11TH ANNUAL BOURBONGUY.COM BRACKETS: ROUND 1: Old Forester 100 Proof vs. Elijah Craig

Hello again, my friends! Let’s continue with the brackets, shall we?

If you’ve been following along, you know that these were tasted in an order only known to my wife, which was another bit of obfuscation to hide what was being tasted. So Round 1 of the 2024 BourbonGuy.com Brackets continues with Division 1’s Number 1 seed, Old Forester 100 proof, taking on Number 4 seed Elijah Craig.

Old Forester 100 proof, one time known as Old Forester Signature, is probably my favorite Brown-Forman bourbon from a Quality-to-Price perspective. It is delicious, relatively inexpensive (at least when compared to its Whiskey Row brothers), and has enough proof to keep you interested. Did I mention that it is delicious? I was thrilled to include this one in the brackets this year. It is the number one overall seed due to the fact that it is at the high end of this contest’s price parameters and it’s proof. I bought this bottle at South Lyndale Liquors in Minneapolis, MN. It costs $27.99 for a 750 mL bottle or $1.87 per pour.

Their opponent is another bourbon that I buy quite often. In this case, it is because Heaven Hill’s flagship bourbon, Elijah Craig, is often on sale in the low $ 20 range near me. I’m a big fan of bottles that taste good but cost relatively little. Hence, the contest theme. This particular bottle was not on sale but was still priced well. It costs $24.96 for a 750 mL bottle or $1.66 per pour.

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

Whiskey A (Elijah Craig)

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $1.66

Details: 47% ABV.

Nose: Brown sugar, mint, cola, and baking spice.

Mouth: Caramel, cola, cinnamon, and oak.

Finish: Warm and on the shorter side of medium. Notes of brown sugar, mint, and oak.

Whiskey B (Old Forester 100 proof)

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $1.87

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Caramel, citrus zest, mint, and almond.

Mouth: Sweet and spicy with notes of caramel, cedar, mint, almond, and cinnamon.

Finish: Warm and of medium length—notes of toffee, chalk, mint, and cinnamon.

Thoughts:

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: We had a hard time with this one. Relatively, “A” is the more delicate of the two, which wouldn't matter if one of these was bad. I’ve chosen the more delicate bourbon in previous year’s contests because it happened to be the better one. But both of these were very good. So I'm left with which one made more of an impression. And in this case, that is the robust flavor of “B.”

Post-Reveal Thoughts: There are no surprises here. The proof won out. If this contest had happened ten years ago, it would have been a different story. Old Forester had fallen on hard times and, frankly, wasn’t very good. And Elijah Craig was a 12-year-old powerhouse of a bourbon. But these days, Old Forester 100 is delicious, and Elijah Craig, though delicious, is much more approachable than it once was.

Winner: Old Forester 100 is advancing to round 2.

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11th Annual BourbonGuy.com Brackets: The “Not Quite Bottom-Shelf” Edition

Welcome back, my friends, to my favorite posts of the year. It’s bracket time!

Historically, this has been a series where we take a look at the cheapest of the cheapest bourbons, pit them against each other, and decide which you should pick up and which you should leave down on that bottom shelf. The 2022 edition broke me; I dumped out about 7 liters of bourbon, so last year, I tossed out all pricing requirements and did a series of Bonded Bourbons. This year, I’m reinstating the price requirements, but I’ve decided to keep them a bit “relaxed.” My goal was to find readily available bourbons all at about the same price point, in this case, the $20 to $30 price range.

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

So, who are the participants, and how did they get chosen?

Well, every year, I try to put in limitations that will force me to choose a new set of participants. Well, mostly new, anyway. We still have four this year that were in previous editions. Because the “bottom-shelf” ones have gotten so much worse than they used to be due to inflation and strategic price increases, this year, I limited myself to only bourbons priced between $20 and $30 for a 750 mL bottle. This allowed me to get some names that are familiar to the general public but that might be overlooked due to the general public’s idea that “more expensive equals better whiskey.” A while back, I also asked what you guys wanted to see included as part of a giveaway. I included as many of those as I could. Some weren’t available in my market. Others were quite expensive. Some had just been in so many contests that I looked for fresh faces. But I included what I could.

The contestants were seeded by price. If there was more than one at the same price, the tie was broken by proof.

• Division 1, Seed 1: Old Forester 100: This was purchased at South Lyndale Liquors in Minneapolis, MN, for $27.99 or $0.037 per milliliter.

