Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2018: Round 1b: Hirsch Selection Straight Corn vs. Two Stars

March 20, 2018 Eric Burke

Round 1b of the 2018 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets features number 2 seed Hirsch Selection Kentucky Straight Corn Whiskey versus Number 3 seed Two Stars Bourbon.

Hirsch Selection Kentucky Straight Corn Whiskey is a Limited Edition straight corn whiskey. But wait? Why would a Limited Edition be in the Bottom Shelf Brackets? Well, mostly because the price was right. I found it on a shelf in Minneapolis for $16.99. I haven't seen it anywhere else, so I'm going to guess this is an inexpensive shelf turd from a few years ago. So, now you know. This has no age statement so it is at least 4 years old. It states it was aged in used barrels.

Two Stars bourbon is a Total Wine exclusive bourbon produced by the Clear Springs Distilling Co. Clear Springs is a dba used by Sazerac when they produce house brands for stores. Last I heard (2016) this one was a product of the Barton distillery, though it is possible that has changed by this point.

These were tasted blind in the following order. My thoughts on each are from before the reveal.

Hirsch Selection: Kentucky Straight Corn Whiskey

Purchase Info: $16.99 for a 750mL bottle at Surdyk's Liquor and Cheese Shop, Minneapolis, MN

Details: 45% ABV, non-age stated.

Produced by: Preiss Imports

Nose: Delicate. Almost a white wine note and brown sugar. After sitting a bit a vinegar note flashes across the nose before disappearing again

Mouth: Cooling and thin at first. As it sits in the mouth a sweet baking spice note develops.

Finish: Starts almost nonexistent but a gentle burn develops after a little bit of time.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This could be a wonderful whiskey for a white wine drinker. I find it interesting, but not something I'd come back to.

Two Stars

Purchase Info: $17.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Eagan, MN.

Details: 43% ABV.

Produced by: Clear Springs Distilling Company (Sazerac)

Nose: Almond, brown sugar, nutmeg.

Mouth: Gentle at first with more spice developing as it sits in the mouth. Almond and mint.

Finish: Warmer than the mouth. Lingering bitter almond, baking spice and mint.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is more to my tastes than whiskey #1.

Who wins?

I'm not sure either of these would have won if they had drawn a different matchup. They are both pretty meh. They are strangely similar. Both of these start very much the same, they are both gentle and both take time to develop in the mouth. But at the end the day, I like where Two Stars ends up better than Hirsch Corn. Winner: Two Stars.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!

The 2018 BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets

March 13, 2018 Eric Burke

So, this past Sunday my Twitter feed filled up with people complaining about the format of a show that announced whether their favorite team of college basketball players did or didn't make the cut to play in a basketball tournament. It reminded me, among other things, that I'm not much of a college basketball fan. It just never caught my interest. But just because I don't have a passion for college basketball, does that mean I want to miss out on all that competitive March bracketing?

No. No, it does not.

And for the last four years, I've been getting my fill of competitive bracketing by finding inexpensive bourbons and pitting them against each other head-to-head to see if there is one that stands head and shoulders above the rest. I mostly do this to have fun, but I also have a desire to find out if I can satisfy my inherent Midwestern frugalness and yet find an overlooked diamond in the rough.

But this is the fifth year of the Bottom-Shelf Brackets and I've been forced to shake things up a little bit. First, I've removed the word "Bourbon" from the name and opened the proceedings up to other forms of Straight American Whiskey. Second, I've been forced to redefine my definition of "Bottom-Shelf" to a slightly higher price point. Both of these have the same cause: I just couldn't find enough bourbons that met the price qualification that hadn't been in the tournament before. Even some of the previous winners have moved out of range.

The third thing is the most exciting for me though. I've included a couple more judges this year. Some of these people are complete novices. I did this mostly because one of my non-whiskey drinking friends asked if he could be a part of it and I thought it might be fun to get outside perspectives on the results.

Now that the changes are out of the way, just what are these qualifications that I spoke of earlier?

It must be straight American Whiskey, and it must be labeled as such. Too many brands are getting rid of this very basic statement of quality and I refuse to reward that. This means that Jack Daniel's Black label would not qualify for the tournament, but that Jim Beam White label would.
It has to sell for 2.4 cents per milliliter or less. Now, this might seem like a weird arbitrary number, but it works out to $18 per 750, $24 per liter or (in true bottom shelf fashion) $40 for a 1.75 L handle. And yes, I know that the math is wrong on that last one, but since you normally get a price break by buying in that large of quantity, I worked that into the equation. I raised it from $15, $20 and $35 this year, which had been the price since the initial year. In that time, just following the inflation rate would get us to over $21 for a liter so I decided to future proof a little.
The final guideline is that it must have never been in the tournament before. It would get pretty boring to see if I liked the same whiskeys year after year.

