Sample Roulette: The I'm Still Tired from Vacation Edition

July 1, 2021 Eric Burke

As I said earlier this week, I didn’t have the time, opportunity, or desire to do much whiskey tasting while on vacation last week. The weather was hot. I really lucked out on the timing of the trip, having it land right in the middle of a very unusual and long-lasting heat wave. The first week had temps over 105 every day. Which meant getting up before dawn to visit Utah’s lovely National Parks before the heat became dangerous.

Let me tell you, I’ve seldom loved a hotel room’s cooling system more than I did during this trip.

Of course, we got to see beautiful sunrises this way. Sunrise at Arches National Park is a sight to behold. So was the one we watched from a hot air balloon 1000 feet over Moab. We didn’t see the sunrise in Lake Powell, but we did get to drive fast in a rented speed boat and go swimming in a couple hundred feet of flooded canyon. That helped beat the heat as well. Plus sleeping in until the sun came up gave us the time in the evening to sip on a few blind surprises while we watched the sun set from our hotel room.

As before, these samples were all laid down between 2011 and 2017. The labels were covered up in September of 2020. And they have lived in a box untouched since, except for the occasional adventuresome sip now and then. They made a fun vacation sip too. I mean you’re out on an adventure, it is only fitting that your nightly tipple be an adventure as well.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 1:

Nose: Delicate nose. Hints of caramel, vanilla, and mint.

Mouth: Mint, baking spices and fruit notes.

Finish: Medium in heat and length. Lingering notes of dried grain and cinnamon.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is ok. Not great, not terrible, just kinda meh. I'll probably finish the pour, but probably won't be sad to see it go.

Reveal: Ezra Brooks

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Wow! Super shocked on this one. This has gotten so much better since I put this sample away!

Blind Whiskey Sample # 2:

Nose: Caramel, cherry, pipe tobacco.

Mouth: Cinnamon, caramel, smoke, and floral fruit.

Finish: Smoky and spicy. Lingering warm notes.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is yummy. Going to have to fight my wife for the rest of this one. Lol.

Reveal: George Dickel 9-Year-old Private Selection from Ace Spirits (2014)

Post-Reveal Thoughts: It just goes to show how much our palates change over time. When I reviewed this back in 2014, I thought it was a bit too hot for my tastes. Now, though it had some heat on it, it was certainly within acceptable levels. I didn’t even think to add water as I finished it in the hotel. Of course, there are a lot more options for Barrel Strength whiskey out there these days to help build your tolerance.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 3:

Nose: Floral vanilla, caramel, and fruit.

Mouth: Spicy. Cinnamon, vanilla, black tea, and hints of fruit.

Finish: Warm and medium length. Lingering mint, black tea, and floral fruit.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is quite good. I'm really enjoying it. Nice floral fruitiness and vanilla.

Reveal: Ancient Ancient Age 10 year old.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Oh, do I miss the days when you could get a handle of 10-year-old whiskey for a decent price. Scratch that. I miss when you could get a 10-year-old whiskey from Buffalo Trace for a decent price, whether it came in a handle or not. This is a bourbon that was better than I remembered. Sadly, when this was put away we were spoiled with an abundance of aged bourbon. It was less good than other 10-year-old bourbons when it was discontinued, but is still a damn sight better than much of the bourbon on the shelf today. For that, I savored this pour after the reveal. Made me a bit nostalgic, as you can see.

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Blood Oath Pact 7

April 29, 2021 Eric Burke

I’d like to thank ByrnePR and Lux Row for providing the review sample and photo of Blood Oath Pact 7 with no strings attached.

I am very much a guy that likes to do it myself. If I have a choice between learning to do something and doing it well or paying someone to do it perfectly, I will take the opportunity to learn a new skill every time. I do most of my own repairs around the house. And sure, at first it was just because I didn’t have the money to pay a repair person. But eventually it was because I knew I could do a job. I just didn’t know how to do it yet. And with all the world’s information at my fingertips, learning is just a Google search away.

Of course that doesn’t mean that I don’t occasionally pay an expert. Any plumbing job more complicated than installing a dishwasher or faucet goes right to the experts. These folks know what they are doing and are much less likely to cause damage to something else in the house than I am.

