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

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:

1. One entry per distillery

2. Purchased for under $25. No matter the size. No matter if it was on sale.

3. 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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Maker's Mark Private Select: Liquor Barrel & LBWC Selection

So I’ve reviewed Maker’s Mark Private Select before, but this isn’t officially a “revisited” post. Two reasons: one is that it has only been a little under 800 days and I really try to go longer than that between those. But the main reason is that this is a private selection and because of how Private Select is made, there is very little overlap between selections made by different selectors.

Curious how it is made? Well, I did a pretty good intro to the product back when it was introduced, but let me summarize for you. Much like Maker’s 46, this is Maker’s Mark that has been “infused” with 10 finishing staves. Unlike Maker’s 46, there is more than one style of stave that can be used. In fact, there are five and the selector can choose any combination of 10 staves for their unique product. A summary of the staves and what they bring to the party are as follows:

• Baked American Pure 2 is an American oak stave designed to bring oak, vanilla, and sweetness to the finished product.

• Seared French Cuvée is a grooved French oak stave that was designed to bring butterscotch, caramel, and nuttiness.

• Maker's 46 is French oak designed to bring spicy vanilla. This is the same stave used for standard Maker's 46.

• Roasted French Mocha is French oak designed to bring dry, dark chocolate, coffee, and char notes.

• Toasted French Spice is also French oak and was designed to bring fruity Spice notes. 

Now, I’ve had Maker’s Mark Private Selects that I’ve really liked and some that I just found meh. Because everyone is a unique creation, buying these can be hit or miss. That said, I’ve had many more that I really liked than those that I found lacking so, at least for me, the track record is high enough that I keep buying them. And when I saw that my local corner liquor store had their own selection, and knowing that I have loved more of their private selections than I’ve liked, I knew I had to give this one a look.

And I decided to bring you along for the ride.

Maker's Mark Private Select Selection by Liquor Barrel Staff & LBWC

Purchase Info: $65.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Price per Drink (50ml): $4.40

Details: 54.45% ABV Staves: 3 Baked American Pure 2, 3 Seared French Cuvée, 1 Maker's 46, 1 Roasted French Mocha, 2 Toasted French Spice

Nose: Sandalwood, oak, baking spice, hints of caramel

Mouth: Spicy and warm with lots of oak, baking spice, and a hint of caramel

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Cinnamon oil, black tea, dark chocolate, and oak notes linger.

Thoughts: On the first pour of this one, I was convinced that I wasn’t a fan. I was getting a vegetal note to the finish. The oak was too prominent and it was just too hot for my tastes. Fast forward a couple of pours and things have settled down dramatically. The vegetal notes have transformed themselves into a black tea note. The overwhelming oak notes have subdued and been joined by dark chocolate notes. This is really good.

And this is why I try to never review anything from the first pour out of the bottle. Well, unless the bottle is small enough that there is only the first pour in there. You really need to live with a whiskey to see if you like it sometimes.

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Maker's Mark 101 Proof

I’d like to thank Maker's Mark for providing this sample to me with no strings attached.

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When Maker’s Mark introduced a 101 proof version of their famed redheaded whiskey as a Travel Retail Exclusive last year, I was irrationally disappointed. For some reason I wanted it very badly (probably because I’ve been a fan of Maker’s Mark for as long as I’ve been a fan of bourbon). Eventually, I realized that this disappointment was a bit silly. I mean I can go down to any of the liquor stores in town and walk out with Maker’s Cask Strength any time I want. And if I want to, I can dilute that to 101 proof with just a little math and even less water.

But of course, rational is one thing that most bourbon lovers (myself included) are not. So when I saw that the 101 proof was going to be sold at the Maker’s Mark distillery starting this summer, I reached out to them to see if they might have a sample to spare. I mean, most of us might hesitate to take an international flight to get a $50 bottle of bourbon. But you should probably be taking a trip to the Maker’s Mark distillery if you are in the area anyway. And as long as you are there anyway, I figured it might be nice to see if this would make a nice souvenir.

Maker’s Mark 101 proof

Nose: Nutmeg, brown sugar, vanilla, toffee.

Mouth: Sweet, toffee, vanilla, baking spice.

Finish: Warm and medium length. Lingering nutmeg and caramel sweetness.

