7th Annual BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets: The Not-So-Bottom-Shelf Edition

So, wow. A lot has happened in the last few weeks, huh?

A couple of weeks ago, I got the bright idea that I wanted to up the level of competition this year on the Bottom-Shelf Brackets. At the time it wasn’t for any real reason, I just thought it might be fun. Over the previous six years, we’ve explored the best of worst that bourbon has to offer. And, if we are being honest, some of the worst of the worst as well. This year, I had the idea to do something a little different.

In the past, I’ve had a definition of “bottom-shelf” that ranged from $15-$18 (or under) per 750, $20-$24 per liter and $35 per 1.75 liter. That definition got me a lot of entries by Heaven Hill and Jim Beam but only a couple from any other distilleries. I had one year where half of the entrants were Jim Beam products and another where half were from Heaven Hill. So this year I decided to limit each distillery to one entrant.

Of course, not all distilleries have products that meet the definitions that I had defined for “Bottom-Shelf.” So what was I to do? Well, for this year, I’ve decided to throw out any pretense that this is a competition between “bottom-shelf” bourbons. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to go all-in and jump to the top of the price point. I mean, this is still a contest about being frugal.

That and I have to buy all of these things and I am still a freelancer…

So, here are the new rules:

1. One entry per distillery

2. Purchased for under $25. No matter the size. No matter if it was on sale.

3. Available in the Twin Cities metro area.

That’s it. As a general guideline, I tried to find the “best” offering from each distillery at the price point. Once I purchased all the entrants, I needed to seed them into brackets. For that, I usually use proof and stated age, but since all of these are non-age stated, I went by proof and then flipped a coin when two were the same proof. In order to maintain balanced divisions, I alternated which division chooses first, so Division One got to chose first on the first round, but Division Two got to choose first on the second round, then One on the third and back to Two on the fourth.

So let’s meet the competition in this “Not-So-Bottom-Shelf” Bracket, shall we? It should come as no surprise that I was able to find entrants from Jim Beam, Heaven Hill, Wild Turkey, and Barton 1792. Each of these has produced winners in the past. In fact, some of those past winners are represented this year in Division Two, number four seed Very Old Barton 86 proof and Division One, number one seed Wild Turkey 101 proof. But I was a bit shocked to find that the Heaven Hill entry was Division One, number two seed Elijah Craig and that the Jim Beam entry was Division Two, number one seed Knob Creek. Though I’ve been able to find Knob Creek for about $25 for a while now, so it really shouldn’t have been that surprising. Rounding out the rest of our entrants from Division One are number three seed Makers Mark and number four seed Four Roses. In Division Two are number two seed Old Forester 100 proof and number three seed Buffalo Trace.

I can’t wait for this one. It should be fun!

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BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2019: The Championship Rounds

Well, it's finally here. The championship rounds. We are down to the last four bourbons. In Division 1 we have Old Grand Dad Bonded facing off against Larceny. And in Division Two we have Old Forester Signature 100 proof up against Wild Turkey 101.

Division 1: Old Grand-Dad Bonded (Whiskey 1) vs Larceny (Whiskey 2)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Both noses are sweet, but Whiskey 2 is showing a bit more graininess. I’d say this is a bit of a draw on the nose. Neither is particularly better than the other. On the mouth however, Whiskey 1 pulls way ahead. In comparison to Whiskey 2, Whiskey 1 is an explosion of deliciousness. It is the hands-down winner in the one.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: To be honest, I’m a bit shocked on the results here. I expected Larceny to put up a bit more of a fight. And even though, I knew that Old Grand-Dad might have more flavor due to the proof, I didn’t expect it to necessarily have a better flavor. And yet it did. This is why we do these things blind, to eliminate the preconceived notions. Old Grand-Dad Bonded advances.

Division 2: Wild Turkey 101 (Whiskey 1) vs Old Forester Signature 100 proof (Whiskey 2)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: The nose on Whiskey 1 is sweeter and shows more baking spice. The nose on Whskey 2 is more tannic. Reminds me a bit of a glass of Lipton’s iced tea. Whiskey 1 follows the nose and is sweet and spicy. The mouth on Whiskey 2 is also more tannic but is sweet as well. These are both nicely complex bourbons in the mouth. I like the finish on Whiskey 1 better. It is a spice bomb which i love. Whiskey 2 has a fine finish, it follows the mouth but at this point it feels like just “more of the same.” It doesn’t really stand out or distinguish itself. Honestly, these are both delicious and it is super close, but I think that spice-bomb of a finish pushes Whiskey 1 ahead ever so slightly.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: I’m honestly surprised at what happened here. I would have bet money that Whiskey 2 was Wild Turkey. But once again, this is why we do blind tastings. I think either of these would have been a winner with a different opponent or on a different day (and I guess they were to get here) but today Wild Turkey 101 advances.