One of the other things that I tend to turn to the experts for is blending up a tasty bourbon. While I dabble in blending on an amateur basis, and while my efforts are unlikely to cause damage to the house. I do find that most of the folks who do this for a living do it better than I do. And tonight we are looking at a bourbon from one of the best blenders in the business: Lux Row Master Distiller John Rempe. I’ve been a big fan of almost every one of his premium (and many not so premium) releases from Lux Row.

Tonight we are looking at the seventh edition of Blood Oath to come from Rempe. Blood Oath Pact 7 was created from three bourbons that use rye as their flavoring grains: a 14-year-old, an 8-year-old, and an 8-year-old that was finished in Sauternes casks. Sauternes is a sweet white wine from Sauternes, France, a town in the Bordeaux region.

Blood Oath, Pact 7

Purchase Info: This 200 mL sample was provided by the distillery for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $99.99.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $6.67

Details: Blend of 14-year-old Bourbon, 8-year-old Bourbon and 8-year-old Bourbon that was finished in a Sauternes cask. 98.6° proof.

Nose: Vanilla, bubblegum, a savory herbal note, and oak.

Mouth: Caramel, apricot, honey, cinnamon, and oak.

Finish: Medium in both length and heat. Notes of cinnamon, oak, and stone fruits.

Thoughts: Good, not great. I like it, but not as much as I have previous Blood Oath releases. I probably won't be buying this one if I run across it. But that is mainly due to price. It's a good whiskey, but whiskey needs to be something really special for me to drop $100 or more on a bottle. At half the price it would be a no-brainer pick-up. As it is, it really depends on your bourbon budget.

Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2021: The Championship Rounds

April 1, 2021 Eric Burke

IMAGE: The four finalists: Ezra Brooks, Evan Williams, Very Old Barton 86 proof, and Wild Turkey (81 proof).

Well, here we are again. Once again we’ve nearly made it to the end of the Bottom-Shelf Brackets competition. I hope everyone was playing along. And if not, that you’ve had enough of these to play along in your mind. It really is a fun exercise each year to sit down and pit inexpensive bourbons against each other. I say inexpensive instead of “bad” because there isn’t one of these that will be dumped out when this is done. I will use every one in some way or another. Either neat on its own, in a cocktail, or even as the base of a blend. They are all good bourbons, some are just better than others in my opinion. You’re welcome to form your own opinions as to whether I’m right.

But anyway, let’s get on to round two and see who advances. Both of these matchups feature a 1-seed versus a 2-seed. There haven’t been any upsets so far. Let’s see if that continues.

Round 2a: Whiskey 1 (Ezra Brooks) vs. Whiskey 2 (Evan Williams)

Thoughts: Very similar on the nose. Both are decent on the mouth. Vibrant cinnamon spice in each. The finish of #1 shows peanut where #2 Shows a zesty spice. #2 wins on the strength of a nicer and tastier finish.

Round 2b: Whiskey 1 (Very Old Barton) vs. Whiskey 2 (Wild Turkey)

Thoughts: Once again the nose on each of these is similar with only slight differences to delicate notes. So the nose is a push. #1 has a nice mouthfeel with citrusy notes to go with the spicy notes. #2 was a little thin at first with a blossom of flavor after a few seconds in the mouth. Lots of baking spice notes in that blossoming. The finish is nice on both this time. I think I need to go with #2, but it is really close.

IMAGE: Evan Williams and Wild Turkey advance over Ezra Brooks and Very Old Barton.

I’m not going to lie, I was very surprised to find out that Wild Turkey and Evan Wiliams won their rounds. As I stated above, we hadn’t had an upset yet and it was surprising to find not one, but two when all of the names were revealed at the end. I was especially surprised that the lower proof entry won each time.

Let’s see who our winner is.

Championship Round: Whiskey 1 (Evan Williams) vs. Whiskey 2 (Wild Turkey)

Whiskey #1: Mint, cinnamon, citrus zest. Not too hot, but not bland. Tasty finish.

Whiskey #2: Sweeter. Brown sugar, baking spices. Spicier but a little rough in its spice by comparison.