Thoughts: If you are a Maker's fan, like I am, this is a must-have addition to your collection. It is sweet and loaded with baking spice flavors.

But ok, even if you are in the area, do you really need to make a trip to Maker’s? Can’t you just do what you mentioned above and dilute your Maker’s Cask Strength? Well I made a special trip to the liquor store so we can find out together.

Maker’s Mark Cask Strength (diluted to 101 proof)

Nose: Not as sweet on the nose, still has nutmeg.

Mouth: Thinner mouthfeel, less sweet.

Finish: Warmer finish, not as baking spice forward.

Thoughts: Contrary to my initial suspicions, you can't just "water down" Maker's Cask Strength and get Maker's 101. There is a distinct difference when comparing head-to-head. Both in sweetness and mouthfeel. Both of these are very good bourbons and I will certainly be adding a stop at the Maker's Mark distillery to my next Kentucky trip to see about getting a couple more bottles. And even after that, I will still be drinking my Cask Strength with a small piece of ice (which honestly probably brings it down to lower than 101 proof). Honestly, they are both great and I hope to have both on hand as much as possible.

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Scrappy's Bitters

A couple of months ago, I got a bottle of Legent™ from Jim Beam. Among the marketing materials that I received with the bottle was a book of cocktails that featured Legent™ as their main ingredient. As you might have guessed, I was intrigued. There was a problem though. I like cocktails, but I really only keep the ingredients on hand for those that I really like. Ones that I will make often. Unfortunately, the cocktails that come in marketing materials need to be unique in order to position the brand’s…

Ugh, I hate marketing speak so let’s just say they use a lot of ingredients that a normal person would not have on hand. Hell, many bars wouldn’t have some of these ingredients on hand. So when I decided that as part of the review I was going to try one of their featured cocktails, I chose the one that involved the least amount of spending on my part.

I chose the Kentucky Kyushiki mostly because the only thing I needed to buy was a bottle of bitters. That particular cocktail is basically a riff on an old fashioned. Just bourbon, flavored simple syrup and lavender bitters. Now, I had no idea where to find lavender bitters, but a quick search of the Total Wine website showed me that they had a sampler pack from Scrappy’s Bitters that had a bottle of Lavender Bitters in it. Yay!

So there went twenty dollars toward a half-ounce bottle of bitters that I wanted and three more that I really didn’t care about. And so, of course I decided to spend another twenty dollars on the other four pack so I could try their entire line. You know, for science. Or something.

When I test bitters, I tend to do it in the most reproducible way possible. Namely I make my favorite non-alcoholic drink (bitters and soda water) and then an old fashioned. Both are very simple drinks where the differences from drink to drink are solely from the bitters. I used Maker’s Mark as it is a pretty plain palette to paint the bitters across. The impressions below encapsulate both testing methods.

Scrappy's Bitters

Purchase Info: $20 each for two sample packs of four half ounce bottles each at Total Wine, Burnseville, MN.

Orleans: Strong anise notes on nose and mouth. Brings out a lot of spicy notes to a Maker's Mark old fashioned while maintaining the anise notes.

Aromatic: Cinnamon and clove flavors at the forefront, not as richly flavored as Angostura at the same dilution. Adds a little baking spice to the old fashioned. I'd choose Angostura over this.

Orange: Jellied orange slice candy, hints of spice. Maintains the orange candy flavor in the old fashioned. If you choose this over Regan's or Angostura orange, use it sparingly. The orange flavor easily overpowers Maker's. Though I wouldn’t choose it over either of those unless you really like orange candy flavors in your cocktail.

Celery: Strong celery notes on the nose and mouth. Almost salty tasting along with fizzy water. Adds an interesting herbal finish to the Maker's Old-fashioned. I mean that in the most minnesotan way possible. I do not like celery and this has a lot of celery. However in a rye old-fashioned, this sings. Really good pairing with the herbal notes of a good rye.

Grapefruit: Sweet Grapefruit on the nose. Generic citrus on the mouth. This reads as orange in the old fashioned. It actually works better as an orange bitters than the orange did.

Chocolate: Dark Chocolate nose. Milk chocolate and caramel mouth. This turns the old fashioned into a liquid candy bar. Nice dark chocolate notes on the finish.

