The Bourbon Thread!!

[CigarSquid]

Originally Posted by Navydoc

Sounds like you need more friends to help

That would help for sure.

[stearns]

I can jump in a little on the storage topic, I'm no expert but I've asked around a little. The general advice is no, you won't have any issues having a bunch of bottles open if you store them upright and out of direct sunlight. There is the possibility of oxidation, although that will likely take a few years and is based on the amount of air space in the bottle, so a bottle that is opened with one drink out of it will take a significantly longer time to notice the effects than one with only a splash left in it. Some people do "wet the corks" by tipping the bottle over although once a month is far too often, unlike with wine the high alcohol content in spirits will eat away at the cork and cause it to not seal well over time. Something like once every 6 months or year is fine if you're worried about long term storage. The "Move to decanter" trick is more about moving to smaller bottles, so if you have an expensive bottle of whiskey and you drink half but plan on saving the other half for long term you can move it to a 375ml bottle and fill it to the brim so there's less oxygen physically in the bottle interacting with the liquid. I have a friend who did something similar with his Michters 20, which is worth something like $5-6k these days. Once he got 1/3 through the bottle he just moved it all to 2oz jars so there would be no effect of oxygen on what is left. I went over his house and he handed me a 2oz jar to drink and an empty bottle to look at

The practical advice is don't worry about how long something has been open, but once you start getting below the halfway mark or lower maybe plan to finish that bottle off soon. I'm working through a significant purge right now trying to kill off most of my less than half full bottles before opening too many others. I have a friend who only keeps 30 bottles open at a time, I aspire to be as disciplined as that but I'm probably triple that right now, but working in the right direction!

[CigarSquid]

Originally Posted by stearns

I can jump in a little on the storage topic, I'm no expert but I've asked around a little. The general advice is no, you won't have any issues having a bunch of bottles open if you store them upright and out of direct sunlight. There is the possibility of oxidation, although that will likely take a few years and is based on the amount of air space in the bottle, so a bottle that is opened with one drink out of it will take a significantly longer time to notice the effects than one with only a splash left in it. Some people do "wet the corks" by tipping the bottle over although once a month is far too often, unlike with wine the high alcohol content in spirits will eat away at the cork and cause it to not seal well over time. Something like once every 6 months or year is fine if you're worried about long term storage. The "Move to decanter" trick is more about moving to smaller bottles, so if you have an expensive bottle of whiskey and you drink half but plan on saving the other half for long term you can move it to a 375ml bottle and fill it to the brim so there's less oxygen physically in the bottle interacting with the liquid. I have a friend who did something similar with his Michters 20, which is worth something like $5-6k these days. Once he got 1/3 through the bottle he just moved it all to 2oz jars so there would be no effect of oxygen on what is left. I went over his house and he handed me a 2oz jar to drink and an empty bottle to look at

The practical advice is don't worry about how long something has been open, but once you start getting below the halfway mark or lower maybe plan to finish that bottle off soon. I'm working through a significant purge right now trying to kill off most of my less than half full bottles before opening too many others. I have a friend who only keeps 30 bottles open at a time, I aspire to be as disciplined as that but I'm probably triple that right now, but working in the right direction!

That's some good info, thanks.

[icehog3]

90 open bottles, Ben is the King!

Went a little easier on the octane than usual last night.

[jledou]

Originally Posted by icehog3

90 open bottles, Ben is the King!

He's an animal! I try to keep it under 10 open at a time ... but sometimes it creeps up to 15 ... great excuse to put in some extra work to get it back down to 10

[Porch Dweller]

Originally Posted by icehog3

90 open bottles, Ben is the King!

Yeah, wow!!!

I have three open bottles of Bourbon and Scotch, and two each of Irish, Rum, and Vodka.

Apparently:

[longknocker]

Since I'm A "Newbie", I Open One At A Time & Drink It.

[stearns]

You guys are clearly missing the moral of the story

[jledou]

Some mistakes get made
That's alright, that's okay
You can think that you're in love
When you're really just engaged
Some mistakes get made
That's alright, that's okay
In the end it's better for me
That's the moral of this story

[icehog3]

One less open bottle here.....

[CigarSquid]

I don't think I have the barrel proof, but I wasn't big I the Elijah Craig.

My uncle just gifted me a subscription to Flaviar.com...looking forward to that!

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by garryyjr

I don't think I have the barrel proof, but I wasn't big I the Elijah Craig.

My uncle just gifted me a subscription to Flaviar.com...looking forward to that!

Elijah Craig Small Batch and Elijah Criag Barrel Proof are COMPLETELY different animals, Garry.

[CigarSquid]

Ahhh, I'll have to try that barrel proof then

[Porch Dweller]

Originally Posted by garryyjr

Ahhh, I'll have to try that barrel proof then

It's the smoothest "high octane" Bourbon I've ever tasted.

[Beagleone]

Originally Posted by icehog3

One less open bottle here.....

Just picked up another bottle of ECBP from a local shop that dropped their allocated bourbons this morning. Doors opened at 10 am, but some guys started to line up at 2:30am. I was towards the back of the line, but they had listed 59 bottles and only half were gone by the time I got to the counter. One bottle per person per day.

[stearns]

I've heard less-than-great things about pretty much all of the 2021 ECBP batches, I haven't tried any myself but I'm curious, still one of the best deals out there for 12 year age stated barrel proof bourbon

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by Beagleone

Just picked up another bottle of ECBP from a local shop that dropped their allocated bourbons this morning. Doors opened at 10 am, but some guys started to line up at 2:30am. I was towards the back of the line, but they had listed 59 bottles and only half were gone by the time I got to the counter. One bottle per person per day.

One of the few allocated bottles I can usually find when it first drops.

Originally Posted by stearns

I've heard less-than-great things about pretty much all of the 2021 ECBP batches, I haven't tried any myself but I'm curious, still one of the best deals out there for 12 year age stated barrel proof bourbon

After such great batches in 2020, I have been disappointed in the first 2 2021 batches I tried, A & B. When I saw C921 was around the same proof as B521, I passed at the B was too light for my palate.

[Beagleone]

So, the regional Spec's store in Dallas had a drop today, as did the main store in Houston and another regional in San Antonio. To say it was massive was an understatement. Spec's sent out an email of the event with a list of bourbons on it, but I wasn't aware of the true size. People started lining up yesterday at 7am. By 6am today, there was 350 people in line. I decided sleep was a better option, now I am not sure. The initial list included, Blanton's, Sazerac Rye, Well 107, WFP, W12, Four Roses, Old Forester Barrel Strength, Whislepig 18, Bakers Single Barrel and several others. Turns out is was an atomic bomb of a drop. They had 500 bottles of Weller FP, W12, Blanton's (both the 750ML and 325ML bottles), Stagg Jr. The other bottles were in the 100s for each. You were limited to one bottle from each line. The firs ten people in line got ORVW or a BTAC bottle. I aam kicking myself for not going, but I knew the line was going to be crazy. Here are some photos from social media on the tables at opening.

[Brlesq]

Wow! That is great for those that caught it

[The camaro show]

Had a great Knob Creek single barrel pick Manhattan today!