Head to head: 1792 vs 1792 store pick

November 12, 2015 Eric Burke

Single Barrel Select sticker on 1792 bottle

When you buy as much whiskey as I do, there will be times when you have multiples of a product. Either because you were afraid it would be out of stock soon, it was on sale with a deal too good to pass up or because you just felt like treating yourself and buying it.

Yes. I have a bit of a shopping problem.

In any case I recently ended up doing exactly that last thing on the list. I was in the store, looking to grab a six pack of beer to serve with the pizza I was making for Friday night, when I noticed a rack of 1792 bourbon in the corner with a big sign at the top proclaiming it to be $23.99. When I got over there, I also noticed that it had a sticker on it proclaiming it to be a “Single Barrel Select” that had been selected for my local liquor store. (Yes, it says selected for, not by.)

A long time ago, I picked up a store selection of 1792 to compare to the base release and found almost no difference between the two. Frankly, I expected the same this time around, but it was a good price and, dang it, I wanted to treat myself. So I picked it up even knowing I had a bottle in the closet at home that I acquired at the Master Distiller’s Auction in Bardstown. But, trying them side-by-side, I was pleasantly surprised. The difference wasn’t huge, but it was big enough to be discernible.

This is why I love whiskey. This sort of thing is so much fun!

1792 Bourbon: Regular Release vs Store Single Barrel (MGM Wine & Spirits)

Regular Release:

Purchase Info: ~$20, 750 mL bottle. Master Distiller’s Auction, Kentucky Bourbon Festival.

Details: 46.85% ABV

Nose: Spearmint, pear, cinnamon and oak.

Mouth: Soft mouthfeel with a lot of heat. Black pepper, mint, caramel/vanilla and oak.

Finish: Hot and on the short side of medium. Lingering mint and black pepper.

MGM Wine and Spirits Single Barrel Select:

Purchase Info: $23.99, 750 mL bottle. MGM Wine and Spirits, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 46.85% ABV

Nose: Wet rock, soap, fruit, vanilla, oak and hints of mint.

Mouth: Not as hot and sweeter than the regular release with brown sugar and a generic fruitiness added to the black pepper, mint and oak of the regular release.

Finish: Warm, but on the short side with a lingering sweet fruitiness.

Thoughts: This is what I want when I grab a store pick and do a head-to-head. This is certainly within the 1792 flavor profile, but there are enough differences for me to notice. Actually, I could wish this was the profile of the regular release. Though it is good, I hesitate to buy 1792 normally because I like my bourbon a little on the sweet side with a little less heat than your normal 1792 brings along with it. This is slightly milder, and I think that for me it is just about perfect for that flavor profile.

I completely recommend that you do this experiment yourself if you get the opportunity. Buy a store pick (doesn’t have to be 1792), but grab the regular one too should you have the opportunity. Compare them. Decide which you like better. Figure out why. Because the list of variables here will be smaller, this experiment will go a long way toward helping you decide the sorts of things you like. And heck, it’s just plain fun.

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!

Heartbreak and Hope (and then Maker's 46 Cask Strength)

November 3, 2015 Eric Burke

Maker's 46 Cask Strength. Plain packaging hides tasty bourbon.

It’s autumn here in the Northern Hemisphere. The time of year, in North America when minds turn to falling leaves, kids in school, the upcoming holidays, whiskey and football. In my case, college football. Specifically Minnesota Golden Gopher football.

I grew up in Wisconsin. A place where the state of Minnesota is deemed a slightly better neighbor than a garbage dump, Illinois or Michigan. But only just. There is no real reason for the enmity. The two states are much more alike than they are different. The land is mostly farms, trees and lakes. The people are mostly farmers, hunters, fishers. They are both mostly rural with a single large population center. Historically, the politics in both both leaned left but with a hearty dose of wariness about new people and ideas when you got to the Northernmost reaches. There seems to be one of those conservative blips happening in my former home right now, but the point still stands that these two states are much more alike than they are different. They are two siblings always sniping at one another. Each convinced that the other is an idiot.

