Blanton's Gold Edition

Connosr # 12 highest rated whisk(e)y, as of today.

Pineapple? Curious. Don't think I've ever gotten pineapple from a bourbon.

@Victor This note is definitely here. Overripe pineapple in syrup. This being said, I would buy two bottles of Eagle 10 over this any day.

I scored my bottle 88 but I have to say it's rare that I reach for the bottle. it does not excite me. In fact, I had a spare and recently betrothed it to a friend.

Nice review Georgy, I have never been excited by the low proof versions we get of Blanton's here but I keep hearing such good reviews of the high proof stuff that I am curious. I do like Eagle 10 quite a bit is this at all in the same vein? Are this all variants of the standard Buffalo Trace recipe?

@cricklewood, Eagle Rare is from Buffalo Trace Mash Bill # 2, at approx 15% rye content. Standard Buffalo Trace bourbon is from BT Mash Bill # 1, at approx 10% rye content. The 15 or 20 standard, i.e. rye-containing, bourbons from Buffalo Trace all use one of these two mashbills.

The Blanton's line uses BT Mash Bill # 2.

BT Mash Bill # 1 uses very low rye content; BT Mash Bill # 2 uses a moderate, middle of the road average rye content. Buffalo Trace makes no rye bourbons with high rye content in the style of distilleries like Four Roses (20, 30, and 35% Rye; 30% rye for the Bulleit contract) or the Old Grand-Dad line (28 to 30% rye) made by Beam.

@Victor thanks for the details on the BT Mash Bills, I am still always surprised by the number of different products bourbon producers tease out of the same recipe.

@Georgy - An interesting review, thanks! I would love to try this and a few other more high end bourbons but the prices here are prohibitive, especially when I think what Scotch, or other whisk(e)y I could get for the same money.

It would have to be a good bourbon to be worth two bottles of Eagle Rare 10 . . . .

@RianC the irony is huge. Over here we can get high end bourbons for the price we pay for not much more than entry level scotch.

@RianC Yeah, I got lucky and bought it for 75USD. Normally it costs 120USD. Well, ...at that high price point, I would pass on this one. It is enjoyable, but overpriced.

@cricklewood, how many different whisky products does Ardbeg tease out of one and only one malt whisky recipe?

Sure, it is mainly about cask selection, with Scotch whiskies and with American whiskeys. The products are mostly differentiated by differing cask quality and differing cask flavour profiles.

The reason why there will be no mass production of the top products is always the same: the top 1% of casks/barrels available will remain only the top 1% of casks/barrels available. True too for the next tier down, which may be the next 4 or 5% of casks/barrels available.

@Victor I perhaps didn't express that I was pleasantly surprised. I I tried Stagg Jr. recently and really fell for the profile which I thought possessed certain notes that I had not experienced in a BT product or most bourbons for that matter. I know the top-tier products come from careful selection.

On the flip side I like seeing big distilleries pushing new boundaries, for example Jim beam signature craft, Buffalo trace experimental or single oak. There's also the new "little book" release which is similar to what high west have been doing but coming from Jim beam that's rather surprising.

If something doesn't excite you, you definitely don't want to betroth it.

@MadSingleMalt It doesn't excite me. My friend wants the bottle. It's his for the taking.

Something akin to an arranged marriage, perhaps.