• The KillerFrogs

OT - Favorite/Specialty Bourbons

lonestarfrog89

Active Member
I’m about to go on a trip and I always try to get a special bourbon for the occasion. Would love to hear some great bottles y’all love to broaden my horizons. Here are some of my favorites that are difficult to find:

Blantons
Eagle Rare
Weller 12
Buffalo Trace
Elijah Craig Barrel Proof
Russel Reserve Single Barrel
Elmer T Lee
Barrel Bourbon

Some bottles I have yet to try that I want to are:

I’ve had Pappy 12 but none of the other ones
Eagle Rare 17
George T Stagg
Old Fitzgerald 15

I know most people who have good sources of the good juice rarely reveal their secrets, but would love to hear some insight for those that have had success finding the good stuff (without just money whipping).

For those of you who like this kind of thing, the book Pappy Land by Wright Thompson is a fantastic read.

Bourbon market is wild now. Some places here in Houston are sold out of Buffalo Trace or have a 1 bottle limit.

I’d throw EH Taylor on there if you haven’t had it, one of my favorites just impossible to find now. I would also recommend (depending on where you live and your social media activity) to follow any bourbon hunter Instagram accounts etc. For example, I follow HTX Bourbon Hunter and am able to snag some good finds when people submit in stock notifications.

I would also be on the lookout for any store/barrel picks. I got a Buffalo Trace store pick from Fiesta Liquor here and it was fantastic.
 

Purp

Active Member
I’m about to go on a trip and I always try to get a special bourbon for the occasion. Would love to hear some great bottles y’all love to broaden my horizons. Here are some of my favorites that are difficult to find:

Blantons
Eagle Rare
Weller 12
Buffalo Trace
Elijah Craig Barrel Proof
Russel Reserve Single Barrel
Elmer T Lee
Barrel Bourbon

Some bottles I have yet to try that I want to are:

I’ve had Pappy 12 but none of the other ones
Eagle Rare 17
George T Stagg
Old Fitzgerald 15

I know most people who have good sources of the good juice rarely reveal their secrets, but would love to hear some insight for those that have had success finding the good stuff (without just money whipping).

For those of you who like this kind of thing, the book Pappy Land by Wright Thompson is a fantastic read.
@Horny 4 Life needs to weigh in here. Mainly b/c he's got a brown water fettish and knows as much as anybody about how to find rare stuff, but also b/c I haven't seen him around here much lately and he needs to drop back in for a visit.
 
for me, find a real bartender in a real bar, tell them what you like to drink normally, how you like to drink, and work from there.

there is a podcast i listen to on a fairly regular basis called whiskey and one of the things they stress is drink what appeals to your taste and not what you are told to like. works for me in red wine, bourbon, and scotch.

I never had Saarloos stuff until this whole thing went down but what sold me was their "House Rules" for their Tasting Room, specifically rule #2:

Thus we don't tell you what you taste. Wine is about discovery how dare we tell you what you taste. We feel that our wines speak for themselves, not in a pompous way, but much like music. You would never ask what does this sound like? So, our wines taste like what they taste like. So put a bit in your mouth, splash it around, and let us know what you think. We are all adults, and wine is about discovery. Think about it this way, have you ever been set up on a blind date? Has that person ever been EXACTLY as described? You go on a date and you see for yourself if you like them or not, same goes for wine. This is the reason why we only sell our wines at the tasting room. IF YOU LIKE IT, BUY IT, IF YOU DONT, THEN DONT. More so, far be it from us to treat you like a child and tell you that you should be tasting. We will never tell you that you should be tasting “hints of barnyard” while you are tasting spicy leather, come to think of it why do you know what spicy leather tastes like...
 

LVH

Active Member
Your balls will drop one of these days

I was in a suite for a Knights game for work a few years ago and they were bringing all kinds of bourbon for us to try. I took about 2 or 3 sips of the different shot glasses in front of me and said to hell with that, it all tastes gross.
 

Dogfrog

Active Member
What's the best way to try a variety of different things and compare how they taste?

That’s a tough one. Not sure I’d do it in one session. If serious I would take the opportunity to test some on your next three Michelin star rated restaurant boondoggles with “clients”. Predetermine what you will order each time to keep the bartenders / waiters from confusing things with their recommendations. I would order a shot of a good single malt scotch on the first trip, a single malt Irish whiskey shot on the second, and a good bourbon shot on the third. Just sip on them, rinse it around. You might hate all of them at first, but try the one you dislike least at least once or twice at a later date. May be an acquired a taste, or you might decide to return to airplane glue. (Jk)
 

FinanceFrog

Full Member
don’t even worry about the hubbub of allocated bourbon and stick to rare breed - easy to find, $40/bottle and is just as good if not better than the ultra hyped bourbons.
 

Ron Swanson

Full Member
don’t even worry about the hubbub of allocated bourbon and stick to rare breed - easy to find, $40/bottle and is just as good if not better than the ultra hyped bourbons.
I have always bought Buffalo Trace as my go-to “every day drinker”, but haven’t had to buy one in a while. Didn’t realize it was now a cool overhyped bottle that’s now tough to find.

Neat
 

Land Frog

Darn baylor!
I was in a suite for a Knights game for work a few years ago and they were bringing all kinds of bourbon for us to try. I took about 2 or 3 sips of the different shot glasses in front of me and said to hell with that, it all tastes gross.
Pour it over a big rock of ice. Chills it and releases a different flavor. Damn, I'm getting thirsty.
 

HFrog1999

Member
What's the best way to try a variety of different things and compare how they taste?

Go to the liquor store and buy a bottle of everything

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