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Originally Posted by Sitka deer
Originally Posted by cooper57m
[quote=SuburbanHunter]While on a recent business trip my associate and I were working late and our client called us and asked us to meet him at a country club (I had never been to a country club before) for a drink. He asked what we were drinking. I asked for Jack Daniel's on the rocks and my associate asked for <something> Reserve and Ginger Ale. The client laughed and said said "one of those is gay and the other is crap! I'll order you something decent".

He ordered us Hudson Baby Bourbon. It was really good. I am not an expert but I liked it a lot and drank a lot of it that night. I think it is about $50 a bottle but I can't find it in Colorado.

http://www.tuthilltown.com/tuthilltown-spirits/hudson-baby-bourbon/


I live the next town over from the Tuthilltown distillery and have bought a couple bottles of their Baby Bourbon and I always thought it was not a good value. It's not bad, but IMO you can find better at much better prices. You may not know this but is only aged like 6 months in very small casks and they use all kinds of things to "speed up" the aging process. It still tastes young to me. I think some people are enamored with it because it is expensive and made in limited quantity. In a blind taste test I don't think it would beat out many of the decent bourbons with an age statement.

For my taste the best scotch is the 18 year old Highland Park. I had the 30 year old Highland Park when my wife bought me a bottle when I retired, but that was too oaky and out of balance for my taste. Some of these very old whisky is for bragging rights. I did have a bottle of Van Winkle Special Reserve Lot B that was very good but at the $200 my wife paid, I wouldn't spend that on myself. It was very very good though.

Of the expensive bourbons that I've tried in addition to the VW Lot B, I've liked:

Jefferson's Reserve Small Batch
Noah's Mill's
Rowan's Creek
Four Roses Single Barrel
Russell's Reserve Single Barrel


I have trouble paying big money for bourbon when the same money gets you a far better single malt. The Knob Creek 120 proof is probably the only bourbon in the pricier range I can think of that earns it.

Ardbeg Uigeadail is hard to match...
Aberlour A'bunadh is spectacular...
Lagavulin 16 is really good when you want to see how tough you are

Never had a 21 year old single malt that was not pretty impressive.


Hi Art. If you are saying that it's easier to find a good inexpensive bourbon than scotch, so just get the bourbons that give the best value, I would agree with that. I like bourbon enough that any of the ones I mentioned are, for me, worth the extra expense once in a while. In order to get a decent scotch or japanese single malt, you HAVE to spend the bucks. It's not easy for me to find a bottle of single malt (or even blended scotch) at a value price. Besides the HP, I like the Balvenie Double Wood and Caribbean cask expressions. For a cheap blended scotch sipper, I used to buy Teacher's Highland Cream but the quality started to slip and it's not popular around here with very few stores carrying it. I prefer the HP as it not so smokey as to mask the more delicate flavors that I enjoy. It's all in the balance. The real peat monsters are just too much of a one trick pony for me, but, that is why they make and sell so many different ones.

So I do tend to look for value when I buy bourbon and will snap up the Weller SR and Antique whenever I find them and I usually have a bottle or two of the Evan Williams SB around, but the days of good inexpensive scotch have been gone for awhile now. I know of no scotch that currently interests me that is under $50.