This, of course extends to their football teams. In the, increasingly hard for me to care about, NFL you have the Packers and the Vikings in the same division of the NFC. And across both sides of the border, you have both Packers fans and Vikings fans. Many of the fans of both teams are insufferable, spewing venom everywhere. I once watched a Viking fan swear at a little kid for wearing a Packer shirt and I’ve seen Packer fans do equally unspeakable things.

In college, you have the Wisconsin Badgers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the same division of the Big Ten. In these parts, college fans can be less venomous than the fans of the pro teams. Not always, but as a general rule you can see Badger fans hoping the Gophers win certain games and Gopher fans hope that the Badgers win certain games. Still, growing up in my family in Wisconsin, you were expected to love the Packers and the Badgers and never waver. And I didn’t. Until I enrolled in the University of Minnesota after high school.

When I was choosing colleges, there were exactly two schools in the general vicinity of home that offered the Astrophysics that I thought was going to be my calling. And neither had a Badger for a mascot. One was the University of Minnesota and the other was the University of Michigan. Growing up Badger was hard. At the time they were going through a spate of eight straight losing seasons and before that only occasionally flirted with respectability. Going Gopher wouldn’t be any easier, they’d been floating around the bottom half of the Big Ten for thirty years. Michigan on the other hand, was Michigan. That was a team it would be easy to be a fan of. They hadn’t had a losing season in 26 years. Quite a bit longer than I had been alive at that point.

But the football team is only a determinant of which school you go to if you are a football recruit. As you might have guessed from my choice of major above, I was not a football player. And so I went with the closer and cheaper option in Minnesota and forever changed my college football allegiance. I’ve always had a special spot in my heart for the Michigan-Minnesota game though, both because they are historic rivals and because of my own history.

All of which brings me to this past Saturday and the game between a heavily-favored Michigan Wolverines and the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Michigan was ranked as the 15th best team in the country. Unranked Minnesota was not living up to expectations. Michigan’s coach was the new hotness, a former player returning home from coaching his way into the Super Bowl. Minnesota’s coach had just retired a few days before due to complications from epilepsy after bringing the program back to the brink of respectability.

Going into it, this was a game that I expected my team would lose. But then, a funny thing happened. The Gophers were competitive. More so than they should have been with a extensive injuries and an interim coach. The lead went back and forth before the Gophers finally went ahead on a last second touchdown. But upon review it was determined that the player was down one yard short of the goal line giving them 19 seconds to go the final three feet to win an emotional game. But after two tries, time ran out. They were half a yard short.

In the span of 4 minutes I went from the highest of highs as my scrappy team looked to win an emotional game for a beloved coach to the lowest of lows when poor mistakes brought heartbreak. I am a fan of Minnesota Golden Gopher football and that means I am always prepared for heartbreak, but it also means that I always have hope that the next time my heart won’t be broken.

It’s kind of how I feel about bourbon these days. No matter how much I pay, I’m prepared to be heartbroken. You feel like you can’t lose, that no one would put out a bourbon that expensive and have it be disappointing. But it happens more and more often. Fancy packaging hiding a mediocre product. And then there are times when the package gives you nothing and you just have to hope that you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Heartbreak and hope. Two sides of the same coin. If you don’t have hope that something can be good, you’ll never be heartbroken when it isn’t. But if you don’t hope for something to be good, why are you even buying it?

Maker’s 46 Cask Strength

Purchase Info: $39.95 for a 375 mL bottle. Maker’s Mark Distillery gift shop, Loretto, KY.

Details: Bourbon finished with Oak Staves. 54.45% ABV. Remarkably plain packaging for something with the Maker’s Mark name on it.

Nose: Very sweet with caramel and vanilla. Nicely nutty with hints of cherry, cinnamon clove and nutmeg.

Mouth: Sweet and warm with the spicy tingle of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. Chocolate, nuts, cherry and oak follow.