Winner: #1 wins this one. Once again very close but #1 has a touch more complexity.

IMAGE: Evan Williams beats Wild Turkey for the championship.

If you could have seen my face as we revealed which alphanumeric code was which bourbon, you wold have laughed. I went into this fully expecting Very Old Barton to win. I mean it had won previously, right? The fact that it didn’t even make it out of Round 2 caused my jaw to drop. And it dropped even further when I saw it had been beaten by one that I said probably wouldn’t win against stiffer competition just the round prior.

But the biggest shock of all was Evan Williams winning it all. I know that a lot of you saw that coming. But I certainly didn’t. Which is weird since I know that Evan Williams is good bourbon. Due to the nature of the need for content on the site, I almost never buy it. But it is good stuff. And super inexpensive as well. It just goes to show that even those of us who have been tasting bourbon for a lot of years have our biases and preconceived notions.

And to be honest, it is fitting that Evan Williams won. I started this series of posts talking about “Finding Joy in the Ordinary.” And Evan Williams could be the patron saint of ordinary bourbon. Notice I said ordinary, not bad, bourbon. Evan Williams is good, plentiful, inexpensive and available in multiple styles and proof levels. I couldn’t have planned a more thematically accurate winner. I think that’s pretty cool.

Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2021: Round 1: Wild Turkey vs. Rebel Yell

March 30, 2021 Eric Burke

IMAGE: Wild Turkey 81 proof takes on Rebel Yell. Wheated bourbon vs ryed bourbon.

I am going to let you know right now, that neither of these bourbons have ever made it past the first round. In fact, I’d made pretty disparaging remarks about both of these during their prior appearances. I really did not like Rebel Yell in 2014. In fact, Old Crow Reserve (remember that one?) beat it. In the intervening years, the bourbon has gotten better, but I’ve also grown more tolerant of heated bourbons. And in 2016, I described Wild Turkey as “gentle” which isn’t something that I’d have historically thought to use for anything from the brand.

Of course, one of these has to win tonight. So no matter who wins, it’ll be their first. And when the entire contest is blind from start to finish, and you have no preconceived notions about what is in the glass other than “this is one of eight bourbons,” well, then all bets are off. So let’s watch history being made.

Our first whiskey is our number two seed for Division Two. Coming in at 81 proof and looking to see if its rye grains can run over the wheated competition, please welcome: Wild Turkey!

And their opponent is the only wheated bourbon in the competition. Please welcome Rebel Yell!

Reminder, all of the competitions this year were tasted blind and we knew what juice won the competition prior to the reveal of what any of the names were. Notes, thoughts, and conclusions were all from before we knew what was what. Needless to say, some of my conclusions were surprising to me. Tasting notes may be a little unusual since they were being tasted at the same time and could have influenced the perceptions of one another.

Whiskey 1 (Wild Turkey)

Purchase Info: $18.49 for a 1-liter bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.93

Details: 40.5% ABV.

Nose: Mint leaves, hints of cinnamon, caramel, and almond.

Mouth: Thin mouthfeel. Notes of cinnamon, caramel, and citrus zest.

Finish: Short and gentle with notes of cinnamon and caramel.

Thoughts: Not bad. The citrus zest was an interesting "twist" I hadn't expected.

Whiskey 2 (Rebel Yell)

Purchase Info: $14.99 for a 750 mL bottle, MGM Wine & Spirits, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $1.00

Details: 40% ABV.

Nose: Herbal and grassy like a mint chamomile tea blend.

Mouth: Follows the nose with the addition of a cinnamon note.

Finish: Short and uncomplicated. Notes of caramel, cinnamon, dried grains, and an old stick you found in the yard.

Thoughts: Not much going on in this one. It's fine for what it is, but it isn't much.

Winner: This is a pretty easy decision. I like everything going on with #2, I just need it to be more concentrated. It was just a bit too delicate for me. #1 also isn't a great whiskey but is enough to hold my interest. #1 wins, though I'm not sure either would advance against stronger competition.

