I'm doing a head to head comparison of Old Pulteney 12 and Bunnahabhain 12 tonight FOR SCIENCE. I totally feel your pain n99.

(cooking a dry aged ribeye as we speak too )

Tonight I wanted to compare side by side the Old Pulteney 12 and Bunnahabhain 12. Both are maritime whiskys but from very different parts of Scotland. Old Pulteney all the way north and Bunnahabhain in Islay.

They indeed have some strong similarities. In particular, the salty nose and taste. However, I found the Bunnahabhain to be a little less dry, sweeter, and a bit more complex.

Old pulteney 12 has a salty nose, dry, floral. The nose gets a little sweet with a few drops of water. The taste is salty, floral, and very dry.

Bunnahabhain 12 has the same underlying salty note on the nose, but with a touch of sweetness and some wood, I think oak. The taste is more complex, not as dry as the Old Pulteney, but equally salty and floral. It gives me a sensation that it tickles my taste buds more than the Old Pulteney.

As a bonus, I'm having a drink of the Bunnahabhain 21 now. The nose is very delicate, still salty but a bit more subdued and balanced with the sweetness. Definitely some honey in there. A silky mouth feel gives way to a very balanced taste, just enough sweet, wood, flowers. The taste lingers in my mouth for a while. You can taste the cask in the background but it's not overwhelming. The age gives it a very refined taste. Excellent stuff.

OK edf whiskey thread. Due to lack of recent bourbon content, this is happening tonight:



Me and a couple buddies will do blind tasting of the samples.

1 - "Collectors Item" 20yo BIB,*http://www.lawhiskeysociety.com/whis...-BIB-1955-1975
2 - Old Fitzgerald BIB 1971/1978 (S-W juice of course)
3 - Vintage Bourbon 23

Then we crack open the pre-prohibition booze and hope its not cloudy/ruined.

Pre-prohibition booze? Need more info!

Got a bottle of Elijah Craig 12yo today. It was one of my top 3 at the recent American whiskey tasting I went to (along with Roughstock Pure Malt and Copperfox Rye). I'm pretty terrible at describing bourbon, but it's quite rich and oily with a long oaky finish. Very smooth for 47% too.

Does bourbon not have as much variety in flavour/complexity as Scotch, or is it just that I'm inexperienced with it that I can't pick out the flavours? I'm not hating on it, I do like a nice bourbon, and at the tasting I went to I could tell there were differences in style, but they just don't seem anywhere near as pronounced as the differences between Scotches.

Oh also, my local shop had a bottle of Nikka All Malt available for tasting today so I tried a bit of that. Only had one sip of it but it seemed to be very much like Oban, just a bit creamier and more vanilla notes. Really nice and have put it on my list. After that he gave me a bit of Finlaggan to try. It's an Islay whisky but which distillery it comes from is a secret. I find that a bit weird, but whatever. It was very clean and fresh, albeit quite young too. I'd probably say that it is most like Caol Ila. Decent and fairly cheap, but tbh I prefer to know where my whisky comes from. Not that it changes how it tastes or anything, but it's all part of the experience for me.

Ron: re: more info on pre prohibition bottle. Good thread on sb here about the same type of bottle we're opening tonight:

http://www.straightbourbon.com/forum...l-Reserve-1933

As an added bonus, I got this bottle in a trade from a world famous movie writer/producer in exchange for helping him out with a website

Re: bourbon vs. Scotch. Think it's pretty well accepted that american whiskey doesn't have as much variation in flavor profile as scotch. Although this may be beginning to slowly change with the recent trend in different barrel finishes and overall messing around with the aging process.

Awesome. I've been meaning to rag on you for a while about never getting those notes out. Didn't realize you hadn't cracked them yet! Hope they are interesting. Give us some good details.
I've tasted many more American whiskies than I have tasted scotches and that should probably leave me weighted toward an opposite opinion about the complexity differences that you point out but I have to agree with you even still. Definitely more variety in scotches over bourbons. Once you start adding pure ryes or other grains to the mix of American whiskies it starts to get closer but there is still much more variety in Scotches IMO. But then there are so many more scotches than there are American whiskies.

So last night, 2+2er UMTerp, our buddy Ben, and I did a blind taste test of samples I posted pictures of and then drank my bottle of prohibition bourbon. Here's a recap:

The night started off with everybody having one or two drinks before the main event. While I've been pretty vocal about my love for the Leopold Bros bourbon, I can't say the same for their Maryland Style Rye that we opened last night for pre-gaming. It was /fine/ I guess, but absolutely no finish whatsoever. As soon as it was past the mouth, it was just completely gone and done.

