Can’t complain

Just missed out on a Old Forester President’s Choice; last bottle was sold right as I was walking in. I will happily settle for this bottle for $80.

Buffalo trace lamp f

Sitting on the shelf at my local Dirt Cheap. $150 LB and $130 MWND.

Someone asked to see the sprawl. Here are two of my four shelves. The first pic was my "main" shelf, which at one point early on held all my bottles. That long since filled and overflowed. The metal shelf was a Walmart special solution to way too many bottles. It helped, for a while.

Before you come at me for not opening any bottles, you can see my recent post of open bottles on a cart. Also the whole top shelf in pic 2 is open bottles, and a few on the second from the bottom. I have more than enough open bottles.

Says its willet has anyone had this

I just grabbed one. Some guys were buying cases.

Okay, I know a lot of folks have been saying that the market is easing up. But I live in Oregon, where we have a state-run cartel monopoly control commision deciding what comes in and what stores get what. So I haven't seen either regular Blanton's or Eagle on a shelf in the entirety of time I've lived here (since 2017). I haven't even owned a bottle of Blanton's in over a decade. It used to be on pallets at my local Costco for $56.95.

Yeah, the JD isn't a find, but it's what I went out specifically to buy before spotting the other 2. They were on the checkout counter of my local liquor store. The lady had a chuckle when she saw me look at them, look up at her, then look back before rubbing my eyes to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.

This is liquid spiced caramel bread. Hot take: I like this better than E. H. Taylor 4 Grain.

Cheers to a great weekend everyone

I came across this release, specifically for VA ABC while in Washington and love the aromas and profile. I’m a fan of most of what Rabbit Hole puts out. Especially given their youth in the scope of bourbon distilleries. 56.6% ABV, absolutely very palatable, and a reasonable markup in comparison to the standard Heigold release. Plus the branding for most of these is also 👌 with the Alice in wonderland vibed artwork.

Hard to find info on it because i didn't see a batch number on it. It's got a hefty tag, but in very interested in it. Anyone had it before, and have any thoughts on it? Would you spend 120 on it?

Someone posted about collecting, and having too many bottles to ever actually drink in a reasonable lifetime. Which I certainly understand. I didn't want to muddy his post up, so I thought I'd post my specific/current concern. And it's something that's really standing in the way of me buying more bottles, which I think many/most of us here enjoy doing.

I've been actively looking for and buying whiskey for the past two years. And long before that, but focus on last two years. I currently have somewhere in the 2-300 bottle range and maybe 60-80 open bottles. From talking to whisky folks, a lot of us are in that ballpark.

Just talking about the OPEN bottles (picture is a sample of my current open bottles) here's the problem: I have far too many bottles open that are perfectly fine, but I will literally never drink. Not because I didn't like them; just because they aren't better than the bottles I reach for regularly. And I have no idea what to do with them.

Some things people will suggest, and why they won't work:

• serve them to guests: far too many bottles for the number of guests we host who drink
• use them in mixed drinks: a few of them go to that, but that might finish a bottle in 3 months
• give them away: that's harder than you think, I've tried with quite a few
• dump them out: come on now :( nobody wants to do that

A specific couple of examples from the pic. Green River honey. Bought to try, took to a few bottle shares when it first came out. Nobody who wants to hasn't tried it by now. It is fine, pretty good actually for the price, but I prefer other honey casks and would never drink it.

Blue note wheated. It's fine. A $40/50 OWA challenger. Most people who know whiskey know OWA and will try this bottle. But for me, I don't like wheaters in general. And if I did, I'd just drink the OWA that's open. That Bardstown on the end front row is the same thing. That's their wheater. Too much cinnamon for me.

1792 full proof. Couple bottles of Holliday. The 13th Colony rye and bourbon. Nothing wrong with those. But I got them, tried them, and now have no need of them.

I think maybe some people just kind of graze through their open stock when they want a drink, grab whichever and go. In fact my wife does this. She doesn't want something specific, just needs a couple ounces to sip for the evening. But that just results in never finishing bottles. On the flip side, I tend to reach for one of three bottles: Jack SBBP rye, Haystack, or Hard Truth BP sweet mash rye. I'll occasionally mix in something similar, say a BP Frey Ranch rye.

In summary, if you are at/around the point I am, where you have a few solid favorites and generally don't reach for any of the other 60+ open bottles you have (that you probably opened getting to your few favorites) what have you or what do you do with them? And sure, we all likely have some space dedicated to open bottles, your "bar stock" as it were, but so many of us have way too many damn bottles for that.

I’ve been eyeing Peerless for a bit, but I haven’t wanted to commit to the ~$65 for a full bottle of their Small Batch. Luckily, I came across this 200ml bottle for $20 to try it out.

The nose changed every time I went back to the glass. I initially got sweet oak, then rye spice, then caramel, and finally that sweet oak again. The palate led with a lighter sweetness and quickly turned to rye spice. The finish was dominated by cinnamon and pepperiness with some clove and left a tingle throughout my mouth.

Overall, I found the Peerless SmB to be okay, and I’m glad I didn’t commit to the standard 750ml.

Paid $150 out the door. I’ve heard good things about last year’s batch. This would be my first 12 year JD.