Blammo!
Unfiltered and Uncut always makes me mentally jump to Booker’s (side note a 25 year anniversary bottle is on the horizon). This time it’s time to brand another domestic great, Rye.
With all the small batch bourbons with 95 year heritage that somehow just found the shelf 2 years ago (how again is it possible to open a distillery and bottle 4 year bourbon in 1 year? Right, LDI), I really enjoy taking a family break and pouring rye.
This just might be my favorite brown in a loooong time. It hits all my favorite taste spots heat, spice, and color. The info suggests this matured at Warehouse K over at Buffalo Trace. Warehouse K is a brick warehouse built in 1933 with wooden floors. There are nine floors total in Warehouse K and barrels are stored three high in the ricks. It is considered a good warehouse for different ages of bourbons. It has good air flow, with the first floor being cool and damp for slow aging and the top floor being hot and dry, which ages young barrels more quickly. This is also where the Buffalo Trace Experimental series is aged.
The sip here was a loan (gift?) from a friend closer to KY than I am and I suspect proximity influences availability. Here in Chicago my local outlet gets one bottle a year and it’s a raffle. I’ve seen these go for hundreds and thousands online and I will tell you that it is not worth it. That’s right, even the whiskey I called “favorite brown” isn’t worth that kind of money. If you have $1200 to spend on single bottle of whiskey, you’re an asshole. You should take $250, buy booze and take $950 and donate it to a food depository. Spending that kind of money on liquor fucks up the market and legitimizes the gouging that is going on as the bubble of popular whiskey grows and grows. If you can buy a glass for $125, fine do that. To spend much more is selfish and teaches a lesson that devalues mankind (not Mick Foley).
On a happy note, I also had some pappy 12 that will be reviewed when I can find my ladder to climb down from my high horse.
More about Sazerac at their hubs:
Special thanks to Brent Joseph, owner of King David Dogs Indianapolis: