I started, but stopped myself from a very VERY DRUNK POST!
Yay! Sorry that it ruins the mood… sorry…
Holidays, can’t remember the last time I was drunk on a Tuesday. Sitting back and listening to tunes on my system. Fuck I have great taste in music.
@Scuzz, @RichVR, your presence is requested, kind sirs!
@Houngan, you as well if you are of such a mood. This is a bottle from one of the barrels we purchased when we visited your fine city earlier this year.
Lantz
3247
If my memory serves @fire is a big Elijah Craig fan.
128! whoof… I assume you want a drop of water in it, yes?
Scuzz
3249
I think I will stick to my IPA and a bottle of red wine with the tri-tip I am going to grill. :)
My wife and kids are on the other side of the country, so I think I’ll fire up some yakisoba and drink too much hazy IPA. I mean that’s what you do right?
Houngan
3251
No argument, that’s the stuff right there.
Yes, for sure. Some cask strength stuff I like as-is, but this one has (IMO) a much more balanced flavor profile with a bit of water added.
Skipper
3253
Oh man that’s some good stuff. I celebrated a bit hard last night at a bar with my wife or I’d join ya. I certainly don’t have that but I do have some Woodford and Eagle Rare I’d bring to the table.
Did you do the tour for Elijah Craig in Bardstown?
We did. Since we were buying a couple of barrels, our host took us on the tour as well while we were there. Really great experience. Honestly, though, I found it a bit too corporate. I liked the experience at 1792 better, as it had a lot more of the, “Well, you’re buying a barrel, so I guess we should show you around the place,” feel to it. Drinking the white dog right out of the top of their column still was fun. That stuff’ll put hair in places that shouldn’t have hair.
Pro-tip: It’s always awesome to drink whiskey, but if you’re going to hang out in the rickhouse for a while, don’t do it in January. It was a wee bit chilly.
I suppose I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that if anyone wants a nip of that whiskey and is in, or will be visiting, the Bay Area, we have it at Cash Only (as you can see on the label):
Scuzz
3255
I knew a guy who was the winemaker on the central coast for a large winery many years ago. When the kids were little. We would visit and the kids would drink grape juice while we barrel tasted.
That sounds wonderful. It’s really great to talk to expert people about the craft they love. I aspire to be able to ask questions interesting enough they haven’t heard them 5000 times already.
Scuzz
3257
Looks like quite a place. I am down south in Clovis by the way.
Skipper
3258
So many questions. How does one buy and what does one do with a full barrel of bourbon? I worked with a guy (now retired) that bought pallets of good bourbon when they were released, though I don’t know the measurement thereof.
Skipper
3259
Okay I lied and I’m joining ya. Woodford first.
Scuzz
3260
Do you get it in the barrel or do they then bottle that up for you?
Liquor laws are weird. Big caveat that I am no expert on this and wasn’t the one handling the transactions, so grains of salt are appropriate. The distillers bottle the bourbon and send us the bottles via a distributor who gets a cut of the money for no reason I can discern other than post-prohibition liquor laws are weird and bake in middle-man profits. They also send us the barrel. If we wanted, we could empty the bottles back in and age it more. Some folks do that, I’m told. We’re currently thinking we’ll mount the end-caps on the wall as a memento and make bar tables out of the barrels or something like that.
Barrel picks are typically done as an industry thing. High volume bars, restaurants, retailers, etc. doing a branded thing. K&L wines does a ton of it, for example (almost universally really good and I highly recommend checking them out in general). Our sister bar (Haberdasher) is a great craft cocktail place and has a fantastic whisky/whiskey club where they bring in reps from various producers for tastings and such. In combination with that (and a few favors, I suspect), we were able to get on the list for Heaven Hill (who does Elijah Craig), 1792 and Buffalo Trace for barrel picks this year. We bought two barrels of EC, one each of 1792 and BT. All is available either straight or in cocktails at the bar. I also bought a few bottles of each (ok, more than a few), because I really like whiskey.
Depending on the sell rate for these, we’ll be back in KY to buy more at some point, hopefully soon.
Clovis isn’t all that far away. Ever make it to SJ?
Since I’m talking about travel to KY for bourbin, I would be remiss if I didn’t put in a good word for Neat in Louisville, which @Houngan suggested we check out while there. Absolutely top notch place I can’t wait to revisit. Truly excellent all around.
edit #3 or so: for reference, a barrel yields roughly 120 bottles. Some margin of error for the angels’ share variation.
Houngan
3262
It’s like a circle maaaan . . .Owen is up in Oregon I think, because they have hardass retail markup laws, he’s essentially bringing the good stuff back to Kentucky because it’s cheaper out there. Mazel tov, he’s getting married and we’re all heading to Mexico for a good time in January.
fire
3263
Wow hi! Your memory serves you well; Elijah Craig is still my favorite of the bourbons, and that “cash only” single barrel looks mighty fine! I don’t drink as much as I used to, since my drinking partner died a few years ago from, um, liver failure, but next time I’m having a beverage I’ll raise my glass to y’all and your fine taste. Thanks for the summon, feels good.