Championship Round: Wild Turkey 101 (Whiskey 1) vs Old Grand-Dad Bonded (Whiskey 2)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Whiskey 1 has a sweet nose where Whiskey 2 is reminding me of rye bread. Whiskey 1 is sweeter on the mouth while Whiskey 2 is drier and much spicier. This is super, super tough. Finishes on both are great. It comes down to the fact that Whiskey 1 makes me ever slightly happier.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: I did this same matchup on three different days. It was that close. OGD and 101 each won one of the first two. On the third round, I gave up on analyzing the notes and just asked myself, “Which of these makes me happier when I drink it?” And that one was Wild Turkey 101.

Lessons learned

So was I shocked by anything this year? I mean, besides the fact that you guys have a much more high-end bottom-shelf than I do? Yeah. I actually was. I continually gave Old Grand-Dad no shot in it’s matchups. I wasn’t sure what would happen versus Beam Bonded, but I expected it to lose in every matchup after that. I just think of Old Grand-Dad as dry and ever so slightly dusty and grainy. Every time I drink it, I am reminded that it isn’t, but I can’t get that impression out of my head. I mean it won the whole thing last year and that didn’t help. And it was a tie-breaker game away from winning this year. And it lost to another former winner (2017 Wild Turkey 101 was the Champ). I think I need to reassess my thoughts on OGD Bonded and try to remember that it really is a very good bourbon.

I was also a bit shocked that the two finalists were ones that would have fit in my normal pricing rules. Those being 2.4 cents per milliliter or less (which works out to $18 per 750, $24 per liter or $40 for a 1.75 L handle). In fact, I can get a handle of Wild Turkey for just under $30 locally. And the fact that they beat out bourbons that sell for $25 per 750 mL? That’s a bit shocking as well. But it does show one of the guiding principles of this site: you don’t need to spend a lot to drink well.

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I’m off to Las Vegas for a well earned vacation next week so no posts. But I’ll be back a week from Tuesday with my review of Legent from BeamSuntory.

Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2019: Round 2: Wild Turkey 101 vs. Bulleit and Evan Williams Bottled in Bond vs. Old Forester Signature

In light of recent allegations made by the daughter of Tom Bulleit of his homophobia and mental and physical abuse toward her, I have made the decision that BourbonGuy.com can no longer endorse products bearing the Bulleit name.

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This is it. Tonight we find out who will the final two spots of our semifinals round. Round 2 of the 2019 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets continues with Division 2 Number 1 seed Wild Turkey 101 versus the advancing Number 5 seed Bulleit Bourbon. 

We’ve already met Bulleit, but to recap, it it is a sourced bourbon from Diageo. It used to be made of Four Roses juice but it is getting less and less likely that there is any left in the bottle since it has been five or six years since they were cut off. The other competitor is Wild Turkey 101. It is a product of Campari’s Wild Turkey distillery. And it is one of my favorite “everyday” bourbons. Let’s see who comes out on top.

These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.

Wild Turkey 101

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

Details: 50.5% ABV.

Nose: Caramel, vanilla custard, cinnamon and a hint of mint.

Mouth: Sweet and spicy with mint and cinnamon.

Finish: Medium length, warm and sweet. Lingering cinnamon and vanilla custard.

Bulleit Bourbon

Purchase Info: $18.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 45% ABV.

Nose: Spearmint, toffee, cherry, cinnamon red hots.

Mouth: Spicy and sweet (though less sweet than number one) baking spice, toffee, and cherry.

Finish: Medium length. Lingering toffee and baking spice.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: Two very good whiskeys in this one but whiskey one wins this round. The spice is spicier. The sweet is sweeter It has more well-defined flavors. And it has a warmer and longer finish. Whiskey one is tastes like they took whiskey two and cranked up the volume.

