Every time I’ve done a whisky or bourbon tasting at a bar, they have given me a little container of water.
It was an after dinner drink, so I’m sure that there was probably a glass of ice water on the table. It was ordered, served and drank neat.
Nice win there Alan! In NYC it’s on the shelves for between $500-800. A friend was able to snag a bottle for about $100 and I was able to try it. It’s great for $70-100 and a step up from the 10yr but the aftermarket pricing is killer.
As far as watering down goes, the trends in brown spirits have been favoring single cask/cask strength bottlings. Most of the young guys seem to like to drink them neat regardless of proof. I always like to try a whiskey I haven’t had neat first, but usually need to put it on ice to enjoy it if it’s over 50%abv.
I feel that a proper whiskey bar should give you a dropper, as you don’t need a lot of water to open up the oils/esters for a better drinking experience. However you might get a side glass of water or ice instead.
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Thanks. I have a bit different take on water than most. Given that a spirit is already roughly half water, adding a bit more doesn’t “open it up” in some way chemically, it’s more a matter of finding a personal sweet spot to optimize the flavor profile, essentially alcohol vs. everything else. Much like the “optimizations” certain wine producers go through when de-alc’ing a high abv wine.
Pinhook is now in our market at retail. Never had them. Mentions in this thread are a few years old. Any more recent thoughts?
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I think Pinhook is pretty solid all around. I prefer the bourbons but the ryes are good too. They have the vertical series, look for the 6yr. If you see the black label grab one. I think you’ll need to try them though to see if you prefer the regular or cask strength.
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Could anyone suggest where I might be able to purchase large format/cask bourbon bottles?
East Coast. A friend is looking for large cask type bourbon options.
dont know much more than that. ty!
They are okay. Lots of better Rye out there for sure.
WTF does large cask mean? If you buy a barrel you can choose to have it all bottled in 1.75L, but any size above that is illegal and not recognized by TTB.
Get an eye dropper…water is fine, it helps accentuate the fruit notes or wood notes in high proof bourbons.
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Here’s a deal for those in CA - San Jose on OF 1870 for $30 it will even give you a case discount.
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Grabbed a couple based on the below reiew. $30 makes it a good bottle defender.
Here’s another nice deal from the same shop for Pikesville Rye @$35.basically the same price as it’s little brother Rittenhouse here.
Pikesville and Rittenhouse have zero in common IMO.
Both are unique and well worth their SRP.
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Interesting that you feel that way, but I’m curious why? Both produced from the same mashbill by Heaven Hill. Pikesville is aged two more years and bottles at 10 proof higher. To say there is zero in common …?
Many might say Pikesville is not worth the premium at regular msrp which is why I thought $35 makes it a no brainer
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I firmly agree with you on value, even at SRP I think it offers great value, it is a really good, spicy Rye. I sold Heaven Hill for years and would liken them to cousins more than brothers and if you go back, Pikesville was actually their value Rye priced below Rittenhouse to compete with Overholt.
I bought a bottle of the Jack Daniels Bonded for science. I Would have never pegged it as JD. Seems like way too much wood? Finishes so astringent and woody, doesn’t even have any of the sweet smell factor (love or hate) that lets you know where it came from. Really disappointingly bad.
I have been a fan of the barrel proof and I’ve been a snob looking for higher proofs on that and it seems to be drying up. Wondering if that’s disappearing?
+1 on the JD BP.
Amazing value + pretty easy to find + cask strength, in this bourbon craze?! Solid.
The JD special releases have put pressure on the next click down, from what I’ve been hearing. Pricing on the Coy Hill, especially, is just stupid now, at $550/bottle for some of the hazmat releases. Hell, I’ll sell mine for that price.
Jack Single Barrel Barrel Proof Bourbon and Rye are epically good and good value, getting harder to find.
The new JD releases we kicked off last week, I very much enjoyed the BiB, but preferred the Triple Mash BiB at 100 proof a bit more and the fact that they built it with 60% 100 proof BiB Rye and 20% 100 proof BiB and Single Malt is exciting for future releases. I particularly enjoyed BiB in a cocktail and TM neat. More importantly the Jack Black drinker isn’t priced out of them at $30.
Also, Jack 10 year and 12 year will be out shortly.
Lots of exciting releases coming from the Jack lineup.