Buffalo Trace Store pick: Westport Whiskey & Wine

December 1, 2016 Eric Burke

Back in September, I met up with a fellow blogger for his first trip to the Party Source. It's in the Kentucky part of the Cincinnati Metro area, and he'd just moved to Ohio. We'd never met in real life before, and I'm always up for a bit of whiskey shopping, so I was more than willing to make the drive from Louisville to Cincinnati.

And boy did I fill my cart. I didn't get anything too special, but everything I did get was unavailable here in Minnesota, so that made it special to me. I must have bought like eight to ten bottles of bourbon. I doubt I spent more than $12 on most of them. It was fun. A lot of chatting. A bunch of shopping. Good times had all around.

So of course, after heading back to Louisville, we decided that since we were driving right past Westport Whiskey and Wine that, well, we'd probably better stop in. I mean we are right there. It'd be a shame to have to drive all the way back over here, wouldn't it? (Not going to mention we were visiting a friend later in the week that lives about 15 minutes from there...)

Buffalo Trace Store pick: Westport Whiskey & Wine label

After we had convinced ourselves that this was, indeed, the best course of action we stopped in and took a look around. WW&W is not a huge mega-store. It's a nice sized store that has a decent selection and has had a private selection of one sort or another, every time I visit. I can't remember what we actually went in looking for, but I'm pretty sure we didn't find it. What I found instead was a liter bottle of a store pick Buffalo Trace. I hadn't picked up a Buffalo Trace for a while, so when they offered me a sample, I was pretty sure that I was going to buying it if it was at all good. And it was. It was very good.

Or well as good as anything can be in a tiny disposable plastic shot glass.

Buffalo Trace Private Selection, Westport Whiskey & Wine

Purchase Info: $37.99 for a one-liter bottle at Westport Whiskey and Wine, Louisville, KY.

Details: Barrel # 111, 45% ABV

Nose: Cinnamon sugar, crisp apples,and almonds.

Mouth: Fresh Green apple, almond, and baking spices rounded out by vanilla and oak.

Finish: Warm with lingering vanilla and apple.

Thoughts: This is a tasty variation on the Buffalo Trace flavor profile. This is a good example of why I like store picks.

If you've had standard Buffalo Trace, then the store pick is...

Fruitier on the nose with more prominent cinnamon. The mouth is softer with more fruit and spice, but with less pronounced almond notes. The finish is a little warmer.

Have I told you about BourbonGuyGifts.com? It is one of the ways you can support the blog and still get something back. I hand-craft items from barrel bungs, barrel staves and more to make coat racks, candle holders, tasting journals, drink coasters and more. Check it out, won't you?

Head to Head Review: Eagle Rare, Store Pick vs Regular Release

July 12, 2016 Eric Burke

Two Eagle Rare Bottles. One from Ace Spirits, one from a grocery store in Wisconsin

Store picks versus regular releases. It’s a topic I find myself thinking about more and more often as I realize that I’ve examined a lot of bourbon for the blog and tasted a lot more outside of it. As my local liquor stores realize that they need to do something in order to differentiate themselves from the competition, I run across more and more store picks of things like Knob Creek, Woodford Reserve, Russell’s Reserve, 1792 and others. Plus, the price is normally either the same as the regular release or even a little cheaper. As such I’ve found myself picking them more often on my shopping trips.

I’ve had mixed results with store picks, some are amazing and some are…well…not. But I tend to buy them anyway. While I always like a good familiar bourbon, sometimes I like a slightly different take on that familiar flavor. I say slightly very purposefully. It is rare that a store pick will fall too far outside the accepted flavor profile for a given brand. It may be the the producer didn’t offer samples that strayed too far (it is their name on the bottle too after all) or it may be that the retailer didn’t want to surprise customers with something that didn’t match their expectations. So I tend to buy them when I see them. Not because they are totally different, but that sometimes I find it interesting how fairly slight differences can extremely noticeable when you taste things side by side. Of course sometimes I just buy it because it is on sale too.