Post Reveal Thoughts: Not shocked that Wild Turkey 101 won this round. The proof difference could easily explain the difference in “volume.”

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Round 2 of the 2019 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets concludes with Division 2 Number 2 seed Evan Williams Bottled in Bond versus the advancing Number 6 seed Old Forester Signature 100 proof.  

Old Forester Signature 100 proof is the plucky underdog here. Or is it? Though it was once a staple on my bourbon shelf, I’ve been passing on Evan Williams Bottled in Bond more and more lately. It has just started tasting too young to me. More grain-forward than I’d like. Especially when I can get the same size bottle of Wild Turkey 101 for just a dollar or two more.

These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.

Old Forester Signature 100 Proof

Purchase Info: $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Honey, caramel, wintergreen, almond.

Mouth: Caramel, black tea, vanilla, clove and cinnamon.

Finish: Medium length and warm. Lingering caramel, apple, cinnamon and oak.

Evan Williams Bottled in Bond

Purchase Info: $17.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Brown sugar, mint and vanilla.

Mouth: Caramel, mint and dried grain.

Finish: Medium length with lingering caramel, dried grains and cinnamon.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: Whiskey one wins this one hands-down. In my mind there is no contest. Whiskey two is way too grain forward by comparison.

Post Reveal Thoughts: No surprises here. Old Forester is a nice complex bourbon. It’s everything that I look for in a decently priced bourbon. By way of comparison, Evan Williams Bottled in Bond just isn’t as good as it used to be. I’ve noticed that about a lot of the Heaven Hill Bonded bourbons lately. Good, but not as good as they used to be. (Possibly because Heaven hill seems more interested in putting out new $100+ “prestige” bourbons like the new Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond than they are the lower-priced offerings that helped build their reputation.) Anyway EWBiB will work great in cocktails, but that is what this contest is about. Old Forester Signature advances.

And so the Championship Rounds are set! Old Grand-Dad Bonded versus Larceny and Wild Turkey 101 versus Old Forester Signature.

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Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2019: Round 2: Old Grand-Dad Bonded vs. Fighting Cock and Evan Williams Single Barrel vs. Larceny

Here it is. Round 2 of the 2019 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets. This is where we meet our last contestants and see if they deserved that first round bye. Let’s start at the top with Division 1 Number 1 seed Fighting Cock versus the advancing Number 5 seed Old Grand-Dad Bonded. 

We’ve already met Old Grand-Dad, but to recap, it uses the “other” Beam bourbon recipe. The higher rye recipe. This is the Bottled in Bond version. The “newcomer” is Fighting Cock. It is a product of Heaven Hill Brands. I put newcomer in quotes because Fighting Cock has competed twice before. Once, when it had a 6-year age statement, it won the whole damn thing. The very next year it had lost the age statement, gained a very grainy flavor and got knocked out of the first round. But you guys wanted to see it come back and here it is, the number one vote getter in the nomination process. Let’s see who comes out on top.

These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.

Old Grand-Dad Bonded

Purchase Info: $23.99 for a 1 liter bottle, Blue Max, Burnsville, MN

Details: 50% ABV. DSP-KY-230.

Nose: Spearmint, cinnamon gum, caramel and ginger.

Mouth: Sweet and spicy with mint, ginger and green tea.

Finish: On the longer side of medium with lingering spicy ginger and a hint of molasses.

Fighting Cock

Purchase Info: $15.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 51.5% ABV.

Nose: Caramel, mint and allspice.

Mouth: Caramel, vanilla, oak and dried grain.

Finish: Dry and spicy with a medium length.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: Whiskey 1 is the hands-down winner. Both are good, but Whiskey 1 seems to have brought a little something extra to the party.

Post Reveal Thoughts: I’m actually a bit surprised with how much of a fight Fighting Cock put up. The last time it competed, it was not very good at all. It got beaten out by a Total Wine private label. It was a grain-forward mess that was downright unpleasant. The other surprise is how much ginger the pairing bought out in Old Grand-Dad. I got none of that when it was paired with its cousin. It just goes to show how much effect the things you taste alongside a bourbon have on the notes that you find in the bourbon.

It looks like Old Grand-Dad Bonded is moving on to face the winner of the matchup below.

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And it seems once again we have a matchup of corporate cousins. Moving on to our second matchup of the night, we have Division 1 Number 3 seed Evan Williams Single Barrel versus Number 2 seed Larceny. 

