spicy. Lingering warm notes.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is yummy. Going to have to fight my wife for the rest of this one. Lol.

Reveal: George Dickel 9-Year-old Private Selection from Ace Spirits (2014)

Post-Reveal Thoughts: It just goes to show how much our palates change over time. When I reviewed this back in 2014, I thought it was a bit too hot for my tastes. Now, though it had some heat on it, it was certainly within acceptable levels. I didn’t even think to add water as I finished it in the hotel. Of course, there are a lot more options for Barrel Strength whiskey out there these days to help build your tolerance.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 3:

Nose: Floral vanilla, caramel, and fruit.

Mouth: Spicy. Cinnamon, vanilla, black tea, and hints of fruit.

Finish: Warm and medium length. Lingering mint, black tea, and floral fruit.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is quite good. I'm really enjoying it. Nice floral fruitiness and vanilla.

Reveal: Ancient Ancient Age 10 year old.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Oh, do I miss the days when you could get a handle of 10-year-old whiskey for a decent price. Scratch that. I miss when you could get a 10-year-old whiskey from Buffalo Trace for a decent price, whether it came in a handle or not. This is a bourbon that was better than I remembered. Sadly, when this was put away we were spoiled with an abundance of aged bourbon. It was less good than other 10-year-old bourbons when it was discontinued, but is still a damn sight better than much of the bourbon on the shelf today. For that, I savored this pour after the reveal. Made me a bit nostalgic, as you can see.

Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2021: Round 1: Ezra Brooks vs. Benchmark

March 18, 2021 Eric Burke

IMAGE: Two bottles of Bourbon, Ezra Brooks 90 proof and Benchmark.

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 2021 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets opens with Division 1 Number 1 seed Ezra Brooks versus Number 4 seed Benchmark.

An interesting thing about both of these products is that neither of the brands originated with their current producers. Benchmark was a Seagram’s brand and Ezra Brooks was created by Frank Silverman in 1957 as a brand to directly compete with Jack Daniels. Current iterations are produced by Buffalo Trace and Lux Row Distillers respectively.

So, first up is the flagship product, and namesake of the Ezra Brooks lineup, and a long-time product of the Luxco/Lux Row. Spawning two current line extensions (Old Ezra 7 Year Barrel Proof and Ezra Brooks 99) and even more discontinued ones, please welcome to the stage the one that started them all: Ezra Brooks!

And their opponent is a true bottom-shelf release. Produced by the Buffalo Trace Distillery and aged for only three years before bottling, please welcome: Benchmark 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.

Whiskey 1 (Ezra Brooks)

Purchase Info: $12.99 for a 1-liter bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.65

Details: 45% ABV.

Nose: Spearmint, dried grain, and vanilla.

Mouth: Cinnamon red hots, spearmint, and just a hint of dried grain.

Finish: Sweet and Spicy. Cinnamon red hots and spearmint linger.

Thoughts: This is a relatively spicy one. A nice flavor of cinnamon red hots playing with spearmint.

Whiskey 2 (Benchmark)

Purchase Info: $13.49 for a 1-liter bottle, MGM Wine & Spirits, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.67

Details: 40% ABV.

Nose: Caramel, buttered popcorn, and a hint of vanilla.

Mouth: Caramel, cinnamon, and milk chocolate.

Finish: Warm and medium length. Follows the month with cinnamon, caramel, and milk chocolate.

Thoughts: Sweet like a piece of candy. this is nice. Uncomplicated but very nice.

Winner: Whiskey 2 has a thinner mouthfeel and a candy-like flavor. Whiskey 1 is spicier and drier. If #2 had the mouthfeel and complexity of # 1, it would be the clear winner. Same if #1 had the sweetness of #2. As it stands each of these has a lot going for it, but also has one aspect that holds me back from an easy decision. In the end, I think the spicy cinnamon and nicer mouthfeel gives #1 an edge over #2. I look forward to finishing both of these bottles, but #1 is advancing to round 2.

IMAGE: The Bracket as it stands so far. Ezra Brooks beats Benchmark in Round 1a.

8th Annual BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets: The "Find Joy in the Ordinary" Edition

March 16, 2021 Eric Burke

IMAGE: A screen capture of the time with the words “Find Joy in the Ordinary” below it.

I like to use a Chrome plugin called Momentum as a home screen for my instance of the Chrome browser. It has a new pretty photo every day. It tells me the time, local weather, and helps me with my to-do list. Recently it started showing “Mantras” below the time. I found the one pictured above to be particularly meaningful. “Find Joy in the Ordinary.”

