bourbon updates
Well, I've definitely been lazy about blogging regularly (who has the time and dedication?), but I've tasted a few good bourbons (and some horrid ones) since I last posted on the subject.

I'll start off with my tastings in pursuit of the best cheap bourbon. I've really narrowed it down to a couple of choices under $15 (my predetermined qualification for "cheap"), but along the way have tasted a bunch which are better off avoided - I'll summarize these before getting to the better ones.

Old Grand-dad - $15 - very caramelly; definitely artificially flavored. Finish is unremarkable, though not bad in comparison to a lot of the others here. I'd probably buy it occasionally if it were under $10.

Ancient Age - $10 - Not worth drinking unless you mix it with enough coke/etc to mask it's excessively woody flavor, which I'd describe as 'green', like young wood. Almost finishes like some root beers - on the acidic side - definitely not in a good way though. Yet another reason to mix it with something equally acidic (if not more so) if you absolutely have to drink the stuff.

Rebel Yell - $11 - Burns more than the bourbons mentioned above. I don't have a bottle with me now so I can't really make direct comparisons, but it had better flavor than ancient age. Poor finish though. There are better options at this price.

Old Forrester - $12 - I decided I wasn't going to drink any more of the bottle after my first taste. Below average flavor (again, still better than ancient age, but not by much), with the worst finish of anything I've tasted so far.

But - as mentioned, these are the ones which aren't really worth it at the price. Here are two that are:

Old Heaven Hill 8-year - $9
Cheap bourbons have to make some sacrifices to ensure the economics work, but Old Heaven Hill proves they can still pull off the flavor. Easily outdoes both jack daniel's and jim beam (at least their mass-market stuff) at less than half the price. There's nothing really exceptional about the bourbon itself, but I wouldn't expect there to be at the price. As mentioned, some sacrifices had to be made - in this case, it's not one of the more complete distillations and as a result is pretty fiery going down. This can be pretty easily improved with a single ice cube in 2-3oz of whiskey though.

My only complaint as far as the flavor goes is a little bit of astringency toward the finish, which is pretty slight so it doesn't detract much from the overall impression. A great value at $9.

Dickel's - $14
I bought a bottle of this about a year ago for under $12 - it appears since then they've realized they can price this higher due to the amount of praise they're getting from liquor reviewers. Some friends had a bottle at their party last night, and I happened to have my Old Heaven Hill - I already knew the two were of comparable quality but this afforded me the opportunity to conduct a blind taste test.

The biggest discernable difference between the two was the nose; Dickel's was a little bit cleaner with a little bit of a walnut note, while O.H.H. was a little bit more astringent.

Dickels' walnut note was also present while tasting, too - it became apparent near the finish, around the same time OHH's aforementioned astringency was present.

Other than that, these are very similar in flavor and mouthfeel. Burn is indifferentiable as well. The differences are subtle enough that I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference after two drinks - which raises the question, is it worth the extra $5? Depends... personally, I'll probably spend a little extra occasionally to pick up Dickel's.


Next Episode: some of the better premium ($15-up) bourbons I've tried will be given the venture capital(coholic?)-ist review treatment. Stay Tuned...
- posted by vcmc @  10/08/2006 03:27:00 PM  |  1 comments