I think this one is an interesting matchup. It features Larceny, Heaven Hill’s reasonably priced wheater (now that Old Fitzgerald has been discontinued and turned into a $100+ limited release) versus Evan Williams Single Barrel, one of Heaven Hill’s bourbons that uses the standard rye as the flavor grain. It is also one of Heaven Hill’s few remaining bourbons that still tells you how old it is.

These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.

Evan Williams Single Barrel (2011 vintage)

Purchase Info: $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 7 years 10 months old. 43.3% ABV.

Nose: Caramel, wintergreen, black tea.

Mouth: Soft in the mouth with caramel, cinnamon red hots, vanilla, oak, and mint.

Finish: Medium length with lingering caramel, vanilla and oak.

Larceny

Purchase Info: $19.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Blue Max, Burnsville, MN

Details: 46% ABV.

Nose: Cocoa powder, hazelnut, and hints of cinnamon and oak.

Mouth: Allspice, cocoa powder, cinnamon.

Finish: Medium length with lingering oak and cinnamon.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: Whiskey 2 reminds me of a baked chocolate cookie. It is delicious. Whiskey 1 bring more of a “classic” bourbon flavor along. It is also delicious. That said, there is a “brightness” and “vitality” to Whiskey 2 that pushes me in that direction.

Post Reveal Thoughts: Higher proof beat stated age in this case. Close one, but Larceny advances.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2019: Round 1: Four Roses vs. Bulleit and Jim Beam Bonded vs. Old Grand-Dad Bonded

In light of recent allegations made by the daughter of Tom Bulleit of his homophobia and mental and physical abuse toward her, I have made the decision that BourbonGuy.com can no longer endorse products bearing the Bulleit name. If I had known of these allegations previous to this article, I would have not included their bourbon in the competition.

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Round 1 of the 2019 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets continues with Division 2 Number 4 seed Four Roses “Beige Label” Bourbon versus Number 5 seed Bulleit Bourbon. 

This is an interesting battle. For the longest time it was an open secret that Four Roses produced whiskey made up all or most of the bourbon in a bottle of Bulleit. But about five or six years ago, that all changed. Four Roses cancelled their contract to supply Diageo with bourbon and Bulleit began the slow transition to filling their bottles with bourbon from other manufacturers. So now that enough time has passed for Bulleit to have gotten most of the Four Roses juice through their pipeline, how does the entry-level Four Roses product compare to Bulleit now that these two companies have gone their separate ways.

These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.

Bulleit Bourbon

Purchase Info: $18.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 45% ABV.

Nose: Oak, Toffee, Vanilla, cinnamon red hots.

Mouth: Spicy cinnamon, sweet vanilla, creme brûlée and a little oak

Finish: Medium length. Lingering cinnamon, oak and chocolate.

Four Roses Bourbon

Purchase Info: $21.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 40% ABV.

Nose: Cinnamon, oak, black tea and a little mint.

Mouth: Thin mouthfeel. Cinnamon, black pepper and a hint of vanilla.

Finish: Very gentle. Lingering vanilla, mint, black pepper and Juicyfruit gum.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: This one is tough. The bourbons are of a very similar quality level so there isn’t a hands-down winner on the quality front. They both taste good. And honestly, I think one could be forgiven for choosing either of these as you personal winner. For me though, in this head to head matchup? I think Whiskey 1 edges its way to the winner’s circle.

Post Reveal Thoughts: Higher proof can often lend itself to higher complexity and a nicer mouthfeel. It does so in this case as the higher proof Bulleit Bourbon wins the chance to meetup with Wild Turkey 101 in Round 2.

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And once again, in order to finish this competition sometime before summer, we are doing two in each post. So moving on to our second 4v5 matchup, we have Division 1 Number 4 seed Jim Beam Bonded versus Number 5 seed (and corporate cousin) Old Grand-Dad Bonded. 

This is also a super interesting matchup. It features the Bottled in Bond version of both of Jim Beam’s main bourbon recipes. Jim Beam and Old Grand-Dad are both BeamSuntory brands. Both are produced by Jim Beam at one of their two big distilleries in either Clermont or Boston, Kentucky. Old Grand-Dad is often touted as using Beam’s “High Rye” recipe. How much higher is it than the standard Beam recipe? Well the good folks over at ModernThirst.com have a handy, and sortable, table of all the known, assumed, and estimated bourbon mash bills. According to that Old Grand-Dad clocks in at 63% corn, 27% rye and 10% malted barley compared to Jim Beam’s 75% corn, 13% rye and 12% malted barley. So let’s see who wins head-to-head, shall we?

