Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2019: Round 2: Wild Turkey 101 vs. Bulleit and Evan Williams Bottled in Bond vs. Old Forester Signature

In light of recent allegations made by the daughter of Tom Bulleit of his homophobia and mental and physical abuse toward her, I have made the decision that BourbonGuy.com can no longer endorse products bearing the Bulleit name.

View fullsize

This is it. Tonight we find out who will the final two spots of our semifinals round. Round 2 of the 2019 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets continues with Division 2 Number 1 seed Wild Turkey 101 versus the advancing Number 5 seed Bulleit Bourbon. 

We’ve already met Bulleit, but to recap, it it is a sourced bourbon from Diageo. It used to be made of Four Roses juice but it is getting less and less likely that there is any left in the bottle since it has been five or six years since they were cut off. The other competitor is Wild Turkey 101. It is a product of Campari’s Wild Turkey distillery. And it is one of my favorite “everyday” bourbons. Let’s see who comes out on top.

These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.

Wild Turkey 101

Purchase Info: $19.99 for a 1 liter bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 50.5% ABV.

Nose: Caramel, vanilla custard, cinnamon and a hint of mint.

Mouth: Sweet and spicy with mint and cinnamon.

Finish: Medium length, warm and sweet. Lingering cinnamon and vanilla custard.

Bulleit Bourbon

Purchase Info: $18.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 45% ABV.

Nose: Spearmint, toffee, cherry, cinnamon red hots.

Mouth: Spicy and sweet (though less sweet than number one) baking spice, toffee, and cherry.

Finish: Medium length. Lingering toffee and baking spice.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: Two very good whiskeys in this one but whiskey one wins this round. The spice is spicier. The sweet is sweeter It has more well-defined flavors. And it has a warmer and longer finish. Whiskey one is tastes like they took whiskey two and cranked up the volume.

Post Reveal Thoughts: Not shocked that Wild Turkey 101 won this round. The proof difference could easily explain the difference in “volume.”

View fullsize

Round 2 of the 2019 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets concludes with Division 2 Number 2 seed Evan Williams Bottled in Bond versus the advancing Number 6 seed Old Forester Signature 100 proof.  

Old Forester Signature 100 proof is the plucky underdog here. Or is it? Though it was once a staple on my bourbon shelf, I’ve been passing on Evan Williams Bottled in Bond more and more lately. It has just started tasting too young to me. More grain-forward than I’d like. Especially when I can get the same size bottle of Wild Turkey 101 for just a dollar or two more.

These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.

Old Forester Signature 100 Proof

Purchase Info: $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Honey, caramel, wintergreen, almond.

Mouth: Caramel, black tea, vanilla, clove and cinnamon.

Finish: Medium length and warm. Lingering caramel, apple, cinnamon and oak.

Evan Williams Bottled in Bond

Purchase Info: $17.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Brown sugar, mint and vanilla.

Mouth: Caramel, mint and dried grain.

Finish: Medium length with lingering caramel, dried grains and cinnamon.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: Whiskey one wins this one hands-down. In my mind there is no contest. Whiskey two is way too grain forward by comparison.

Post Reveal Thoughts: No surprises here. Old Forester is a nice complex bourbon. It’s everything that I look for in a decently priced bourbon. By way of comparison, Evan Williams Bottled in Bond just isn’t as good as it used to be. I’ve noticed that about a lot of the Heaven Hill Bonded bourbons lately. Good, but not as good as they used to be. (Possibly because Heaven hill seems more interested in putting out new $100+ “prestige” bourbons like the new Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond than they are the lower-priced offerings that helped build their reputation.) Anyway EWBiB will work great in cocktails, but that is what this contest is about. Old Forester Signature advances.

And so the Championship Rounds are set! Old Grand-Dad Bonded versus Larceny and Wild Turkey 101 versus Old Forester Signature.

View fullsize

---

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

6th Annual BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets: Reader's Choice Edition

As it is March, it is probably time for brackets of one sort or another. And even though my beloved Minnesota Gophers will actually make an appearance in a basketball tournament this year...I still don't really care. I mean, I'm happy to hear they are doing ok, but it isn't going to ruin my day should they not beat Louisville. 