Next up - blind tasting of the following:

1 - "Collectors Item" 20yo BIB,*http://www.lawhiskeysociety.com/whis...-BIB-1955-1975
2 - Old Fitzgerald BIB 1971/1978 (S-W juice of course)
3 - Vintage Bourbon 23

When I told the guys they were going to have to write down tasting notes they both looked at me like I was crazy and then insulted me in various un-repeatable ways, but once we settled in, everybody had a good time.



It's only mildly surprising to me that there was some similarity in our notes, but complete disagreement in everybody's favorite pour. In the interest of not making this post too long, here's my ranking from best to worst with notes:

Old Fitzgerald BIB 1971/1978:

Nose: Caramel, Vanilla, plesant!

Mouth: Oily, sweet and smooth

Finish: Light oak, lingering sweetness

Overall: "I could drink this all day, every day!

"Collectors Item" 20yo BIB 1955/1975:

Nose: Alcohol, Citrus fruits, grass

Mouth: Chalky Oak

Finish: Medium finish with oak and redhots

Overall: Nose starts off over-powering, but this had the longest/nicest finish of the three

Vintage Bourbon 23:

Nose: Interesting, tanins and bubblegum

Mouth: light, chalky leather

Finish: short papery

Overall: The nose on this one was something altogether different, but it didn't do much for me once it got in my mouth/belly

And now for the main attraction!!!

1917/1932 AMS Special Old Reserve "Medicinal Whiskey"



It turns out that 80+ year old screwtops aren't too excited to part from the bottle.



Here you can see most the paint rubbed off from our feeble attempts to just twist that guy into submission:



As a side note, who knew that screwtops were around in 1932? I didn't. So eventually we had to break out the big guns and pry that bastard off with a screwdriver. Amazingly, nobody got hurt in this process:



I've been told that it's not a bad idea to strain these old dusties just in case there's any sediment in there. So we put it through a Vinturi aerator with a strainer and into a "decanter". Since I'm not highbrow enough to own a real decanter, we had to make due with a beer stein (from Octoberfest in Germany, that's gotta count for something, right?):



So now we have this ancient bourbon in a makeshift decanter and are all mildly nervous that we might go blind or something by drinking it. So, good host that I am, I give the hootch a good once over for cloudiness and come to the conclusion that we won't actually die by imbibing.

Onto our next problem...how the hell are we going to pour from this stein into our Glencairns? Why a ladle of course! The stein->ladle->Glencairn method seemed to work out reasonably well with only minor spillage. Here's a shot from later in the evening when we transitioned from neat to rocks:



So why the move to the rocks? Well, after a neat pour, none of us could say that the AMS was necessarily /good/. It definitely wasn't horrible, and none of us have died (yet), but nothing to write home about either. I got a lot of anise on the nose and in the mouth (a flavor I'm not particularly fond of), and a little burn going down. None-the-less, we all felt compelled to finish off the bottle, so we cut it with ice - much more drinkable after a few cubes.

All-in-all, a pretty great night of drinking that wrapped up around 5 this morning. And as a nice gesture in return for me sharing this little piece of history, one of the guys (B) decided to give UMTerp and I $2,100 by booking the following marathon bets that he has < .001% chance of winning:

B $500 - Foobar $500 that B finishes in less than 4 hours
B $500 - UMTerp $500 that B finishes in less than 4 hours
B $500 - Foobar $2,500 that B finishes in less than 4 hours
B $500 - UMTerp $2,500 that B finishes in less than 4 hours
B $100 - Foobar $10,0000 that B finishes in less than 3 hours, 30 minutes

Relevant facts about bets:
-Race is Portland marathon this October
-B currently weighs in at 295
-B runs fairly often, BUT
-B went for run day of bet and "had to walk"
-B has run 2 or three marathons in the past. Best finish was 4 hours, 10 minutes, about 15 years and 100 pounds ago. Latest race was > 5, finished in > 5 hours.

Thanks B!!!!

Well, I'm not a bourbon drinker — but I sure enjoyed your report!

Great read and it certainly sounds like you all had a great time.

Ummmmmm, sounds like an "interesting" bet too. Looking forward to the follow up report in October...

YES! I haven't posted in here in ages and have been drinking less whiskey lately, but I reeeeally love this stuff.

