BOURBON NEWS
Here’s a big one: Hart Davis Hart will hold an auction, starting March 26, of Rip and Pappy Van Winkle bourbons. The entire line is up for auction. While the estimated starting prices are very reasonable --- $320 starting point for a 10-yr Rip, $850 for a 15-yr Pappy --- these bourbons will go for much higher. Second mortgage anyone?
The Kentucky Bourbon Affair, scheduled for September, has been canceled, citing the Covid uncertainty. It’s the second cancellation. Stinks.
The 15-yr, 107 proof Kentucky Senator bourbon expected to be released this week. Allocation and pricing under wrap
California-based Lynxx Bourbon has launched a wheated bourbon geared toward women. $79.99
Jamie Foxx, the actor-comedian-singer, now owns Seattle-based BSB-Brown Sugar Bourbon
The Barton 1792 distillery has opened a new warehouse
Michter’s, for the first time in two years, is releasing its barrel strength rye. Good luck finding one at $79 retail
The W.L. Weller CYPB just got a lot more expensive and harder to find. It won “Best Kentucky Whiskey” at the “American World Whiskies Awards.” The CYPB went for about $600 on the secondary market before the award
Musician Chris Stapleton has teamed with EH Taylor to produce a rare bottled-in-bond bourbon. Only one barrel of this 9-year, 100-proof beauty will be released, with proceeds benefiting disaster relief in Texas and Eastern Kentucky. The bottles are only available at auction and have an estimated value of $5,000 each. Bottles have been selling for north of $15K.
The New Riff 15-yr sold out in two minutes. With only 900 bottles at $200 each, expect to pay a pretty penny if you find one secondary.
WHAT’S NEW
The new Benchmark lineup, from $14.99 to $24.99 a bottle
Normally I write about some of the more expensive bourbons that come to market, but in this case, I wanted to muse about a lower-cost vertical offered by Buffalo Trace --- its Benchmark line. Until recently, Buffalo Trace released the Benchmark 8 year, a nice little 80 proof for about $10 that bars should absolutely stock over some of the equally priced well stuff only suited for peeling paint off walls. Now, Buffalo Trace has come out with five additional Benchmarks, including a full-proof bourbon that costs a mere $25.
I went into this understanding the Benchmark brands are what they are --- low-priced options meant to help Buffalo Trace increase its market share among lower spenders. Nothing wrong with that. I also realized it would be fruitless to compare this lineup with any higher quality juice, like say, 1792. Comparing a higher-priced bourbon to a lower-priced one is like comparing Carnival cruises to Viking; you’ll come away disappointed. So here I am, tasting on its merits.
I picked up four of the Benchmarks --- the bonded-in-bond, small-batch, single barrel, and barrel proof. I should have picked up a bottle of the “top shelf,” but all that means is the barrel rested on the top shelf of the rick house. I suppose that’s like me sleeping on top of the bunkbed and claiming that’s special.
I passed.
So the big question: If I only had a little bit of coin are any of these worth getting?
The answer: Yes. None of them are bad. None of them are great. But they’re not meant to be, not at those prices. They are what they are.
In order of my preference: Full Proof, Single Barrel, Benchmark 8, Bottle in Bond, Small Batch.
I’m not going to do a review of each because you can get that at lots of places (see below). But here’s a little on the Full Proof.
It’s the biggest and boldest of the three, with a thicker caramel and oak than the others. It doesn’t need ice, at least not for me, and tastes lighter than some of the higher-proof bourbons I’m used to. It has the longest finish of them all, and it’s definitely a keeper. You’d be hard-pressed to find any other 125 proof at this value that is this good.
For the rest, none of these have huge flavors or deep colors, and none have big finishes. But that doesn’t mean they’re bad. They’re light and fresh with some peculiarities, like the 100 proof Bottled in Bond tasting hotter than the full proof. When I say far hotter, I mean like sucking air from a 400-degree oven. My friend tells me I’m alcohol sensitive and that’s true because I get the alcohol --- big time --- on each bottle.
Who would like this? Anyone, I think, but especially newbies. For less than $100 in most places, you can line up all six Benchmarks, drink with and without water and have a nice little tasting. Fun! Six bottles for less than the cost of a Calumet 14 year. Can’t go wrong.
