Bourbon Collecting
shailynn
They never tell you what you need to know.
Any of you PLs bourbon collectors?
I got into it about 3-4 years ago. If you didn’t know since COVID hit many more “limited” bourbons have become scarce, and with everyone sitting stuck at home many started to drink their “rare gems” which in turn made prices on the secondary market skyrocket.
People are hunting more than just Pappy Van Winkle bottles.
I got into it about 3-4 years ago. If you didn’t know since COVID hit many more “limited” bourbons have become scarce, and with everyone sitting stuck at home many started to drink their “rare gems” which in turn made prices on the secondary market skyrocket.
People are hunting more than just Pappy Van Winkle bottles.
Got something to say?
Start your own discussion
33 comments
http://payless-liquors.com/blog/a-crown-…
and then had to change it to "Blenders Mash"
https://www.caskers.com/crown-royal-blen…
Seriously, though, I used to be strictly a scotch drinker. 10 years ago I started getting into bourbon and it quickly replaced scotch as my go-to indulgence. PVW is a little out of my league, but I do enjoy Booker's quite a bit. It's still readily available but the price has gone up to around $85-$95. It's a high proof at around 127 and so it stands up to ice very well. I like to take a couple very small sips neat and then drop in a few cubes.
My two favorites that I can actually find are Weller Antique and Stagg Jr.
I have 2 sections of my collection - ones I am willing to open and drink and the others I just stare at. I try not to pay more than $50 over retail (before tax and shipping) for a bottle I am hunting. I’ve broken it several times - for the new Weller Full Proof, several Michter Toasted and Barrel Strength offerings.
Right now I’m trying to score a Old Forester Birthday which comes out in September.
Maybe 25 bottles in my collection, including a 1979 Glenrothes with a market value around $750. But sticking with my everyday Craggenmore, Jura and the occasional Walker Blue (yes it's a blend - sue me) for now.
Oh and I have an bottle or two of Woodford Reserve and Buffalo Trace around for the common folk as well.
Infinity bottle? That sounds like the "everlasting gobstopper" of whiskey! I want one!
Sometimes the flavors can be shockingly complex and interesting. Other times they clash. Some people try to strategically add different whiskeys, others just add the last bit after they finish whatever bottle they're working on. After I read about this on a whiskey site, I tried it with another liquor, and came out pretty good (although it's always changing, by definition).
You guys want Pappy Van Winkle but don't have $500 for a bottle?
Make "Poorer Mans Pappy"
This recipe is very close to OLD RIP VAN WINKLE 10 YEAR.
1/3 Larceny Bourbon mixed with 2/3 Makers Mark Cask Strength. Add a splash of Cask Strength on top. Let them sit in a bottle for at least 2 weeks so they can blend together. The final product is DAMN close to Old Rip Van Winkle 10
Anyway, I've read that bourbon doesn't continue to mature very much beyond about 9 years, unlike scotch that commands thousands of dollars for almost any 25 year or more offering. I've never tried Pappy or Rip Van Winkle. I don't have the tasting expertise to justify shelling out a few hundred bucks just to have a swig of it.
Are these ultra-aged bourbons really that much better than a high-end 9 year old whiskey?
I like Stagg Jr but that on you have to be careful with it is high octane.
https://caskcartel.com/search?type=produ…
https://caskcartel.com/products/orphan-b…
https://shopbanquet.com/schneidersofcapi…
Up until now I've been using the Glencairn Whiskey glass: https://www.glencairnwhiskyglass.com/ I think this is THE classic whiskey/whisky glass, with the tulip shape, ability to hold by the bowl for warming or stem, etc. Class the whole thing up.
I've just recently bought a NEAT glass. https://www.theneatglass.com/ Whiskey competition judges have used this glass for many years, so I decided I should pick one up to see why. It does seem to do what it says, by not (over)concentrating the aroma (versus a tulip glass). I can definitely see why a whisky judge (or rather, nearly every judge at every competition) would prefer this glass to pick out individual notes. I think the aromas and flavors get more clarity, but it's physically a little less fun to drink from, as you have to tilt the glass far to get the whiskey from that bowl to the curved edge
I have a bottle of the 150th anniversary Longrow that, were it unopened, would go for around $3000 on the aftermarket. It still has the price tag from when I bought it, so I can say that "I've had a three thousand dollar scotch, and it wasn't any better than an old sixty five dollar scotch."
Due to the instant virus I no longer have help drinking my whisky, and recently calculated that I will almost certainly not be able to finish it in my lifetime. There's gonna be a hell of a wake.
It was a dark and stormy night. OK it was late afternoon but the wind and rain outside were bitter and bone chilling. I was in Scotland and sheltering in a small hotel with a bar on the first floor which I was drawn into because of the roaring fire they had going.
My father was a scotch drinker but I never had been so I knew nothing about it nor was I familiar with any brand names. The proprietor set out to educate me. He claimed to have a bottle of every single-malt scotch in existence. With a wall full of bottles behind the bar it was easy to believe him. He proceeded to tell me all about scotch as he set up an extensive tasting to emphasize what he was telling me. All told I tasted at least 15 different single malts and ended up selecting the one that tasted best to me.
Besides becoming a scotch drinker from then on what I got out of it was an appreciation for making my own choices about what it is that I really like and this applies to all things. I like quality but what constitutes quality to me is what appeals to my own taste buds and isn’t driven by some marketing campaign telling me how to be a pretentious snob.
I was lucky that day to be schooled by someone who was knowledgeable and passionate about scotch. I acquired a new pleasure that I still enjoy. I was doubly lucky in that through a blind tasting I found that my taste buds prefer Macallan Scotch which is readily available around the world.
I tend to like highland and speyside scotches also, although I'll also suggest it's always worth branching out. Due to both an evolving palatte, and getting older (as your taste buds dull you'll tend to invite bolder flavors that were objectionable when you were younger) you might be shocked at what you like now, if you've been drinking the same scotch over and over for decades.
Helpful hint to you guys who write "single-malt". It's "single malt", no hyphen. These words are unrelated -- the single and the malt refer to two completely different characteristics of the scotch. A scotch can be malt but not single, or single but not malt. You are welcome :)
I know that taste buds and preferences can change over time but I’m not such a fanatic about scotch that I’m much interested in exploring the seemingly endless possibilities. There isn’t that much time left to make it a priority and I also see it akin to tasting craft beers. I am a great fan of beer but I don’t do craft beers. Ninety nine percent of them are gawd awful swill and to me it isn’t worth the trouble to try to sort through all the shit water crap to find that “1” worthwhile brew.
As to the proper grammatical form of single malt, I already knew that. I purposefully used the hyphen where I did in an attempt to make clear what I was saying (“single malt” versus “every single”). As you can see three sentences later I presented it correctly (“single malts”) but thank you for giving me the opportunity to clarify that point. lol
One of the many things the publican taught me that evening is that a single malt isn’t in and of itself better than blended Scotch whisky (another frequent assumption of the pretentious). A good blended scotch done by a master creates a specific taste in a synergistic way producing something better than the separate parts. Most of the mass marketed blended whiskies are by default not of the highest quality due to the vast amount they have to produce to be profitable. That is why, though it may appear to be pretentious, I only drink single malts. I know what I like and I like what I know.
I haven't tried Laphroaig in a few years either. But while my tastes in whiskey have expanded over time, I can't see any way possible I could ever enjoy that stuff. Both the smell and the taste remind me of when I was a kid and had a toothache. My mom would rub Anbesol on my gums. Tastes the same to me. There's plenty of brands I'm not particularly fond of, but Laphroaig is probably the only one that if nothing else was available, I'd just drink water or a Coke.