On 12/3/2016 at 11:59 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:Since it wasn't clear, according to the Times article, $2400 was for 13 year old Pappy van Winkle's. Me, I must make do with Whistlepig.
If somebody really wanted to cough up $2400 for my PVWFRR bottles then I might have to think about it!
At retail, which you can't buy it for unless you know someone in the industry who is feeling incredibly generous, it is still listed at around $100 (all the Van Winkle is still priced at a retail cost that has changed relatively little. And it is now at least partly (and possibly mostly) made by Buffalo Trace anyway. Although there is some confusion about what is really in this years "Z" bottling. It has some of the original old tanked whiskey but I don't think it is clear if it is ALL tanked whiskey or if it is blended with BT made whiskey. Oh well, not that it matters. I haven't seen one for purchase at a price I would pay for several years now.
On 12/4/2016 at 1:52 AM, FrogPrincesse said:Here is a link to the article.
I agree with Michter's and Bulleit being better than Rittenhouse for sipping. However Rittenhouse is great in cocktails (I prefer it to Bulleit, for sure), plus it's reasonably priced, so it definitely has a spot in my home bar. I tried Few for the first time a few weeks ago and felt that it had an unusual flavor profile, but was very good too. I had Knob Creek once or twice but never on its own, so I can't really rate it in relationship to the others, but it makes a great Manhattan. What I note is that all their selections vary between 2 and 3 stars, so it's not much of a spread. Nothing got the maximum of 4 stars, maybe because the tasting focused on "young ryes". They mention Redemption and Dickel; it'd be interesting to know what else they tried in the tasting that didn't make the top 10...
I would be curious to know what they tried but didn't make the top ten as well. (ri)1 is a real oddity to me. It was an attempt by Beam a few years ago to create a "premium rye" that largely seemed to fall flat. I wasn't even aware they were still making it. And there is no Wild Turkey 101 here either. Is that really worse than (ri)1, Bulleit or some of the small distiller stuff?
Other MGPs include the much derided Templeton, Smooth Ambler (although it tends to be older) and Willett, both their own make and the one they source (or used to source?) from MGP. I am not all that surprised the Knob Creek won, it was probably the oldest of the bunch, at least that they mention, by at least a couple of years (maybe 6 or so years old).
I also think those prices might reflect a NYC cost to some degree.
