This Saturday I will be attending the Bourbon, Beer and BBQ festival here in Charlotte. I will have a tasting glass and six hours to try any of the bourbons on the following list. I will try to stick with ones I have not previously tasted, so that includes those listed below. Help me maximize my pleasure. Which ones should I definitely try? (I will not be driving, by the way.)
Larceny
Makers
Makers 46
Evan Williams Black Label
Evan Williams Single Barrel
1792 Ridgemont Reserve Small Batch
Eagle Rare Single Barrel
Blanton’s Single Barrel
Baker’s
Basil Hayden’s
Booker’s
Knob Creek
Jim Beam 4Y
Jim Beam Black
Jim Beam Devil’s Cut
Pappy Van Winkle 23yr (ok, even though I’ve had this once before, OF COURSE I will make a beeline for this table.)
Maybe it would be easier to ask if anyone has opinions (good or bad) on the following:
High West Rendezvous Rye
High West Double Rye!
High West Prairie Reserve Bourbon
Campfire Whiskey
Broadslab Legacy Reserve
Broadslab Legacy Shine
Buffalo Trace Small Batch
EH Taylor Small Batch
Knob Creek Rye
Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve
Jim Beam Jacob’s Ghost
Jim Beam Rye
Prichards Double Oaked
Jefferson’s Reserve 18yr
Black Maple Hill
Parker’s Heritage
1512 Barbershop Rye
Jim Beam Rye
Templeton Rye
Whiste Pig Rye
Sazerac Rye
Rittenhouse Rye
Tap 357 Maple Rye Whiskey
Shine is just a marketing gimmick to get you to drink un-aged bourbon. Try one and you’ve tried them all. I have had and enjoyed the Sazerac Rye, Rittenhouse Rye, Knob Creek Rye, and Jefferson’s Reserve 18. I’ve tried and adored Knob Creek Single Barrel and every single drop of Black Maple Hill I’ve ever had. Truly marvelous stuff.
I will second Knob Creek’s single barrel. You MUST try it. I also really enjoyed Buffalo Trace as well. I’ve never tried a rye, although they seem to be gaining in popularity. How do they differ in style/flavor profile from bourbons?
From the list of bourbons that the OP has tried, Eagle Rare is one of my favorites along with good old Basil Hayden. Never had that Van Winkle stuff but I have heard great things about it…and I live right across the Ohio River from the bourbon homeland!
If you’ve ever had a “peppery” bourbon, you’ve had one with a high rye content. Ryes are essential for a decent Manhattan. A lot of people find them too “spicy” for sipping neat, but I don’t.
I think I’ve got four bottles of Pappy up in my cabinets now. I keep 'em on hand for friends that are bourbon lovers, I like it okay but Stranahans is the only whiskey I sip neat anymore, I much prefer it to any true bourbon. I think I’ve got maybe a 25 or 23 up there, it’ll be for the ‘good’ friends.
I looked for Stranahans on your list. Sorry it’s not there, it’s become exceedingly hard to get outside of Colorado now.
I haven’t had the EH Taylor Small Batch, but I had the Single Barrel and the Straight Rye at a similar event and they knocked my socks off. (At $67 a bottle, they should.)
Keep in mind that at an event like this you probably have four or five samples max before your brain and taste buds aren’t able to appreciate complexity anymore, so get to the good stuff early.
From that list, I’ve had:
Larceny (maybe my favorite of the list)
Basil Hayden’s (really good, but almost too smooth)
Buffalo Trace (fantastic)
Knob Creek (great, esp. for the price)
Knob Creek Single Barrel (fantastic)
Knob Creek Rye (damn good rye)
I personally prefer rye, but it’s harder to find small batch runs, and it’s usually more expensive than the equivalent bourbon when you can find it. My current favorite, Williet isn’t on the list. However, Whistle Pig is on there. I’ve been eyeing it for a few weeks now, but haven’t been able to justify paying almost twice for what I pay for Willet. If I were going instead of you, I’d make sure I got a taste of it.
I can jump in and say that Whistlepig is pretty delicious, albeit pricey. I tend not to favor ryes all that much, but that one is a huge exception. Still a bit hard to grab it regularly at the price, but I’ll get a bottle once a year or so, and split it between sipping and cocktails over the following month or two.
The other big one I’d suggest on the list of ones you haven’t had yet is the Knob Creek Single Barrel, which has also been mentioned already. I’ve had a few of the others on the list, but I tend to think of them more as “good values” rather than “excellent bourbon/rye”.
And apparently tequila, in addition to that and the vodka mentioned. (Hornitos makes bourbon now?) What a bizarre menu. I’m not a huge fan of the wheat-instead-of-rye bourbons like Pappy and Makers, but with the 23 yr being there, I’d find it hard not to park myself there. Otherwise, I’d be working my way through all the ryes (which are not bourbons, of course.)
As to the non-bourbons, I don’t really find it bizarre. It’s a marketing event at its heart. The festival wants to be able to advertise a large number of participating vendors, and the brands want to be out in front of a large crowd of potential new customers. The Bourbon, Rye, Vodka, Tequila, Beer and BBQ Festival doesn’t have the same ring to it…
