Bourbon - What's your favourite

I highly recommend Elijah Craig 12. It is at the same price point, in the US at least, as Buffalo trace and is smooth and tastes as a bourbon should. When I feel like a no nonsense bourbon instead of scotch whisky it's the only place I go.

While it's not really a bourbon, but a wheat whiskey, I highly recommend Bernheim Original. Check out my review on this site at connosr.com/reviews/bernheim/…. I'm sure you'll like it too.

I've always liked Woodford Reserve which comes at a reasonable price. Jefferson's Reserve is a step up in quality and cost.

Have you tried the Jim Beam distillers series that came out in the past year or so? Its 90 proof, aged 7 years, and pretty darn good, especially for the price--$20 a fifth.

Interms of affordable bourbons my favourites are probably Woodford Teserve and Buffalo Trace.....always amazes me just how good that stuff really is. If you havent already then you really must try to taste the Parkers Heritage Collection 27yo.......Stunning bourbon.

Coming in at around the same price as (or better than) Knob Creek, I really like Eagle Rare Single Barrel 10 year-old, which I review here:

connosr.com/reviews/eagle-rare/…

However, for a bit of a step up in price, I think Booker's is fantastic stuff. It's barrel strength, caramel gold!

I've got two, neck and neck for first place: Wathen's and Four Roses Small Batch. Both are a little more spicy and less sweet that your typical bourbon, and neither has even the slightest trace if the musty flovor that accompanies so many bourbons. Both are right around thirty clams in my neck of the woods.

As an aside, Wathen's is made by the Medley family, who has been making whiskey for eight--count them, eight!--generations, 250 years. That's a long-ass time. And I think it shows in their product; Wathen's is subtle but complex and a fantastic dram. Maybe I'll get a review up...

Ch

So many good bourbon-ish bottles !
MY TOP SHELF: Vintage 17, Pappy Van Winkle 15, Jeffersons Reserve, Sam Houston, Evan Williams Sing Barrel.

CLOSE TO TOP SHELF: Rebel Reserve (wheated), Rowans Creek, Woodford Reserve, Bernheims, Van Winkle Spec Reserve 12 Lot B, Elmer T Lee, Jack Daniels Sing Barrel, Corner Creek, Bakers, Bulliet.

And, depending on the occason & mood, many others are quite satisfying as well.

My favourite bourbon so far has been Four Roses Single Barrel, it was aged a bit over 7 years, and the details on the bottle were Barrel no. 12-6-00 Bottled 05/15/08. I had tried Four Roses yellow at the first whisky live event i went to, buying a bottle there and then. And although Four Roses doesnt seem to get much notice here in the UK, i find it a wonderful bourbon, and not too bad at around £40 a bottle.

W.L. Weller, a brand made by the same distillery that makes Buffalo Trace and Eagle Rare, is VERY good. I reviewed it here: alcoholreviews.com/wp/

out of all the bourbons ive tried , eagle rare is brobably still my favourite and only about £30 a bottle. two others i really like are four roses single barrel, which jim murray rates highly. also you wont go wrong with rowans creek 12yo

I have just recently started to explore the wonderful world of bourbons. I have not tasted that many but the ones i had is great.. Makers Mark, Elijah Craig 12y, Bulleit.. I still have Blantons Gold on my shelf but have yet not tasted it.

I've only tried a few but so far Maker's Mark is my favorite.

Noah's Mill is excellent. I recommend it if you can find it. Another that's good but not cheap is Bowmans made by Virginia Gentleman family.

Elijah Craig 12 is an incredible bargain. So is Jim Beam Black. Pappy Van Winkle 12-year-old is probably the best value; stunningly good, but not inexpensive. Jefferson's Reserve 17-year-old is probably my overall favorite. It runs $69 in New Hampshire, much more elsewhere.