No, once again it is time to get our fill of competitive bracketing by finding inexpensive bourbons and pitting them against each other head-to-head to see if there is one that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Normally I run all over the Metro trying to find bourbons that fulfill a stringent set of qualifications while minimizing bourbons from the same producer. But this year, I decided to be lazy…errr…crowd-source the decision by opening the nomination process up to you, the readers.

And boy did the nominations roll in (it might have helped that I asked the question as part of couple different give-aways). It’s funny, a couple of years ago, I got chastised in the comments for having an elevated Bottom-Shelf. But let me tell you, ya’ll have a much more high-end bottom shelf than I do.

So how does this competition work? Well, the bourbons included were all nominated by the readers. After the nomination process, I tallied the number of nomination each bourbon received, cross referenced that with bourbons I could buy for less than $25 (750 mL bottle or larger) and figured out which of those were actually available in my market.

And it was at that point that I realized there were way too many interesting suggestions for an eight bourbon bracket. So this year we are bracketing it NFL-style with 12 whiskeys, the top four seeds of which have earned first-round byes. Which leads me to how these were seeded. I have a very precise algorithm which I …

nah. I just went by the number of nominations each bourbon got. After that I broke any ties first by age and then by proof. The divisions were chosen in alternating order so Division 1 chose the top seed as first, then Division 2 got to choose the second seed first and so on down the line. And now, the moment you were waiting for:

The number one overall seed, with 5 nominations and 103 proof is Heaven Hill’s Fighting Cock. Following that with the number one seed in Division 2, also with 5 nominations, is Wild Turkey 101. The third overall seed and the number two seed in Division 2 is Evan Williams Bottled in Bond (four nominations and 100 proof). Following that as the number two seed in Division 1 is Larceny (Four nominations and 92 proof). The number three seeds are Evan Williams Single Barrel (Division 1, three nominations, 7 years old) and Buffalo Trace (Division 2, three nominations, 90 proof). Number four seeds are Four Roses Bourbon (Division 2, three nominations, 80 proof) and Jim Beam Bonded (Division 1, two nominations, 100 proof). Number 5 seeds are Old Grand-Dad Bonded (Division 1, two nominations, 100 proof) and Bulleit Bourbon (Division 2, two nominations, 90 proof). There were a lot of suggestions that only had one nomination, so I chose ones I thought might be interesting as the number six seeds. They are Old Forester Signature (Division 2, one nominations, 100 proof) and Jim Beam Repeal Batch (Division 1, one nominations, 100 proof).

There are a lot of interesting story lines this time (that tends to happen when you elevate the level of competition). We start out with Jim Beam Bonded versus Old Grand-Dad Bonded. Which of the two Beam Bourbon recipes will win out? We also have Four Roses versus Bulleit. So we have a Four Roses product versus one that used to be mostly Four Roses, but is no longer so. And honestly, I’m curious to see how the Beam Limited Release fares against the Heaven Hill Limited Release in Repeal Batch versus Evan Williams Single Barrel. And if Evan Williams wins, which of the Heaven Hill Bourbon recipes will win out? The wheat or the rye based?

Anyway competition starts Thursday. Check back then to see which of the bourbon in the Reader’s Choice Bottom-Shelf comes out on top!

---

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Private Selection: Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit Single Barrel (Haskell's Barrel 18-0863)

Last week, I talked about picking up a private selection of Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel. Well, on the same shopping trip, I also picked up a private selection of Kentucky Spirit. I hadn’t thought about Kentucky Spirit for a while. I don’t usually purchase it. I’d rather have Rare Breed at a higher proof and a lower price.

So it was a weird coincidence that just after my first Kentucky Spirit purchase in a while, I stumbled across a partial eulogy for Kentucky Spirit on the excellent site Rare Bird 101. In that article, I noticed that the wonderful fan shaped bottle is in the process of being replaced with the new Rare Breed bottle.

This makes me sad. Sure, using the same bottle as another product in your line up is a good move from both a cost savings and a design consistency standpoint. But in this case they are getting rid of a truly beautiful bottle. One that is gift worthy. Alas, all things pass and the only constant in life is change. And the good news is I don’t drink the bottle, I drink what is inside of it.

Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit Single Barrel (Haskell's Barrel 18-0863)

Purchase Info: $54.99 for a 750mL bottle at Haskell’s, Bloomington, MN

Details: 50.5% ABV. Barrel number 18-0863. Aged 8 years 5 months.

Nose: Pipe tobacco, wintergreen, vanilla, green apple and oak.

Mouth: Sweet and spicy. Follows the nose with green apple, wintergreen, vanilla and oak.

Finish: Sweet and spicy with decent length. Lingering pipe tobacco, oak and apple.

Thoughts: This is a delicious pick. So much so that I literally paused writing this tonight to run to the store and grab a second bottle. I wanted to be sure I got a second one. It reminds me of a sweeter and even more oak forward version of 101. Big fan.

---

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

Private Selection: Russell's Reserve Single Barrel (Haskell's Staff, Bold and Spicy)

I love having friends that are as into whiskey as I am. Especially when they have access to a different set of liquor stores than I do. In this case, my friend had access to Haskell’s, a local chain that no longer serves my part of the metro. They closed the location nearest to me when Total Wine came into the market.

At the time, I thought that was a fair trade off. While that location had once had a magnificent bourbon selection, it had shrunk considerably by the time they pulled out. I haven’t soured on Total Wine. You can still get a screaming deal on a bottle of Four Roses, Jim Beam or Wild Turkey. But, now that Total Wine has started to replace many of the smaller national brands with their own “Spirits Direct” bourbons (many of which are that disgusting Terra Pure crap), they are less useful if you want to explore the category. That, of course, is why I visit many liquors stores and spread my liquor budget around. Sometimes you get a good price, sometimes a good selection, and sometimes you get really tasty private selections.

And that is why I am thankful to have the friend I mentioned above. He has still has a Haskell’s near him. And apparently since my location closed, Haskell’s has started buying a number of private barrels, including few from Wild Turkey. When I stopped in there were two different Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel picks. I grabbed the one labeled “Bold and Spicy.”

Private Selection: Russell's Reserve Single Barrel (Haskell's Staff, Bold and Spicy)

Purchase Info: $59.99 for a 750 ml bottle at Haskell’s, Bloomington, MN.

Details: 55% ABV. Barrel#: 17-095, Rickhouse B, Floor 5.

Nose: Floral with strong notes of dusty oak. Lighter notes of mint, apple and vanilla follow.

Mouth: Nice thick mouthfeel. Very spicy with cinnamon, clove, leather, sweet vanilla notes dominating with hints of green apple underneath.

Finish: Sweet, spicy and long. Lingering caramel sweetness.

Thoughts: Having just recently checked in on the Russell’s Reserve Small Batch, I’d say that this follows the Wild Turkey flavor profile more than the Russell’s Reserve one. Which is definitely working to its advantage. This is delicious. It is sweet and spicy and very rich. Big fan of this one.

---

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

Russell's Reserve 10 Year Old Bourbon: Revisited

It has been 1,426 days since I first reviewed a bottle of Russell’s Reserve Bourbon. At the time I liked it, but was a bit at a loss as to why I would buy it. I think this comment from Ben best summarized my feelings at the time:

My thoughts exactly on this one. It was good and very enjoyable … but I believe I'd rather chip in another $5-$10 and get the Rare Breed (which is one of my favorites) or save $10-$15 and get the 101.

Rare Breed was also one of my favorites. Still is for that matter. And honestly, I like it enough that I have been willing to spend the extra $10 for Rare Breed over Russell’s Reserve whenever I wanted an upgrade from Wild Turkey 101. Because, surprisingly that math still works at all of the liquor stores I frequent (and many that I merely occasionally visit).

But a few weeks ago, I decided that the time had come to test that theory again. I was looking for something I hadn’t had in a while and that first review was the last time I’d purchased Russell’s Reserve, you can see that it had been quite a while since I’d had it.

Russell’s Reserve: Revisited

Purchase Info: $33.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN.

Details: 45% ABV. 10 Year Old age statement.

Nose: Floral rye spice, cotton candy and wintergreen.

Mouth: Floral and spicy with oak, ginger, wintergreen and rye spice.

