Bourbon recommendation - Page 2

Lucky.

I would recommend taking a look at Blanton's Original Bourbon. It's one of my personal favorites.

If you're looking for a bourbon's bourbon, knob creek's probably the way to go. But if you're looking for the best, Maker's Mark would be my choice. I'm a proud Maker's ambassador and will loyally sell it to anyone who asks. There's a reason I always have a 1.75L sitting on my desk at all times.

This thread is driving me crazy. Got to go to the liquor store this week!

or just buy one of each and do a freakin' taste test. I keep most bourbons in stock at the house, but when I am out and about, there is something wonderful about jack on the rocks (yes, I know, it is not a bourbon),

Evan Williams single barrel bourbon.....

tremendous bargain(about $25), and the one i find scotch drinkers enjoy the most........

I've been drinking it for over 40 years. It is very hard for me to get excited over the high priced stuff. Maybe because I drink more of the smart juice than I could pay for at $100 a bottle. Try some Old Fitzgerald. I do prefer it above Makers Mark. Old Barton is also good, and reasonable.

The Woodford Reserve is pretty good. However, it is really just selected barrels of Old Forrester that have been bottled to sell higher. The first bottles of the real Woodford Reserve from that small distillery are just getting to market.

It is standard practice in the bourbon industry to select different barrels for different products depending on how those barrels age. In other words, the distiller often will not know what bottling a whiskey will go into when it comes off the still. He has to wait until it's been in barrel for a few years. Brown-Forman started the Woodford Reserve brand with honey barrels of Old Forester distilled in Louisville and transported to the Labott & Graham distillery in Woodford County to finish aging. At the same time, the L&G distillery restarted, and stocks of the bourbon produced there began aging. WR has for several years been a mixture of the Old Fitz bourbon with the L&G bourbon in varying proportions (the more recent the bottling, the larger the proportion of L&G bourbon). It will never be 100% L&G bourbon because the L&G distillery can't produce enough whiskey to satisfy demand. Edit: Old Forester, not Old Fitz.

I once had a bottle of the limited reserve stuff, I forget what it is called, but I think it had gold wax instead of red. It was a small batch bourbon. But it was amazing stuff. Best I've ever had. Do you know that that is and is it still available?

Yeah, it's just a matter of finding it. Marker's often puts out limited bottles with different kinds of wax, many of which you can find on ebay. They've got one for christmas, march madness, the Kentucky Derby, 4th of July, and on and on. But the gold wax you mention refers to their VIP line which if I'm not mistaken is strictly export nowadays and has a higher proof (101 vs. the standard 90). I've never had the Gold variety...but I will one day soon.

After I took the tour of Labott & Graham, I started buying Old Forrester occasionally. I'd generally been sticking to Barton or Fitzgerald. Forrester does have a different taste. Differences that don't seem noticeable after about a half pint.

Recently, L&G was able to bottle the first of the bourbon distilled at L&G. Untill that point, all the ads showing the quaint little distillery were pretty much BS. I bought one of the bottles from the first botteling of the first barrell brewed at the restored L&G - got a Certificate of Authenticity on a special shaped bottle. Which probably means nothing except that I was a gulled consumer.

Anyway, there is a real difference among some of the bourbons. For something really different and not very appealing - IMHO - try Ancient Age.