Eagle Rare is a bourbon produced by Buffalo Trace. It is dumped out of barrels that were filled with distillate made from Buffalo Trace’s Rye Bourbon Mash Bill Number 1 (though I have been told that very occasionally a mash bill number 2 barrel will hit the flavor profile and become Eagle Rare). This same distillate is also used to fill barrels that will become Old Charter, George T Stagg, Buffalo Trace and Benchmark. It is also a bourbon that I was positive that I had reviewed before. I buy it every so often when I go home to visit my family because it is readily available and tends to be pretty cheap in relation to the price I sometimes find it for in Minnesota, where it’s a different story completely. Here it is neither readily available or as cheap. I will often find it for almost $10 more per bottle.

A local retailer peaked my interest when they sent out an email hinting that they’d solved the allocation problem by picking their own barrel. Even though I had a bottle open and on the shelf from my last trip home, I decided that the ability to taste these side by side was too tempting to pass up.

So now I have two open bottles of Eagle Rare on the shelf.

Eagle Rare: Regular Release vs Store Pick

Regular Release:

Purchase Info: ~$27 for a 750 mL at Marketplace Foods, Hayward, WI.

Details: Single Barrel. 10 Year Age Stated, 45% ABV.

Nose: Oak, mint and a slight smokiness

Mouth: A nice viscous mouthfeel. Sweet caramel, herbal mint and anise, oak.

Finish: Of medium length with sweet and oak notes.

Ace Spirits Store Pick:

Purchase Info: $34.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN

Details: Single Barrel. 10 Year Age Stated, 45% ABV. Barrel # 170.

Nose: Oak, mint and a slight smokiness with the addition of baking spices and a light fruitiness.

Mouth: Butterscotch, oak, anise and a light fruitless.

Finish: Nice and spicy and of medium to long length.

Thoughts: Both of these are very good. Let’s just start there. I’m a big fan of both when I have them on their own. Together though, there is a definite standout. The regular release feels almost tired compared to the Ace Spirits pick. The addition of a light fruitiness to the oak and sweetness really livens up the pour. That isn’t to say that these are miles apart from a flavor standpoint. They both taste like Eagle Rare. One just tastes like a better version of Eagle Rare.

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!

My new favorite “Small Batch” bourbon

August 27, 2015 Eric Burke

Evan Williams Single Barrel 2006, Larceny, Old Weller Antique, and Booker's bourbons make up my new blend.

Last week I decided to try something. I’d read an article describing a recipe for peach infused bourbon. Having had a few peach and bourbon cocktails, I was excited to try it myself. I love making infusions, though as I have stated on more than one occasion, I like making them more than drinking them. I almost always end up dumping them out after about a year in the cupboard.

Being the geeky obsessive type, I decided that I really needed the right bourbon to infuse. It had to really capture the caramel and vanilla flavors as well as present a nice spiciness that could stand up to the peach.

I did a little looking through my notes and decided that Maker’s 46 would be darn near perfect…except I didn’t have any. So after thinking about it for a bit I decided to actually look at what I did have in the house. I’d decided that a nice soft wheater would probably be perfect. Looking at my selection of wheated bourbons I landed first on Larceny, but I wanted the proof to be somewhere in the 100 proof plus range (as higher proof alcohols will absorb the other flavors faster) and Larceny was only 92. Then I looked at Old Weller Antique. It had the proof, but was also a bit too hot for what I was thinking.

I eventually decided that I was going to blend the two. This way, maybe I could have the best of both worlds. As I was standing there though, I had another thought. This year’s Evan Williams Single Barrel was pretty caramel and spice forward as well. And then I looked over at the Booker’s on the shelf. That batch, though strong, also presented those flavors well.

I was recently asked how I go about deciding what to put into a blend. This is a perfect example of how I go through the blending process. First I start with a goal. In this case I had a flavor profile in mind. Caramel forward with a nice spice. Then I go about finding those ingredients that will give me that flavor. Of course there is often some trial and error. I normally start with equal parts and move from there should the need arise. But in this case, everything just clicked right from the start at equal proportions.

