I bought a Wild Turkey gift set last weekend and it had a charred spiral of oak and a mason jar included with the fifth of 101. You add your bourbon in the jar and this spiral and age for as long as you wish to "oak" the bourbon longer to your taste (up to 14 days according to the gift box). My question is, have any of you experimented with charring a piece of oak and adding it to bourbon to age or do you have to use pieces of old whiskey barrels to get the desired effect? A friend of mine brought me a bottle of bourbon that is rough (but supposedly a small batch single barrel) but 2 days in the jar with the wood made it enjoyable on ice where before even mixed was bad. The piece of wood is supposedly only good for a few times so I am curious for future times of need or even trying to improve cheap bourbon and turn it to a sipper. Thanks, Chris
I don't think anything can make cheap bourbon taste good? But, it would be interesting to try. Good Luck.
I've never heard of "aging" bourbon after it's bottled. I guess in theory it'd work, but there's a reason it takes several years to get the right flavor, and it's supposed to go through heat cycles for the bourbon to enter and leave the wood to pick up the flavors. I'd think if it could be done in days, manufacturers would be doing that instead. Wild Turkey is supposed to be a pretty decent bourbon by itself though. I haven't tried it, I meant to pick up some last Friday and got Wild Turkey 80 by mistake, which I do not recommend.
The bottle from my friend was about a $50 bottle but it was not good at all. A few of us tried it on ice and I was the only one to stomach the whole rocks glass without mixing it. I know about the aging process in the distillery but I have to say this chunk of wood in the jar works. I did some search online and ran across a post about taking 1/2" x 1/2" x 6" strips of dry oak and charring all the edges with a blow torch and adding 2 to each 5th for home brewers but I think it may work in this application as well. Got to experiment. To answer above, Wild Turkey 101 is a little strong to drink by itself but very good, it seems to be the go to "let's do shots and pick a fight" drink in my area. I do drink a lot of the 81 its a lot smoother. I am a big fan of 1792 Reserve(88 proof?) and Jim Beam Devils Cut (90 proof). Also, this time of year, it is hard to beat American Honey. You can have a cold and have a couple glasses of that and you will wake up good as new. I prefer preemptive action and partake to keep myself healthy or at least feeling no pain when I go to bed
We have different tastes then, you just listed a few that I don't care for! My preference is Blanton's, Woodford Reserve, and Knob Creek, in that order. I normally drop 3 very small cubes of ice into each glass. I only had the Blanton's because it was a wedding gift, I'm not sure I'll drop $50 for that myself but it was delicious! We always have some Woodford around since it's the only bourbon my wife likes, I just get that ginormous 1.75L bottle! I like trying different bourbons for myself when I'm at the liquor store, but always go back to the Woodford and Knob Creek.
bassJAM I have enjoyed a few bottles of Knob Creek and Woodford. I haven't tried Blantons yet but it is on my list when at the liquor store. I have the devils cut and 81 on hand for mixed drinks. It is a sin to mix a good bourbon with anything other than ice and possibly a splash of water. I bought a bottle of Basil Hayden's a couple years ago I am yet to open and Pappy is on my short list to try if I can find it as well. Like you, I like to try different types when at the liquor store. I got a bottle of Tom's Foolery single barrel for Christmas, pass if you see it. I noticed your from Ohio and that is a distillery from outside of Cleveland but its only aged I think 2 years and actually has the rubbing alcohol taste like vodka. Jim Beam Black is my go to for sipping but I am always trying new ones and always have a few different "higher" shelfs sitting around like woodford or knob creek I have a friend that is an ambassador for a Makers Mark and he can't wait for a few years when his barrel is done and he can go purchase his direct from "his barrel" I had a friend get me "Bourbon Balls" for Christmas from Bed Bath and Beyond. They are ice cube molds that form a ball a little smaller than a cue ball and they last for quite a while (3 three fingerful glasses) before you need another so they don't melt on you like ice cubes.
I just finished a bottle of Basil Hayden this past weekend. Honestly I wasn't a fan of it. It wasn't a bad bourbon by any means, but I found it low on flavor and there's others in that same price range that I'd rather drink.
There are waaaaaay better bourbons than those two! ARe you saying you don't like bourbon, or bourbon makes one "stupid", or the whole idea of bourbon is "stupid"? Just trying to figure out where your at! I had never tried Hayden until a few weeks ago I happened to notice it in a duty free shop in PR on my way home from work. My eyes caught it cause it was $9.99 a bottle. "Hmmmmm.... I remember it being in the $40 or 50 range... so I grabbed a bottle. Not bad, actually I kinda liked it, it's kind of light, probably why you thought "low on flavor". But at the same time, that made it very smooth and easy to drink. Anyway, a week later I'm hosting a poker game at my house and a friend asks (on his way over) if I have any bourbon and I explain I had a bottle but it was almost gone. He shows up about 20 minutes later, with a bottle of Basil Hayden in his hand and asks "Did you ever try this stuff?" It was kinda funny until I told him I paid $9.99 for it, he paid $48.99 !
Lol! There are a lot of things that can make people stupid, bourbon is down on the bottom of that list. Its actually classified as "smartfood"!
I'm more of a happy drunk when I drink. Anytime I complement my wife, she'll even ask me if I've had some bourbon!
Alcohol is an accentuator. If you are stupid...it makes you more stupid...if you are an ahole it makes you a bigger ahole, etc. If you are laid back it makes you more so....doesn't matter if it is wrapped up in a fine bourbon or a busch light. I love bourbon. My weapon of choice is Maker's Mark. Blanton's is pretty good too. Even though it isn't technically bourbon, I can't tell the difference between Evan Williams and Jack Daniels and it costs half as much. Expensive <> (does not equal) good, and cheap <> bad.
Very true!! I consider myself a smart guy, but I get even smarter when I drink! Especially when it's concerning 3AM discussions on politics, religion, domestic vs japanese cars and trucks, or the qualities of 2 stroke vs 4 stroke dirt bikes!! I'm pretty much an expert on these topics when I drink....