• Division 2, Seed 1: Buffalo Trace: This was purchased at Total Wine in Burnsville, MN, for $27.99 or $0.037 per milliliter.

• Division 1, Seed 2: Old Grand-Dad 114: A reader suggested Old Grand-Dad Bonded, but since I saw this fit the price constraints, I upgraded. This was purchased at Total Wine in Burnsville, MN, for $26.99 or $0.036 per milliliter.

• Division 2, Seed 2: Wheel Horse Bourbon: This was a reader suggestion. It was purchased at Top Ten Liquors in Chanhassan, MN, for $25.96 or $0.035 per milliliter.

• Division 1, Seed 3: Ezra Brooks 99: This was purchased at South Lyndale Liquors in Minneapolis, MN, for $24.99 or $0.033 per milliliter.

• Division 2, Seed 3: George Dickel Bourbon: This was purchased at France 44 in Minneapolis, MN, for $24.99 or $0.033 per milliliter.

• Division 1, Seed 4: Elijah Craig: This was purchased at Top Ten Liquors in Chanhassen, MN, for $24.96 or $0.033 per milliliter.

• Division 2, Seed 4: Old Tub: This was a reader suggestion. It was purchased at France 44 in Minneapolis, MN, for $21.99 or $0.029 per milliliter.

I’m going to tell you right now, that there were some real surprises here. I was honestly shocked at the winner. But that is for the future. In the mean time, who you got? Let us know down in the comments.

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Old Forester 1924

Well, they did it. The sonnuva guns actually did it. Not a week after I mentioned in a comment on an older Old Forester post that Old Forester only has one mash bill, they went ahead and released a whiskey with a different mash bill. This is what I get for acting all high and mighty and like I know something: I get new 10-year-old bourbon…

Wait.

Ok, so that’s a good thing…I might need to act like I know everything more often.

Funny story about this one. I saw this sitting on the shelf when I was wandering through Total Wine, looking for a non-alcoholic beverage I could enjoy during Dry January. (Yes, just because I wasn't drinking alcohol for the month doesn’t mean I wasn't buying it.) So I picked up a bottle and stuck it into the closet. Well, the next week, my wife went to a different Total Wine. There was a sign informing customers that they were out of an entire list of Buffalo Trace products (we are pretty heavily allocated here, even for the standard Buffalo Trace). At the bottom, there was a handwritten addition to the list: Old Forester 1924. Of course, the Minnesota Whiskey Snobs™ were out in full force.

Now, this might happen everywhere, but in my almost 20 years of living in Minnesota, I’ve found that there is a particular brand of uppity snob that lives in the Twin Cities Metro. They are usually well-off professionals, often lawyers or upper management at a small company. I’ve had one or two of them for bosses over the years. They are the kind of people that like to get people looking at them. They think it is because others are jealous, but in reality, most people are ashamed for them. They loudly proclaim in stores things like “Oh honey, look! They are out of (some expensive thing)! Good thing we have one at home. Ha Ha Ha!”

So my wife was in Total Wine when this exact thing happened in front of that sign. Only in this case, the lady kept looking at my wife like she thought she would get a reaction. Now, I’d have walked past and whispered, “It’s good, I have two.” It would have been a lie, but sometimes, that’s what it takes to shut people up. But my wife is classier than I am. She just ignored the lady and picked up a box of Maker’s Mark 101 proof, which is pretty close to my favorite bourbon at the moment.

So, what is this new release that was causing the signs and the snobs to come out? Well, it is the latest release in Old Forester’s Whiskey Row Series. In this case, it commemorates a year when Old Forester was putting out whiskey that wasn’t entirely their own distillate. See, during Prohibition, a lot of distilleries closed. The list of those that survived is remarkably similar to the list of distilleries that were still in business in 2008. Well, the folks that still had licenses to sell bourbon medicinally bought up all the stocks of those that couldn't. And since those stocks were all that there was for the foreseeable future, folks didn’t worry too much about maintaining a consistent flavor profile. They just wanted whiskey that they could bottle and sell.

Old Forester was one of those surviving distilleries. And they were buying all the whiskey they could. This meant their mash bill wasn’t what it would have been pre-Prohibition. To commemorate this occurrence 100 years later, they have released Old Forester 1924, a bourbon that once again has a different mash bill from the rest of the Old Forester products. In this case, the mash bill is 79% corn, 11% rye, and 10% malted barley rather than their traditional 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley.

