Bourbon

[Allentown]

@bugbomb
Yo dawg I heard you like some bacon maple syrup bourbon beer in your bourbon.

[Hanley]

I got a bottle of the 114 a while back; great stuff.

This has become my default cheap bourbon. Seems to be in stock regularly now, which is really cool.

[bugbomb]

This has become my default cheap bourbon. Seems to be in stock regularly now, which is really cool.

This is the correct default cheap bourbon.

[Hanley]

This has become my default cheap bourbon. Seems to be in stock regularly now, which is really cool.

This is the correct default cheap bourbon.

Correct.

What's the correct $25-50 bourbon?

I swore EH Taylor small batch stood out. But my wife set up a blind taste test, and I couldn't tell it apart from Eagle Rare. I hate myself.

[Allentown]

But my wife set up a blind taste test,

I like to think I influenced this trend.

[quark]

This has become my default cheap bourbon. Seems to be in stock regularly now, which is really cool.

This is the correct default cheap bourbon.

Correct.

What's the correct $25-50 bourbon?

I swore EH Taylor small batch stood out. But my wife set up a blind taste test, and I couldn't tell it apart from Eagle Rare. I hate myself.

As a general matter, no one can tell any vaguely similar thing apart in a blind taste test.

[cgeorg]

I swore EH Taylor small batch stood out. But my wife set up a blind taste test, and I couldn't tell it apart from Eagle Rare. I hate myself.

As a general matter, no one can tell any vaguely similar thing apart in a blind taste test.

Most people don't think about what they're tasting. Try to write wine-type descriptions for everything you drink for a week, you'll start to pick things out.

[quark]

I swore EH Taylor small batch stood out. But my wife set up a blind taste test, and I couldn't tell it apart from Eagle Rare. I hate myself.

As a general matter, no one can tell any vaguely similar thing apart in a blind taste test.

Most people don't think about what they're tasting. Try to write wine-type descriptions for everything you drink for a week, you'll start to pick things out.

There have been blind tests of high-end wine reviewers who can't even give the same wine the same rating during the same test session. Random article (my first google hit) https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... e-analysis

[cgeorg]

I swore EH Taylor small batch stood out. But my wife set up a blind taste test, and I couldn't tell it apart from Eagle Rare. I hate myself.

As a general matter, no one can tell any vaguely similar thing apart in a blind taste test.

Most people don't think about what they're tasting. Try to write wine-type descriptions for everything you drink for a week, you'll start to pick things out.

There have been blind tests of high-end wine reviewers who can't even give the same wine the same rating during the same test session. Random article (my first google hit) https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... e-analysis

Yet a key part of passing Sommelier tests is being able to blindly identify wines' varietals or regions of origin. There are many things that go into a review, all of them subjective, but it would be foolish to say that every wine tastes the same.

As an example, one can learn the difference between American and French oak, and one can learn to pick out with good accuracy which was used in the making of a wine by aroma and taste. One can also quickly lose those faculties if they are not practiced. Ask how I know.

[quark]

I've seen many analyses of reviewer performance that are consistent with the Guardian article. Non-professionals tend to do even worse.

I don't recall seeing any double blind tests of Sommeliers. Do you have any cites?

I'll play along - how do you know?

[neandrewthal]

This has become my default cheap bourbon. Seems to be in stock regularly now, which is really cool.

This is the correct default cheap bourbon.

Correct.

What's the correct $25-50 bourbon?

I swore EH Taylor small batch stood out. But my wife set up a blind taste test, and I couldn't tell it apart from Eagle Rare. I hate myself.

The only really good cheap bourbon in Canada is Wild Turkey 101 from a duty free store which is not in Canada. Besides that best you can do is Jim Beam Bonded or Devil's Cut or at a little over $30 each. E.H. Small batch is 90 here. Fuck that.

The correct $25-50 bourbon is Four Roses Single Barrel. Not a big fan of the small batch. Wait, how much do you guise pay for Baker's?

My bourbon collection has decreased to a mere 9 bottles due to ever decreasing value for the money while I'm just inundated with tons of premium Canadians which are going through their golden age. The value is starting to decrease with those too though with all the 20 year plus bottles for under $50 disappearing, this year's Wiser's 35 slated to go for $200 instead of $165 and the Lot 40 11 year old cask strength supposed to go for $100 instead of $70 for last year's 12 year old cask strength.

[jwilson625]

What's the correct $25-50 bourbon?