After I purchased the whiskeys here are the rules I used to seed them.

Stated (or assumed) age. Straight whiskey has to be at least two years old. But unless it is under four years old, you don’t have to put an age on it. So if someone does, it’s either a good thing or a bad thing. I like to reward good things and punish bad things.
Proof. Higher proof often equals better flavor. Not always, but it can be a good rule of thumb.

So who are the contestants? The top six seeds were all non-age stated, and so I am assuming the 4-year minimum on them. The two number one seed in each of the divisions are Old Grand-Dad Bonded and Mellow Corn Bottled in Bond, both at 100° proof. Behind them at 90° proof is a Straight Corn Whiskey from Hirsch Selections. I found this one on sale, so it is a bit of a cheat but also figured that sale prices count when the entire point is to be frugal. A pair of 86 proofers come next. Old Forester 86° proof is the second number two seed while the Barton produced, Total Wine exclusive, Two Stars nabs the first number three seed. The final number three seed is 80° proof Four Roses Yellow Label. After that, we get to a pair of ryes that clock in at under four years old. Old Overholt is three years old and gets the first number four seed with two-year-old Ezra Brooks Rye nabbing the final spot.

There are a lot of interesting matchups this year with multiple styles and multiple price points going head-to-head. I think this one is going to be a lot of fun.

Bottom-Shelf Bourbon Brackets: The Championship Rounds

March 30, 2017 Eric Burke

Wild Turkey 101, Jim Beam Bonded, Jim Beam Devil's Cut, and Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond

Well, it's finally here. The championship rounds. This year was an interesting one for me on a couple of levels. For one, it featured two of my favorite value bourbons. Ones that I try to keep on my shelf at all times. I was extremely curious to see if they were toppled in a blind bracket or if my favorites won on their own merits. I was also interested to see how the various Jim Beam products would compare to one another. With this many by the same producer, I was curious how much difference there would really be between them.

The last thing that made this year a little more exciting for me was that there were very few that I would truly call "bottom-shelf" this year (value yes, bottom-shelf no). Many years, I wonder what the heck I am going to do with the very large bottles of very meh bourbon I have left over. This year I had to pop some of the contestants back in the closet so I wouldn't finish them before the contest was over. I mean, yes, the number four seeds were ones that would have been at home in previous years of the competition, but the other six I enjoyed quite a bit. Some more than I anticipated.

To make sure there were no flukes sneaking through on an off-day, I did each of these blind and as best two out of three. Two were done in Glencairn with the final done in a rocks glass. Why a rocks glass? Because when I'm not doing a tasting, that is how I drink my bourbon and I thought it made a fitting variable.

Division 1, Round 2: Jim Beam Bonded (A) vs Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond (B)

Nose: The nose on these are very similar. No winner based on nose.

Mouth: Winner is B sweeter and a little less "harsh" than A

Finish: Winner is B. Less grain and more "Bourbon" flavors.

Thoughts: In a show of how your tastes can be off sometimes, this came down to a tie-breaker in best of three. One time Bourbon A won, one time Bourbon B one and the tiebreaker came down to the rocks glass. In this case, Bourbon B was Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond. A respectable showing by both, though. (The impressions above are from the Glencairn tasting that reflected the final outcome.)

Division 2, Round 2: Wild Turkey 101 (A) vs Jim Beam Devil's Cut (B)

Nose: A has a richer nose than B. Winner A.

Mouth: A shows more wood, but also more tannins. B is sweeter and "smoother." No clear winner as I liked both.

Finish: A is warmer and longer. B is sweeter and a bit more grainy. Winner A.

Thoughts: This one was very tough. It really did come down to the nose and finish as I like both of them in the mouth. The impressions above are from the Glencairn tasting that reflected the winner. The interesting thing was that the winner was much more apparent in the rocks glass. I really liked A that way, but in the Glencairn they were much closer. The winner was A, Wild Turkey 101.

Championship Round: Wild Turkey 101 vs Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond

Thoughts: I like both of these bourbons. A lot. And, even tasted blind and with two out of three, it was a hard choice. In the end, it seems there is a reason I keep a handle of Wild Turkey 101 on my shelf at almost all times. It was the unanimous winner in all three of the blind tastings.