IMAGE: Wild Turkey advances over Rebel Yell

Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2021: Round 1: Ezra Brooks vs. Benchmark

March 18, 2021 Eric Burke

IMAGE: Two bottles of Bourbon, Ezra Brooks 90 proof and Benchmark.

Here we go! Let’s get down to the competitions. I hope that you guys are as excited by this as I am. Round 1 of the 2021 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets opens with Division 1 Number 1 seed Ezra Brooks versus Number 4 seed Benchmark.

An interesting thing about both of these products is that neither of the brands originated with their current producers. Benchmark was a Seagram’s brand and Ezra Brooks was created by Frank Silverman in 1957 as a brand to directly compete with Jack Daniels. Current iterations are produced by Buffalo Trace and Lux Row Distillers respectively.

So, first up is the flagship product, and namesake of the Ezra Brooks lineup, and a long-time product of the Luxco/Lux Row. Spawning two current line extensions (Old Ezra 7 Year Barrel Proof and Ezra Brooks 99) and even more discontinued ones, please welcome to the stage the one that started them all: Ezra Brooks!

And their opponent is a true bottom-shelf release. Produced by the Buffalo Trace Distillery and aged for only three years before bottling, please welcome: Benchmark Bourbon!

All of the competitions this year were tasted blind and we knew the winner of the competition prior to any reveal. Notes, thoughts, and conclusions were all from before we knew what was what. Needless to say, some of my conclusions were surprising to me. Tasting notes may be a little unusual since they were being tasted at the same time and could have influenced the perceptions of one another.

Whiskey 1 (Ezra Brooks)

Purchase Info: $12.99 for a 1-liter bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.65

Details: 45% ABV.

Nose: Spearmint, dried grain, and vanilla.

Mouth: Cinnamon red hots, spearmint, and just a hint of dried grain.

Finish: Sweet and Spicy. Cinnamon red hots and spearmint linger.

Thoughts: This is a relatively spicy one. A nice flavor of cinnamon red hots playing with spearmint.

Whiskey 2 (Benchmark)

Purchase Info: $13.49 for a 1-liter bottle, MGM Wine & Spirits, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.67

Details: 40% ABV.

Nose: Caramel, buttered popcorn, and a hint of vanilla.

Mouth: Caramel, cinnamon, and milk chocolate.

Finish: Warm and medium length. Follows the month with cinnamon, caramel, and milk chocolate.

Thoughts: Sweet like a piece of candy. this is nice. Uncomplicated but very nice.

Winner: Whiskey 2 has a thinner mouthfeel and a candy-like flavor. Whiskey 1 is spicier and drier. If #2 had the mouthfeel and complexity of # 1, it would be the clear winner. Same if #1 had the sweetness of #2. As it stands each of these has a lot going for it, but also has one aspect that holds me back from an easy decision. In the end, I think the spicy cinnamon and nicer mouthfeel gives #1 an edge over #2. I look forward to finishing both of these bottles, but #1 is advancing to round 2.

IMAGE: The Bracket as it stands so far. Ezra Brooks beats Benchmark in Round 1a.

8th Annual BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets: The "Find Joy in the Ordinary" Edition

March 16, 2021 Eric Burke

IMAGE: A screen capture of the time with the words “Find Joy in the Ordinary” below it.

I like to use a Chrome plugin called Momentum as a home screen for my instance of the Chrome browser. It has a new pretty photo every day. It tells me the time, local weather, and helps me with my to-do list. Recently it started showing “Mantras” below the time. I found the one pictured above to be particularly meaningful. “Find Joy in the Ordinary.”

It’s sometimes hard to do as a bourbon lover, finding joy in the ordinary. The entire purpose of a site like this is to give people a sense of what is new and exciting. Even if it is only new and exciting to me. So, this year I’ve made a commitment to myself to step back a little and to do what the computer screen told me to do. Find Joy in the Ordinary.

And, perfect timing, it’s time for the Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets again. Maybe it is just me, but I haven’t heard a lot of talk about the NCAA tournament this year…and I’m fully willing to admit that it may be because my beloved Golden Gophers were bad enough this year that the coach was fired at the end of the season. I might just be hiding from any news that has to do with the yearly basketball tournament.