Lavender: Floral lavender on nose and mouth. Mouth brings lemon zest. as well As to be expected, this adds a floral note to the Maker's old fashioned. Honestly this works better with Beam-branded products than it does with Maker’s.

Cardamom: As to be expected, cardamom notes predominate on both nose and mouth. This brings out a lot of baking spice to the old fashioned. Including a nice "Christmas note". Not sure I’d want this all the time, but I can see uses for it occasionally in the right cocktail.

Thoughts (After fizzy water): Most of these are fairly straightforward. For the most part these are pretty one-note affairs. For example the Orleans is just anise. As opposed to Peychaud's which has anise and other herbal and bitter notes, or the Orange which is just an orange candy flavor as opposed to the orange and spice melange of Angostura's Orange Bitters. In fact it seems many of these are lacking in much bitter flavor at all. They remind me of Fee Brothers in that respect. Great for use as a flavoring, but not really as a bittering agent.

Thoughts (After use in a Maker’s Mark Old Fashioned): Overall, I think the Orleans is my favorite. It takes your typical aromatic bitters note and adds a hit of anise which really elevates the drink. I like the lavender in the Kentucky Kyushiki and it works very nicely with Beam-branded bourbons. It also works nicely in a gin and tonic. Other than that, most of these I don’t know that I will find a use for. The orange and aromatic aren’t as good as the two big guys and the rest I’d only use every once in a while. As far as I'm concerned, the Orleans and the Lavender are the two I will continue to buy full bottles of, and the rest I’ll struggle to finish the half ounce bottle. As always your milage may vary.

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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!

My Maker's Mark Ambassador Experience

If you are new around here, I should tell you first and foremost that I am a fan of bourbon. I’m not an expert, though I’ve learned quite a bit in my fandom. I’m not a journalist, though occasionally I share a press release. I’m not 100% impartial, though I try my best to recognize my biases and account for them in my writing. I’m a fan. And much like I wear my favorite college team’s gear, I’m also a member of various bourbon fan clubs.

Clubs like the Maker’s Mark Ambassador program.

It was 2011 and I was on my first trip to Kentucky. Somehow, I had convinced my (then) non-bourbon-drinking wife that this was a great place to visit on our spring vacation. We did the entire Bourbon Trail (plus Buffalo Trace). This was back when tours were free and the entire trail consisted of only 6 stops. We visited Four Roses when its gift shop was the size of a closet, Wild Turkey before its current distillery was built and Jim Beam before they actually gave tours of more than just an aging warehouse. Back then, the only distillery that really seemed to understand the fan experience was Maker’s Mark. They took us on a tour that included the distillery, gave us a tasting and told us about the Ambassador program.

The Ambassador program, was described to us thusly:

1. Sign up on the computers in the giftshop.

2. Get in a queue to have your name engraved on a copper plate that is affixed to an aging barrel.

3. When your barrel comes of age, you’ll be invited to the distillery for a private tour and have the opportunity to buy a couple of bottles of Maker’s made from the contents of your barrel.

4. In the mean time, they will send you Christmas presents every year.

My wife and I both signed up (she was a confirmed bourbon drinker by the end of our weeklong trip). And the above is basically what happened. But along the way, we ran into a few snags. In our “welcome packet” were a few forms to allow us to sign up new Ambassadors. Unfortunately a computer snafu resulted in our information being replaced by the new signups. Which by the time we had it straightened out resulted in our first Christmas gift going to someone else and a two year wait to get our names on a barrel. It was only finally resolved by a polite email to Bill Samuels Jr.

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And then we were finally officially Ambassadors. We were getting cool gifts like an “Maker’s Ugly Sweater” for our bottles, a Maker’s Santa hat for our bottles, silly gift boxes, bottle mistletoe, and most recently socks with little Maker’s bottles on them. We were invited to Ambassador meet-ups at local liquor stores. We got emails detailing everything from the proof-lowering snafu to the release of Maker’s 46, Cask Strength, and Private Select.

Along the way, I started writing more. I got serious about being serious about bourbon. I started to feel like maybe I’d grown past the Ambassador club. But then, I got the email that our barrel was ready. I was like a kid on the night before Christmas. It was as if I was back in 2011 and everything was fun and I wasn’t nearly as jaded. It reminded me that I was a fan of bourbon first and someone that talks about it second.