Ok, now that I’ve given anecdotes and a brief rundown of the product, let’s get to the important part. How does it taste?

Old Forester 1924

Purchase Info: $119.99 for a 750 ml bottle at Total Wine in Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $8.00

Details: 50% ABV. 10-years-old. 79% corn, 11% rye, and 10% malted barley

Nose: Nutmeg, allspice, caramel, vanilla, and oak.

Mouth: Oak, toasted nuts, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and caramel.

Finish: Long and warm. Notes of cinnamon, oak, vanilla, and spearmint.

Thoughts: Wow! This is delicious! Spicy on the tongue with a rich mouthfeel. I wouldn't have noticed the change in mashbill on this one if I hadn't read about it. This really isn't too surprising since by ten years in the barrel, you'll be getting a lot more barrel influence taking over. This gets a heart. I might just be in love.

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2023 BourbonGuy.com Bourbon of the Year: Old Forester Single Barrel Barrel Proof, Minnesota Selection #3

Last month, my wife and I decided that we were going to participate in Dry January this year. Not for any real reason, it just seemed like something to kick us out of our rut. Because of that, I needed to look ahead and see what I could find that I could taste ahead of time. I had a couple of things hanging around that I hadn’t gotten around to writing about yet, but that wasn’t enough for an entire month. So I went to the liquor store, set myself a price limit of $150, and bought everything I was going to taste for the coming month. What follows is one of those things that I had hanging around that I really needed to write about.

You know, I have a fondness for Bourbon. This might not be a revelation for most of you, considering I do tend to write about it twice a week. However, it's worth mentioning from time to time, especially when you play the role of a critic. I genuinely love bourbon, and everything I express on this site is rooted in that passion. Now, I won't go so far as to claim there's no such thing as bad bourbon—of course, there is. But, in general, I enjoy bourbon. That's why the majority of products I review receive a 'like' rating. I just genuinely enjoy the stuff.

Occasionally, I come across one that I strongly dislike. It's genuinely bad. And some bourbons simply don't resonate with me. It's not necessarily bad, but it's not my cup of bourbon. This doesn't happen too often because I make a conscious effort to only purchase things I'm confident I'll enjoy. After all, I'll have the rest of the bottle left after the review, and there's only so much prop bourbon I can go through.

However, every now and then, something surprises me. I've been at this long enough to know that when I encounter a private selection of Old Forester, I'm likely to enjoy it. I expect that and have rarely been disappointed. Old Forester is just exceptional whiskey. But this time, I was taken aback by just how outstanding it was. I believe this selection wasn't exclusive to the retailer I bought it from, given that I also found a Minnesota Selection #6 at another store. Unfortunately, #6 wasn't a barrel-proof one; otherwise, it would be residing in my house at the moment, patiently waiting for January to be over.

Old Forester Single Barrel Barrel Strength "Minnesota Selection #3"

Purchase Info: $99.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Village Liquor, Prior Lake, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $6.67

Details: 65.95% ABV. Warehouse I, Floor 8

Nose: Rich caramel, dark chocolate, baking spices, and oak.

Mouth: Dark chocolate, rich caramel, cinnamon, leather and oak.

Finish: Long and warm with notes of cocoa and leather.

Thoughts: I. Love. This. Full stop. It is thick and rich in the mouth. It is hot, but it takes water well to tame the heat. It has wonderful leather, chocolate, and oak notes from its time in the barrel. All in all, this is an excellent way to end a year. I wish the store had another bottle. I'd have gone back and bought it immediately.

In fact, I’m going to pull out a very seldom-used award. I declare that Old Forester Single Barrel Barrel Proof, Minnesota Selection #3, is joining an elite group as the third-ever recipient of the BourbonGuy.com Bourbon of the Year Award. I don’t give this out every year. This honor is reserved for bourbons that stand head and shoulders above everything else I've sampled throughout the year. The last time such an honor was bestowed was in 2021, with the one prior to that in 2017. I haven’t had a bourbon that was that much better than every other bourbon since. But this one qualifies. Nice job, Brown-Forman!

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10th Annual BourbonGuy.com Brackets: The Championship Rounds

Welcome back, folks! Can you believe we’ve done this for 10 years now? Crazy. We are now at the end of the 2023 contest. Eight whiskeys entered the arena. Four have fallen by the wayside. There have been some delicious treats, and contrary to years past, no stinkers. Let’s see how it all ends and see if we’ve learned anything along the way. First, we have the Round Two matchups.