I really think this is the best blend I’ve made. And that includes the experiments I did with all the Four Roses Single barrels. But here is the best part: all of these bourbons are readily available in most parts of the country.

Arok’s Small Batch - Mix of distilleries edition

Details: Equal parts of Larceny (Heaven Hill), Evan Williams Single Barrel 2006 vintage (Heaven Hill), Old Weller Antique (Buffalo Trace) and Booker’s Batch# 2013-6 (Beam). Approximate final ABV is 51.44%.

Nose: Initially the nose on this is very closed. It really benefits from some time in the glass. After sitting for a bit, there is a very strong caramel and vanilla presence. Subtle hints of fruit follow along with a nice almond scent. Overall this is the type of very sweet nose that I could sit and smell all day.

Mouth: Some nice heat. Strong caramel and vanilla presence again along with black pepper, almond, hints of cherry and some nice oak tannins.

Finish: Long, spicy finish with lingering black pepper and oak tannins.

I’ve already stated my thoughts above. I think this is the best blend I’ve created to date and it is one that I will probably be coming back to on more than one occasion. But I’m guessing you are asking how it worked with the peaches…and to be fair, I really don’t know. It was too good to use in that way. So if you have the ingredients on hand I really recommend trying this. And if it isn’t quite right for you think about what will make it better and adjust it. See if you can’t dial in your new favorite small batch bourbon.

Ask Arok: Eagle Rare Barrels

July 16, 2015 Eric Burke

A barrel holding distillate made from Buffalo Trace' Rye Bourbon Mash #1. Someday it might become Eagle Rare, Buffalo Trace, George T. Stagg or Benchmark bourbons.

It all started with one little article shared on twitter. “Reverend Nat's Eagle Rare Bourbon Barrel Aged Revival Cider.” It’s a hard cider that they claim was aged in barrels that previously held Eagle Rare. This prompted a response on Twitter.

@arok is there such a thing as an Eagle Rare barrel? Gonna guess that isn't what was on it when it was dumped.

Andrew Elms ‏(@elmsandr)

Now, I’m going to guess that Andrew is asking this question with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek since I suspect he knows the answer to his question already. But still, it is a good question and one that someone who isn’t obsessed with bourbon might not know the answer to.

First a little background. Eagle Rare is a bourbon produced by Buffalo Trace. It is dumped out of barrels that were filled with distillate made from Buffalo Trace’s Rye Bourbon Mash Bill Number 1 (though I have been told that very occasionally a mash bill number 2 barrel will hit the flavor profile and become Eagle Rare). This same distillate is also used to fill barrels that will become Old Charter, George T Stagg, Buffalo Trace and Benchmark. Buffalo Trace has four mash recipes that are fermented and distilled to create all of their brands. There is the aforementioned Bourbon Mash #1. There is Rye Bourbon Mash #2 which is used to create the distillate that will eventually become Ancient Age, Elmer T. Lee and Blanton’s among others. There is a Wheat Bourbon Mash used to create distillate that will become the Weller line as well as the younger Van Winkles. And there is a Rye Mash that is used to create the distillate that will become the Sazerac Ryes and Thomas H. Handy Rye.

If you do a search online you will find no end to the things that claim to be aged in a certain Buffalo Trace brand’s barrel. There’s a Buffalo Trace, a George T. Stagg and a Van Winkle barrel aged Tequila. There are numerous beers aged in Stagg, Buffalo Trace and Van Winkle barrels. And there is the Eagle Rare barrel aged hard cider mentioned above. To name just a few.

Which brings us back to the question: Is there such a thing as an Eagle Rare Barrel? The answer is: kinda.

You see, there is no barrel that was filled with the intention of it being Eagle Rare (or Stagg, or Van Winkle, etc) when it was emptied. Every barrel that is filled with something that might become Eagle Rare will be labeled Mash #1 (or on a rare occasion Mash #2). So if your perspective is driven by what went into the barrel, then no. There is no such thing.

