Bourbon (4th one, Tastings #31)

Bourbon Tasting (October 26th, 2023)

This was our 4th Bourbon tasting.  I chose a few non-Kentucky Bourbons, which you are seeing more of these days.  The bottles in question were;

The two entrants with stars on their price, are “allocated” bourbons, and therefore hard to find “in the wild”.  I did pay the MSRP, but it is hard to find them at the regular retail price, you have to “hunt” a lot, to find them at that price.

We had 17 people on the call.  In terms of the bourbons, there were 2 from Kentucky, and 5 that were not.  We had one ‘wheated’ bourbon (Weller 107).  All of the bottles were 90 proof, or above, with 4 being over 100, 107, 2 x 112, and 118.  We included a Rye, for kicks, it didn’t do very well, unfortunately.  Don’t give a Rye to a bunch of bourbon drinkers, its not a good idea.  There was also one ‘Toasted’ barrel, bourbon, in the group.  “Toasted” barrel bourbons are also hard to find, with the exception of Basil Hayden, and that’s not surprising.

The Penelope “Toasted” Barrel, was also a Barrel Strength.  They don’t offer that on their website, anymore, nor do they even mention it.  It seems to have gone up in price since I bought it, up to $190.  I think I paid, $125-$150.  It came in 3rd, in terms of rating, so not worth $190, based on the groups opinion. It also mentions it’s ‘Canada Select’, and from Batch #3.  Not sure what ‘Canada Select’ means.

In terms of people trying to ‘guess’ which is which, based on the tasting notes.  The “best” was 2 correct.

There was a clear winner, with almost a full point (8.5 vs 7.6), above every other bottle, and there was a clear loser, with a full point, below everyone else (5.8 vs 6.9).  There was a tie for 3rd.

There was quite a few new participants in this tasting, which always makes it interesting, we got Marco playing guitar, and singing in french,  and Dottie singing a little as well.

I had wanted to do a cream for ‘H’, but I couldn’t get the Evan Williams, Bourbon Egg Nogg, from LCBO, in time, sadly.  So I substituted Jack Daniels, Apple Punch.  The JD Apple Punch, is the first liqueur we’ve tasted that it suggested best to be served warm!

The Winners!

The clear winner was Still Austin, Cask Strength, 118 proof, and a avg rating of 8.5.  In 2nd was Still Austin, Straight Bourdon, 98 proof, and an average rating of 7.6.  In 3rd we had a tie, Eagle Rare, 10 yr, and Penelope Toasted Barrel, Barrel Strength, Canada Select, both at an average of 7.4.

1st Place (8.5) $110

2nd Place (7.6) $96

3rd Place (7.4) $65

The next tasting will be Tequila, all Anejo Tequilas, on November 30th, it will be our 4th Tequila tasting.

The Survey Results