Of course, as long-time readers know, I don’t really like basketball anyway. In fact, this series was started eight years ago as a way to play along with all the folks around me filling out their brackets, while not caring about basketball.

In recent years, I’ve gotten caught up in the excitement of more “interesting” bourbons. Two years ago, I decided to let the readers choose who participated. Last year, I threw out the concept of “Bottom-Shelf” entirely. But this year, following the advice of the computer screen, I’ve decided to find joy in the ordinary. And as such, I’m going old-school on this one. Back to the original rules. Back to some really “ordinary” bourbons. Things that would have been participants from the first few years before I started messing with the rules.

Here are the rules:

In keeping with the theme, it had to be “ordinary.” No Single barrel, no small batch. No Bottled in Bond. Anything that might be used to call something special was thrown out. This is for true entry-level bourbons.
The original rules stated that it had to be under $15 for a 750 mL bottle or under $20 for a liter bottle. I decided to keep that.
The original rules also stated that entries had to be Straight Bourbon Whiskey. I saw no reason to change that.
Participants were seeded based on proof and then age. Higher proof equals a higher seeding. If you stated a bourbon’s age when you didn’t have to, you got a nod over those, at the same proof, who didn’t. If you stated a bourbon’s age because you were young enough that the law required it, someone else got the nod over you.
These were tasted blind. I had no idea what each of the participants was when I tasted them. I poured 200mL bottles of each bourbon. I labeled them with an alphanumeric code and then filled out an initial bracket with those codes. Until we were finished I never saw the bracket or the bottles that were being poured again. My wife (who didn’t know which code corresponded to each bourbon) poured each round and filled out the winners in secret.

So, let’s meet the 2021 competition, shall we? Coming in at the number one overall seed is Ezra Brooks from Lux Row Distillery. This seeding comes down to proof, at 90 proof, this was the highest proof bourbon in the competition. They will initially match up against number four seed, Benchmark Bourbon from Buffalo Trace. At only “36 months” and 80 proof, this was the lowest seed in the competition. Rounding out Division One is a matchup between Heaven Hill’s Evan Williams Black Label and BeamSuntory’s Jim Beam White Label. Due to being 86 proof, Evan Williams was the second seed and due to stating its age, Jim Beam White gets the nod over other 80 proof offerings to take the first number three seed.

Over in Division Two, we have Very Old Barton (86 proof) from the Barton 1792 Distillery as the number one seed. They match up against Beam Suntory’s number four seed Old Grand Dad (80 Proof). In the second matchup, we have number two seed Wild Turkey (81 proof) against number three seed Rebel Yell from Lux Row.

This should be fun. Let’s go find joy in ordinary bourbon. So who’ve you got? Let everyone know down in the comments.

A Look at the New Ezra Brooks 99 and a Revisiting of Ezra Brooks Bourbon

January 28, 2021 Eric Burke

I’d like to thank ByrnePR and Lux Row for providing the review sample of Ezra Brooks 99 with no strings attached.

IMAGE: A bottle of Ezra Brooks 99 sitting in the sun. 99 proof.

Eighteen hundred, sixty-nine days ago, I published If You've Had... Ezra Brooks Edition. A non-judgemental article about the then-current Ezra Brooks line-up and how they compared to one another flavor-wise. It looked at Ezra Brooks, Old Ezra 101 proof (7-year-old), and Ezra B (a 12-year old single barrel version). In the intervening years the line-up, heck the company, has undergone a complete revamp. Ezra B and Old Ezra 101 proof were discontinued. Luxco built a distillery that they named Lux Row. They reintroduced Old Ezra, still seven years old, but now barrel proof. And this week it was announced that Luxco was being purchased by MGP.

That’s a busy few years for Ezra Brooks. And to top all of that off, there is also a newcomer to the Ezra Brooks line-up. Ezra Brooks 99 is a 99 proof version of the original Ezra Brooks. Here’s what the company had to say about the new addition.

“With Ezra Brooks 99 our goal was to create a higher-proof bourbon without sacrificing the rich notes Ezra Brooks is known for,” said John Rempe, master distiller at Lux Row Distillers. “And we achieved that with 99. The result is a smooth, drinkable bourbon with hints of caramel, vanilla, chocolate and spice. We’re thrilled to introduce Ezra Brooks 99 to bourbon lovers everywhere.”

