An evening of cherry poppin...

WaltBasil

With all these bombs and exchanges I've had recently, I'm enjoying many "firsts" of several cigars. I tried my first Kristoff Maduro tonight. Loved it. It really reminded me of the connecticut, but with a semi-sweet cocoa thrown in the mix. It's the weekend, so I'm sipping on one of my favorite bourbons I reserve for the weekend due to cost... Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve. A most satisfying evening so far.... I'm thinking.

Then BAM! my wife says she wants me to open up one of my Christmas presents early. She does this every year, and of course I can't stop myself. By Christmas Actual, there is only 1 present under the tree each. haha. I tell her, "But Christmas is 2 weeks away!, We can't start THIS early!" Then we did.

She brings out this package. At first I'M thinking it's JD Single Barrel, but then I notice the package is a little too short to be JD. I open it. Something I've never heard. Blanton's Single Barrel. Claiming to be the world's finest single barrel whiskey. It certainly looks special with that felt bag. Pewter horse & jockey cork. The label has blank spots left on it so the MD can hand write the info on it. I think it starts off as a Trace sour mash. Definitely has that fruity BT aroma. I pour half a shot. Nose it again. Wow. Take a sip. Holy cow. It's like angels just came in my mouth. Definite sweet caramel and vanilla. Maple. Syrupy. It claims to be 93 proof (from the partial hand written label) but it is so smooth I would've said it to be 60-70 proof. It clearly is 93 though. A couple 2 fingers later and I'm feeling the buzz. Time to put this stuff down for the night. I honestly think I could down the entire bottle in one sitting. I have a new favorite bourbon.

The wife went to several bourbon forums and presented my current favs and sought ought their suggestions as to what they thought I'd like to try for something new. They were spot on. So if you like JD single barrels, Knob Creek, Buffalo Trace, 1792, Eagle Rare... you ought to give this a shot. It's hard to find. There was only one bottle here in El Paso, and the staff said the only reason it was still here is because it was around Christmas time, and they had already spent their money.

thehilk

Very cool. Ty for the journey you took me on while reading this. I absolutely enjoyed reading this.

jadelt

Great post. I just finished a Tat Miami with some Woodford Reserve (which I really like) I also like Buffalo Trace so I just may have to try to track this down.

Thanks for the recommendation!

[Deleted User]

Blantons is really hard to beat for the price point. Fun Fact - if you watch Last Man Standing (Tim Allen) , the boss has a bottle in his office.

jthanatos

Blanton's is quite tasty, and you are right in your guess that it is a Buffalo Trace product. It is also one of the most consistent single barrel offerings out there. Very rare to find a 'bad barrel'. If you like JD, the new Sinatra Select is pretty good, and scuttlebutt is there will be a special release in 2015 for Sinatra's 100th birthday.

WaltBasil

jadelt:

Great post. I just finished a Tat Miami with some Woodford Reserve (which I really like) I also like Buffalo Trace so I just may have to try to track this down.

Thanks for the recommendation!

Thanks. I haven't tried the WR yet. It's next on my list.

WaltBasil

jthanatos:

Blanton's is quite tasty, and you are right in your guess that it is a Buffalo Trace product. It is also one of the most consistent single barrel offerings out there. Very rare to find a 'bad barrel'. If you like JD, the new Sinatra Select is pretty good, and scuttlebutt is there will be a special release in 2015 for Sinatra's 100th birthday.

Thanks. I'll have to add that to my list.

Toombes

As a big fan of Buffalo Trace, this sounds like another one I need to try.
Thanks for the info, Walt! Jthanatos, why didn't you tell me about this before?!?!?

PAtoNH

I love me a tasty bourbon. Booker's is another you might want to try. My "go to" is Basil Hayden's (80 proof) which I find very smooth sipped neat. I have a bottle of Jefferson's waiting to try as well. I don't think you can wrong with any of the Beam products and Beam Black is great at it's price point. My brother-in-law swears by his Maker's Mark and was so upset about rumors that they were changing the proof that he bought several cases. Have you seen the TV show "Justified"?? It's full of product placement and references to great bourbons.