Finish: Pleasant sweet warmth slowly reveals a bitter nuttiness and lingering baking spices.

Thoughts: This is one of the times that, despite the homely package it comes in, you hope that a bourbon will be amazing and it turns out to actually be so. As you might expect from a bourbon put out by Maker’s Mark, this is an amazingly easy bourbon to drink at barrel proof. The warmth is not so hot that you’ll need to add water. It’s very sweet, but that sweetness is balanced by baking spices and other rich flavors. In fact, I’d say this might be one of the nicest desserts one could pour. I love this one. If you are in the area of the Makers Mark Distillery, as I believe this is only available at the gift shop, stop and pick some up.

Evan Williams Red Label, 12 years old & 101 proof, compared to two more reasonably priced cousins

October 29, 2015 Eric Burke

Evan Williams Red Label along with its cousins Evan Williams Bottled in Bond and Elijah Craig 12 year old.

When you are on vacation, it can be really easy to get caught up in spending just a little more than your budget. When you are whiskey fan vacationing in Kentucky, it can be doubly easy to do so.

Back in September I was wandering through downtown Louisville, trying to decide if I wanted food or a drink, when I realized I was standing outside the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. Ever since the one time I wandered in and stumbled upon the now discontinued Evan Williams Barrel Proof, I’ve tried to stop in on every visit to Louisville just to take a peek to see if there is anything fun for sale that is under my price ceiling and that I can’t get anywhere else.

We were wandering though, overhearing that they had sold out of that day’s allotment of Parker’s Heritage and looking at the shelves when a red bottle of Evan Williams catches my eye. It is 12 years old, 101 proof, has a nice gold wax dipped neck and a little paper seal proclaiming it to be an Evan Williams Bourbon Experience Exclusive.

Here’s the part where you can laugh at me.

Apparently forgetting where I was and what year it was, I thought to myself “Oh cool, an older Evan Williams. Evan Williams is normally decently priced. I should pick this up” And so not seeing a price sign, I grabbed a bottle. I carried it through the gift shop for a little while until I happened upon one of the aforementioned signs. $129.99. I immediately turned on my heel and ever so gently put it back down where I found it.

But the more I thought about it, the more I tried to convince myself that I really didn’t want a 12 year, 101 proof Evan Williams. That I didn’t want to break my $125 price ceiling. That I would be perfectly happy with either a 100 proof Evan Williams Bottled in Bond or a 12 year old Elijah Craig. I looked at my wife. “How much is it?” she asked, seeing the look in my face. I told her. Her perfectly appropriate response was “we’re on vacation, it’s $4 and you let me buy the Master’s Keep. Just get it.” I didn’t need much more encouragement. I picked the bottle back up and made my way to the register before I found something else or changed my mind. Again.

Once I got home, I stuck it in the closet until a couple weeks ago when a spot on the whiskey shelf opened up. This was one that I had put close to the front. I mean if it was $100 more than the same aged Elijah Craig in the same size bottle, it was probably going to be something special, right? The price had lifted my expectations sky high. They wouldn’t charge that much of a premium if it wasn’t better, right?

Upon opening it, I poured myself a small sample and in an identical glass poured a small sample of Evan Williams Bottled in Bond. I was devastated to not notice much of a difference. There was a difference, but it was slight. My expectations came crashing down. It had to be me, maybe I was having an off day. I gave both glasses to my wife who said “not much difference is there?” I was crushed. I’d gotten caught up in a price and forgot the one lesson I always tell people: “A higher priced does not mean anything other than the company wanted to charge a higher price.” And so I set the bottle aside for a couple weeks while I waited for it’s turn for review.

Knowing that I needed to get rid of both my high and low notions of this whiskey, I set up a three way blind tasting for my wife and I. I pulled one of my samples of Elijah Craig 12 out of my sample library and poured a glencairn of it, the Evan Williams Bottled in Bond and the Evan Williams Red Label. I followed my normal double-blind procedure where I pour the glasses and set them on a sheet of paper labeled 1, 2 and 3 and leave the room. My wife then comes into the room and moves them to another sheet of paper labeled A, B and C. I know what bourbon is 1, 2 and 3 and she knows which number corresponds to each letter, but neither of us know which bourbon corresponds to what letter.