Division 2: Whiskey A (New Riff Bourbon) vs. Whiskey B (Old Forester 1897)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: "A" has a nicer nose. Sweet and fruity. "B" has a longer and warmer finish. They are both delicious, but in this case, "A" matches my preferred flavor profile a little better. I tend to like a sweet and lightly fruity bourbon, and "A" is exactly that.

Winner: New Riff Bourbon moves on to the Championship Round

Division 1: Whiskey A (George Dickel Bottled-in-Bond No. 4) vs. Whiskey B (Jack Daniel’s Bonded)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: "B" has a nicer nose. "A" has a nicer finish with dark chocolate notes. In the mouth, "A" is a little fruitier, whereas "B" is got more "candy bar" notes. This one is tough. So tough that my wife and I are split. I prefer "A.” She prefers "B." But at the end of the day, it's my vote that gets published.

Winner: George Dickel Bottled-in-Bond (No. 4) moves on to the Championship Round

Championship Round: Whiskey A (New Riff Bourbon) vs. Whiskey B (George Dickel Bottled-in-Bond No. 4)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: The nose is very nice on both of these. In the mouth and on the finish, “A” is a little fruitier and gets my vote for the nicer experience. Both are delicious, but "A" is the winner. That fruitiness is intoxicating (and not just because of the alcohol).

Winner: New Riff Bourbon

Congrats to New Riff Bourbon, the 2023 BourbonGuy.com Bracket Champion!

Lessons Learned:

This was an interesting contest for me. When I was reminded that I only had a few days to find a theme, buy, seed, and taste the entire competition full of whiskeys. I had a moment of panic. I actually considered not doing it this year. But I’m not going to lie. This is my favorite post series each year. And once I decided to drop the price requirement as an overreaction to last year’s stinkers, it got even easier. Thankfully my local store had over eight bonded whiskeys, so I had my choice without running all over the metro the night before a big snowstorm.

So what did I learn about each of these?

With George Dickel Bottled-in-Bond (No. 4) competing for the Championship in what is, ostensibly, a bourbon contest, there may be cries of foul play since they don’t call themselves “bourbon.” But, as I told a reader in a comment on the first post in this year’s contest: if you show me a bonded whiskey (in the bourbon style) that is 13 years old for right around $50? I’m going buy that every time. It was no surprise to me that 13 years in a barrel allowed Dickel to stand up tall with the best of the best this year.

Moving on to the other Tennessee Whiskey in the competition, you get the only first-round upset. Jack Daniel’s Bonded knocked out a bourbon from Barton 1792 in the first round and almost made it to the Championship in a split decision in Round 2. That was a surprise to me. Though having had it before, I shouldn’t have been surprised. 100° proof is probably the sweet spot for Jack Daniel’s, as far as I’m concerned. It is delicious at higher proofs but gets really hot real quick. Below that, it is really mellow. Bonded just hits right for me. I was actually shocked that it went blow to blow with a 13-year-old and didn’t embarrass itself, honestly. That’s a lot of age to overcome.

Evan Williams Bottled in Bond handled itself admirably. It didn’t quite have the gusto to knock off a competitor with lots of age on it, but it should hold its head up high. It won last year and lost to the eventual number 2 this year. That’s nothing to sneeze at. It’s good whiskey and an even better value. It should be on everyone’s back bar, even if you just use it for cocktails.

Wolcott Bottled-in-Bond was interesting to me. But probably not for the reasons that Total Wine would have liked. It was the only contestant that I would describe as “meh.” It just goes to show that even a producer of great whiskey like Sazerac isn’t going to put their best stuff into somebody else’s bottle.

Moving to the other division. Our Champion New Riff was so delicious that my wife wrote, “I can’t wait to find out what this is” on the sheet she was using to keep track of the contest. It won a squeaker in the first round but easily handled two whiskeys that were either a limited edition or part of a “high-end” brand extension. I was shocked because as I was tasting it, I kept thinking, “we don’t have a Four Roses product in the line-up, but if I didn’t know better, I’d think this was one.” It had been a long time since I’d purchased the standard New Riff Bourbon. I need to change that.

