Bourbon whiskey and its renaissance

Not to derail this thread, but I must apologize for my negative comments above regarding Angostura bitters. It turns out I didn’t pay enough attention to the logo when buying them. Now that I have the real Angostura Aromatic bitters, I can definitely say I love them. Also, avoid the Hemmeter ones from Germany.

Can I get an address for Batiao? my google-fu is lacking :frowning:

八條酒庫
104, Taipei City, Zhongshan District, Lane 133, Linsen North Road, 41號

Just about to head over there for some Christmas cheer.

Finally made it, that’s a real store. Friendly too.

Sweeet. what did you pick up?

Couple of bottles of Wild Turkey 101. The guy kept pulling out bottles for me to look at, I was tempted. Next time.

Oh yeah, I’d forgotten about those Hemmeter ones. Forgot where I tried them, but I remember them as awful. They make a bad orange bitters too.

I wonder if they’re even designed for cocktails or if they’re for something else. Maybe they’re meant for settling the stomach after a meal. Germans seem big on that.

I have put in a few more requests here and there for some more variety of product. We shall see how things go. As it is the holiday season stateside, I don’t expect any feedback for a bit.

Specifically I asked the Beam importer to import Old Grand Dad 114, Very Old Barton Bottled in Bond from the Barton importer and the following from Drinks.com (The Heaven Hill Importer) with the desription:

  1. Larceny- A Bourbon with wheat as the flavoring grain (rather than rye, which is normal). It makes for a smoother more caramel taste which I think would be popular in Sherry loving Taiwan. This has no age statement but is thought to be aged 6-8 years with some older Bourbon mingled in. A new line for Heaven Hill and very well regarded.

  2. Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond- also a wheated Bourbon, but at a higher proof and aged at least 4 years. Likely to be cheaper than Larceny.

  3. Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond 6 Year Old- A very good high value Bourbon. Also well regarded among enthusiast. Similar to the Evan Williams Bottled in Bond, but a year or two older.

  4. Berheim- A wheat whisky. It is now much cheaper than when it was launched a few years ago. I think it could retail around 1000nt rather than the ~3000nt price it had before. It is also said to be improved and now age stated 7 years old (before it was not aged stated).

  5. Parker Heritage- The super premium limited edition line. I do not know if it is still available though.

  6. Evan Williams Single Barrel- I know it was sold before. Was it popular?

  7. There is also an Export Only Evan Williams Red 12 Year old and Export Only Evan Williams Burgundy 15 Year Old that can be considered. I do not know much about them, they seems to be available in Japan.

  8. Rittenhouse Rye- A 50% alcohol Rye that is very popular and delicious. It would be popular among the Peat loving crowd as it has high flavor.

Maybe I will get some bites? Who knows

Has anyone tried the Canadian Blended Rye that is sold in the little bottle in 7-11? For some reason I am a bit loathe to try it.

Tried it a couple of times. Only thing I got from it was “alcohol”

They’ve been selling that forever. bit loathe too :slight_smile:

[quote=“papercut”]

  1. Larceny- A Bourbon with wheat as the flavoring grain (rather than rye, which is normal). It makes for a smoother more caramel taste which I think would be popular in Sherry loving Taiwan. This has no age statement but is thought to be aged 6-8 years with some older Bourbon mingled in. A new line for Heaven Hill and very well regarded. [/quote]

Maker’s Mark is heavily wheated, right? No rye at all.

[quote=“papercut”]
8. Rittenhouse Rye- A 50% alcohol Rye that is very popular and delicious. It would be popular among the Peat loving crowd as it has high flavor.

Maybe I will get some bites? Who knows[/quote]

That Rittenhouse is great. Still my favourite whiskey.

As you probably know, Canadian ‘rye’ is not ‘rye’ at all. It’s grain alcohol with, maybe, 15% rye added.

The Heaven Hill Line in Drinks.com is pretty much sold out. I think the bonded is all they have left. It seems 100 proof is a bit too much for the local market. Get it while you can, I doubt they will order that product again.

Cheers

I don’t know what happened but there is tons of groovy bourbon at various cocktail bars around Taipei. I enjoyed a few stiff Rare Breeds a few weeks back and they were great!

This is now sold at the convenience stores. Smoother than Jim Beam, but not all that different imo.
IMG_20190213_185607

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Looks suspiciously light colored. Has someone been watering your booze down?

Bright light?

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MM is a wheated bourbon and that little FM bottle clocks in at 45% ABV. It has lots more wheat in its mash bill than any whiskey made by Beam.

I prefer the Makers Mark to Beam (and I think the flavor is a lot different; it’s smooth in a way that Beam’s corn-dominant mash can’t do), but it also runs something like NT$270 or 275 per 200ml while the same amount of white Beam at FM is NT$175 or 185.

Would love to find it in larger bottles. There’s also a cask strength MM that’s sold duty-free in some Asian airports. Even the duty-free is expensive. Last time I looked (Suvarnabhumi in Bangkok), a 700ml bottle of cask strength MM was around NT$1,850 or so.

I’m about halfway done. Smoother, definitely than JB. But still not the huge difference I was hoping for.

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Years ago I stopped adding ice to all brown liquor because the lower the temperature the more similar they all become imo. Now I just pour brown liquor out in a glass and add a few drops of good water. The only problem I’ve had is convincing bartenders that no, I really do not want ice in my drink, thank you very much.

Bourbon and whisky distillers have also learned that selling higher ABV whiskies gives the customer lots more control over the flavor, just by adding water.

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