Evan Williams Red Label vs. Evan Williams White Label vs. Elijah Craig 12 year old

Purchase info: Evan Williams Red Label: $129.99 for a 750 mL bottle at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, Louisville, KY. Evan Williams White Label: $17.99 for a 1L bottle at MGM Wine and Spirits, Burnsville, MN. Elijah Craig 12 year old: I have no idea as I poured that sample from a bottle I bought back in mid-2013.

Nose:

A: Dried corn, cloves, a bit hit of alcohol and some caramel sweetness

B: Lots of sweet caramel right off the top, mint, some bubble gum and fleeting hints of dried corn.

C: This is kind of muted. Mint, nutmeg, some bubble gum and a little dried corn.

Mouth:

A: Starts with a nice heat and is very dried corn forward. A bitterness follows that, since I am allergic, my wife tells me is reminiscent of raw almonds. Cloves bring up the rear.

B: Soft on the mouth. Oak, mint, caramel, nutmeg and cloves.

C: Very spice forward with oak, clove and nutmeg appearing with the first sip. Typical bourbon notes of caramel and vanilla follow.

Finish:

A: Lingering warmth along with a pleasant bitterness.

B: Bubble gum, mint and a warmth that lasts.

C: Very long and warm finish with lingering spice and sweetness.

Pre-reveal Thoughts:

A: I’m almost positive this is the White Label. With as corn forward as it is, I’m guessing that it can’t be a 12 year old whiskey. It’s good, but not very complex.

B: This is a very good whiskey. Enough oak and heat to make you notice without either being overpowering. The oak and heat are balanced with just enough sweetness to make this a very pleasurable dram.

C: This might be my favorite of the three. I’m loving the combination of the sweetness and heat. The finish is darn near perfect.

Which was which:

A: Evan Williams Bottled in Bond

B: Elijah Craig 12 year old

C: Evan Williams Red Label, 12 year old, 101 proof

Post-reveal Thoughts:

Based on my initial experience with the Red Label right upon opening the bottle, I would have bet money that that C would have been Elijah Craig 12. It had that mixture of heat, spice and sweetness that I remember. While I like all of these, the Red Label really is the best of the batch. Hands down. And it really should be. At roughly six times the price of the other two this bottle has a price that is hard to swallow. I certainly won’t be buying it again, but am quite impressed.

A smile because it tastes good even if I don't like the price.

Overall, I like the Evan Williams Red Label. It has the Evan Williams approachability mixed with the complexity and spice reflective of its more advanced age. If you are in Louisville and $130 means nothing to you, grab this one. If on the other hand you value your cash like I do, see if you can find it in a bar and pick up a bottle of Elijah Craig 12 when you get home. Because the difference in quality between the two is much smaller than the difference in price.

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, 2015

October 15, 2015 Eric Burke

2015 Limited Release of Old Forester Birthday Bourbon

There is a strange phenomenon I’ve noticed when I discuss tasting notes with people. We will often use the most awful sounding descriptors to mean the most pleasant things. I’m reminded of a tasting that I and a few brand new friends of mine had in my hotel room while I was in Toronto last. The statement of “this reminds me of candle wax, terrific!” was heard. We were drinking some good single malt (yes, even for me such things pop up now and then). I thought it odd, but since I had less enthusiastically decided on band-aids to describe the same note I didn’t feel I should judge. Since that time, I’ve kept my eyes and ears open while on blogs and in discussions and again and again, this same thing happens.

