Fifth Avenue Forum

Elijah Craig toasted is on shelves today

Does it seem like the PA state stores are doing more barrel picks these days? I picked up single barrel barrel picks from both Knob Creek and Rebel.

Placed a special order for what I hope should be some better apricot and cherry liqueurs from Luxardo. The only Luxardo product the state stores regularly carry is their maraschino. Also ordered what I hope is a better crème de cassis. The only one of those the state stores carry is Jacquins.

I got in the special order I placed from the PLCB. IMO, the Luxardo cherry liqueur is both way better than the cherry schnapps I've been using and way better than Heering, which I personally don't like. Heering just plain reminds me of cough syrup. The Luxardo cherry liqueur tastes like concentrated cocktail cherry. The Luxardo apricot liqueur is also way better than the cheap-ass Jacquins apricot brandy I've been using in my Pendennis Club cocktails, which is the only apricot anything that's a standard item in state stores.

So my wife got fancy ginger ale. Cool. I have 3 bottles of Buffalo Trace I brought back from Tennessee. Cool. Fresh lemon. Cool.

Good ingredients make a huge difference. Simple, but feeling really good right now.

I can only imagine you're drinking the Buffalo Trace straight while staring at the lemons and ginger ale?

Had some Don Julio 1942 respado. It was good but no where close to the hype.

I can only imagine you're drinking the Buffalo Trace straight while staring at the lemons and ginger ale?

Had a sipper neat to start, but about half way thru...

I wouldn’t have an issue mixing Buffalo trace. Actually like it better mixed than straight.

I can only imagine you're drinking the Buffalo Trace straight while staring at the lemons and ginger ale?

Had a sipper neat to start, but about half way thru...

Have a buddy that works for Sazerac, he’s the type that wines and dines clients. Has a collection of over 200 bourbons. He said Trace is fine but it’s not world beating or anything. It’s just hard to get where we live. That being said, I’ve had it and it’s enjoyable.

Shame I can’t find a better quality version of this. I tried the cold water technique he goes over and it did change how I tasted the whiskey/bourbon.

Had some Don Julio 1942 respado. It was good but no where close to the hype.

The expensive ****? Because that's actually an añejo. I've never had it. The reviews I've read have generally been very favorable but I've seen a lot of tequila snobs consider it to be too sweet and having aged too much of the agave flavor away, which plenty of claims that it uses the dreaded additives.

Correct way to drink whiskey: however you enjoy it most.

Wrong way to drink whiskey: there isn’t one except to excess.

Had some Don Julio 1942 respado. It was good but no where close to the hype.

The expensive ****? Because that's actually an añejo. I've never had it. The reviews I've read have generally been very favorable but I've seen a lot of tequila snobs consider it to be too sweet and having aged too much of the agave flavor away, which plenty of claims that it uses the dreaded additives.

Double checked. It’s 1942 Rosado. My fault here. It’s aged in wine casks.

Correct way to drink whiskey: however you enjoy it most.

Wrong way to drink whiskey: there isn’t one except to excess.

That guy is apparently a big deal in the whiskey community. I have no real idea though. I just found it funny/intriguing.

Yeah, I’m definitely of the school of drink it how you want. I have some bourbons that I’m not crazy about on their own, so I mix. Others I love with a big cube. Others I’ll pour over smaller cubes to let it soften some.

Had some Don Julio 1942 respado. It was good but no where close to the hype.

The expensive ****? Because that's actually an añejo. I've never had it. The reviews I've read have generally been very favorable but I've seen a lot of tequila snobs consider it to be too sweet and having aged too much of the agave flavor away, which plenty of claims that it uses the dreaded additives.

Double checked. It’s 1942 Rosado. My fault here. It’s aged in wine casks.

Ahhh gimmicky ****. I saw that reviewed as the worst thing to ever get a Don Julio label lol

Buffalo trace is a joke. I don't know what people are thinking. I mean other than it's $35 dollar stuff at $30 or whatever

BT is hard to find only because people who don't know better somehow think that because the same distillery produces stuff like Pappy and George T. Stagg, then the regular ~$30 Buffalo Trace must be a "baby" version of those whiskies and taste the same. Which is totally stupid, because if the juice in a barrel tastes good enough to be sold as George T. Stagg, it will be sold as George T. Stagg.

The regular BT is a perfectly fine whiskey and I like it quite a lot, but it's not substantially any better than Knob Creek, Russel's Reserve, Elijah Craig, Maker's Mark, Four Roses Small Batch, or the many other bourbons around the same price point. The whole reason the large US distilleries offer so many different brands at different price points is so they can sell each barrel of juice at the best price point for how good it ended up tasting. For the Buffalo Trace Distillery low-rye masbilll, a barrel that doesn't taste good enough to be Stagg will be sold as Eagle Rare or E.H. Taylor, a barrel that doesn't taste good enough to be Eagle Rare or E.H. Taylor will be sold as Buffalo Trace, and a barrel that doesn't taste good enough to be Buffalo Trace will be sold as Benchmark. For the high-rye mashbill, a barrel that doesn't taste good enough to be Elmer T. Lee will be sold as Blanton's, and a a barrel that doesn't taste good enough to be Blanton's will be sold as Ancient Age. There's a similar hierarchy for the wheated mashbill with Rip Van Winkle at the top and the various Weller's at the bottom.

went to mclaughlin distillery yesterday in sewickley to use a gift card. for those unaware, it is located immediately to the east on the mt nebo exit off 79 (first turn on the right heading east on mt nebo towards sewickley). the baby barrell bourbon is quite tasty and significantly better than antyhing that wigle has to offer. its 99 bucks but they run deals on it

west not east. come on man. you are going to be sending the good people of 5af to a sheetz and not a distillery

derp. thank you

Hit this place up today. Got a bottle of the baby barrel for my kid for Christmas (I'm not a bourbon guy), a bottle of cranberry moonshine and one of the creamy limoncello. Good stuff!

My brothers and I usually bring a bottle of bourbon or whiskey to Thanksgiving. I dropped the ball this year what’s something good in the state stores I can grab this week?

Bourbon
Irish Whiskey
Whatever

Bulleit Frontier Bourbon

Smoke Wagon. Is that available up there?

How much do you want to spend? My recommendations at rough price points:

$25 - Wild Turkey 101 or Old Grand Dad Bottled in Bond
$35 - Knob Creek or Maker's Mark 46
$45 - Wild Turkey Rare Breed or Russell's Reserve 10 Year or Four Roses Single Barrel
$55 - Old Forester 1920 Prohibition Style
$65 - Woodford Reserve Double Oaked