These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.

Old Grand-Dad Bonded

Purchase Info: $23.99 for a 1 liter bottle, Blue Max, Burnsville, MN

Details: 50% ABV. DSP-KY-230.

Nose: Mint, toasted grains, caramel, oak, green tea.

Mouth: Mint, spicy cinnamon, oak and green tea.

Finish: On the longer side of medium and warm. Lingering mint, green tea and oak.

Jim Beam Bonded

Purchase Info: $21.49 for a 1 liter bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 50% ABV. DSP-KY-230.

Nose: Vanilla, cinnamon, corn, almond, and toffee.

Mouth: Oak, a generic “fruitiness,” cinnamon candies and caramel.

Finish: Medium length and warm. Lingering mint, corn, cinnamon candies and a hint of peanut.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: Whiskey 2 is a lot sweeter than whiskey 1. So this basically comes down to if you like your bourbon on the sweet and spicy side or the dry and spicy side of the equation. That’ll be a personal preference issue. For me, I choose whiskey 1 to advance. My wife went back and forth before agreeing with me.

Post Reveal Thoughts: This was much closer than I expected it to be. Going into the matchup, I expected that Old Grand-Dad would win this one hands down with no contest. It turns out that Old Grand-Dad did win, but it really close. And now they will face Fighting Cock in Round 2.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2019: Round 1: Jim Beam Repeal Batch vs. Evan Williams Single Barrel and Buffalo Trace vs. Old Forester Signature

The time is finally here! Let’s get down to the competitions. Round 1 of the 2019 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets opens with Division 1 Number 3 seed Evan Williams Single Barrel (2011 vintage) versus Number 6 seed Jim Beam Repeal Batch. 

This is a battle of Limited Edition Releases. Jim Beam’s Repeal Batch is a non-chill filtered, slightly higher proof version of the standard Jim Beam White. It was released to celebrate the 85th Anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. Evan Williams Single Barrel is a limited release only in that each new release is named for the year that the bourbon was put in oak. For many years this was released after 10 years in the barrel. These days you are down to a little under 8 years. Which Limited Release will win out? Let’s find out!

These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.

Jim Beam Repeal Batch

Purchase Info: $18.99 for a 1 liter bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: Non-chill filtered. 43% ABV.

Nose: Melon, cinnamon, mint, caramel corn.

Mouth: Spearmint, wintergreen, baking spice and caramel.

Finish: Medium length with lingering vanilla corn and mint.

Evan Williams Single Barrel (2011 vintage)

Purchase Info: $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 7 years 10 months old. 43.3% ABV.

Nose: Caramel, cinnamon, wintergreen.

Mouth: Thin mouthfeel. Almond, brown sugar, baking spice and a light mint.

Finish: On the longer side of medium and warm. Lingering almond, berry and spice.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: Whiskey two (Evan Williams Single Barrel) is the clear winner here. The nose and mouth are richer and the finish is much more satisfying.

Post Reveal Thoughts: No upset here, the higher seed (and higher age) wins in this one. Evan Williams Single Barrel is moving on to face corporate cousin Larceny in Round 2

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In order to finish this competition sometime before summer, we are doing two in each post. So moving on to our second 3v6 matchup, we have Division 2 Number 3 seed Buffalo Trace versus Number 6 seed Old Forester Signature. 

This match-up lands squarely on the shoulders of you, the readers. Buffalo Trace is the higher seed due to more people nominating it even though it is the lower proof bourbon. Buffalo Trace is the namesake product of the Sazerac-owned Buffalo Trace Distillery. The distillery is located in Frankfort, Kentucky and is claimed by the company to be the oldest continuously-operating distillery in the United States. If you haven’t been there you owe it to yourself to make sure that you do. Far from being the oldest distillery, the Old Forester Distillery is one of the youngest. Though that doesn’t matter much since almost none of the juice that will be going into Old Forester bottles (one day) is produced there. All of the juice in this bottle having been produced in Brown-Forman’s Shively distillery.

These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.

Buffalo Trace

Purchase Info: $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 45% ABV.