I didn’t learn much from Old Grand-Dad Bonded that I didn’t already know. I knew it was a great bourbon that didn’t cost much. It is the second former champion in the mix. Nothing about that has changed.

Old Tub reminded me that Jim Beam makes good whiskey. It just needs some proof on it. Go down below 100° proof, and it gets way too nutty for a lot of folks, including me when the mood isn’t right.

Finally, Old Forester 1897 is much better than I remember it being. I love the 1920 expression. But when 1897 first came out, I thought it was a little muddy and flat. No more. This is a really good bourbon for a pretty good price. It’s going on the list of things I need to buy much more often.

This was such a fun contest this year. Not once did I have to brace myself before taking an initial sip. I knew there were no stinkers in the mix. And the champ was one that I would have never guessed. Honestly, if I was going to guess the outcome beforehand, I would have put my money on Old Forester 1897 to win it all. I also didn’t think that Dickel would make it all the way to the Championship match. I’ve liked all of the releases of Dickel Bottled-in-Bond that I’ve had. But I liked this one the least of the four. That said, it’s still good whiskey when not compared to its earlier brothers. Next week we take a look at the samples that have been stacking up while the contest was going on. As much fun as this was, it’s fun to try new bourbons too.

Once again, congrats to New Riff Bourbon on their 2023 Championship!

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10th Annual BourbonGuy.com Brackets: Round 1: Old Forester 1897 vs. Old Tub

Those of you that have been following along know that this is the second competition of Round 1. These were tasted in an order only known to my wife as another bit of obfuscation to hide what was being tasted. So Round 1 of the 2023 BourbonGuy.com Brackets continues with Division 2’s Number 4 seed Old Tub taking on Number 1 seed Old Forester 1897. 

Old Forester 1897 is part of Old Forester’s Whiskey Row line of Bourbons. This one was named for the 1897 Bottled-in-Bond Act (if you want a poster I designed around the text of the act, click here) and as you might have guessed from the context is a bonded bourbon. It was distilled in Louisville, KY at Brown-Forman’s distillery DSP-KY-354 (at one time known as the Early Times Distillery). It was bottled at Brown-Forman’s distillery DSP-KY-414. It was purchased at Viking Liquor Barrel in Prior Lake, MN. It cost $49.99 for a 750 mL bottle or $3.33 per pour.

Their opponent recently replaced Jim Beam Bonded in the Jim Beam brand line-up. Old Tub is a bottled-in-bond, unfiltered bourbon that is named after the brand the the Beam family made before they started producing Jim Beam branded products. It was distilled in Clermont, KY at Jim Beam’s distillery DSP-KY-230. This was purchased at Viking Liquor Barrel in Prior Lake, MN. It cost $20.99 for a 750 mL bottle or $1.40 per pour.

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

Whiskey A (Old Tub)

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $1.40

Details: 50% ABV. Unfiltered.

Nose: Floral mint and oak.

Mouth: Spicy. Vegetal. Floral.

Finish: Medium length and warm. Notes of Cinnamon, dusty oak, and a touch of dried grains.

Whiskey B (Old Forester 1897)

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $3.33

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Herbal mint, caramel, and vanilla.

Mouth: Floral vanilla, caramel, and baking spice.

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

Thoughts:

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: At the first sip of "B," I knew it was the winner. "A" is a good whiskey, but "B" lands right in the flavor profile that I love: sweet with lots of baking spice. "B" also has a wonderful mouth feel. It coats the month and throat beautifully.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Another nice matchup. For the first time since we started these brackets, I knew that it was highly unlikely that there would be a “bad” whiskey in the bunch. I mean, Bonded bourbon is the gold standard for a reason. And that reason is no additives or shortcuts. You gotta just let nature do its thing for at least four years. That said, I would have been very surprised to see Old Tub beat Old Forester 1897. And things worked out as expected in this round.

Winner: Old Forester 1897 Bottled-in-Bond is advancing to round 2.

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

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

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

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

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

Whiskey A (Wolcott Bottled in Bond)

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $3.13

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Nutty with notes of mint and dusty oak.

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

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

Whiskey B (Jack Daniel’s Bonded)

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $2.50

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Chocolate, caramel, vanilla, and cinnamon.

Mouth: Chocolate, cinnamon, and caramel.

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

Thoughts:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. Old Forester 1897 (6.67 cents per mL)

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

4. New Riff (5.60 cents per mL)

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

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

7. Old Tub (2.80 cents per mL)

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

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

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

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