Finish: Hot and spicy. This lasts longer than you’d expect from 90° proof.

Thoughts: This is really good. Much spicier than Wild Turkey 101 even though it is a lower proof. It is different enough from standard Wild Turkey that if I am wanting Wild Turkey, I won’t want this. But if I’m in the mood for a spicy bourbon that won’t break the bank? Yeah. This would fit the bill nicely. I liked it before and still do. But this time I come away thinking I understand why I might not always want to spend that extra $10 on Rare Breed all the time.

---

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

Wild Turkey Longbranch

View fullsize

As this is billed as a collaboration between Matthew McConaughey and Eddie Russell, I'm guessing I'm supposed to start this post with some famous movie quote, something along the lines of "alright, alright, alright" or some other such piece of pop culture detritus. 

I'm not going to do that. 

I like Matthew McConaughey as an actor. I've liked him in most of the roles he's played. I was a bit curious when he came on as "Creative Director" for Wild Turkey, but he seems to have made a couple of good commercials. I paused a bit when Wild Turkey announced a collaboration between said Creative Director and Eddie Russell in the form of a new bourbon. I love Wild Turkey, and I wasn't sure what an actor could bring to a brand that was built under Jimmy Russell. 

However, the bottle was only $36, so I decided to find out. 

Wild Turkey Longbranch

Purchase Info: $35.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details:  43% ABV. Filtered...err...Refined with an oak and mesquite charcoal.

Nose: Brown Sugar, Wintergreen, nutmeg and a hint of day-old campfire ashes

Mouth: Thin mouthfeel. A lot of baking spices, wintergreen.

Finish: Full-mouth finish with a nice lingering tingle. Notes of mint and baking spice.

Thoughts: This is a version of Wild Turkey that turns down the "kick" but turns up the spiciness. I don't know that it will appeal to Wild Turkey die-hards, but it would probably appeal to those who are "Wild Turkey Curious." I like it. It certainly isn't my favorite Wild Turkey expression. It's better than the 81 proof. But I like 101 and Rare Breed much better. But then, I've heard of this compared to Old Grand-Dad 114's Basil Hayden. I think that is a good comparison. It's got a lot of the same flavors as it's more assertive brothers, but is accessible to the newcomer. And much like that, if it gets more people in the door, I guess it's done it's job.

---

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!

Bottom-Shelf Bourbon Brackets: The Championship Rounds

View fullsize

Well, it's finally here. The championship rounds. This year was an interesting one for me on a couple of levels. For one, it featured two of my favorite value bourbons. Ones that I try to keep on my shelf at all times. I was extremely curious to see if they were toppled in a blind bracket or if my favorites won on their own merits. I was also interested to see how the various Jim Beam products would compare to one another. With this many by the same producer, I was curious how much difference there would really be between them. 

The last thing that made this year a little more exciting for me was that there were very few that I would truly call "bottom-shelf" this year (value yes, bottom-shelf no). Many years, I wonder what the heck I am going to do with the very large bottles of very meh bourbon I have left over. This year I had to pop some of the contestants back in the closet so I wouldn't finish them before the contest was over. I mean, yes, the number four seeds were ones that would have been at home in previous years of the competition, but the other six I enjoyed quite a bit. Some more than I anticipated.

To make sure there were no flukes sneaking through on an off-day, I did each of these blind and as best two out of three. Two were done in Glencairn with the final done in a rocks glass. Why a rocks glass? Because when I'm not doing a tasting, that is how I drink my bourbon and I thought it made a fitting variable.

Division 1, Round 2: Jim Beam Bonded (A) vs Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond (B)

Nose: The nose on these are very similar. No winner based on nose. 

Mouth: Winner is B sweeter and a little less "harsh" than A

Finish: Winner is B. Less grain and more "Bourbon" flavors. 

Thoughts: In a show of how your tastes can be off sometimes, this came down to a tie-breaker in best of three. One time Bourbon A won, one time Bourbon B one and the tiebreaker came down to the rocks glass. In this case, Bourbon B was Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond. A respectable showing by both, though. (The impressions above are from the Glencairn tasting that reflected the final outcome.)