Let me also add that the little known Fighting Cock (103 proof) Bourbon made by Heaven Hill provides very good value for the price ($20-$24 per liter in the U.S.). A short review of it is at: alcoholreviews.com/wp/

Hi Lee, indeed the wonderful world of bourbon is filled with affordable gems. A lot of them have been mentioned in the strain already, however for what it's worth I would be hard pressed to live without Eagle Rare 10 yo (connosr.com/reviews/eagle-rare/…) Old Fitzgerald 12 yo, and Jim Beam Black Label (connosr.com/reviews/jim-beam/…). But I'd say in terms of price to quality ratio, Jim Beam Black Label is the real steal in that group.

Woodford Reserve is very good. Recently I bought a bottle of the new Maker's Mark 46. I have to say that I almost like it more than the original Maker's Mark. Other than that, my experience is limited.

George T Stagg!

Lordy. There is no better bourbon.

Hard to disagree with that assessment, @Wodha! However, I think @Lee was looking for something a bit more affordable than anything in the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection ; )

I haven't tasted that many, but I did enjoy the bottle of Makers Mark I had. At this moment I'm having a Jim Beam Black, it's quite smooth and surprisingly long... it reminds me of Gentleman Jack . I'd like to try Buffalo Trace, but it's nowhere to be found around here...

Buffalo Trace is in the next LCBO release, @LeBudfrumHull! Maybe it'll find its way into your possession somehow...

@dbk Best medium-priced bourbon? I'd say Wild Turkey Rare Breed.

Wild Turkey Rare Breed

@Wodha, I agree with you regarding the Rare Breed (at near cask strength however). Another remarkable bourbon in the mid range is Evan Williams Single Barrel, but at a tamer ABV. I'm planning to review both of these (EW 1998, 1999, and WTRB) one of these weeks.

I actually enjoy Straight Rye Whiskey more but of Bourbons I've had Knob Creek, Woodford Reserve and Blantons have been my favorites. I have to disagree with all the JimBeam fans. I haven't liked any Jim Beams: White, Black, Green (aka Choice), or Yellow (Rye).

@joshk, well if you like Knob Creek, you sort of do like Jim Beam too! Knob Creek is the standard Jim Beam recipe, aged nine years (one year longer than Jim Beam Black), bottled at 100 proof, and given the small batch treatment. Obviously it's a different expression, but it may have more parallels to the standard Jim Beam than you know. It might be fun to try them all in a sitting. And now that there's a Knob Creek Single Barrel (at 120 proof), you can add that to the list, too!

@dbk Yes, Knob Creek is part of Jim Beams small batch collection along with Basil Hadens, Bakers and Bookers. However I think you use different barrels. My understanding is that all JimBeams (regular lines & small batch) come from 1 of 2 mashbills and it's just a difference of barrel type and age.

Yup, @joshk, Jim Beam has effectively two mashbills: the standard Jim Beam recipe that goes into JB, Knob Creek, Baker's, and Booker's; and the Old Grand Dad recipe that goes into Old Grand Dad and Basil Hayden's. However, all the barrels are effectively the same: new, charred oak barrels—otherwise, they couldn't call them all "bourbon". There are of course important differences among the Jim Beam formula bourbons in aging, ABV, filtering (Booker's is unfiltered, for instance), and I'm not pretending that they're all the same. I'm just pointing out that if you like Knob Creek, you might well find some virtues of JB (especially the Black label) on another sitting.

My favorites: Rye mashbill: George T. Stagg (the Ne Plus Ultra); Wheated mashbill, Light mood: Pappy Van Winkle 15 yr old, what I call " the champagne of bourbons"; wheated mashbill, High Test Flavor: William Larue Weller. Favorite Rye Whiskey: Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye. Next tier: All Willett Bourbons, all other Van Winkle products (except the 90 proof version of the 10 yr old Old Rip van Winkle), Booker's, Basil Hayden's, Evan Williams Single Barrel, Pure Kentucky XO, Old Ezra 7 yr or single barrel, Fighting Cock, Bulleit, Eagle Rare 10 yr., and, for a really robust kick in the face without civilized 'finish', Old Grand Dad 114. Cheaper bourbons which are still quite good include, for me: Johnny Drum and Ezra Brooks. It is a long list, but I like a lot of bourbons.