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Curious to hear as well, James, hope it's delish.

Had a little Teresa's last night. Straight Beam peanut funk. :dr

https://i.imgur.com/7JdADza.jpg

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What luck of a find Tom! Did you (or anyone else here) try either of last years Hardin's Creek initial releases? I saw the first one (15 year) around $150 and hesitated to pick it up because I grabbed a store pick instead, went back the next day and they were all gone! Then I was shocked when I saw the second release was such a low age statement at 2 years. I'm hoping to find at least one of the 2023 releases to try.

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I have a bottle (sealed) of the Jacob's Well, and I was able to try it from a friend's open bottle. It's a really great pour, think a 15 year Booker's mixed with a 16 year Knob Creek.

The 2 year old Colonel, I can't justify $79 for a 2 year old bourbon. One local store has it down to $59, I told the manager if it hits $49 I'll try it. :r

Mike, if you come through Chicago stop by, I'll crack the 1st release.:al

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$80 for a practically fresh bourbon is a hard hit, but it seems lately, $80 is the new $40 for anything that isn't available in a plastic bottle. Hell, Barrell 34 is up to $90 MSRP, and I remember when that was "high priced" at $60 for batch 25 a few years ago!

Nice offer though of you cracking Jacobs Well with me, I may be out around Chi-town this fall, and I couldn't pass you by!

Clay that KC SBR is really nice this year, and finally for a year, I haven't yet found a 9 year store pick yet that has sucked!

James that Larceny BP is hit and miss still. It's definitely improved from years past, and high above their small batch that's nearly undrinkable! Glad you found a good one!

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I don't think we'll see prices go down on any new releases, but I do foresee a point where stores and bars will get "punished" (restricted from allocations and such) for charging secondary pricing when they are using a national wholesaler/distributor.

The bigger point I think though is that there are so many established brands and only so much shelf space, so I do think some of these smaller sized niche brands that only source their spirits, and aren't a distiller themselves, will either get priced out of the market, or get squashed by national chains that don't want to allocate two feet of shelf space to more MGP sourced re-labeled six year Dickle with a no-name brand on the bottle for $65+!

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The second blind taste I did of Ben’s samples was a Whistle Pig 10 year single barrel rye. Super delicious. Stopped by the local store and snagged a 375ml bottle of the regular stuff. Definitely not the same, but good none the less. Also grabbed the last JD SB store pick and a Larceny BP B523. Got to talk to the owner. Besides the 1792 FP SP he had told me before was coming, he mentioned he’s got an EC BP SP coming. Top of the rickhouse, 136.6 proof iirc.

https://i.imgur.com/YOPV19d.jpg

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Nice grabs, Bob!

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Good grabs, Bob!

My local just got Larceny BP (A123). It's either $10 over MSRP or MSRP has gone up $10. Either way, I'm tempted as I've heard good things about the last couple batches.

Bob, if they ever get a Jack Daniels Barrel Strength sib pick, grab it. The ones I have had have ranged from excellent to unreal.

I've had similar results with 1792 FP picks, though a bit wider range on the bottom of the scale.

My favorite ECBP is over 137 proof, so that pick may be dynamite, Bob.

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Just cracked open my Larceny B523. Delicious. :dr Brown Sugar, molasses, crème brûlée, cinnamon, chocolate. If the neck pour is this good can’t wait to see how the bottle develops.

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I was on base today so I grabbed another bottle of the Maker's Mark Cask Strength, batch 22-04. I'm really enjoying this one.

They also had the Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch American Hero Edition on sale for $11. I'm not going to pass that one up for $11! :) If nothing else it'll be a decent pour for after I've had a couple of other whiskies.

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Guy at my local that never hooks me up hooked me up with another Hardin's Creek. Maybe I got a guy? :lr

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Nice! I grabbed a sample from a friend, gonna hang onto it until the other two come out this summer

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Nice! I figure to crack this in the next couple weeks. :al

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One of the reviewers of this said the neck pour was pretty blah and things opened up after that. If that's the case, you're in for a treat. :D

I was going to pick up another bottle of this while I was on base today, but it was sold out. I kick myself for not grabbing two when I had the chance.

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Picked up a couple bottles to fill some space in the cabinet while at a national bourbon day tasting earlier!

https://www.simpleimageresizer.com/_...G_1799_40.jpeg

I found a nice 10 year+ store pick of Knob Creek Single Barrel Select that they just broke into the cases of recently (while still selling a 2021 barrel), and a bottle of Finger Lakes Distilling's McKenzie Straight Bourbon.

This McKenzie is their "high rye" mash with 70% corn, 20% rye, and 10% malted barley, all NY grown and distilled. Ben's recent sample bombing on Bob made me think of FLD's bottles again, and picked one up as it's a great change of pace from my typical rotation!

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Snagged a bottle of Green River Wheated and another MM BRT-02.

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Bob's got the fever.

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Have watched two review vids of the Bookers 2023-02, Apprentice Batch. Neither have liked it and say it’s a no buy.

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There have definitely been a couple duds the last few years, Donohoe's Batch (21-01) most notably as I find it almost undrinkable.

I've got a bottle of Apprentice I'm picking up today so I'll have a Booker's Superfan's thoughts up later this week. ;) :r

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Will be interested to hear your opinion.

