Scooped up 4 bottles of Blantons this AM at Total Wine in Norwalk Ct $48 per.
The local Vons and Safeways in CA have Blantons for $54.99, buy 6 for $49.99
I felt greedy enough with the 4… Gotta get it while it is there though… Will pile up the Eagle Rare when it turns up too
Saw Old Rip van Winkle today at $999. Just shook my head. Have to love when a middling $40 bourbon goes for a grand.
Got a bottle of the limited edition Four Roses 2016 Small Batch. Anyone tried this one yet?
I have one open. Fantastic dram. I would rank it a smidge under '15 and way better than '14.
I was just picking up some beer for Thanksgiving, and behind the checkout they had the Sazerac 18 for $799! I almost soiled myself, because I have an unopened bottle of the Fall 2006 and a barely touched 2007. I have cut way back on my spirits consumption, and forgot about them. It made a spectacular Manhattan with Carpano though.
Anyone try this year’s Michter’s 10 Year Bourbon?
My company has purchased a few barrels of single barrel Knob Creek and Woodford from a local BK for customer gifts. The owner of the BK recently called my boss and had him come in for the ORVW…he brought it out of the back office covered in wrapping and basically hidden under his shirt. He forced the current employee off the register to ring up my boss personally. He charged him $60 and said people would be livid if they knew he sold it basically at cost. Pretty generous and at the same time, absolutely ridiculous that he had to go to those lengths to do a favor for a good customer.
It’s funny to see the machinations caused by this. The older versions of Pappy, at least back when it was S-W juice, were really, really good. The 15 was a screaming value at like $100, and the 20 & 23 were also good. Even the lot B, which some didn’t like, was IMO really good. However, the ORVW never struck me as anything special, though the higher proof version was pretty good.
Now I’m sure it is still good but it is, more than anything else a curiosity to me. It’s like the tulip mania in Holland, or I guess not dissimilar to diamonds, an item entirely divorced from its actual inherent value.
You would think after purchasing two barrels that the ORVW would have been a gift!
1990 vintage Ancient Age old stock (plastic 1.5L. Smooth and tasty. My favorite is the porcelain Ducks with Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey. We call it Duck Butt Whiskey because the cork is in the Ducks Ass… Old and aged to a delicious lip smacking flavor. And I’m a new Kentucky (Bourbon) Whiskey drinker.
Anyone here tried Bower Hill barrel strength very small batch? Tempted but cannot find any info compared to the barrel reserve.
Given that they’re selling for $350 easily, I’d say it qualifies as a gift. ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
Was offered a bottle of 10 yr Old Rip Van Winkle for $85. I’ve never tried it but I’m inclined to buy and give it as a gift. Any thoughts?
That is a very reasonable price and would certainly make a statement as a gift
Yeah, that is significantly overpriced for the actual quality IMO, but considering the going rate I’d buy it anyway. I’d give as a gift or open at a holiday where everyone will be pleased to have some rather than putting it in the cabinet and expecting to be impressed by the quality.
I feel that way about the whole lineup,the only ones I have truly liked are the 12 and 15 but I would never pay the flippers.
I have both the '14 & '15 ORVW and I couldn’t disagree more. For today’s bourbon market $85 is a fair and good price. I bought both of mine for $99. The ORVW blows away most the Orphan Series bourbons and many other ~$100- $150 bourbons. At the flipper prices, no it is not worth it… but no bourbon is worth the flipper prices. The ORVW is a quality product and IMHO damn tasty.
Don’t hate on the bourbon due to what the flippers have done in the past 6-7 years. Can’t hate the distilleries either as the product takes time to catch up to the demand. You can hate the flippers and distributors.
I’ve had many iterations of the ORVW at both strengths, and just was never impressed even at $40 c. 2012-2013. For my money I vastly prefer 4 Roses Single Barrel which is my house pour.
As for the “don’t hate” line lets just remember this was like a $35 bourbon five years ago. It hasn’t gotten better and may have gotten worse (not sure if ORVW ever had any SW stock in it). I’m being objective as much as possible but that’s no $100 bourbon. Nor are Blanton’s, ETL, or Weller 12 worth the exhorbitabt rates sometimes charged. Just aren’t IMO. I like the Lot B at anywhere under $75, though I liked it more at $50 or so. Some never have liked that one.
I haven’t had the Orphan line. I’ve heard rumors some of the releases are overages and dried out. But with that kind of age I’d hope they would destroy ORVW.