So we took our trip to Kentucky and visited Maker’s Mark. We didn’t take the tour, because we’d been on so many over the years and it looked like it was just the regular group tour, but we did buy and dip our bottles. They had our names and Ambassador number on the label. The trip was fun. The visit was fun. The dipping was fun. We had fun. And to me, that’s what being a fan is all about.

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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!

Maker's 46: Revisited

Hey folks, this is going to be the last post of 2018 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 3rd, 2019. Until that time, I hope you have a very fun, yet safe, holiday season and I will see you in the new year.

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It has been one thousand, five hundred and seventy-seven days since I last did a tasting of Maker’s 46. About four hundred days later I featured the entire Maker’s Mark line (to that point) in the inaugural edition of the “If you’ve had…” series.

I’ve always had a fondness for Maker’s Mark. It is one of the few wheated bourbons (those that use wheat as the secondary grain instead of the typical rye) that I like to the point where I would buy it again. The last time I reviewed it, (right at review 50 or so) I said the following:

It’s like a spicy candy. And that makes me happy.

I’ve had this on the shelf quite a few times, and every time I do I think that I should buy it more often. Then of course, I forget about it in favor of the next new shiny thing. This is the first time that I’ve sat down to do a thoughtful tasting of it, though, since those first few posts. Let’s see if anything has changed other than the price, which in this case went down.

Maker’s 46: Revisited

Purchase Info: $25.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 47% ABV

Nose: Cherry, chocolate, vanilla, brown sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Mouth: Overflowing with baking spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves. There is a nice toffee sweetness baking them up.

Finish: Medium length and warm. The baking spice parade continues here with the spicy notes from the mouth hanging around for a nice long while.

Thoughts: Like I said above, I tend to forget about this one. No more. At roughly $25 per bottle, I think this needs to join the rotation of “everyday” bourbons on the shelf. This, Wild Turkey 101, and a Very Old Barton. Not a bad rotation.

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Maker's Mark: Seared Bu 1-3

I state in my Statement of Ethics that if I accept a review sample, I will disclose it at the beginning of the article. Please consider it disclosed. I’d like to thank Maker's Mark for providing this sample to me with no strings attached. As always, all thoughts are just my opinion and should be taken as just that.

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I have spent the last two evenings re-mulching the flower beds in front of my house. If I did it all at once, this would be a much more onerous task, but luckily the pick-up truck can only hold so many cubic yards of mulch. So I get to break it up into three much more manageable (though, to this out of shape drinker, still tiring) jobs. We like to get the ruby red mulch. Not only is it an attractive color, but it nicely accents the green plants that it surrounds. 

Does this have anything to do with tonight's whiskey? Not really. I just wanted to whine about my sore back for a bit. 

Well, maybe there is one connection. Red. Tonight I'm tasting a lovely limited edition, gift shop only, version of bourbon's favorite redhead, Maker's Mark. It is a sold out release, so I'm basically bragging at this point. But the knowledge of how good, or not, this release is might help you decide whether or not to make the trip to Maker's to stand in line the next time they announce a super limited, distillery only release. 

In case you hadn't guessed it already, I'm tasting the Maker's Mark Seared Bu 1-3 bourbon tonight. It is an off-shoot of the Private Select program we discussed back in December. This time they are featuring a new stave that wasn't included in the Private Select program. Not because it didn't taste good, but because it didn't play well with others. 

So what is this Stave Bu 1-3? According to the press release, it is a "virgin seared and sous-vide  French oak stave." And according to author Carla Carlton, that means precisely what it sounds like: the seared staves were soaked in temperature-controlled water for some length of time. How does this help the stave make the whiskey taste different? No idea. I'm not a wood scientist (though if a wood scientist is reading this, I would love to know, and will happily publish, the answer). 

But for now, you probably don't care about that. You just want to know how it tastes. 

Maker's Mark Seared Bu 1-3

Purchase info: This sample was kindly provided to me free of charge by Maker's Mark. The suggested price was $39.99 for a 375 mL bottle. 

Details: 55.35% ABV. Batch #1. Sample date April 24, 2018. Stave profile 10 Seared Bu 1-3. 

Nose: Caramel, vanilla, ripe cherries. 

Mouth: Very warm when neat. Buttered toffee, honey, baking spices, and a light fruitiness. 

Finish: Long and warm. Lingering dark chocolate and cinnamon. 

