Favorite Whiskey?

I mean. I won’t say i don’t like it. It’s a fine bottle and stupid easy to drink.

 

can't seem to find that Taylor around where i live... sigh

 

Two new ones today as a gift and a shoutout to @AugustaTaco for the Willett hiding in the back

 

I’ve been told that the Michter’s BS Rye is the sexiest of all the Michter’s Rye offerings, including the 10 year.

 

There is a rumor going around

 

I headed to an annual conference this week. First day was the "mixer" and I signed up for a round of Sporting Clays with some of my fellow attendees. I'm not great, but I was good enough to get high score out of my group and pocket a prize.

After a tough day at the clay range, nothing goes down better than bourbon. Unfortunately, the resort (French Lick Resort and Casino) has some pretty stiff drink prices and pours are tightly controlled...so I stopped at the local liquor store to get a bottle of some good bourbon to keep in my room. The top shelf had a pretty cool looking bourbon called "Horse Soldier" on sale. I'd never had it, so I grabbed a fifth and headed to the resort to check in. Got to my room and had a shot neat. Good stuff. 87 proof wheated bourbon. Smooth.

Anyway...next morning I go to see the keynote speaker's talk. Mark Nutsh (retired Green Beret) was the speaker. Mark led the first special forces group into Afghanistan after 911 and is credited with leading (along with others) the greatest unconventional warfare victory of the last century or so. If you get a chance to hear him talk, take it for sure. If you've seen the movie "12 Strong (2018), Chris Hemsworth plays "Mitch Nelson" who is a fictionalized Captain Nutsh.

Anyway...here's where it got weird.

Nutsh uses the last of his talk to give a "where are they now" review of some of the key players in his team. Turns out that a few of them decided the thing they all had in common was a love of good bourbon. They combined their talents and efforts and created a new bourbon to market, naming it honor of the Green Berets who saddled up, and went to battle the Taliban on stallions provided by the Northern Alliance (the first US Mounted Combat soldiers since WWII)...and named their new bourbon "Horse Soldier"

I about fell out of my chair. I mentioned to the group that the Liquor Store up the street had it on sale. After the conference I stopped back by to get some more but it was sold out. Clerk said the shelf was full and then it was empty. He had no idea what happened....but I have my guess.

Anyway....I still have 2/3 of a bottle. Highly recommended!

 

BTW the Horse Soldier bottles are pressed in molds made from World Trade Center steel.

 

Yes. They did mention that.

The bourbon I brought to the conference seemed like a big coincidence, but a much more important one was that when Captain Nutsh was confronted by 50 AK/RPG wielding horsemen on his first dawn after being heloed in to link up with the CIA, he had a secret talent that no one could have counted on. He grew up riding rodeo and continued all the way through 2 years of being on his college's rodeo team. This was the first american soldier the Northern Alliance had ever met. Can you imagine what they might have thought if he'd fallen off the horse on the ride back to their base? I don't know what the percentage of Americans that are accomplished horsemen is, but it can't be more than 1%.

 

So, apparently it's "Weird Shit Week" at my local ABC.

Lux Row 4 grain mashbill, billed as a "double single barrel", which I assume means "We picked two barrels and blended them".

The four grains are corn, barley, rye, and wheat, and Lux Row, aka Ross and Squib, aka MGP, is well known to put out wheated whiskey under its Rebel label, so I'm pretty sure this is some 5 year old Rebel and some 5 year old Remus blended at cask strength and gussied up with marketing.

 

Then we have the Heaven's Door Homesick Blues.

Normally I avoid Heaven's Door. They're an NDP coasting on Bob Dylan marketing and like Whistlepig with Rye their shit comes from everywhere. It's a straight up Forrest Gump Box o Chocolates whiskey brand. You never know what you're gonna get.

Anyway, this stuff is cask strength *Minnesota* wheated whiskey. Per the website marketing material, allegedly Minnesota has temperature swings meaning more in n out of the barrel wood for the aging juice. But I think they really wanted to tie it to Bob Dylan's home state, because the marketing is way more wild about that.

It's age stated at 7 years and was distilled in Minnesota which means...it comes from some craft distillery somewhere. There are no majors in Minnesota and certainly none of the usual suspects that sell to NDPs in widely known fashion.

This thing is dripping Bob Dylan shit, if you care. The bottle comes in the box wrapped in faux song notes of his.

Anyway, this is weird enough I was interested, so fuck it, why not.

 

So, all that said let's fuck around with these things and find out.

 

Anyone familiar with this one? Been wanting to try a scotch.

 

Next

 

Conclusions:

Lux Row:
A glass of Red Hots candy. Remember all those jokes about Old Tub with a Glencairn full of peanuts? That, but Red Hots. It's not bad, per se, but it is a very definitive flavor you're going to want to be in the mood for. As regards everything else, mouthfeel, nose, etc. it's a 5.5/10. Nothing wrong with it, and not much reason to remember it beyond the occasional urge to drink inebriating candy.

Heaven's Door:
Pleasantly surprising. Very good everything, nose, palate, mouthfeel, drinks very smooth for the proof, reminding me of JDSBBP or Stagg in that regard. 7.5/10. Worth buying if you come across it. Whoever put it together did good work.

 

Fryeday

 

No, but Fuck it. It’s $20, why not! At the rate things are going $20 won’t buy you a dinner at McDonald’s. I say buy the scotch!

FWIW, if you want an entry level drinkable scotch that’s easy to
Find grab a bottle of Monkey Shoulder. It’s very good and easy to find. Also won’t crush you like some of the more advanced bottles.

 

Anyone in CA get the OF Birthday Bourbon from the BevMo flash sale today?

 

Hahaha. Flash sale on Birthday Bourbon??? What they couldn’t sell it? I hope someone in here got some!!!

 

Hahah I hope someone did too. the sale was at 10am and I was emailed at 2pm….fuckers

 

Visiting my favorite Mexican restaurant tonight. Bartender may have said he had a case of this stuff. I believe from 2018, Lot 52A. Maybe I paid over suggested (not by much) BUT it's been a long time since I've seen Fortaleza. And I've never had the Anejo. Man this is delicious stuff!