This is rolling out nationwide during January 2021, but they were kind enough to send over a sample so I could take an early look.

Ezra Brooks 99

Purchase Info: This was graciously provided by the distillery for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $1.67

Details: 49.5% ABV

Nose: Mint, cherry, nutmeg, and caramel.

Mouth: Caramel, cherry, milk chocolate, and cinnamon.

Finish: Medium length and sweet. Lingering caramel, mint, and cinnamon.

Thoughts: This is a very nice step up from the Ezra Brooks 90 Proof. It's a lot sweeter, with strong caramel and milk chocolate notes. It's got a good mouthfeel. I'm on board. This is a good sub $30 bourbon. It will probably crack the “daily drinker” rotation on occasion when it shows up at local liquor stores.

IMAGE: A bottle of Ezra Brooks sitting in the sun. 90 proof. The word “revisited” runs across the bottom.

Turning away from the new kid on the block, let’s take a look at that OG fixture of the Ezra Brooks line up. It’s named, fittingly, Ezra Brooks. It has been two thousand, four hundred, ninety-nine days since I first published tasting notes of Ezra Brooks Bourbon. It was during the very first Bottom-Shelf Bracket. Spoiler: it made it out of the first round but not out of the second. Back in 2014, I had this to say about it:

This one is a classic value play. It’s good considering it’s well under $20 per liter, if it were $30 I don’t know that I would buy it.

So, what do I think about it 6+ years later?

Ezra Brooks Bourbon: Revisited

Purchase Info: $13.99 for a one-liter bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $0.70

Details: 45% ABV

Nose: Mint, bubble gum, and a hint of nutmeg

Mouth: Caramel, almond, baking spice, and a hint of mint.

Finish: Medium length and warm. Dried grains and cinnamon red hots that fades into sweet caramel.

Thoughts: Picked this up for $14 for a liter. Very pleased with the purchase. Decent spice, nice mouthfeel, and good flavor. A very nice "value" bourbon that compares well against others in its price point. I should probably grab this more often than I do. Though now, I’ll probably grab the 99 proof instead most of the time.

2020 Whiskey Holiday Gift Sets

November 27, 2020 Eric Burke

The Jack Daniel's Tasting Calendar listed below was sent to me by Jack Daniels to help with this post with no strings attached. I thank them for their generosity.

IMAGE: The holiday gift set that gave me the inspiration for this post. A bottle of Maker’s Mark with two “Christmas Sweater” glasses.

It should come as no surprise that I am a frugal fella. After all, I’ve been married to an accountant for over 25 years. I doubt we would have made it this long if I didn’t tend to pinch pennies. It’s in light of this innate penny pinching that I tend to wander through the Holiday Gift Set aisles of my closest Total Wine.

I mean, I like free stuff. Especially free stuff that comes along with things I might have purchased anyway. And, of course, I did pick up one or two of those gift sets.

But it made me think, “my readers are pretty frugal folks too; I bet they also like free stuff.” And so this post was born. I reached out to my PR contacts to ask one question: “What free things are you giving away with your whiskey this year?” Between the responses to those emails and my own “research” in local liquor stores, I’ve compiled a list of Holiday Gift Sets to keep an eye out for. This is by no means a complete list as some of the companies dind’t respond.

Maker’s Mark

Let’s start with the one that inspired the question. I didn’t get a response to my question from Maker’s, but I found this lovely gift set at Total Wine for $21.99. It includes a 750 mL bottle of Maker’s Mark and two glasses with the Maker’s logo and a “Christmas Sweater” pattern etched into the glass.

Maker’s 46

Maker’s 46 is including a 750 mL bottle of Maker’s 46 and a “Limited Edition” bottle stopper featuring the Maker’s “S IV Star” logo. I’m not sure how useful this item will be, but it is pretty. And might be a fun conversation starter on your home bar. Total Wine is currently selling this for $25.99 in my area.

