Bourbon Tasting (September 25th, 2025)
This was our 6th Bourbon tasting. I chose a few non-Bourbons, which you are seeing more of these days. The bottles in question were;
| TT Label | Description | Proof | Rating | Price (US$/CAD$) |
| A | High West, Midwinter’s Night Dram, Act 11 | 98.6 | 8.6 | $150/$165 |
| B | Jack Daniels, Single Barrel, Barrel Strength | 129 | 6.7 | $60/$90 |
| C | Blue Run, High Rye | 111 | 7.3 | $85/$115 |
| D | Michter’s Rye, Barrel Strength (limited release) | 111.4 | 7.4 | $200/$230 |
| E | WhistlePig, Rye Whiskey, 10 yr | 100 | 7.1 | $90/$115 |
| F | Little Book, Chapter 7, In Retrospect, 2023 | 118.1 | 6.6 | $155/$200 |
| G | Widow Jane, 10 yr | 91 | 7.1 | $70/$123 |
| H | Pikesville Rye | 110.0 | 7.0 | $50/$88 |
Bourbon is hard to find in Canada these days, due to the “boycott” by SAQ and LCBO of all American made liquor. But I have a lot of un-opened bourbon, so most of this was from my ‘stash’, my pre-existing inventory. Alberta didn’t boycott the US liquor for long, so Bourbon is available from Alberta, the “Little Book, Chapter 7, In Retrospect, 2023″, and the “High West, Midwinter Night’s Dram, Limited Engagement, Act 11, Scene 10”, were brought in from Calgary for this tasting.
We had 12 people confirmed for the tasting, but 3 didn’t make it (Frank, Dave M, Mike M), Mary made it, but her liquor didn’t since she had to fly out earlier in the week. I appended her votes, below.
The Winners!
The clear winner was High West, Midwinter Night’s Dram, at 8.6/10, which is interesting, since its the 2nd lowest proof in the group, at 98.6 proof, and also port finished. In second is Michter’s Rye, Barrel Proof, at 111.4 proof, with an avg rating of 7.4. In 3rd was Blue Run, High Rye, with an average rating of 7.3. We didn’t like the high proof, as a group, Jack Daniels (129 pf) and Little Book (118 pf), placed in last at 6.7, and 6.6, respectively.
1st Place (8.6) $150
2nd Place (7.4) $230
3rd Place (7.3) $115
The next tasting will be Canadian Whisky, Cote des Saints (CDS), on October 23rd, 2025, it will include many ‘distillery only’ releases.
The Survey Results
| A- HW | B- JDSBBS | C-BRHR | D-MRBS | E-WP10 | F-LB23 | G-WJ10 | H-Pike | |
| Emilio | 9 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 |
| Martin | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Allison C | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 |
| Ken | 8 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| Rox R | 9 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 5 |
| Stephane M | 9 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 |
| Marco M | 9 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Total | 60 | 47 | 51 | 52 | 50 | 46 | 50 | 49 |
| Average | 8.6 | 6.7 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 7.1 | 6.6 | 7.1 | 7 |
After the tasting
| Mary | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
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