Bar at Willett did not disappoint. Did the bourbon flight, brother did rye and we shared. Ordered a single barrel bottle and then had some help with a 1969 Lionstone bottle, from the year they shut it down.
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Stumbled across a Bourbon bar under Clarence Street in Sydney this week-saw George T Stagg on the list for $37-had to give it a go. It was a really nice, complex Bourbon. What a great place, great staff, amazing Bourbon list.
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Southern Railway plaque in the stairwell on the way down 
Hands down, best whiskey bar in Sydney. In the back of that courtyard, there’s another bar called the Barber Shop. Great gin place
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So-while hunting for The Baxter Inn we went down the wrong stairway and walked into an Asian Karaoke Bar which I think was called The Happy Ending-wrong place so we quickly exited, but looked like quite an experience. I did see a sign for the Barber Shop but we didn’t go there.
On the other side of Clarence Street we scaled a small building stairwell and ended up in a super cool, very small roof top. No idea what it was called.
The highlight however was also on the other side of Clarence Street-a single wide garage converted into a margarita bar. Max capacity couldn’t have been 15 people.
The underground scene is Sydney is amazing.
Not trying to hijack the Bourbon thread- 
Those all sound awesome Dan, what a fun experience.
I’m always wondering why my (and lots of others) cities can’t be so cool.
Love willett, just wish their aged stuff wasn’t so outrageously priced. 8 year for $250? (And that’s MSRP, not even secondary prices)
Pro tip - don’t buy flights at Heaven Hill; go into Louisville and hit Evan Williams. This flight was $150 at HH, $90 in town.
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Final take-home haul!
Poured the Ft Nelson, Nashville high-rye and Heaven Hill Select stock from the barrel. Tossed in the HH 7 because I never see it here…
Bonus pic was one of the treats at Willett.
This may have been asked before, but anyone have a review or opinion on the Costco/Kirkland Bottled in Bond bourbon? Haven’t really been disappointed much by Costco, but I remain skeptical about this one.
Has anyone tried any of the last few batches of Barrell Bourbon? I’ve heard good things, but haven’t tried (did have a good store pick though)
I have not tried them personally but heard good things about the recent-ish batches, esp 33/34/35. Scored a Jack Daniels SBBP Rye today, strong whiskey of the year contender for me so far.
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I’ve heard positive reviews overall, it isn’t not a super complex bourbon but decent for the price and what it is, good for mixing, probably just ok for sipping. I had a hard time justifying picking this up right next to good old Buffalo Trace 1L for 25$ at my Costco. There’s also a s single barrel version of Kirkland that clocks in at 125 proof similar to 1792 FP and apparently that version is slightly better received/reviewed.
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JD Bonded Rye lands soon too. Excited to try it for $30. BF really is on a tear with JD, OldFo, and Woodford lineups and releases, particularly JD with SBBBP, 10,12, Twice Barreled, Bonded. 3Mash, etc…
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Have been a huge fan of their special releases, going back to the blue label bourbon heritage release in 2020 (liked it better than the Rye, which was awesome, and the Coy Hill). Was such a fan that I used the line-up with my tasting group (including our own JBray). Was surprised to see Breaking Bourbon ravage the twice-barreled rye. Will have to find a chance to try it and make my own judgment, as it seems off-brand.
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Agreed, I think they’ve output some of the most exciting products in the past few years and for very reasonable prices (except for the Woodford Master’s Collection BP prices maybe). As much as I like to try the new “craft” distillers, more often than not I’ve been left unimpressed whereas I’ve never had a JD SBBP either Rye or Bourbon that I haven’t loved, and usually for a lot less also.
I wished I could find the special releases more easily and not pay the crazy secondary asking prices. Coy Hill is definitely one of my all time favorites. The new SBBP Ryes I’ve tried recently have been as good if not better than their last special release Rye (2020?!) imo but of course every bottle will be different. I haven’t had a chance to try the twice-barreled yet but heard mixed reviews as well.
By the way as an update I grabbed a bottle of the Kirkland single barrel 1792 (120 proof) this past weekend and it’s absolutely great. It beat E.H. Taylor Small Batch BiB in a blind for me, maybe not a fair comparison because of the 20 pts difference in proof but still. Hard to draw any conclusions obviously because of single barrel/bottle variation, but probably best value of the year for me so far at $30 for 1L.
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