Last night I popped into a local bar (The Reno Room) to size up Buffalo Trace and Bushmills Original. I'd ordered BT once a few months ago while in Palm Springs, but received something that was definitely not BT. So this time I was able to watch the bartender pour the bourbon from the bottle into my glass. I tried it. I liked it. Sadly, Bushmills Original (which REALLY paled in comparison to the Buffalo Trace) remains the one Irish Whiskey that I do not enjoy. I believe there's good malt hiding in there, but the bland grains push it down. I try it every year or two just to double check and each time my feelings are confirmed. At least its palate is consistent.
The Whisky Advocate posted its top 10 whiskies of the Fall. Upon reading the list, I felt the usual mixed feelings bubble up. All the whiskies look delicious but none are affordable for the average consumer. It reminded me what an expensive pleasure whisky has become.
A Malt Maniac, harmonic resonance, and The Corry. Blend them, vat them, pour them and you'll get the new Coopered Tot post. It's grand!
I also enjoyed Scotch and Ice Cream's post about his celebrating his son's first birthday with a fine bottle of whisky. Feelings both personal and universal run through the review.
Finally, here's my tweet from this morning:
In my dream last night, Woody Harrelson, Iggy Pop, Robert DeNiro and I prepped smoked pork shoulder at the beach on a cloudy morning.
— Michael Kravitz (@kravitz_hubris) August 17, 2012
As in most dreams, the action was never completed as we kept getting sidetracked by distractions. Actually, that sounds a lot like the waking life.
Happy Friday!
Just noticed you still have Kilkerran on the To-Do list. Figured I might mention that K&L Wines got a shipment of Kilkerran a couple weeks ago. They have a location in LA but the bottles are at their Redwood City and San Francisco stores. Luckily they can transport bottles to another K&L store if that store is out.
ReplyDeleteHey Eric. Thanks for the comment!
ReplyDeleteI saw that K&L bottle online just the other day! I'm checking with them to see which version of the "Work In Progress" it is. Might be buying a sample from the UK first to see if I should go for a full bottle.
I love me some K&L though.
Buffalo trace is one of those winners - cheap bourbon that gets close to the really good stuff at a young age. It's amazing how cheap bourbon is pretty much always tasty - while cheap blended Scotch, Irish, and Canadian is loaded with nasty too-young grain spirits and tastes terrible. I'm with you completely on Bushmills White: a complete waste of time. Their single malt expressions are a totally different story, particularly the 16 and 1608 expressions.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the link and shout out. That resonance post was the most fun I've had on the blog in a while. My next few posts are going to look mighty dull by comparison (i.e. here's some Miltonduff... tastes pretty good).
I have no idea what you're complaining about with the Whisky Advocate's list of Top 10 for Fall. Only one is over $10,000 / bottle. There are EIGHT whole bottles of that 1964 Bowmore for the USA - so we can all put a bunch of shots on the bar and nail them 1-2-3. Sigh... Well, at least the Blue Hanger sounds good... and they put a lone bourbon on the list and it's an amazing one.
I've heard so much good stuff about the Blue Hangers. There's usually some pretty old malt in it -- the 4th release had some Glenlivet from the '70s. So there's some positive spin!
DeleteI look forward to the "Miltonduff...tastes pretty good" posts! I know that feeling though; after I've completed a fun post, I look at the upcoming posts thinking, "Man, I have nothing spicy on the stove."
Happy to see that we're on the same page with Bushmills White. It never hits the spot. But I did just read a rave review (somewhere) about the 1608 bottling. Meanwhile, the BT was such a pleasant surprise that I might have to acquire a bottle.
Wow, K&L somehow got one of the eight bottles of Bowmore 1964 and they are selling it for $14,000 which is certainly a lot cheaper than $140,000 at auction...
DeleteYeah, I saw David OG mention that! I wonder who's going to buy it? I'll bet it'll be someone in LA, buying it for the bragging rights.
DeleteBushmills is a distillery that really should be competing more against Midleton. All of Bushmills' products are bottled at 40% (I've collected three bottles of the very good 1608 bottling at 46% because it's the type of product the distillery SHOULD be producing) and the rare single casks are few and far between. Finally I'd loved to see Black Bush bottled at higher strength because I think it's a decent blend that would sparkle at 46%.
ReplyDeleteBushmills has also produced single pot still in the past which is another area they could compete with Midleton on.
I agree. I suppose Diageo plays it easy with Bushmills since they're selling well......but not nearly as well as Midleton's products do. Black Bush is quite a bit better than the White Label too, as are their single malts. I'll keep an eye out for the 1608s if there are any left at non-collectible prices.
Delete