I say that by way of introducing this year’s Old Forester Birthday Bourbon. I’ve read a lot of descriptions of Old Forester and Woodford Reserve that talk about a “plastic” note or an “artificial” note. They don’t tend to mean this in a good way. Others call it apples, pears, floral or fruity. These are obviously more complementary. It took me until last year to accurately describe what I was sensing. To me it seems like the smell of freshly painted latex paint. And thinking back to that Toronto hotel room, I mean it in a complementary way. Like a freshly painted room can smell fresh and clean, so does Old Forester to me.

In any case, think about this as you read the notes below. I really like this bourbon, but as you read the notes, you might not realize that.

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, 2015 release.

Purchase info: Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN. 750 mL bottle for $74.99.

Details: 50% ABV. 12 year age stated

Nose: Strong latex paint (or whatever you call the typical Brown Forman note) along with some vanilla, mixed berries, caramel and brown sugar.

Mouth: Syrupy mouthfeel. Caramel, brown sugar, baking spices.

Finish: Sweet with lingering heat, latex paint and fruitiness.

Thoughts: If you are an Old Forester fan, Birthday Bourbon seldom disappoints. Its got all the same notes as any Brown Forman bourbon. They are just stronger and more concentrated and it’s older so there is typically more oak. This release is no exception. It’s Old Forester, just more so. I would say that though I think I liked last year’s better, this is still a solid pick should you find it.

Blood Oath, Pact No. 1

October 8, 2015 Eric Burke

Bourbon is big business. And even though it has a reputation as a cheaper option to scotch, it always has been. People throughout most of the history of this country have made a very good living distilling, aging, buying and selling this whiskey that we all love so much.

For a long time, bourbon was cheap. Nobody wanted it. Whiskies aged to extreme age often just got redistilled into something else, vodka or fuel. Bourbons of middling age, six to eight years old, regularly made it into products that were nominally around four years old. It was good if you were a bourbon drinker, but in honesty almost no one was. You could barely give the stuff away.

Not to worry though, those days are firmly in the past. These days everyone wants bourbon. The more expensive, the better. Some days it feels like taste doesn’t matter nearly as much as price. And like good businesses, producers have given the folks what they want. Sure, most of the old value labels have stuck around, but almost everyone has gotten into the Ultra-Premium game. Wild Turkey has it’s $150 Master’s Keep, Diageo has it’s Orphan Barrels, And now Luxco, makers of Everclear and bourbons such as Ezra Brooks and Rebel Yell has taken a turn at bat.

Even though Blood Oath felt like it was trying a bit too hard (it’s proof is blood temperature after all), I had some hopes that Blood Oath would be a decent bourbon. I’ve been a fan of a lot of the labels in Luxco’s Ezra Brooks line and even liked one of the new brand extensions for Rebel Yell. They obviously spent a decent amount on the new packaging. It is beautiful. They were trying something new by blending wheated and rye bourbons. All signs that a company is ready to make something special. Tossing a brand new bourbon out with a $100 price tag is a statement that they think people will want to buy it.

Blood Oath, Pact 1

Purchase info: $98.95, 750 mL bottle. Blue Max Liquors, Burnsville, MN.

Details: A blend of two rye bourbons and a wheated bourbon. 49.3% ABV.

Nose: This has a very sweet nose, leading with maple and clove. That is followed by wet, old wood and a slight fruitiness that balances things out nicely.

Mouth: This tastes almost nothing like it smells. Where the nose was sweet and a light, the mouth is heavy and on the dry side. The descriptor I immediately think of is “dusty.” It has the feeling of an old, closed attic where things have been stored for too long. It’s not a wet attic since there is no mildew, but rather old boxes and dust. After that I get maple, cocoa powder, a slight fruitiness (that isn’t nearly enough to balance the overpowering dust) and a good bit of heat.

Finish: Warm and of medium length. The maple and slight fruitiness are carried over from the palate and transition to more dusty cocoa.