I'm going to this event on Sunday

http://www.wheretoeat.in/2014-whiske...-philadelphia/

Any "can't miss" whiskies on the list? Most of them look like they fall in the good, not great category

Yeah, those are all pretty pedestrian pours. From that list I'd hit the following:

Angels envy rye - finished in rum barrels and sweet . some people don't like it but I do and it's something different

High west campfire - blend of different types of whiskey. Again, something different

Whistlepig rye - I think it's over priced for what it is, but a lot of people seem to enjoy it.

For solid every day type drinks, try:

Elijah craig 12
Eagle rare
Basil Hayden
Four roses single barrel

Asb,

Foobar pretty much nailed it.

My top suggestion to try is High West Campfire - it's unique and I think it's great.

Number two, Whistlepig - I agree w foo on it being a little overpriced but I like it a lot (and my local store reduced the price to $60 which is way more reasonable)

I like the Michters stuff quite a bit.

I'm not a huge fan, but lots of people love those Hudson whiskies and they are pretty pricey.

Devil/asb,

If you're going for pure "value", then agree with Diablo, the Hudson stuff is the most expensive on the list, but far from the best taste IMO. Try the baby bourbon maybe and then decide from there if you want others.

Re: Michter's - I also like their age stated stuff quite a bit but have never had the NAS stuff that was on the list. Any good?

And for an over-the-top, entertaining read about why the Mitchter's name today is really a front for the devil, see here:

http://thebourbontruth.tumblr.com/po...bos-of-whiskey

A small excerpt:

Maybe it’s a crusade to change one thing that I see and believe is terribly wrong, even if by just a little bit. They are a snapshot of why it is so difficult to trust your whiskey these days. In fact, Michter’s is a prime example of why the Bottled and Bond Act of 1897 was created; they are a modern unscrupulous rectifier using shady, and what I find fraudulent, practices to market their brand. They are run by a lawyer; he stays on the legal side of gray, so technically the misleading facts of the brand are “OK.”

Foo,

Awesome blog. I've had Michters NAS rye and liked it, but haven't had the other NAS stuff.

At the recent American whiskey tasting night I went to, this was easily my least favourite of the night. I found it tasted sickly and didn't even finish my glass.

I'm doing the Kentucky Bourbon Trail immediately before/after the Kentucky Derby on May 2/3/4, and likely checking out some other distilleries with a large group while I'm in the area - if anyone wants to join us, drop me a PM or something.

Thanks guys. There are also going to be meatloaf sandwiches there, which I'm pretty excited about.

I just picked up a bottle of Talisker Dark Storm from the duty free in Portugal. Looking forward to trying it tomorrow night.

It's my first no age statement whisky, and I love Talisker 10 so hopefully this one turns out. Anyone try this one?

I think the regular Storm got mixed reviews earlier in this thread, haven't seen anything on the Dark Storm before.

Also for on my way back, they had all of the Highland Park Warrior series. Any of these bottles worth trying?

I was just about to post about duty free whisky shopping too. They have a limited selection for my taste in Houston, but I got a 1L bottle of Aberlour 10 for $40. Pretty good bargain!

They had the talisker 57 degrees North for $66, but I seem to recall that the reviews were not great.

Johnny Walker platinum label on the rocks is good stuff. I apologize for the brevity.

Fellas,

Taking Mrs Harris to one of the country piles outwith Edinburgh for afternoon tea. Noticed they offer a "Laphroaig Sour" made with 30yo for £50 ($80?). Thoughts? I mean, it seems like a waste of aged whisky at a comic price. But could be tried at home if only for perverse interest?

Best,
Pete

I'm a little late but very nice post on your blind taste test foobar. I lurk too much and post too little. Really value all the reviews and info posted in this thread. I'll try to post more of my own reviews.

What he said.

Finally had a chance to try this whisky.

I love it. It is a NAS, so obviously I think young but it doesn't feel like it after the trial run. The legs on the glass are really sticky and last a long time. Could be something to do with the charred cask or could be some Diageo voodoo chemical, who knows. It is pretty dark, but I also assume they use caramel color since it doesn't say otherwise.

The nose is salt spray and sweet smoke.

I like it more than the 10 yr, and I am a huge fan of the 10. Tastes just like the nose says. Big smoke, but salty sweet smoke, not medicinal to me at all, campfire, pepper and spices.



The salt could be because I'm in the Azores in the middle of the Atlantic but it tastes the same inside the room as out. I will probably pick up another bottle on the way home to set aside for later. I will also pick up a Highland Park Warrior, not sure which one yet.

By the way the Talisker goes excellent with a La Gloria Cubana Serie R.

Gull,

Sick whiskey thread brag post!