Four Roses Small Batch

Four Roses is packaging two rose-shaped ice molds along with their Small Batch Bourbon this Holiday season. It is only available in select states but should cost you about the same as a bottle of Small Batch without the gifts (roughly $29.99-$34.99). I kinda wish this was in my area. I can see myself playing with these a time or two before trying to adapt them to a directional freezing set-up...because I’m both a Four Roses fanboy and a tinkerer.

Ezra Brooks

Ezra Brooks is giving you the complete “on the rocks” experience by including an ice mold and a rocks glass along with a 750 mL bottle of their 90 proof Ezra Brooks. I haven’t seen this one locally, but they say it should cost you the same amount as Ezra Brooks would ordinarily. I like that glass (can you tell I have a thing for glasses? You can blame my wife for that.)

IMAGE: Crown Royal 12 bottle tasting calendar.

Crown Royal Whisky Tasting Calendar

While this isn’t a bottle with free goodies, it is a fun experience for those who like Crown and flavored Crown. This would be perfect for someone like my brother who isn’t a spirits drinker, but likes to take a bottle of Crown Apple out to the ice-fishing shack with him. This would give him four whiskeys that he would probably already like and might entice him to try the other two, that he probably wouldn’t buy on his own. This one is available nationally and MSRP is $44.99.

Crown Royal

This one wasn’t confirmed by the PR people, but I did see it on the shelf this year. It is a 750 mL bottle of Crown Royal and two rocks glasses with the Crown Royal logo on them. My Total Wine has this for $21.99.

IMAGE: A 24-day tasting calendar of various Jack Daniel’s products.

Jack Daniel’s Holiday Countdown Calendar

Another one that is less about the "goodies” and more about the experience. Jack Daniel’s was generous enough to send this one over so that I could photograph it myself…and yeah, drink it too. According to the press release:

“The limited-edition calendar features 24 windows designed to reveal a special Jack Daniel’s item on each day leading up the December holidays, making it a perfect gift for whiskey lovers or the centerpiece of a new seasonal tradition. “Surprise” products featured in this year’s calendar include four 50ml bottles each of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, three bottles each of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Apple, and two bottles each of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Rye, Gentleman Jack and Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Select. The calendar will also contain premium items, including four shot glasses with various logos from the Jack Daniel’s family of brands.“

This one isn’t available near me but where it is, its suggested retail price will be $79.99.

Jack Daniel’s

Once again, this one was not confirmed by the PR people, but it has a 2020 copyright on it, so I think it is current. If you like yourself a highball made using Jack Daniel’s (whether that is a Jack and Coke or a Jack and something else) then you’ll want to be on the lookout for this one. My Total Wine is selling it for $18.99.

Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel

I really have no idea if this is from this year. I suspect it may be overstock from last holiday season since it was on an endcap in the Rum section of my local Total Wine. (I took all these photos at Total Wine because they are busy enough that they don’t look sideways at a guy taking images of their stock without buying it.) This one comes with a large “Snifter” sized Glencairn glass with which to enjoy your single barrel of Jack Daniel’s. I’m not personally a fan of Glencairn glasses for drinking whiskey as I prefer the feel of a rocks glass or this one would have come home with me too.

Woodford Reserve

I suspect that this one is also overstock. I didn’t get a response from the Woodford Reserve folks about what they were doing this year, but I know this is the same as last year. I know that because last year, I bought two of them. I bought two because this box only comes with a single glass. But it is a very nice glass and I wanted more than one. It’s one I’ve reached for many times for my evening nightcap. It feels fancy.

So there you have it. These are the ones that you might find on your local shelves this year. I love these things. Mostly because I love whiskey memorabilia almost as much I like whiskey. I sometimes even buy the memorabilia without buying the whiskey. But usually only in a gift shop or an antique store.

Oh, and I did get responses from the folks who handle Jim Beam Small Batch Collection, Old Forester, and Barton/Buffalo Trace that they would not be doing any holiday gift sets this year. Just so that you are aware. Anything else that I missed, is either because it isn’t for sale near me or the PR folks never responded or both. But, that’s ok. This was long enough anyway. I hope you all had a safe and Happy Thanksgiving and that you aren’t getting too many Black Friday emails.

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