Bourbon Palates

[Reds Fan 5]

My wife and I love bourbon and have acquired several new bottles recently. We are fascinated by how different our palates are. Last night we opened a bottle of Barrell Cask Strength Batch 33. She tasted all of the complexity we read about in the reviews on a second sip. After four sips I tasted bitter gasoline. Tried a second glass with a few drops of water. That helped a bit but still couldn’t overcome the initial punch.

We did a tasting a couple of weeks ago of some bottles in our bar we haven’t had in awhile. Sometimes it was as if we were tasting completely different bottles (for the record 1792 tastes likes gasoline to me, too).

No criticism of the bourbons themselves, just an observation and fascination with how differently individuals experience bourbon.

[smokin fool]

After bring reared on Canadian Rye I'm tying to devote a taste for Bourbons.
Like model railroading it's an expensive hobby to get into given the sin taxes up here.
Let's just say its a work in progress right now as my only venture has been with Makers, going to grab a bottle of Four Roses one of these days and give it a go.

[Reds Fan 5]

SMOKIN fool, the bourbon market here is complicated. The high end bottles are becoming impossible to find and out of reach in price. There are some great bourbons, though, in the lower price ranges. Makers is a great start as is Four Roses.

[realdocBBQ]

Indeed, some highly varied flavors to choose from out there, but the individual perceptions are unpredictable from person to person.

[Reds Fan 5]

On a related note, we love some the Buffalo Trace allocated bourbons—especially Col Taylor, Weller Special Reserve, and Eagle Rare. Usually buy a bottle of each when they are released in the fall. They have been impossible to find here in suburban Chicago this year. My guess is when they do land their prices will be out of reach.

[Huskee]

EH Taylor is my personal favorite, wonderul stuff!

[Greygoose]

Weller 107 Antique is my fav,,,,
the problem is I can very rarely find a bottle

[Reds Fan 5]

We are usually able to find them once a year in the fall. Nowhere to be found so far.

[barelfly]

My buddy and I have opposite taste preferences. I like bourbons as you mention above, from the BT distillery and find they have a subtle sweetness. My buddy, he likes what I feel are bitter and rough or not smooth type bourbons.

the batch you had this week, Batch 33 - I don’t recall seeing that before. But if you like similar and think that is gasoline,

and as others mention, the BT Distillery brands are hard to come by here in New Mexico as well. I usually am only able to purchase them when I head south to our lake house at the small grocer there. The Weller brand and BT are great. I have yet to find a bottle of the Colonel though but would love to find that one!

[RiverJeff]

I like my crowns the one I like the best is their cask 96 collection do you know where this stands compared to the bottles you fellows are comparing,

[Reds Fan 5]

I’m not a Canadian whisky fan so not sure how it compares. It’s a reasonable price point

[Greygoose]

At my first glance I thought this thread was about exercising while sipping on a nice bourbon,,,LOL !!!!

[FireMan]

Yup, I read it as a boozy exercise also.

[xaugievike]

this is a fitness fad I can get behind!

[Bob K]

Nice one we’ve discovered recently is Bow n Blade. It’s not in the Weller or Eagle Rare class but it’s delicious and relatively easy to find. And yes, amazing how much individual palates will differ.

[Reds Fan 5]

We like Bow and Blade, too. I’ve seen some bad reviews of it but we like it.

[Bob K]

Reds Fan 5 yeah it’s a blend and pretty smooth so some of the purists tend to knock it a bit

[Starsky]

I never taste all the flavors that an "expert" seems to. I guess my palate is just too pedestrian

[Reds Fan 5]

Some of the tasting notes are ridiculous. A bit like artist statements on paintings at the museum.

[WayneT]

Those ‘experts’ make a career out of finding subtle, nuanced flavors that are often undetectable by us pedestrian imbibers. Sometimes I think the tasting notes are generated by an algorithm that combines a preselected database of verbs, adverbs and adjectives in a specific order to make us all feel inadequate. I may use the experts’ ratings to guide me in the right direction on a selection but I focus mostly on previous successes from producers (and vintage info for wines).

[rickgregory]

Four Roses is good, all the bottlings. Someone here turned me on to Larceny 92 which is very good and not expensive.

[Reds Fan 5]

We bought our first bottle ofLarceny a couple of weeks ago. We like it.

[Alan Brice]

Ohio is currently offering five quite wonderful bourbons. Old Forester, Michter's, King of Kentucky, Eagle Rare n O.F.C.
I have recently won Weller 12 n Weller full proof back-to-back. This just gives you the opportunity purc a btl at mkt price.
It is called "The Bottle Lottery", sorry only available to residences of Ohio. Fifty bucks for each of the Wellers.
The O.F.C. is $2,499, Dbl Eagle Very Rare $2,000, Michters 25yr $1,000, King of Kentucky $250, and Old Forester Birthday bourbon $150. All are plus tax but a wonderful chance to enjoy collector bourbon at shelf price. I will let you know if I win again.

[Reds Fan 5]

Wow, that is a great opportunity! I am a life long Reds fan. I could live there!

[Huskee]

If anyone gets a chance to try to the Benchmark series you'll likely not be disapointed. Benchmark is the bottom-tier offering from Buffalo Trace, and the standard Benchmark is neither great nor bad really, decent for the money. But they have a Bonded, a Barrel Proof, and a couple others which escape me at the moment, there are 5 total I believe. Those are GREAT, especially for the money.

[Huskee]

barelfly It's a less impressive version of Buffalo Trace I'd say. A little too smooth, a little flatter. I believe it's aged up top of the buildings, and aged quicker, hence being a bit less impressive.

[mnavarre]

We got introduced to Benchmark by local bar owners that were doing booze delivery during the pandemic. Dang good for the money, and my current go to since I can't seem to find Evan Williams for blood or money. Perfectly good mixin' whisky.

[Alan Brice]

At $25 a handle, it is fine for neat, mix or ice.

[Huskee]

Back to your point Reds Fan 5... my BIL and I are big bourbon & rye fans and 90% of the time we're in total agreement. Sometimes though we just are polar opposites. He & his wife HATE Townnbranch bourbon, and my wife & I don't think it's that bad. He gets a banana essence from one of Jack Daniel's top end bourbons, and so does my wife, but try as I may I don't. So I get what you're saying about palates. They are weird and very personal, sorta like fingerprints.

[luvthemstillers]

Huskee Many people do get the banana note on Jack Daniel's as well as other Brown Forman products. It's definitely due to their particular strain of yeast. In the same fashion, many people get peanuts on Jim Beam products, once again it's the yeast. Four Roses is a fun line-up to explore, due to them using 5 different strains of yeast along with 2 different mashbills. It leads to 10 unique "recipes" that range from fruity, to minty, to spicy to floral depending on the combination.

[Huskee]

Totally agree! I definitely get a nuttiness, which I do not care for, in Beam. To me that's a bad trait in bourbon, just my preference. I love FR, one of their Single Barrel Barrel Strength (hard to find) reminds me of my favorite Buffalo Trace product, EH Taylor. Yummm. Others of theirs has a nuttiness I don't like, but it's quite subtle and not a deal breaker for me. luvthemstillers