Lessons learned

I was really shocked by a few of the results this year. I fully expected an upset in both of the Jim Beam competitions. I've gone on record stating that Double Oak was the first Beam product I actually liked. Yet it lost to a product I reviewed as a "meh" in the past. Is proof really that big of a factor? Do my preconceptions color the reviews? Or has my palate changed to the point where I need to give more Beam products another chance? I'd say that last one will happen for sure. I'll know more about how I feel as I spend time with the rest of these bottles. How often I reach for them when I don't "have" to should provide a good idea if I like them outside of a blind tasting.

The one thing that didn't shock me was the final matchup. When I decided on the final eight I was hesitant to include those two because I knew they were two of my favorites. What if they won? Would it be because they were truly better or because I've become accustomed to them? Even after the results were in, I still can't answer that question. The good news is that this whole thing is just a bit of fun and really only does reflect my tastes. And that is the reason I eventually landed on for including them in the competition. Besides, I've had upsets happen, and it would have been interesting to see if it happened here.

Bottom-Shelf Bourbon Brackets 2017, Round 1, Jim Beam Double Oak vs Jim Beam Devil's Cut

March 28, 2017 Eric Burke

Round 1d of the 2017 Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets features Division 2 Number 2 seed Jim Beam Devil's Cut versus Number 3 seed Jim Beam Double Oak.

I think this is an interesting match-up. Both of these bourbons are products of Beam-Suntory, produced at one of the two Jim Beam distilleries in either Clermont or Boston, Kentucky. Both of these products are non-age stated bourbons, meaning they are at least four years old. And both of these are attempts to add more oak than standard Jim Beam white. Devil's Cut does it by shaking the barrels with water to draw out some of the residual bourbon locked in the staves and using that to proof down the finished bourbon. Double Oak does it by putting the "fully-matured" white label bourbon into a second new, charred-oak barrel for a while.

These were tasted blind in the following order. My thoughts on each are from before the reveal.

Jim Beam Double Oak

Purchase Info: $19.99 for a 1 Liter bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 43% ABV, no age statement.

Produced by: Jim Beam Distillery (Beam-Suntory)

Nose: Grain initially. After a bit, it settled down to mint, buttered popcorn, and brown sugar.

Mouth: Peppery heat, shortbread cookies, grain, and oak.

Finish: Short side of medium length with peppery heat and peanut.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: It's amazing how different a bourbon can be when you taste it side-by-side with something than it was when you tasted it alone. I'm getting much more grain on this than I remember getting on either of these when I previously reviewed them.

Jim Beam Devil's Cut

Purchase Info: $19.99 for a 1 Liter bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 45% ABV, no age statement.

Produced by: Jim Beam Distillery (Beam-Suntory)

Nose: Alcohol, generic fruit gum, grain, and hints of mint.

Mouth: Vanilla sugar, oak, and baking spices.

Finish: Medium with some heat, lingering dark chocolate, and peanut notes.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Sweet with a richer flavor profile than the other one. The dark chocolate on the finish seals this one for me.

Who wins?

Two bottles from the same producer. Both different ways of trying to accomplish the same goals. Both closer than I remembered them from previous reviews. Am I starting to like Jim Beam? I guess we will find out next time when Jim Beam Devil's Cut and all the other round-one winners compete for the Fancy Shelf Title. Stay tuned!

Jim Beam Devil's Cut advances to the Second Round

Bottom-Shelf Bourbon Brackets 2017: Round 1: Jim Beam Bonded vs. Jim Beam Black

March 23, 2017 Eric Burke

Round 1c of the 2017 Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets features Division 1 Number 2 seed Jim Beam Bonded versus Number 3 seed Jim Beam Black.

Both of these bourbons are products of Beam-Suntory, produced at one of the two Jim Beam distilleries in either Clermont or Boston, Kentucky. Both of these products are non-age stated bourbons, meaning they are at least four years old. It's probable that Beam Black is in the six- to eight-year-old range but as of 2015 is now officially NAS. Beam Bonded came out about the same time that Beam Black lost its age statement and is Bottled-in-Bond, meaning that it is the product of one distillery (DSP-KY-230 according to reports), one distilling season and is bottled at 100 proof.

These were tasted blind in the following order. My thoughts on each are from before the reveal.

Jim Beam Bonded

Purchase Info: $19.99 for a 1 Liter bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 50% ABV, no age statement.

Produced by: Jim Beam Distillery (Beam-Suntory)

Nose: Sweet vanilla sugar, light fruit and oak.

Mouth: Cinnamon, Vanilla, oak, and peanut.

Finish: Warm and peppery with cocoa and peanut notes. On the longer side of medium.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Richer and sweeter than the other. This also has a thicker mouthfeel. There is almost a malty note going on.