Thoughts: This is delicious. Forget making me want to drive down to buy it; this bourbon makes me want to live near the distillery so I could be first in line on the off chance there is something like this put out again. I'd love it if this one was added to the permanent line-up along side Maker's Mark, Maker's 46, and the cask strength ones. 

As this is a barrel-strength release, I'll let you know that this holds its own with, and can benefit from, a little water. All the flavors stick around, but the heat gets knocked down some so you can enjoy them. I absolutely love this one. I'll be sticking this in the closet to share when company comes over. 

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!

Maker's Mark Private Select, Part 2: The Reviews

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In my last post, I gave a little bit of background information on both Maker's Mark and the newish Maker's Private Select, including a breakdown of what each type of finishing stave adds to the flavor of the finished product. 

Tonight, however, I want to talk about the bottles that I actually purchased. I went out of my way to purchase bottles that had wildly different combinations of finishing staves. I did this to try to maximize the differences between the two bottles so I could see just how much difference they actually made.

Maker's Mark Private Select: Whisky Magazine and Liquor Barn Selection

Purchase Info: $74.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Liquor Barn, Louisville, KY

Details: 55.75% ABV. Oak Finishing Stave: 2-Maker's 46, 8-Roasted French Mocha

Nose: Wintergreen with a slight floral note, brown sugar and some oak.

Mouth: Baking spice, brown sugar, oak, and almond. 

Finish:  Long and warm with almond and sweetness.

Thoughts: This is a bit hot and bitter for my tastes. It's fine, but not for me. And for the price, I wouldn't recommend it. Not sure what Whisky Magazine and Liquor Barn were aiming for here, but they may have missed it. In any case, I think the two of them could have done better. 

Maker's Mark Private Select: The Party Source Selection

Purchase Info:  $69.99 for a 750 mL bottle at the Party Source, Bellevue, KY

Details: 55.1% ABV. Oak Finishing Stave: 3-Baked American Pure 2, 2-Seared French Cuvee, 2-Maker's 46, 1-Roasted French Mocha, 2-Toasted French Spice

Nose: Maple, honey, black tea, and baking spice.

Mouth: Spicy and warm with honey, cloves, nutmeg, orange zest, and black tea.

Finish: Oak Finishing Stave: On the long side of medium, lingering black tea, orange zest, and spice.

Thoughts:  I really enjoyed the nose on this one. The mouth and finish were interesting as well because I seldom get orange zest on a bourbon and I enjoyed that. I'm not wowed, but it's enjoyable while laying on the sofa and binging a little Netflix.

Verdict

You may have noticed in the last post, that most of the mentions of various products end with the fact that I enjoy them. I've enjoyed every Maker's I've had, until now. The regular releases are good, solid bourbons. They are affordable and available wheated bourbons. the cask strength Maker's and Maker's 46 are a joy to drink. These are more expensive than any of their previous releases and, honestly, I'm underwhelmed. I like Maker's Cask Strength much better than either of the bottles I got. And here in Minnesota, I can get that for $55-60. 

That said, it may just be the bottles I stumbled upon. I'm not willing to give up yet, though it will be a while before I decide to try again. I'm mostly not willing to give up entirely because, I tried the bourbon from my two bottles mixed together in equal parts and I like it much better than either of them on their own. Does that mean that I would like a bottle that is made up of 2-Baked American Pure 2, 1-Seared French Cuvee, 2-Maker's 46, 4-Roasted French Mocha, and 1-Toasted French Spice? No idea, but if I see one like that I will probably pick it up and see. 

UPDATE:   In response to this review, Maker’s Mark was kind enough to send me a bottle from their gift shop. It used all Maker’s 46 staves (and so is essentially a Maker’s 46 cask strength). They sent it to me to provide me with another opportunity to try one of their Private Select bottles and maybe change my opinion of the line. I really enjoyed it, as I thought that I might. (When I reviewed the initial cask-strength Maker’s 46 I purchased from their gift shop I gave it a “love” rating.) So I’m posting this as an update and not a full review since not much has changed about my thoughts on the various bottles (meh, like, love respectively) but I needed to be transparent on receiving the third bottle. I would say that if you like Maker’s 46 and see a Private Select bottle that is entirely using Maker’s 46 staves you should pick it up. I think you will really like it. 

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!