Best Sipping Bourbon/Ten Whiskey/ Sour Mash

cardstock said:

I find myself (and the wife) going back to Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 year time and time again. There are times we will have 4-5 different bottles of bourbon in the house and this is the one we seem to keep buying. Not super expensive, but not cheap either (~$50/bottle?). Well worth it in my opinion.

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An excellent bottle, which I need to replace. Some of my other favorites include

Black Maple Hills
Rare Breed
Four Roses Single Barrel

letterk said:

An excellent bottle, which I need to replace. Some of my other favorites include

Black Maple Hills
Rare Breed
Four Roses Single Barrel

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I'll need to hunt down a bottle of Black Maple Hills. Rare Breed & Four Roses are a couple of my favorites so I'm thinking the Black Maple Hills should work for me too.

DogHair said:

I'll need to hunt down a bottle of Black Maple Hills. Rare Breed & Four Roses are a couple of my favorites so I'm thinking the Black Maple Hills should work for me too.

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Black Maple Hills is pretty impacted right now because of the bulk whiskey shortage. Their Small Batch seems to be easily found, but the bottles with older age statements are pretty sparse in a lot of areas. If you find one of the 20-something ryes or a high-teen bourbon, it's likely it has been on the shelf for awhile.

BMH was bottled in Lawrenceburg by Van Winkle before they joined forces with Buffalo Trace in about 2002 and gave up contract bottling. Since then, it's been filled by Kentucky Bourbon Distillers of Bardstown (who also bottle Willett, Rowan's Noah's Mill, newer Michters, and newer Hirsch).

If you happen to see a bottle that is from Lawrenceburg, it has the same sources of juice as the Van Winkle products we know and love. I think the older Bardstown bottlings are excellent as well. Recent bottlings might be hit or miss in comparison.

Roger

Going from the OP's starter whiskey's I recommend Weller Special Reserve. Shouldn't be too confronting alc wise at 90 proof and is a value sipper IMO. Old Grandad Bottled in Bond is good value too although I prefer the 114 expression. This will just depend on how tolerant your palate is to the higher proof hooch.

The VW Lot B is a great recommendation too if you are happy to spend a little extra. Happy drinking

I'm a fan of Bulliet. Its cheap (around $20) and tasty...also has a really cool bottle .

Also like Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Ezra Brooks single barrel and Woodford Reserve...but its a bit pricey.

I picked up a bottle of Elijah Craig today. Looking forward to trying it after work.

My next purchase will be George Dickel. My local liquor store sells it for $18. Seems like a bargain, and I hear good things.

you'll never regret it. Full flavored like a bourbon is not. The Wild Turkey rye is very fine tipple. With club soda or ginger ale , a fine highball.

TheEnglish said:

I haven't had any Jack Daniel's recently, so I can't speak to a comparison, but I do have a recommendation for sipping whiskey. I love Woodford Reserve. It is currently one of my favorites right now. I would rank it above Maker's Mark, but in a similar category of complexity and flavor.

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+1 on Woodford. Excellent stuff. Mellow and smooth.

The best buy in the bourbon world is Buffalo Trace, rated as one of the world's best. Excellent bourbon for around $20/750ml.

I also like Maker's Mark, Woodford Reserve, Knob Creek, Jim Beam Black, Jim Beam Distiller's Series (another best buy), and George Dickel (whiskey).

For mixing, Ten High, Evan Williams 1783, and Wild Turkey 101 are good choices.

I have also taken a liking to Forty Creek Canadian Whiskey. Very nice on the rocks.

Clay

I received a bottle of the 20 year Pappy Van Winkle for my birthday earlier this year, yes sir, it doesn't get much better than that!!
but an everyday bourbon of mine would have to be Woodford reserve.
i would be broke if I drank nothing but the Pappy's!

winston61 said:

you'll never regret it. Full flavored like a bourbon is not. The Wild Turkey rye is very fine tipple. With club soda or ginger ale , a fine highball.

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I like gin and ginger ale - never thought of trying whiskey and ginger ale. Really it doesn't sound good, but I may have to give it a try.

oh man bourbon and ginger ale is great!! I think they call it a jack and ginger?! try it with a more spicy ginger ale.
i get Blenhiem's from south carolina. they make thee hottest ginger ale iv'e had. spicy yet oddly refreshing. somthing about the spicy ginger and bourbon that works.

I always thought Maker's Mark was good, but then I tried George Dickel Whisky. It smells as good as it tastes- and it's cheap.
I believe it's one of the whiskies used in Crown Royal. Jack is plain awful.

Another vote for George Dickel #12!!!!! Been drinking it for over 20 yrs now and it lives true to it's name, 'The finest sippin' Tennessee Whisky!' Don't mess up a good sippin' whisky by mixing it in something else either(except maybe a small splash of water)! About the only other thing to drink besides sweet tea and Dickel would be Crown Royal!!! The dogs and horses can drink everything else! (BAD joke on my part but leave me with those 3 and I'll be extremely happy for a long time!)

blary54 said:

I'm a fan of Bulliet. Its cheap (around $20) and tasty...also has a really cool bottle .

Also like Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Ezra Brooks single barrel and Woodford Reserve...but its a bit pricey.

I picked up a bottle of Elijah Craig today. Looking forward to trying it after work.

My next purchase will be George Dickel. My local liquor store sells it for $18. Seems like a bargain, and I hear good things.

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It's an outstanding bargain.

I like Woodford. Smooth and (relatively) cheap.

I finally got around to trying some Maker's Mark and ginger ale. I think I'll stick with coke and bourbon, if I am going to mix them.

I haven't seen Vintage Bourbon 17yr on the list. It is the winner without hesitation.

Laz said:

I finally got around to trying some Maker's Mark and ginger ale. I think I'll stick with coke and bourbon, if I am going to mix them.

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You might try a sweeter bourbon if you're going to mix with ginger ale.

Walter Sobchak said:

You might try a sweeter bourbon if you're going to mix with ginger ale.

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If I try it again, what would you suggest?

Laz said:

If I try it again, what would you suggest?

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It's strange, probably my taste buds, but I don't find Maker's to be sweet like the other bourbons I drink. I know plenty of people think it's very sweet, but it doesn't work for me. I don't think it's horrid or anything, but I suspect the fact that it doesn't have that hint of rye (like most other bourbons) just doesn't agree with me.

What I was thinking, though, is since you like Maker's and Coke, but not Maker's and Ginger, maybe you could try a rye-mash bourbon and see how that goes down.

If I'm mixing with ginger ale or coke, I usually mix with Old Forester. It's cheap and a good mixing bourbon, IMO. It shares the same mash bill as Woodford (one of my favorites), which is a little higher in rye. I like the vanilla/rye-spice in icy gingerale.

I'm just throwing darts, though. Maybe ginger ale and bourbon isn't going to taste good for you no matter what.

I agree. Makers is good, but I prefer Woodford. Rumor has it Pappy's is the best; but, it's almost mythical.