Jim Beam Black

Purchase Info: $19.99 for a 1 Liter bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 43% ABV, no age statement.

Produced by: Jim Beam Distillery (Beam-Suntory)

Nose: Peanut, oak and dried grass.

Mouth: Fruity and sweet with nutmeg, vanilla and black pepper.

Finish: Medium length with lingering vanilla, cocoa and light grain notes.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Light and sweet with baking spice. Trends grainier than the other.

Who wins?

Two bottles from the same producer. One at a lower proof, but probably older. One probably younger, but at a higher proof. Who wins? It was close, but higher proof leads to higher seeding for a reason and it bears out here. Jim Beam Bonded advances to the second round.

Bottom-Shelf Bourbon Brackets 2017: Round 1: Wild Turkey 101 vs. Cabin Still

March 21, 2017 Eric Burke

Round 1b of the 2017 Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets features Division 2 Number 1 seed Wild Turkey 101 versus Number 4 seed Cabin Still.

Wild Turkey 101 is a product of Grupo Campari. It is produced by the father-son team of Jimmy and Eddie Russell at the Wild Turkey distillery in Lawrenceburg, KY. The product has no age statement but is rumored to be from 6-8 years old. Since this is the highest proof bourbon in this year’s competition, it gets the second number one seed.

Cabin Still is a product of Heaven Hill Brands. It is a three-year-old, 80 proof straight bourbon. It has an old and venerable name, having once been the product of the Stitzel-Weller distillery. These days, Heaven Hill barely acknowledges the brand. It isn't even on their website.

These were tasted blind in the following order. My thoughts on each are from before the reveal.

Wild Turkey 101

Purchase Info: $29.99 for a 1.75 L bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 50.5% ABV, no age statement.

Produced by: Wild Turkey Distillery (Campari)

Nose: Fruity sweetness, cinnamon red hots, and tobacco.

Mouth: Peppery and warm with brown sugar, baking spices, and bubblegum.

Finish: Long and warm with lingering bubblegum and chocolate covered coconut.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Heat, sweet and richness. This is a good one.

Cabin Still

Purchase Info: $10.99 for a 1-liter bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 40% ABV, 36 month age statement

Produced by: Heaven Hill Brands

Nose: Buttered popcorn, grain, and honey.

Mouth: Sweet and velvety with buttered popcorn, faint baking spices and the tiniest hint of soap.

Finish: Short and sweet with more buttered popcorn.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: If this were on its own, I wouldn't mind it. Compared to something else, though, it feels a bit one-note.

Who wins?

Two brands, each with a long and storied history. One that is still a flagship brand, and another that isn't even acknowledged on its current owner's website. One has Matthew McConaughey as its spokesperson, and the other doesn't advertise. It should come as no surprise that the winner here is Wild Turkey 101. It will face the winner of the matchup of Jim Beam Devil's Cut and Jim Beam Double Oak in Round 2.

Bracket result: Wild Turkey wins this round.

Bottom-Shelf Bourbon Brackets 2017: Round 1: Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond vs. Kentucky Tavern

March 16, 2017 Eric Burke

Round 1a of the 2017 Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets features Number 1 overall seed Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond versus Number 4 seed Kentucky Tavern.

Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond is a product of, wait for it, Heaven Hill Brands. Since this is the only age-stated bourbon in this year’s competition, this six-year-old product gets the top seed. This brand is virtually a Kentucky-only product. I have heard rumors of it being sold in other markets, but they are few and far between. Being a bottled-in-bond product, this is 100 proof.

Kentucky Tavern is a product of the Sazerac company. It is a three-year-old, 80 proof straight bourbon. From what I gather, this is produced at the 1792 Barton Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky even though the label says that it is produced by Glenmore (another dba that Sazerac uses).

These were tasted blind in the following order. My thoughts on each are from before the reveal.

Kentucky Tavern

Purchase Info: $17.99 for a 1.75 L bottle at Chicone’s Liquor Mart, Hudson, WI

Details: 40% ABV, 36 month age statement.

Produced by: Glenmore Distillery (Sazerac)

Nose: Delicate with dried grass, light cinnamon, and faint vanilla.

Mouth: Light and effervescent. Sweet grains, cinnamon, and light citrus.

Finish: Short. Muted and grainy with some cinnamon.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is an ok bourbon. Not anything a connoisseur would want but might be a nice introductory bourbon for the novice due to a lack of strong or off-putting flavors and lack of burn.

Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond

Purchase Info: $10.99 for a 750 mL bottle at The Party Source, Bellevue, KY

Details: 50% ABV, 6 year age statement

Produced by: Heaven Hill Brands

Nose: Brown sugar, vanilla, cherry, and tobacco.

Mouth: Warm and peppery with leather, cherry, chocolate and oak.

Finish: Long and warm with lingering leather and oak.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is a bourbon-lover’s bourbon. Very tasty and complex enough to drink neat.

Who wins?

This was an unfair matchup to begin with. These bourbons are not even targeted at the same market. That said they both meet all the qualifications that I set for “bottom-shelf” back when I started this annual competition. So, as you might have guessed, the seeding worked. Number 1 seed overall, Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond is the winner and advances to round two where it will compete against the winner of the matchup between Beam Bonded and Beam Black.

The winner of this round is Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond.

Bottom-Shelf Bourbon Brackets 2017

March 14, 2017 Eric Burke

As it is March, it is probably time for brackets of one sort or another. And even though my beloved Minnesota Gophers are looking like they will actually make an appearance in a basketball tournament this year...I still don't really care. I mean, I'm happy to hear they are doing well, but it isn't going to ruin my day should they not beat a random team that I've barely heard of.

No, once again it is time to get our fill of competitive bracketing by finding inexpensive bourbons and pitting them against each other head-to-head to see if there is one that stands head and shoulders above the rest. To see if I can satisfy my inherent Midwestern frugalness and find an overlooked diamond in the rough.

I say this every year, but once again I really didn't think that I was going to be able to fill out an eight bourbon bracket this year. I really wasn't sure that there would be enough bourbon on shelves that met my stringent requirements to make the tournament. What are those very stringent requirements you ask? Well, let me tell you.

It must be straight bourbon and it must be labeled as such. Too many brands are getting rid of this very basic statement of quality and I refuse to reward that.
It has to sell for two cents per milliliter or less. Now, this might seem like a weird arbitrary number, but it just works out to $15 per 750, $20 per liter or (in true bottom shelf fashion) $35 for a 1.75 L handle.
Unless it was a previous year's winner, it must have never been in the tournament before.

After the bottles were purchased here are the guidelines I used to seed them.

Previous Winners. There are no previous winners this year. In previous years I've allowed the top seed to go to the winners of the previous two year's contests. This year the winner of the 2015 contest has had the price increase such that it no longer qualifies (Naughty naughty Fighting Cock, raising your price) and the winner of the 2016 contest is currently out of stock due to internet hoarding (WTF internet? Hoarding Very Old Barton 86 proof???). As such, this is the first contest since the first where we have an entirely new batch of contestants.

Stated (or assumed age). Straight bourbon has to be at least two years old. But unless it is under four years old you don’t have to put an age on it. So if someone does it’s either a good thing or a bad thing. I like to reward good things and punish bad things.

Proof. Higher proof often equals better flavor. Not always, but it can be a good rule of thumb.

Minimize corporate cousins. I figured I could introduce a little more difference into each initial pairing if they didn’t come off the same still, or at the very least wasn’t sold by the same company. Since four of these are from Jim Beam, it's a guideline used for breaking seeding ties and not a hard rule. It is overridden by the above guidelines.

So who are the contestants? Well, as mentioned above, there are no previous winners available to defend their titles this year. I've chosen Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond because it meets all the requirements and happened to be in the house. As an age stated six-year-old it gets the first number one seed. The second number one seed goes to Wild Turkey 101 which sells at my local store for $29.99 for a handle and is the highest proof of the non-age-stated selections. After that 100 proof Jim Beam Bonded and 90 proof Jim Beam Devil's Cut fill the number two seeds. Number three seeds are 86 proof Jim Beam Black and Jim Beam Double Oak. The bracket is rounded out with a pair of 80 proof three-year-olds, Cabin Still from Heaven Hill and Kentucky Tavern from Sazerac.

It should be an interesting year. Prices have fallen on more than a couple of "big names" such that if you buy in quantities of a liter or more, they fall into the required price range.

Blog

Hirsch Selection: Kentucky Straight Corn Whiskey

Two Stars

Who wins?

Division 1, Round 2: Jim Beam Bonded (A) vs Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond (B)

Division 2, Round 2: Wild Turkey 101 (A) vs Jim Beam Devil's Cut (B)

Championship Round: Wild Turkey 101 vs Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond

Lessons learned

Jim Beam Double Oak

Jim Beam Devil's Cut

Who wins?

Jim Beam Bonded

Jim Beam Black

Who wins?

Wild Turkey 101

Cabin Still

Who wins?

Kentucky Tavern

Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond

Who wins?