It’s sometimes hard to do as a bourbon lover, finding joy in the ordinary. The entire purpose of a site like this is to give people a sense of what is new and exciting. Even if it is only new and exciting to me. So, this year I’ve made a commitment to myself to step back a little and to do what the computer screen told me to do. Find Joy in the Ordinary.

And, perfect timing, it’s time for the Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets again. Maybe it is just me, but I haven’t heard a lot of talk about the NCAA tournament this year…and I’m fully willing to admit that it may be because my beloved Golden Gophers were bad enough this year that the coach was fired at the end of the season. I might just be hiding from any news that has to do with the yearly basketball tournament.

Of course, as long-time readers know, I don’t really like basketball anyway. In fact, this series was started eight years ago as a way to play along with all the folks around me filling out their brackets, while not caring about basketball.

In recent years, I’ve gotten caught up in the excitement of more “interesting” bourbons. Two years ago, I decided to let the readers choose who participated. Last year, I threw out the concept of “Bottom-Shelf” entirely. But this year, following the advice of the computer screen, I’ve decided to find joy in the ordinary. And as such, I’m going old-school on this one. Back to the original rules. Back to some really “ordinary” bourbons. Things that would have been participants from the first few years before I started messing with the rules.

Here are the rules:

In keeping with the theme, it had to be “ordinary.” No Single barrel, no small batch. No Bottled in Bond. Anything that might be used to call something special was thrown out. This is for true entry-level bourbons.
The original rules stated that it had to be under $15 for a 750 mL bottle or under $20 for a liter bottle. I decided to keep that.
The original rules also stated that entries had to be Straight Bourbon Whiskey. I saw no reason to change that.
Participants were seeded based on proof and then age. Higher proof equals a higher seeding. If you stated a bourbon’s age when you didn’t have to, you got a nod over those, at the same proof, who didn’t. If you stated a bourbon’s age because you were young enough that the law required it, someone else got the nod over you.
These were tasted blind. I had no idea what each of the participants was when I tasted them. I poured 200mL bottles of each bourbon. I labeled them with an alphanumeric code and then filled out an initial bracket with those codes. Until we were finished I never saw the bracket or the bottles that were being poured again. My wife (who didn’t know which code corresponded to each bourbon) poured each round and filled out the winners in secret.

So, let’s meet the 2021 competition, shall we? Coming in at the number one overall seed is Ezra Brooks from Lux Row Distillery. This seeding comes down to proof, at 90 proof, this was the highest proof bourbon in the competition. They will initially match up against number four seed, Benchmark Bourbon from Buffalo Trace. At only “36 months” and 80 proof, this was the lowest seed in the competition. Rounding out Division One is a matchup between Heaven Hill’s Evan Williams Black Label and BeamSuntory’s Jim Beam White Label. Due to being 86 proof, Evan Williams was the second seed and due to stating its age, Jim Beam White gets the nod over other 80 proof offerings to take the first number three seed.

Over in Division Two, we have Very Old Barton (86 proof) from the Barton 1792 Distillery as the number one seed. They match up against Beam Suntory’s number four seed Old Grand Dad (80 Proof). In the second matchup, we have number two seed Wild Turkey (81 proof) against number three seed Rebel Yell from Lux Row.

This should be fun. Let’s go find joy in ordinary bourbon. So who’ve you got? Let everyone know down in the comments.

Sample Roulette: Tasting 5 Blind Samples

September 10, 2020 Eric Burke

I used to keep a lot of small sample bottles of whiskey. Until one day, I didn’t. I stopped mostly because the overwhelming urge to never finish a bottle had worn off. I’d finish the bottle without remembering to put aside a sample of it. I summed up my reasoning for initially keeping samples pretty nicely back in 2017 so I’m just going to let Past Me do some of the work for a moment.

There was a time, not so long ago in the grand scheme of things, that I fell victim to a touch of hoarding. Whiskey hoarding to be exact. I had the urge to make sure I never finished a bottle. I had some vague thought that I might never have that whiskey again. And if I never actually finished the bottle, I could still have it anytime I wanted.

Yes, I imagined the nostalgia I would have in the future for the time I was currently living in. If that is confusing for you, try living it. As part of my need to deal with my, then undiagnosed, anxiety disorder I decided that I was worrying too much about what was still in the bottles. And so I came up with the plan to set aside two sample bottles from each bottle of whiskey I opened. I told myself it was for the blog. It was for posterity. It was long term research to see if things changed over time. But I was really trying to put off that future regret and nostalgia.

Now back in 2017, I realized that this wasn’t something I needed to do any longer. So, I decided to split my samples between those that I was going to drink immediately and those that I might have a use for in the future. I wasn’t exactly sure what use that might be, but I figured that was a problem for Future Me to deal with.

