New Booker’s Bourbon Design Coming

This past year Jim Beam released Booker’s 25th Anniversary Bourbon which may have been my favorite bottle, based on design, of the year (it helped that it tasted excellent too). Now, they’ve taken a cue from themselves and add more detail to the regular Booker’s bottle. According to the TTB filing there will be 16 different stickers. Each with its own nostalgic or historic meaning. It’s similar to the different Blanton’s toppers and obviously I will try to collect each of them. read more

The Bourbonr Blog Turns 1 Today!

Exactly one year ago today the first post went up on the Bourbonr Blog. It was a guest post by Clay Risen of the New York Times and Mash Notes.

It has been a great year and while I never received any higher than a C in English (I’m sure you’ve figured that out if you’ve read some of my post) writing for the blog has been a lot of fun. I hope you all have enjoyed them as well. To celebrate I will be pouring a tall glass of Old Forester Birthday Bourbon! read more

Bourbonr NEAT Whiskey/Bourbon Glasses

I’ve had a lot of people ask about Bourbonr glasses and they’re finally here! Thanks to our friend at Etched Laser Art that hooked us up with a great deal. Each NEAT glass has an etched Bourbonr logo in the bottom so you can proudly show it off with each sip.

I’ve taken $5 off of the price if you buy before Friday, August the 22nd. After that the price goes back up. I know what you’re thinking, this is a great deal. But wait, there’s more. If you purchase two or more glasses you will be entered in to a drawing to win Morgan Murphy’s new book “Southern Living Bourbon & Bacon: The Ultimate Guide to the South’s Favorite Foods” before it hits store shelves. read more

Inaugural Bourbon Address

Inspired by the state of the union address and on the cusp of the best time of year for bourbon drinkers (fall releases) I thought it’d be cool to do a state of bourbon address.  That’s not to say that I’m the president of bourbon. But rather, a perceptive bourbon blogger that reads way too much whiskey news, forums, blogs, etc. My goal is to take a snapshot of the bourbon world and highlight some of the current trends and happenings. read more

John Wayne’s Whiskey Reviewed

Back Story* of Duke Bourbon:

Using his well-known moniker “The Duke”, Monument Valley Distillers of California has released DUKE Kentucky Straight Bourbon.  Hand-crafted to match a bottle of Wayne’s favorite bourbon from the early 60’s in his private collection, various small batches were meticulously blended to create the flavors and aromas preferred by the Duke, then aged in heavily charred American oak barrels. read more

Smooth Ambler Distillery

Recently, Non Distiller Producers (NDP’s) have received a lot of attention for their shady bottle labels and lack of transparency. Instead of focusing on which distilleries/brands are doing it wrong I thought it’d be great to highlight some of the distilleries that are doing things right. This will be the first in a series I’m titling “Whiskey the Right Way” read more

More Elijah Craig Barrel Proof on the Way

Heaven Hill announced that they will continue their release of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof in to 2015. No word from Heaven Hill on what the proof will be for the September or January release (release #6 & #7).

Heaven Hill plans on beginning shipments of the third and final dump of 2014 in September, and will release the first edition of 2015 in January. read more

Distillery Breakdown by Mash Bill – Four Roses

This is the fourth  distillery breakdown by mash bill (see Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill and Jim Beam) I’ve done on the Bourbonr Blog. Initially, I thought Four Roses would be a simple breakdown. Four Roses has only 2 mash bills whereas, most distilleries have 2-5 bourbon mash bills plus a rye whiskey mash bill. The difficult (and interesting) part of Four Roses is while they only have 2 mash bills they incorporate 5 proprietary strands of yeast to create a total of 10 unique recipes. read more

The Forgotten Bottles of Bourbon

Several weeks ago I wrote about What Will Kill the Bourbon Boom on the blog which sparked a lot of great bourbon discussion. In the article I mentioned how the increase in premium bourbons over the last 10 years has affected the bourbon industry. However, one unintended consequence of a growing premium market is the blatant disregard for great bourbon that is already on the shelf. Bourbonr’s (myself included) spend so much time hunting down the Four Roses Limited editions we stop buying the regular Four Roses Small batch or Single Barrel. We spend so much money on Pappy and Stagg there’s no more room in our bourbon budget for Evan Williams Single Barrel or Elijah Craig 12 year. The last 10 bottles I’ve purchased have either been limited edition, dusty or private barrel selections. Basically, the only time I reach for a “regular” bottle at the store is when I know I have friends coming over that I don’t want to share good bottles with. read more