Whiskey Clique

markymark550 said:

Just got my latest quarterly Flaviar delivery today. I like the regular Glenlivet 12, so I'm looking forward to seeing how the rum barrels affect the flavors.

Had glenlivet founders reserve last week. I really enjoyed it.
I had glenlivet a few years ago.  Don’t remember what it was, just remember it didn’t do anything for me, so I stayed away. 

Also having some brandy 😁

^ nice work! I’m still waiting for my vday present from my wifey...might be waiting a while 😂

Definitely enjoy that one. My wife’s uncle and I absolutely destroyed a bottle of it in record time around the holidays. Was ugly. 

I still gotta try glenfiddich; maybe it will be my next bottle.

Bentleyspop said:

 One thing I like to recommend is Private Barrel Selections aka Store Picks. These are very unique and if your local store has pickers with great pallets you can get some awesome whiskeys.

Totally agree. I've enjoyed many good store picks from my local shops, and I always seek them out. You can also build solid relationships with store owners/employees by showing a genuine interest in the private barrels they're bringing in. Having those relationships is the only way to score allocated bottles in many states. Not sure if Bentleyspop has a different take since he's in the industry, but I've found that buying store picks gives you a chance to taste some good unique stuff, talk shop with other whiskey geeks, and occasionally score something rare from behind the counter...

Gern Blansten said:

Bentleyspop said:

 One thing I like to recommend is Private Barrel Selections aka Store Picks. These are very unique and if your local store has pickers with great pallets you can get some awesome whiskeys.

Today I was part of 2 tasting panels for George Remus Cask Strength and Knob Creek Bourbon.
It will be interesting to see how they turn out when the bottles arrive later this year.

Interesting....How do you end up getting the invite to something like that?  Do they reach out to you or do you have to request?

Its part of my job
Here's the most recent sample kit from Knob Creek....

Gern Blansten said:

We were planning on hitting some bourbon distilleries last year before the COVID bullshit.  We're in Indy so Louisville is just a two hour drive.

We went to Evan Williams a few years ago which was pretty cool.  Old Forester and Angel's Envy are right down the street from there.

I've done the Old Forester one. I really like their bourbons. Got to try the 1890, 1897, 1910, and 1920 recipes. I really liked the 1920 blend and my wife's favorite was the 1910. Plus, they gave you a free drink at the bar before your tour/tasting.

Of all the distilleries we went to, I would say the Buffalo Trace was the best. It's over in Frankfort, which is about an hour east of Louisville. Lots of distilleries up there. I'd like to go back and do some of the ones we weren't able to see.

Even without the bourbon distilleries, Louisville is a cool city to visit. I really enjoyed going to Louisville Slugger factory and the Muhammad Ali museum. We went May 2019 so we were able to catch a Louisville Bats game as well. I did find it funny/ironic that the sponsored whiskey at the stadium was Jack Daniels.

Gern Blansten said:

markymark550 said:

Gern Blansten said:

We were planning on hitting some bourbon distilleries last year before the COVID bullshit.  We're in Indy so Louisville is just a two hour drive.

We went to Evan Williams a few years ago which was pretty cool.  Old Forester and Angel's Envy are right down the street from there.

I've done the Old Forester one. I really like their bourbons. Got to try the 1890, 1897, 1910, and 1920 recipes. I really liked the 1920 blend and my wife's favorite was the 1910. Plus, they gave you a free drink at the bar before your tour/tasting.

Of all the distilleries we went to, I would say the Buffalo Trace was the best. It's over in Frankfort, which is about an hour east of Louisville. Lots of distilleries up there. I'd like to go back and do some of the ones we weren't able to see.

Even without the bourbon distilleries, Louisville is a cool city to visit. I really enjoyed going to Louisville Slugger factory and the Muhammad Ali museum. We went May 2019 so we were able to catch a Louisville Bats game as well. I did find it funny/ironic that the sponsored whiskey at the stadium was Jack Daniels.

yeah that is odd...

I really want to go to Buffalo Trace...there are so many down there you could make a vacation out of it.

Definitely check out BT if you get the chance. I think we made it to 12 distilleries/tastings over the week we spent in Kentucky. There's at least a dozen more that I'd like to try!

I got to try the lag 16!