Of course, what went into the barrel and what came out of it were two completely different things. All sorts of factors act on that distillate to change it from Mash #1 to Buffalo Trace or Eagle Rare or (Benchmark for that matter). So if you look at it from the perspective of what came out of the barrel, then most certainly there is an Eagle Rare barrel. There is a barrel that held Eagle Rare. It just happens to be labeled Mash #1 (or on a rare occasion Mash #2).

So who is right? I tend to look at it from the "what came out" side. Blanton’s and Elmer T. Lee are both single barrel bourbons that came from the same distillate, but they taste much different. Old Charter tastes much different than Buffalo Trace or Eagle Rare even though they came from the same mash recipe. Based on that, as long as they are being honest about what came out of the barrel, I’d say Buffalo Trace is well within it’s rights to sell an empty barrel as an Eagle Rare Barrel or a Van Winkle Barrel or a George T. Stagg Barrel. Especially if people are willing to pay extra for it.

Do you have a bourbon question you'd like answered? Just get in contact with me using one of the icons in the sidebar to submit one. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll try to find it from someone who does.

Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets 2015, Round 1: Fighting Cock vs. Benchmark

March 19, 2015 Eric Burke

Round 1a of the 2015 Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets features Number 1 seed Fighting Cock versus Number 4 seed Benchmark Old No. 8 Brand.

Fighting Cock is one of those bourbons that I passed over based solely on it’s frat boy name. I’ve read that it was supposed to be a competitor for Wild Turkey (the kickin’ chicken) with its a high proof and 6 year age. I have no doubt that’s the case, but I still can’t say the name without snickering. Which says more about me than the name, I guess. In any case this was a bourbon that was recommended to me numerous times last year when I called for entries, but it was always just outside the price range. Increased competition in this market has made it available in the contest’s price range, so here it is as a number one sed based on both stated age and proof.

Benchmark Old No. 8 Brand Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. If I told you this was a Sazerac product, would it surprise you that it used to be Benchmark 8 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey? Well, it is. And it was. I’m sure some people out there haven’t noticed the 5 year drop in age. People like the store I bought it from that still calls it “Benchmark 8YR” on the sales receipt. This looks to be one of the first bottles to receive Sazerac’s now infamous “Number Treatment.” It seems to have lost it’s age statement and gained it’s 8 in 2004. Strangely, it did gain an age statement of sorts in 2013-2014 by becoming young enough to drop below the 4 year old minimum for being truly NAS. In any case It was recommended last year and met the criteria so here it is as the number 4 seed based on that new age statement.

Fighting Cock

Purchase Info: Total Wine & More, Burnsville, MN $14.99 for a 750 mL

Stated Age: 6 years

ABV: 51.5%

Produced by: Heaven Hill

Nose: Green Apple, cinnamon, caramel, anise, bubble gum and vanilla.

Mouth: Hot and fruity with apple, cinnamon candy and a good hit of oak.

Finish: Hot and long. Mint, oak and cinnamon candy.

Thoughts: This is a much more complex bourbon than I was expecting. It deserves it’s name. This thing wants to fight. It’s hot and spicy, but that is balanced by a nice fruitiness. Adding water destroys it though as it becomes all about the dried corn.

Benchmark Old No. 8 Brand

Purchase Info: MGM Wine & Spirits, Burnsville, MN $13.49 for a 1L

Stated Age: At least 36 months

ABV: 40%

Produced by: Buffalo Trace

Nose: Toffee, dried fruit, a vitamin tablet, corn and faint cinnamon.

Mouth: Velvety. Hot. Mint, corn, oak and brown sugar.

Finish: Residual heat and mint. Nothing to write home about.

Thoughts: This was a surprise. Nice heat. A good complexity. It may only be three years old, but there is nothing to keep this from being a nice card playing bourbon. Adding water amps up the sweetness and turns it into a butterscotch bomb.

