Old Forester 1920, on the other hand? It doesn’t sport a fancy age statement, but neither do most Old Forester brands.
It’s always fun to taste, but the MSRP of $130 is pretty steep-and you’re more likely to find it for $500 or $600 from a price gouging retailer marking it up to secondary market prices. This is less a knock on Birthday Bourbon, given that most of the batches are wonderful, and more an affirmation that Old Forester 1920 is consistently one of the best American bourbons on the shelf, and it isn’t too hard to find.īirthday Bourbon is a yearly release that reflects the range of profiles you find within Brown-Forman’s Old Forester brand-I find that sometimes it plays up the “bananas foster” notes that their bourbon is known for, while other years are much more red fruity or spice-driven. It can’t compete with the Pappy in terms of big age statements, but it really doesn’t need one. In fact, you’re likely to find this whiskey considerably more vivacious and flavor-packed than the relatively low proof likes of Pappy Van Winkle, if we’re being honest. You could grab the regular Maker’s Mark Cask Strength for just over $50, but you’re even better off dropping an extra $10 on the Private Selection series, which takes the already delicious, cask-strength Maker’s profile and amps it up with additional aging on a variety of proprietary barrel staves. If what you want is a top-tier wheated bourbon with no shortage of flavor, though, you’re in luck-Maker’s Mark has several that fit the bill, and they’re all excellent values. Suffice to say, it’s a line of well-aged wheated bourbons favored by those who enjoy the soft and sweet flavor profile typical to that style. It doesn’t really matter the brand can barely be said to be relevant to the average drinker thanks to the impossibility of getting it and the prohibitive price attached to it.
Maybe your local bar has some in a strongbox, to be brought out for finance bro birthday parties. Perhaps you’ve seen a bottle sitting behind glass in a liquor store for $1,000 or more. Made from the same wheated bourbon mashbill as those Wellers, it barely needs any introduction at this point. Weller by addressing its big brother, right? The Pappy Van Winkle lineup is the elephant in the room in any conversation about hyped bourbon. It’s simply the consequence of their products being so hotly desired.
Note: I’ve tried to ensure that I’m providing recommendations from an array of different distilleries, but the sheer hype surrounding Buffalo Trace products in particular means they’ll inevitably be well represented here. In each entry here, I’ll cite a hyped bourbon that is currently difficult to obtain (or subject to constant price gouging), and suggest an easier found alternative that you’ll probably enjoy just as much. In a market where hype drives unreasonable pricing and frustrating scarcity, the most valuable question to actually ask and answer is “So what should I be drinking instead?” If you can’t find the hyped stuff, like most of us, what are your best alternatives that are easier to track down? If you don’t care to be dropping three or four figures on whiskey bottles, what are the best value plays to capture those same flavor profiles? So many brands have had their prices inflated and seen corresponding drops in availability during the brown liquor craze, and the discourse found in online forums and Facebook groups in particular has a tendency to revolve disproportionately around only a small handful of brands, building a self-perpetuating hype cycle that convinces new drinkers that only a small number of brands represent “the good stuff.” It’s a phenomenon that has resulted in price gouging from retailers becoming the norm, as package stores are all too happy to mark up a bottle of bourbon 400% from MSRP if there are people out there desperate enough to pay it.īut that’s all stuff I’ve written about before. It’s entirely too easy these days, when it comes to spirits writing about bourbon in particular, to focus almost entirely on what the average consumer is never able to acquire.
Strange barrel strongbox series#
Check out every entry in the series to date. Cocktail Queries is a Paste series that examines and answers basic, common questions that drinkers may have about mixed drinks, cocktails and spirits.
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