Division 2, Round 2: Wild Turkey 101 (A) vs Jim Beam Devil's Cut (B)

Nose: A has a richer nose than B. Winner A.

Mouth: A shows more wood, but also more tannins. B is sweeter and "smoother." No clear winner as I liked both. 

Finish: A is warmer and longer. B is sweeter and a bit more grainy. Winner A.

Thoughts: This one was very tough. It really did come down to the nose and finish as I like both of them in the mouth. The impressions above are from the Glencairn tasting that reflected the winner. The interesting thing was that the winner was much more apparent in the rocks glass. I really liked A that way, but in the Glencairn they were much closer. The winner was A, Wild Turkey 101.

Championship Round: Wild Turkey 101 vs Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond

Thoughts: I like both of these bourbons. A lot. And, even tasted blind and with two out of three, it was a hard choice. In the end, it seems there is a reason I keep a handle of Wild Turkey 101 on my shelf at almost all times. It was the unanimous winner in all three of the blind tastings. 

View fullsize

Lessons learned

I was really shocked by a few of the results this year. I fully expected an upset in both of the Jim Beam competitions. I've gone on record stating that Double Oak was the first Beam product I actually liked. Yet it lost to a product I reviewed as a "meh" in the past. Is proof really that big of a factor? Do my preconceptions color the reviews? Or has my palate changed to the point where I need to give more Beam products another chance? I'd say that last one will happen for sure. I'll know more about how I feel as I spend time with the rest of these bottles. How often I reach for them when I don't "have" to should provide a good idea if I like them outside of a blind tasting. 

The one thing that didn't shock me was the final matchup. When I decided on the final eight I was hesitant to include those two because I knew they were two of my favorites. What if they won? Would it be because they were truly better or because I've become accustomed to them? Even after the results were in, I still can't answer that question. The good news is that this whole thing is just a bit of fun and really only does reflect my tastes. And that is the reason I eventually landed on for including them in the competition. Besides, I've had upsets happen, and it would have been interesting to see if it happened here. 

---

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!

Bottom-Shelf Bourbon Brackets 2017: Round 1: Wild Turkey 101 vs. Cabin Still

View fullsize

Round 1b of the 2017 Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets features Division 2 Number 1 seed Wild Turkey 101 versus Number 4 seed Cabin Still. 

Wild Turkey 101 is a product of Grupo Campari. It is produced by the father-son team of Jimmy and Eddie Russell at the Wild Turkey distillery in Lawrenceburg, KY. The product has no age statement but is rumored to be from 6-8 years old. Since this is the highest proof bourbon in this year’s competition, it gets the second number one seed. 

Cabin Still is a product of Heaven Hill Brands. It is a three-year-old, 80 proof straight bourbon. It has an old and venerable name, having once been the product of the Stitzel-Weller distillery. These days, Heaven Hill barely acknowledges the brand. It isn't even on their website.

These were tasted blind in the following order. My thoughts on each are from before the reveal.

Wild Turkey 101

Purchase Info: $29.99 for a 1.75 L bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 50.5% ABV, no age statement.

Produced by: Wild Turkey Distillery (Campari)

Nose: Fruity sweetness, cinnamon red hots, and tobacco.

Mouth: Peppery and warm with brown sugar, baking spices, and bubblegum. 

Finish: Long and warm with lingering bubblegum and chocolate covered coconut.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Heat, sweet and richness. This is a good one.

Cabin Still

Purchase Info: $10.99 for a 1-liter bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 40% ABV, 36 month age statement

Produced by: Heaven Hill Brands

Nose: Buttered popcorn, grain, and honey.

Mouth: Sweet and velvety with buttered popcorn, faint baking spices and the tiniest hint of soap.

Finish: Short and sweet with more buttered popcorn.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: If this were on its own, I wouldn't mind it. Compared to something else, though, it feels a bit one-note.

Who wins?

Two brands, each with a long and storied history. One that is still a flagship brand, and another that isn't even acknowledged on its current owner's website. One has Matthew McConaughey as its spokesperson, and the other doesn't advertise. It should come as no surprise that the winner here is Wild Turkey 101. It will face the winner of the matchup of Jim Beam Devil's Cut and Jim Beam Double Oak in Round 2.

View fullsize

---

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!