Now, these samples were sitting pretty high up and pretty far back in the old whiskey closet. To be honest I’d forgotten about them until I started pulling out the old bottles of Four Roses Limited Small Batch. As I pulled the five or six boxes of bottles out, I came to a conclusion.

I didn’t need these anymore.

And as I looked through the bottles, I had a thought. Seeing as it is Bourbon Heritage Month, I might as well start drinking some “heritage” bourbon. Well, if you can call samples from 2011-2017 “heritage,” that is. And what is more fun than drinking a sample of bourbon? That’s right. Not knowing ahead of time what bourbon it is or if it is any good or not.

I mean, I had things mostly set up for a lot of fun blind tastings, anyway. I had limited editions sitting next to bottom-shelf turds. I had ryes, bourbons, and Irish whiskey all mingled together. I had craft distiller experiments sitting next to brands almost as old as bourbon itself. All sitting in identical bottles. And all I needed to do was put a little piece of tape over the label to completely obscure what I was pouring into my glass.

So I did. And then I thought that since it is Bourbon Heritage month, maybe you guys would like to come along for the ride with us.

Blind Whiskey Sample #1:

Nose: Mint, garden greens, caramel.

Mouth: Cinnamon, caramel, mint, snap peas.

Finish: Short and mercifully so. Cinnamon, oak, and more snap peas.

Thoughts: Not exactly sure why I decided that I needed to save a sample from every bottle back then... but I did and you get to enjoy my discomfort. Yeah, this one is not good. Snap peas are not a note I look for in bourbon. This one would have been better off being used for flavored whiskey.

Reveal: Old Crow Reserve.

Blind Whiskey Sample #2:

Nose: Cinnamon, cola, oak.

Mouth: Oak, cinnamon, cedar, cola, ginger, mint.

Finish: On the longer side of medium. Lingering notes of cedar, ginger, mint, and after everything else fades, coffee.

Thoughts: This is really good. I'm digging it. A very nice rye whiskey. Kinda wishing I could go back in time to snag another of whatever this is. Who knows, maybe it's still for sale.

Reveal: Col. E. H. Taylor Bottled in Bond Rye

Blind Whiskey Sample #3:

Nose: Peanut butter, clove, caramel.

Mouth: Follows the nose. Sweet. Peanut butter, caramel, and cinnamon.

Finish: Short side of medium. More peanut butter, cinnamon, butterscotch, and a touch of dried grain.

Thoughts: This really reminds me of peanut-brittle. It's very sweet. Almost too sweet. Very candy-like. Dessert in a glass. I'm very interested to see what this is because I can't quite place it.

Reveal: JW Dant Bottled in Bond.

Blind Whiskey Sample #4

Nose: Cedar, mint, cherry pipe tobacco.

Mouth: Follows the nose with cedar, mint, cherry pipe tobacco and cinnamon.

Finish: Medium to short. Cinnamon, mint, tobacco.

Thoughts: I'm going to guess this is a fine example of a producer who bought some 95% rye from MGP and dumped it in a bottle. Of course, since I am a big fan of MGP rye, I only ever minded that if said producer lied about it. And since this is from back when folks were doing that, I'm guessing I was irritated by this one. In any case, I like this one a lot.

Reveal: James E. Pepper 1776 Rye, 6 year old.

Blind Whiskey Sample #5

Nose: Ripe fruits, baking spice, bubblegum.

Mouth: Thin mouthfeel. Strong ripe fruit notes. Cinnamon.

Finish: Medium length and warm. Cherry (almost like cherry cough syrup), cinnamon.

Thoughts: This is either a Brandy or a bourbon that was barrel finished. If it is a brandy, cool. Tastes like brandy. If barrel-finished they overshot the mark because the finish took over. If it isn't either, then hell, I don't know. I do know I don't think I care for this one.

Reveal: New Holland Beer Barrel Bourbon.

Well, there you have it. The first set of blind tastings. I’m sure that there will be more in the future because I had a lot of fun with this. I really enjoyed the two ryes and the Dant. I bought Beer Barrel Bourbon exactly once, and now I think I remember why. And I have two questions on the Old Crow Reserve: why did I feel like I needed to save this? And why did I feel the need to save it a second time? Not to worry though…this time it got dumped out after tasting notes were finished.

Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2020: Round 1: Buffalo Trace vs. Old Forester 100 proof

March 31, 2020 Eric Burke

IMAGE: Old Forester 100 proof versus Buffalo Trace

Tonight we finish Round 1 of the 2020 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets. Tonight’s competition is between Division 2 Number 2 seed Old Forester 100 proof and Number 3 seed Buffalo Trace. By a strange coincidence, this is a repeat matchup of last year. In that competition, Old Forester won. Let’s see if my taste buds (and the producers) are at all consistent from year to year.