Thoughts: After tasting this, it feels like Luxco was making a cash grab. Wow! Disappointing. The nose takes me one direction and the palate takes me directly in the opposite direction with few notes overlapping. As I stated above, I’m a fan of the various bourbons in the Ezra Brooks line because they are tasty and a good value. This has neither of those things going for it. I found it heavy, closed, dusty and flat. For the price I paid for it, I can’t recommend it. It was an interesting idea, but is way overpriced and honestly just not that good. Hoping that a little oxygen might help this, I tried it at various times along a two month period until now when my last few pours yielded the review samples. No real change.

In short, the bottle says that “this rare whiskey shall never again be made.” To my palate that’s a good thing. For the price I expected amazing. Instead, it’s one of the few bourbons I’ve regretted buying.

Old Forester 1897 - Bottled in Bond

October 6, 2015 Eric Burke

1897 was a momentous year in the history of bourbon. In March of that year, Congress under pressure from the famed Col. E. H. Taylor passed what would come to be known as the Bottled-In-Bond Act of 1897. If you want to learn more about it, Brian over at Sipp'n Corn has a great write-up of the act and it's significance. I suggest you read it. Go ahead, I'll wait. (Interested in reading the act itself? Click the button below to download a pdf.)

Download the Bottled-In-Bond Act of 1897

A few months ago, as part of their Whiskey Row series of Old Forester labels, Brown-Forman released a bottled in bond bourbon named Old Forester 1897 to honor the year that the regulation was passed. As I've a stated fondness for many Old Forester bourbons, I picked it up when I saw it at the liquor store.

Old Forester 1897, Bottled in Bond

Purchase info: $48.99, 750 mL. Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: As required if labeled Bottled in Bond: Distilled by Brown-Forman Distillers Company, Louisville, KY, DSP KY 354. Bottled by DSP KY 52. 50% ABV.

Nose: Cinnamon, cloves and allspice lead the way followed by brown sugar, apples and a nice floral note.

Mouth: The interesting thing here is that the notes are inverted from the nose. Caramel apples and floral notes lead the way and are followed by baking spices. There is a nice bit of heat to go with the spice.

Finish: Warm but a bit on the shorter side with floral notes fading to a pleasant bitterness.

Thoughts: I think this might be my favorite product released under the Old Forester name. Until the finish, there is little of the typical Brown-Forman "plastic/paint/chemical" flavors that people often complain about. And even then there are only hints of it that present as more floral than chemical.

It is the most expensive regular release in the Old Forester line. Is it worth it? For the price I paid, yes. I really like it. I like it much more than the 1870 and am willing to pay an extra $10 to get this over that. I found it much more complex than either the 86 proof or the Signature. So, yeah, I'm already planning to buy a second bottle.

Breaking my personal price ceiling: Wild Turkey Master's Keep, 17-year old bourbon

October 1, 2015 Eric Burke

Wild Turkey Master's Keep: an expensive, old and tasty bourbon.

I’ve got some momentous news. I’ve made the decision to increase my personal price ceiling for bourbon. For the last 5 years or so, it’s been sitting firm at $125 per bottle. At the time I set it, it was a safe price, only Van Winkle would have broken it and honestly, I’ve never been a fan of wheated bourbon. But I could see the trends happening even then. I instituted it as a self-imposed way to keep me in line.

To say that prices have been increasing over the past few years would be an understatement. Though super-premium bourbon starts at around $25, and good bourbon can still be had for less than that, newer expressions tend to skew a bit more…up-market from that price point. Forget super-premium bourbon, we now live in the world of Ultra-Premium. It is no longer unusual to see new expressions at an MSRP of around $100 right out of the gate. And while I am among the herd of people who bemoan this fact, it remains that people don’t even seem to blink an eye at this price anymore. In fact, in a weird bit of human psychology, they seem to just want it more.

Things have gotten so bad that even my value favorite, Wild Turkey has gotten in on the action. Their last two releases Diamond and Master’s Keep have shattered the $100 barrier. With the latest, Master’s Keep at a suggested price of $150 for a 750 mL bottle.