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Heard from the bourbon guy at the 'big shop' I get store picks from around me in NY that it's very Oak forward. They should be shelving it soon, so I'm looking forward to Tom's thoughts before buying it.

I got invited to a private Bardstown tasting event later this week at the same shop with Bardstown VP of Product Development. The shop did a single barrel tasting earlier in the year at the distillery of their Origin series, so I'm looking forward to seeing what came out of that!

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You won't have to wait long, Mike.... :lr

https://i.imgur.com/yESOcoe.jpg

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Hoping I can find some this weekend

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What’s anyone’s thoughts on the JD 12 year? Found a bottle locally, at $90. Didn’t buy, but could go back if it’s worth that price. I’m enjoying my SB barrel strength store pick from another store.

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I don't know if anyone else watches the SLB Drinks folks on YT, but they've got their thoughts on the new Booker's up. They don't recommend it. Their one positive: good mouthfeel.

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MSRP I think is around $80 and in the capital region of NY, I've only seen it for $200 and above! For $90 I'd give it a shot, worst case, share it with some friends!

For comparison for $90 I can get two HH BIB, or, a bottle of 9yr KC store pick and a bottle of OGD 114, or, WT Rare Breed and OGD 114 and a few bucks left over, or, a bottle of Barrell 34 and a cheap lunch!

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That was one of the review vids I watched. The other was The Mash and Drum. His video wasn’t even 6 minutes long, he hated it that much.

Thanks Mike. Unfortunately my friends are more the mixer crowd. Not worth buying it to mix with Coke. As for the HH, I have such a hard time paying the price they want for it now that it’s widely distributed. When I would travel to Kentucky for work I’d pick it up for $15.

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JD12 is going for $275-300 on secondary Bob. I have a bottle and it's tasty but I much prefer the JD Barrel Strength picks. For $90, I'd at least buy it for trade bait.

I'll probably try the new Booker's before watching any reviews so I can go into it without preconceived notions.

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Looking forward to seeing what you think, so I know what to do if I see one this weekend

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I plan to get to it soon, Clay. :tu

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Snagged a bottle of Sazerac Rye for not a lot over msrp.

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Killed off my Copper Sky single barrel, it wasn't even in the same league as the last CS I had (Hazmat bottle).

https://i.imgur.com/u58wC9i.jpg

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Someone help me stop! Lol. Went hunting upper east side of metro Detroit. Heard from a few owners near me that the upper east side gets more allocated stuff. Figured what the heck. Total Wine was a bust. Store worker tried to push their cheap juice off onto me. No thanks. Next store I went to had good selection, with some really nice store picks. Talked to the owner for a bit. They work off a point loyalty system for their allocated stuff. Because he was the first one with a KC barrel pick, I grabbed one of those. Then went with his recommendation on the MM stave finished bottle (they had two different selections). Because I was grabbing those, he let me get the Eagle Rare at msrp. The Saz is from yesterday.

https://i.imgur.com/WE8FfNA.jpg

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:r:r:r:r:r:r

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Bob is plunging headfirst down the rabbit hole!

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You guys aren’t helping. Trying to decide which one to crack open later. Need to set my palate before continuing with Ben’s blind tastings.

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Here's some help, open them all and start sampling! :noon:noon:noon

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Cracked open the MM. the nose was fantastic. The taste, not so much. Very much dominated by the wood staves used to finish. But, it was the first pour, hopefully it gets better now that the bottle has been opened.

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https://i.imgur.com/tGSYpYS.png

Picked up a Penelope 4 Grain Barrel Strength (116.6 Proof) tonight. It's been quite a while since having this and thought it would be worth giving a revisit to since MGP acquired the brand recently and some of the Penelope labels will likely become partially allocated soon.

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I grabbed this bottle while I was in Albuquerque last week.

https://photos.smugmug.com/RandomUpl...bRx268V-XL.jpg

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Nice pick up! A number of stores around me are carrying EC SiB Store Picks, mostly 8 year bottles, one store had 8, 9 , and 11 year picks recently, but all are 94 proof. Sadly no EC SiB picks around me in NY that are the barrel proof, going to have to check around in Florida when I'm back down there next week.

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Bob, you're at now where I was at a couple/few years ago. It may slow down at some point, but stopping?? ;) :r

Stopped into Binny's by me yesterday, finding that all their decent allocated stuff gets put out on Wednesdays and Fridays. Yesterday was just a Buffalo Trace delivery, and they offered Weller SR, Eagle Rare and EH Taylor.....but you could only have one of one pick. I took the Taylor.

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Nice pick up Tom.

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I've heard the latest batches of taylor small batch have been not so great, I suspect this one isn't going to be opened by you but in case you were planning on it, might want to swap it for something more your speed :tu

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I appreciate it, Ben. I actually thought of keeping it, but now it's trade bait for sure.

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Scored a bottle each of blackened whiskey and MM BEP over the weekend

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Recent pick ups.

https://i.imgur.com/UaAfElO.jpg

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You've Got "The Bug", Bob!:r:D:tu I Had A Shot Of Elijah Craig Small Batch At My Golf Club The Other Day After A Hot, Sweaty Round And It Was Awesome!!!:dr

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That MM BEP is a good one, Clay. :dr

Which ECBP batch is that, Bob?

Couple Booker's pours for me last night.

https://i.imgur.com/w2ifdDU.jpg