And that’s the phrase --- you can’t go wrong. At worse, you can mix any of them with coke. At best, you’ll like them as much as I do. They all have a nice amount of oak and spice, and how it coats the inside of the mouth makes up for the lack of finish. This is the one that will become a staple on my shelf because at these prices, why not? You’re going to have a hard time finding something better in that price range.
BOURBON PICKS
Affordable bourbon that would be good on your shelf
Ezra Brooks 99 proof, $24.99
I’ve never been much of an Ezra Brooks fan but when I heard Lux Row was coming out with a low-priced 99 proof version I had to try. It’s a sour mash bourbon, meaning distillers use the mash (grain, malt, water) from an older barrel to start a new batch. I like sour mash bourbon as much as I like yellow cake with chocolate icing. I can’t get enough.
Rye drinkers should love this. Even though the standard Ezra Brooks mash bill of 78% corn, 12% rye, and 10% malted barley applies, this is a spicy drink with mint throughout. In a blind test, I would have thought this had as much rye as Four Roses, which clocks in at 20%. Ezra Brooks, despite its thin appearance on the pour, packs a wallop when it comes to heat. It’s the kind of bourbon you want when you have a cold because it warms up your chest --- and lingers.
I had half my two-ounce pour without water and then added a few drops (only because I wanted to see how the flavor characteristic change; I like my bourbon neat.). In this case, those few drops made a world of difference and opened the flavors. Light caramel on the tongue. While there is a medium alcohol component --- indicating the lack of age --- it does have a long, lingering finish that coats your mouth with spice (there’s that rye again).
Given its light body, I don’t think it would make a good cocktail drink (unless you use a lot of it). Don’t judge it against other bourbons approaching triple digits; judge it for what it is, a low-cost high-proof bourbon that rye fans should enjoy.
Mashbill: 78% corn, 12% rye, and 10% malted barley
Distillery: Sourced
Bottler: Lux Row
BOURBON REVIEWS
This newsletter doesn’t do wholesale bourbon reviews because there are lots of other resources out there that do so. Here are five outstanding sources and I’ll add more as we go along:
Breaking Bourbon: The best overall website offers reviews and release dates
Whiskey Consensus rates, on a 1-10 scale, just about any bourbon you can imagine
Bourbon Banter offers reviews of the bottles it tastes
Modern Thirst: Reviews and a blog
Whiskey Advocate: A great place to find out the latest about the varying Whiskey Fests.
BOURBON EVENTS
Note: There are lots of scheduled bourbon events coming up but, due to Covid, I’m only listing events happening after April and will adjust as I go along. But it seems as if things are starting to loosen up and plans are becoming more formal. And as usual, there are more events than I can possibly list. In future newsletters, I’ll probably only go 2-3 months and include signature events that sell out fast.
Whiskey Obsession will be April 8 in Tampa, Fl.
Biscuits and Bourbon --- a biscuit bar with fried chicken, other toppings, and bourbon --- kicks off Derby week at the Kentucky Derby Museum on April 28
The Bacon, Bourbon and Brew Festival is scheduled for July 8-11 in Cincinnati
The Bourbon Tasting event in Grove City, OH will be on August 8
The Bourbon and Bowties fundraiser for Children’s Hospital in Prospect, KY has been moved to August 26
The Bourbon on the Banks festival is scheduled for August 27 and 28 in Frankfort, KY
The Bourbon Burn, a bike tour of distilleries and horse farms, will be Sept. 24 in Kentucky
The Kentucky Bourbon Festival plans to hold its event from Sept. 16-21 in Bardstown. General admission tickets will be available on March 15. VIP tickets are already sold out
The Edge Bourbon Festival in Northern Kentucky is scheduled for October 1.
The Detroit Bourbon Festival will be on October 16.
Whiskey Fest has new dates: Oct. 30 in Hollywood, Fl; Nov. 5 in Chicago; Nov. 11 in NY; and Dec. 2 in San Francisco
Bourbon Classic in Louisville, KY, is Nov. 4, 5, and 6. Tickets are on sale.
First Capital Bourbon Dinner is scheduled Nov. 5 in Chillicothe, OH
ON HOLD, TBA
Whiskey’s of the World in San Francisco has been postponed a couple of times. We’ll see how that goes.
Bourbon and Bubbles, the premier annual event of the Dayton (OH) Art Institute is on hold
The Nth Whiskey Experience (Nth is not a typo) in Las Vegas has been moved to April 2022