Master’s Keep is a 17-year old bourbon. Bottled near barrel proof it is 86.8° proof. And I can hear you now questioning that last statement. As we discussed in June, a barrel of bourbon can either gain or lose proof depending on it’s aging environment. According to Wild Turkey, this 17 year old bourbon had an interesting aging history. The bottle says it started life in a wooden warehouse. At some point in it’s life, they ran out of room and rented some space from another distillery who happened to use stone warehouses. Once space opened up, the decision was made to bring the barrels home to the wood and metal Wild Turkey warehouses again. The theory is that the time in the stone warehouse allowed the bourbon in to rest in the barrel with less interaction with the wood and lowered the proof from an entry proof of 107° to a dumping proof of 89°. In any case it produced a bourbon that, while old, doesn’t taste over-oaked.

And though this has next to nothing to do with the bourbon inside, as a designer I did geek out a little on the packaging. The box is a nice matte black with foil, embossing and hidden magnetic closures. The painted bottle is simple and elegant with an embossed flying turkey. The closure is cork, with a heavy wood and copper top. It really is beautiful and will be on a display shelf long after it is empty.

Wild Turkey Master’s Keep

Purchase info: $169.99, 750 mL bottle. Wild Turkey Distillery Gift Shop. (I saw it for sale in Minnesota today for $154.)

Details: 17 years old. 43.4% ABV. Batch 1, bottle #46237.

Nose: Floral and fruity. Cherry blossoms, brown sugar, vanilla, baking spices, mint, oak and hint black tea.

Mouth: Nice mouthfeel with just enough heat, though more than I expected from sub 90 proof. Lots of rich flavors: leather, dark chocolate and cherry. More brown sugar and baking spices. Herbal mint.

Finish: Nice warm finish that lingers for a while. More herbal mint and brown sugar.

Thoughts: This is a very expensive bourbon, well over both my old and new price ceiling, purchased because my wife is a Wild Turkey fan-girl and really wanted to get it signed by Jimmy Russell who happened to be sitting in the visitor’s center. It is also a very old bourbon with a legitimately unique aging history. And it tastes fantastic. If you have the money, this is highly recommended. At this price, I won’t be buying a second bottle but I don’t regret breaking my price ceiling to buy the one I have.

Oh and in case you were curious, my new personal price ceiling is just the old one adjusted for inflation: $135.

The Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History

September 29, 2015 Eric Burke

Have you ever been to Bardstown, KY? You really should go. It’s a small town at around 12,000 people or so. Most of those 12,000 people are fantastic. Helpful, nice people are the rule, not the exception. If you are looking for a bit of quiet, Bardstown is perfect. The stores downtown tend to close around five o’clock at night. The restaurants somewhere near ten. But the major thing Bardstown offers is that it sits smack dab in the heart of Bourbon Country. It’s a home to two major (and a couple small) bourbon distilleries and is a short drive from most of the rest.

Sitting just off of downtown is Spalding Hall. Spalding Hall was originally built in 1839 as part of St. Joseph’s College, the first Catholic College in Kentucky. As you drive down Stephen Foster Avenue, Bardstown’s main road, don’t feel too bad if you don’t notice it at first. It is tucked behind the Basilica of St. Joseph and the grounds of the current St. Joseph’s Preparatory School. But, if you turn onto 5th Street, you can’t help but notice it. A large green lawn with large trees fronts the large Federal style building. Though built as part of the college, it has served various functions over the years. It was a hospital during the Civil War, a seminary, an orphanage and a high school. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Today it houses a restaurant and the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History.

Oscar Getz and his brother-in-law were whiskey brokers before and after Prohibition. When the whiskey business started to change, they bought the Tom Moore distillery in Bardstown so that they could be assured of a steady supply of whiskey for their brands and renamed it Barton. Being an avid fan of whiskey history, Getz collected whiskey memorabilia and created a small museum on the distillery grounds to house his collection. Chuck Cowdery tells us that museum was open to the public. After Mr. Getz died in 1983, his wife donated the museum to the City of Bardstown in July of 1984 and it was moved to Spalding Hall.