Winner: Fighting Cock. But this was a match-up primed for an upset. Benchmark was a real surprise. We were tasting blind and it was the first one we tasted. Based on its heat and a decent complexity, I honestly thought it had to be the Fighting Cock. It wasn’t, obviously. After tasting both whiskeys we agreed that, out of a Glencairn, the Fighting Cock was much better. But for the way my wife drinks whiskey (with a cube or two of ice) she actually thinks that the Benchmark is more her style. It's the better of the two after dilution. Personally I’ll stick with the Fighting Cock, but don’t be too surprised to see either of these in the stash in the future.

What the Hell? (An exploration of the Craigslist secondary market)

March 3, 2015 Eric Burke

Want a laugh? Go troll Craigslist looking for bourbon. You will find legitimate collectable items of both the liquid and memorabilia types. But mixed in among the legit collectables are those that people only wish were collectable. Folks looking to make a buck (or hundred) by preying on the unsuspecting and uninformed.

A while back, I solicited people on twitter to send me some of their favorites. What follows are the ones I liked best out those submissions. Thanks to all who participated.

St. Petersburg

Let's start with something that really is hard to find, But seriously? This is over a 300% markup. Glad to have paid gift shop prices for mine.

That's a little better. Only a 200% markup (roughly). It must be on sale though. I mean "Ther prise is Final !" after all.

"It may not have the same demand as (That which will not be named) but that won't stop me from charging the same price as it."

I was starting to worry that this guy wouldn't be able to feed his family after the last two which were listed at only a 200% markup. But here we are, back to 400% or so. whew!

Chicago/Illinois

I like the bourbon...but damn.

In case you were curious, you shouldn't drink this $100 bourbon. It's for display only.

Apparently if you leave the city, the price drops. Those poor suckers in Champaign/Urbana. (shakes head) But if you want tasting notes with your gouging, this is your guy.

Missouri

$125 for a liter of "Poor Man's Pappy." Apparently the definition of poor is different in Missouri. Having traveled through much of it, I wouldn't have guessed that.

Dallas

It's Booker's! with keywords of Buffalo Trace, Angel's Envy and (That which will not be named).

New York

It's impossible to find as shown by all the Weller 12 listings we've found. Though by this point in the list, this asking price feels almost...reasonable.

Damn! Man! At least leave the store parking lot before you sell that collectible bit of HAZMAT!

Minneapolis

Can't leave my home town out, can I?

Feel like trading your Booker's 25th, Four Roses Limiteds, or Buffalo Trace Antique Collections for a bit of Old Weller Antique 107 proof? Yeah, me neither.

"The value is in the collectable (sic) container, its label, not contents inside." Finally one I agree with. The stuff inside is terrible. Though if you want, the container that bad I'll give you mine. I'll even throw in the last quarter bottle or so for good measure

Alaska

Nothing seems shady here. $75-$100 for an ounce and a half of liquid in an unmarked bottle? Or I can get all 12 and save $100!?! Where do I sign up?

Louisville

And before you think it's just folks who don't know bourbon, here's one from the heart of Bourbon Country.

I just want to know how much he's charging for that collectible mason jar filled with a "representation of a 50/50 mixture that has mingled for two weeks" in a mason jar. I mean, I'd also imagine it'd be delicious (if it were intended for consumption).

Like the fire of 1,000 suns, it's a very hot Stagg Jr. Mmmmm...tasty, tasty suns.

January 29, 2015 Eric Burke

I walked into the liquor store to get a bottle of wine for the pizza sauce I was making that night.

“Hi Eric.” I heard from behind the counter. I looked over startled. I didn’t ever talk to anyone here, how did they know my name?

When I looked over, I noticed that it was the former manager of one of the liquor stores I used to frequent all the time, but that I hadn’t been to since their bourbon selection sort of fell off.

“Oh, hi!” I barely got out before heading down to the wine section. I knew I needed to get that before I got distracted by bourbon. This guy had a tendency to do that to me.

After getting up to the counter, we made small talk for a bit before he let me know “I have a bottle of Stagg Jr. in the office. It’s not going to hit the shelf, if you’re interested.”

…blink…

Well, this was unexpected. Did I want it? Good question. I was having some well documented personal difficulties with Sazerac’s labeling. But this wasn’t an offending product. And I’d heard good things.