Here in NH I'd say it's definitely Eagle Rare on the low end ($27-30) and Four Roses Single Barrel (~$40-45) on the high end. Overall, Weller 12 is my favorite that I've had in this price range (found a handle for $48 near Austin last time I was out there), but I can't get it anywhere around here. The downside of being a control state is that we don't get much of the harder-to-find stuff if any. Great prices on the daily drinkers though, and no tax..

I swore EH Taylor small batch stood out. But my wife set up a blind taste test, and I couldn't tell it apart from Eagle Rare. I hate myself.

The EH Taylor line is good, but I also didn't find them amazing enough to justify the price. I probably won't replace them when I run out. I have no idea what a bottle costs retail, but a local bar has Elmer T Lee for about the same price as EH Taylor SB (~$14/pour IIRC) and it is much better IMO.

[cgeorg]

I've seen many analyses of reviewer performance that are consistent with the Guardian article. Non-professionals tend to do even worse.

I don't recall seeing any double blind tests of Sommeliers. Do you have any cites?

I'll play along - how do you know?

I went to a tasting class early in one of my Napa trips - 20 or 25 wines spiked with common descriptors, then took notes on everything I tasted the rest of the trip. I was able to pick out and confirm barrels at wineries.

Aside, one of the tours out there has you going through caves doing some barrel tastings, including same wine side by side in different types of barrel. Pretty fun stuff. Can't remember the winery off the top of my head, they make an expensive one called The David. Del Dotto? Elyse is probably my favorite winery out there. Maybe we need a wine thread.

[Allentown]

I was able to pick out and confirm barrels at wineries.

I don't know what this means, but in a blind testing you could identify American vs French oak used in the barrels?
What the rate of passing the sommelier exam, and what would the passing rate be if the production region were selected mostly by chance? (I assume a grape grown in, say, New Zealand could probably be identified as different from one grown in, I don't know, Traverse City, but I suspect identifying the characteristics of "the FartSmelling region of France" compared to "the RaisedPinkeyFinger region of France" is unlikely.)

I did a semi-blind test of stouts over the winter (I bought all 10-15 bottles, so I knew what was down there with the exception of one I didn't buy for the testing and put in the fridge for something else) where my wife selected and poured the beers. Beer has, what, 10x the possible range of ingredients? I could sometimes identify lactose, chocolate, etc. The one that really threw me was a BBA, which was the exception one I didn't intend to include. 3-5 I correctly identified the beer.

[cgeorg]

Yes in blind tasting I could identify french vs. american barrels. Most of the French regionals have very strongly defined styles, and the makers adhere to them. Even similar styles from different regions, say a chateneuf du pape vs a good Bordeaux should be identifiable. Something like gigondas vs. chateneuf would be harder.

[Allentown]

Yes in blind tasting I could identify french vs. american barrels.

Is this truly blind, as in you are not told there is one American and one French, or given two French or two American?

[cgeorg]

Yes in blind tasting I could identify french vs. american barrels.

Is this truly blind, as in you are not told there is one American and one French, or given two French or two American?

It was blind as in I would taste a wine, figure out what I thought it was and then ask what kind of barrel was used. No triangle test or anything.

I did participate in some triangle tests for beer experiments in my homebrew club, there were only 2 out of probably 8 or 9 that I couldn't discern differences in.

[bugbomb]

What's the correct $25-50 bourbon?

I swore EH Taylor small batch stood out. But my wife set up a blind taste test, and I couldn't tell it apart from Eagle Rare. I hate myself.

It's probably pushing the $50 limit, but I thought the Old Forester BiB was really, really good.

I still think that Buffalo Trace is hard to beat in the ~$20 range, but I consider OG114 to be "cheaper" because of the higher proof.

Jefferson has a bunch of different bourbons, but their stuff in the $50 range is excellent.

[jwilson625]

What's the correct $25-50 bourbon?

I swore EH Taylor small batch stood out. But my wife set up a blind taste test, and I couldn't tell it apart from Eagle Rare. I hate myself.

I still think that Buffalo Trace is hard to beat in the ~$20 range, but I consider OG114 to be "cheaper" because of the higher proof.

I don't know if this is true elsewhere, but here in NH the difference between Buffalo Trace and Eagle Rare 10 is like $3 a bottle. The bar down the street from me actually sells ER cheaper than BT...

[Hanley]

but here in NH the difference between Buffalo Trace and Eagle Rare 10 is like $3 a bottle. The bar down the street from me actually sells ER cheaper than BT...

Really? Isn't Buffalo Trace simply a younger Eagle Rare? Am I mistaken?