Nose: Vanilla, caramel, Cheerios cereal, a hint of green apples.

Mouth: Spicy and warm with brown sugar, baking spice, berries and apples.

Finish: Medium length with lingering vanilla, berries and baking spice.

Old Forester Signature 100 Proof

Purchase Info: $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Hickory, caramel, wintergreen, almond.

Mouth: Spicy and warm with vanilla, oak, green apple, clove and cinnamon.

Finish: Spicy and of medium length. Lingering brown sugar, spice, apple and wintergreen.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: This one was a very difficult matchup. In the end, whiskey two won on the strength of its finish. The spice must flow.

Post Reveal Thoughts: And just like that we have our first upset of the competition. Proof won out in this case. Old Forester Signature is moving on to match up against Evan Williams Bottled in Bond in Round 2.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

6th Annual BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets: Reader's Choice Edition

As it is March, it is probably time for brackets of one sort or another. And even though my beloved Minnesota Gophers 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 ok, but it isn't going to ruin my day should they not beat Louisville. 

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. Normally I run all over the Metro trying to find bourbons that fulfill a stringent set of qualifications while minimizing bourbons from the same producer. But this year, I decided to be lazy…errr…crowd-source the decision by opening the nomination process up to you, the readers.

And boy did the nominations roll in (it might have helped that I asked the question as part of couple different give-aways). It’s funny, a couple of years ago, I got chastised in the comments for having an elevated Bottom-Shelf. But let me tell you, ya’ll have a much more high-end bottom shelf than I do.

So how does this competition work? Well, the bourbons included were all nominated by the readers. After the nomination process, I tallied the number of nomination each bourbon received, cross referenced that with bourbons I could buy for less than $25 (750 mL bottle or larger) and figured out which of those were actually available in my market.

And it was at that point that I realized there were way too many interesting suggestions for an eight bourbon bracket. So this year we are bracketing it NFL-style with 12 whiskeys, the top four seeds of which have earned first-round byes. Which leads me to how these were seeded. I have a very precise algorithm which I …

nah. I just went by the number of nominations each bourbon got. After that I broke any ties first by age and then by proof. The divisions were chosen in alternating order so Division 1 chose the top seed as first, then Division 2 got to choose the second seed first and so on down the line. And now, the moment you were waiting for:

The number one overall seed, with 5 nominations and 103 proof is Heaven Hill’s Fighting Cock. Following that with the number one seed in Division 2, also with 5 nominations, is Wild Turkey 101. The third overall seed and the number two seed in Division 2 is Evan Williams Bottled in Bond (four nominations and 100 proof). Following that as the number two seed in Division 1 is Larceny (Four nominations and 92 proof). The number three seeds are Evan Williams Single Barrel (Division 1, three nominations, 7 years old) and Buffalo Trace (Division 2, three nominations, 90 proof). Number four seeds are Four Roses Bourbon (Division 2, three nominations, 80 proof) and Jim Beam Bonded (Division 1, two nominations, 100 proof). Number 5 seeds are Old Grand-Dad Bonded (Division 1, two nominations, 100 proof) and Bulleit Bourbon (Division 2, two nominations, 90 proof). There were a lot of suggestions that only had one nomination, so I chose ones I thought might be interesting as the number six seeds. They are Old Forester Signature (Division 2, one nominations, 100 proof) and Jim Beam Repeal Batch (Division 1, one nominations, 100 proof).

There are a lot of interesting story lines this time (that tends to happen when you elevate the level of competition). We start out with Jim Beam Bonded versus Old Grand-Dad Bonded. Which of the two Beam Bourbon recipes will win out? We also have Four Roses versus Bulleit. So we have a Four Roses product versus one that used to be mostly Four Roses, but is no longer so. And honestly, I’m curious to see how the Beam Limited Release fares against the Heaven Hill Limited Release in Repeal Batch versus Evan Williams Single Barrel. And if Evan Williams wins, which of the Heaven Hill Bourbon recipes will win out? The wheat or the rye based?

Anyway competition starts Thursday. Check back then to see which of the bourbon in the Reader’s Choice Bottom-Shelf comes out on top!