“How much?” I asked expecting a fairly outrageous price.

“About $48”

“Yes.” I answered, barely letting him finish.

This, kids, is why it pays to build relationships that span the course of several years with your local liquor store.

And so a trip for a $9 bottle of wine turned into a $63 stop after taxes. Honestly, I don’t even know why my wife lets me go to stores by myself anymore. I do have a history of randomly walking out having spent 700-1000% of what my plan was. In any case, I plan to start frequenting this store a little more.

Stagg Jr.

Purchase info: $47.99 for a 750 mL at Marketplace Liquors, Savage, MN

Details: 64.35% ABV

Nose: Lots of ethanol on this. Floral, red berries, mint, bubblegum, sourdough and a faint odor of old barn.

Mouth: Very hot and sweet. Caramel, mint, leather, tobacco, cayenne pepper.

Finish: Warm, long and drying. Leather and black pepper.

Thoughts: This is way too hot for me to enjoy neat. I don’t like my bourbon to cause pain. Let’s add some water to bring this down to about 100° proof.

Nose: Really tames the ethanol. Brown sugar is abundant, caramel and vanilla too. Floral notes are still there along with the bubble gum. There is now a bready note as well.

Mouth: The fire has been muted, though not extinguished. There is a nice tingle now. It’s still sweet with caramel but the lack of fire allows a fruity note to appear. Mint and cayenne are still there. Tobacco and leather have been replaced by a nice oak flavor.

Finish: nice and warm with lingering oak.

Thoughts: Wow. Now that I can taste something other than fire, I really like this. It’s sweet and fruity but nicely balanced with spice and oak. If you can find it for less than 1.5 times the price of regular Buffalo Trace, pounce on it. It’s worth the slight premium to gain the ability to dilute it to your preferred strength.

W.L. Weller 12 year old

January 22, 2015 Eric Burke

Looking for a good, easy-to-find bourbon that won’t cost you an arm and a leg?

Oh, you are? Shit. Well this isn’t it.

Once upon a time you could get a bottle of W.L. Weller 12 year old bourbon easily and for a decent price. Not in Minnesota, I’ve never seen it here. But in areas where it was distributed, it was just…there. Sitting on the shelf. Historically, running somewhere between $20 and $30.

Anecdotally it seems this is no longer the case. Weller 12 has fallen victim to the frenzy over it’s higher-priced corporate cousin and is out of stock basically everywhere I look online. Looking on wine-searcher.com (which lists historical price averages going back to 2007), I see they are claiming the current average price to be $59. In fact, five of the seven listings they show are $89 or over.

I have some advice. Don’t pay this much for this bourbon. Settle down, take a breath and realize that while this is decent, it isn’t earth-shatteringly so. If you want a wheated bourbon, get a different Weller, a Larceny or even a Maker’s Mark. If you want a 12 year old bourbon go with Elijah Craig. If you are only looking at this because it is supposed to be like (that other bourbon that will not be named)?

Well, there’s no hope for you. You, I give permission to go pay $90+ because you’re going to do it anyway. Just remember if this is the only reason you want Weller 12, your reasoning is flawed. This is not that. It’s failed at that already. Didn’t make the cut. Tasted different enough to not be chosen.

So now that the rant is over, is the bourbon any good?

W.L. Weller 12 Year Old bourbon

Purchase info: $29.99 for a 750 mL at Dorignac’s Food Center, Metairie, LA

Details: 45% ABV, Aged 12 years

Nose: Cherry preserves, oak, clove, ginger, cotton candy

Mouth: Hot. Bubble gum, clove, black pepper, mint

Finish: Nice and warm with a decent length. Nutty, mint oak, baking spices.

Thoughts: This is a decent bourbon. I don’t prefer wheated bourbons so I normally choose something else when this is on my shelf. But if you are a fan of wheaters and run across it and the price is somewhere in the ballpark of MSRP, it’s a good one to pick up. I normally do. And provided the price is right I’ll probably continue to do so.

Blog