Today the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History takes up most of the first floor of the three story building. There are two wings. The one to the left (as you enter the building) houses an exhibit on distilling and aging, a replica saloon, Abraham Lincoln’s liquor license, temperance and prohibition propaganda items and old bottles. Many, many old bottles. If you take a right, there are rooms that house exhibits that roughly trend around one or two of today’s major distilleries. Wild Turkey, Heaven Hill, Brown-Forman, Jim Beam, etc. Mixed in you will find more old bottles, labels, label printing plates, advertisements and much more. It really is a must stop for the bourbon lover who finds themselves in Bardstown.

Prohobition-Era Medicinal Whiskey Bottles

Old Whiskey bottles in a display case

Enlarged and framed Burks Spring Distillery letterhead. (Future home of Maker's Mark.)

An example of the age of the exhibits, the notecards were created on a typewriter.

But there is a problem. The museum needs money. In talking to the volunteers, I found out that the museum doesn’t get any outside help. Though bourbon tourism is big business in Kentucky these days, drawing people in from all over the world, the state gives the museum no monetary help. And though it houses exhibits that are basically advertisements for many current brands, the distilleries don’t give the museum any money either. Though to be fair, I was told that Barton has a couple times in the past. Instead, the musuem funds itself through various other means. During my last visit, they had a table out selling old empty whiskey bottles. They’d had a large donation and were selling off ones they already had. I bought an Old Crow “traveler fifth” bottle and an IW Harper decanter bottle from the 60s for $5 each.

Master Distiller’s Auction

The main way the museum funds itself is with the Master Distiller’s Auction held each year during the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. The auction is held in the chapel of the building. The auction is sponsored by the Van Winkles and provides most of the museum’s operating budget for the year. Items up for bid include old “dusty” bottles of bourbon, historical artifacts, signed bottles of special releases, gift baskets, and other interesting items. The items for sale are all donated. Most from the distilleries in the area.

I went to the auction for the first time last year and didn’t buy anything. This year on the other hand, we went in with a plan to come away with something. I was particularly interested in the dusties. Last year a few had gone at prices I could afford. This year, no such luck. A bottle of JW Dant and a bottle of Gibson’s Rye each from 1933 went for $1350 each, a quart of Old Sunnybrook from 1937 went for $500 and a pint of Prohibition era Crestmore bourbon went for $700. I was also interested in the prohibition whiskey prescriptions. Those went for about $200 each, also more than I wanted to pay. There were a couple of things I wish I could have bid on but knew I couldn’t afford and would have needed to be fairly local to use. One was a cocktail class by Joy Perrine that received no bids and that the auctioneer bought. The other was a tasting led by bourbon historian Mike Veach and that went for $400.

I ended up getting a few things though. I bought an Old Forester gift box from 2008 commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition for $95. I might have gotten a little carried away there, but it’s for charity so I didn’t mind overpaying some. But I also got a couple of things no one else wanted for less than retail. I got a bottle of 1792 plus a bottle of Bloody Kentucky bloody mary mix for $40 and a bottle of Wild Turkey Diamond plus a set of four glasses for $140. Overall I felt good knowing the money was going to support the museum and I got a couple things I would drink.

An image from the 2014 Master Distiller's Auction, it's Pappy.

Of course the really big money was reserved for more current releases of Whiskey. Yep the Pappy was the big money prize of the day. A signed bottle of Pappy 23 came in at $1600, the 20 was $1150, 15 year old went for $900, the Old Rip Van Winkle 12 year for $750 and the 10 year for $425. Overall, as befitting the corporate sponsor, Van Winkle bourbons brought in more than one quarter of the $17,000 that the auction brought in for the museum.

I really recommend that if you find yourself in Bardstown, you visit the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History. It’s free to visit, though there is a donation box. The building is old, the exhibits are old, the stuff inside the exhibits is old. But in this case, that’s a good thing.

Blog