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Bottom-Shelf Bourbon Brackets 2018: The Championship Rounds

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Well, it's finally here. The championship rounds. This year was an interesting one for me on a couple of levels. For one, it was the first year that had guest judges. I have an idea that I may expand it further next year. This feels like it could be a fun party game for whiskey folk, provided the sips are restricted and everyone has a driver. Secondly, it is also the first year that I didn't restrict the competition to bourbon. I included corn whiskey and rye whiskey and sort of expected that corn would fold and rye would reign supreme. I was sorta right on the corn whiskey, it was a little too delicate to win against the flavorful rye, but it was no pushover. 

So now here we are. We are at the Last Four (Final Four being a registered trademark of a very litigious entity, there is no way I will use those two words together in a bracket post...): Old Grand Dad Bonded vs Two Stars and Old Forester vs Ezra Brooks Rye. Three bourbons and a rye. Let's see if rye reigns supreme or if bourbon can hold on to the odds. 

Division 1, Round 2: Two Stars (A) vs Old Grand-Dad Bonded (B)

Nose: Whiskey A is drier with more grain present while whiskey B is sweeter but shows a bit more alcohol. Winner: Draw.

Mouth: Whiskey B is sweeter but also shows a lot more grain notes. Whiskey A is more of a well-integrated whole, though it is a tad more delicate. Winner Whiskey A.

Finish: The finish on Whiskey A is a bit harsher and drier. Whiskey B is really good though and it has no obvious plusses or minuses to it.Winner Whiskey B. 

Thoughts: I'd say that Whiskey B wins this one on the strength of a better mouthfeel and a much tastier finish. Old Grand-Dad Bonded is moving on. 

Division 2, Round 2: Ezra Brooks Rye (A) vs Old Forester (B)

Nose: Whiskey A has a spicy ginger note while Whiskey B is pretty generic with sweet caramel.  Winner: Whiskey A.

Mouth: Whiskey A is spicy and fun but a bit thin. Whiskey B is sweet and spicy with a nice mouthfeel. It is close but the Winner is Whiskey A. 

Finish: Whiskey A shows ginger and citrus while Whiskey B is sweet and fruity. This comes down to personal taste. Winner: Whiskey A.

Thoughts: This one is tough. I adore the fun aspects of Whiskey A. I think it is bright and vibrant and I'm digging the citrus notes. On the other hand, I really like the sweet flavors, the nice mouthfeel, and the fruity finish of Whiskey B. Gun to my head? Winner: Ezra Brooks Rye. 

Championship Round: Old Grand-Dad Bonded (A) vs Ezra Brooks Rye (B)

Nose: Whiskey B is a spicy soda, Whiskey A is a dusty rickhouse. Winner: Draw.

Mouth: Whiskey A is sweet with a lovely mouthfeel. Whiskey B is spicy with a ginger ale flavor. Winner: Draw. 

Finish: Whiskey A is long with more sweetness. Whiskey B is also long, but is spicy. Winner: Draw.

Thoughts: Sometimes the tasting notes of bloggers make it look like we value the individual parts of a whiskey more than the whole. Though these two whiskeys are different, I liked them both, just in different ways. I like the spiciness of Whiskey B and I like the lovely mouthfeel of Whiskey A. There was a draw on every indiviual metric. And, though it was really close, when taken as a whole the Winner is Old Grand-Dad Bonded. 

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Lessons learned

So was I shocked by anything this year? Not really. I was surprised that Old Forester beat Four Roses for every participant, but not enough to call it shocking. I was mildly surprised that a four seed beat a one seed, but when you notice that it is rye vs corn whiskey it is less surprising. Going into the final rounds I had guessed that Old Forester could very possibly be my winner, but wasn't shocked that a rye whiskey beat a bourbon. Even if it was only two years old.

Overall, I thought that there could very possibly be five winners in the initial grouping. I wouldn't have been surprised at any of Old Grand-Dad, Old Forester, Four Roses, Ezra Brooks and I thought that Mellow Corn had an outside shot. Because I worried that the seeding worked against them I went ahead and tried an alternate seeding. I put all the bourbon on one side and matched corn vs corn and rye vs rye on the other. Ezra Brooks beat Old Overholt and Mellow Corn defeated Hirsch, with Ezra Brooks rye still advancing to the finals. On the Bourbon side, Old Grand Dad beat Four Roses on the strength of a good mouthfeel and Old Forester beat Two Stars. Old Grand Dad then defeated Old Forester and advanced to the finals where the result was the same. Overall, I'm satisfied that the best whiskey (for my palate)won.

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