So here we go. First up: the Pride of Louisville, the first Bottled Bourbon, let’s welcome to the stage: Old Forester 100 proof!

And their opponent is the Pride of Frankfort. The bourbon that’s so good they decided to name the distillery after it: Buffalo Trace!

We strive to have a clean competition so these were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal and may be a little unusual since they were being tasted at the same time and may influence one another.

Whiskey 1 (Buffalo Trace)

Purchase Info: $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 45% ABV.

Nose: Dried mint leaves, vanilla sugar, cinnamon.

Mouth: Vanilla sugar, caramel, cinnamon, oak.

Finish: Medium length. Mint, cinnamon, oak.

Whiskey 2 (Old Forester 100 proof)

Purchase Info: $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Bubble gum, almond, citrus peel.

Mouth: Almond, cinnamon, clove, hint of orange.

Finish: Longer side of medium. Almond, cinnamon.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: Whiskey number one is sweeter and a bit of a cinnamon bomb. Whiskey number two is super enjoyable in a holistic way. The "heat" or "burn" is better which adds to the enjoyment of the product. Which ultimately is what decided this one. I like the flavor of whiskey one better and if it had the heat of whiskey two, it would be the clear winner. But it doesn't and this is close enough that I am weighting overall experience higher than just flavor. So whiskey two is the winner here.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: In another case of proof making the difference in a head to head matchup Old Forester 100 proof advances to Round 2, just like last year. Buffalo Trace put up a good fight in this one, but the Old Forester brought the heat and that made the experience more enjoyable.

Make your guesses and check back next time to see who comes out on top.

IMAGE: Round One is done: Old Forester 100 Proof advances!

7th Annual BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets: The Not-So-Bottom-Shelf Edition

March 17, 2020 Eric Burke

IMAGE: 8 bottles of Bourbon face off. Four Roses, Maker’s Mark, Elijah Craig, Wild Turkey 101, Knob Creek, Old Forester 100 proof, Buffalo Trace and Very Old Barton 86 proof

So, wow. A lot has happened in the last few weeks, huh?

A couple of weeks ago, I got the bright idea that I wanted to up the level of competition this year on the Bottom-Shelf Brackets. At the time it wasn’t for any real reason, I just thought it might be fun. Over the previous six years, we’ve explored the best of worst that bourbon has to offer. And, if we are being honest, some of the worst of the worst as well. This year, I had the idea to do something a little different.

In the past, I’ve had a definition of “bottom-shelf” that ranged from $15-$18 (or under) per 750, $20-$24 per liter and $35 per 1.75 liter. That definition got me a lot of entries by Heaven Hill and Jim Beam but only a couple from any other distilleries. I had one year where half of the entrants were Jim Beam products and another where half were from Heaven Hill. So this year I decided to limit each distillery to one entrant.

Of course, not all distilleries have products that meet the definitions that I had defined for “Bottom-Shelf.” So what was I to do? Well, for this year, I’ve decided to throw out any pretense that this is a competition between “bottom-shelf” bourbons. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to go all-in and jump to the top of the price point. I mean, this is still a contest about being frugal.

That and I have to buy all of these things and I am still a freelancer…

So, here are the new rules:

One entry per distillery
Purchased for under $25. No matter the size. No matter if it was on sale.
Available in the Twin Cities metro area.

That’s it. As a general guideline, I tried to find the “best” offering from each distillery at the price point. Once I purchased all the entrants, I needed to seed them into brackets. For that, I usually use proof and stated age, but since all of these are non-age stated, I went by proof and then flipped a coin when two were the same proof. In order to maintain balanced divisions, I alternated which division chooses first, so Division One got to chose first on the first round, but Division Two got to choose first on the second round, then One on the third and back to Two on the fourth.

So let’s meet the competition in this “Not-So-Bottom-Shelf” Bracket, shall we? It should come as no surprise that I was able to find entrants from Jim Beam, Heaven Hill, Wild Turkey, and Barton 1792. Each of these has produced winners in the past. In fact, some of those past winners are represented this year in Division Two, number four seed Very Old Barton 86 proof and Division One, number one seed Wild Turkey 101 proof. But I was a bit shocked to find that the Heaven Hill entry was Division One, number two seed Elijah Craig and that the Jim Beam entry was Division Two, number one seed Knob Creek. Though I’ve been able to find Knob Creek for about $25 for a while now, so it really shouldn’t have been that surprising. Rounding out the rest of our entrants from Division One are number three seed Makers Mark and number four seed Four Roses. In Division Two are number two seed Old Forester 100 proof and number three seed Buffalo Trace.

I can’t wait for this one. It should be fun!

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