Hey @daditude, are you part of the Dallas Bourbon Club? They do some pretty cool barrel picks. I saw this picture posted on their Instagram the other day.

Did the Dallas Bourbon Club borrow this picture? Or ...

Cool. Normally, people post their own bottles that they drink or attribute a picture if not their own to the source. Dusty Turkeys are fairly collectible right now and did not know if you were collecting them or not. My buddy Chisox has a pretty good collection of dusties and is a good source of info if folks have questions on them.

Here is a great Manhattan for proper villains everywhere. No barely ryes here.

4 oz Piggyback
2 oz sweet vermouth
Dashes of your favorite bitters

Gently roll (no shaking) in a shaker with ice. Amp it up with smoked ice.

Pour into a proper rocks glass. I prefer A Norlan Rawk. Garnish if you like.

Enjoy.

CB20229F-79EE-4476-A3C4-82EC3AF87ACF (resized).jpeg

My buddy Fulltilt went full villain here with a tremendous Manhattan. I decided to kick it up to Thanos level. I present to you: The Boss Carter Manhattan. I don’t even want to think how much this would cost in a bar. It is quite exquisite.

Recipe. Follow the principles above with the following: 2 oz Boss Hog, 2 oz Old Carter, 1 oz rye, dashes of bitters. Rock, don’t shake, in a shaker. Pour in a Rawk glass. Blast Sympathy for the Devil and laugh maniacally

38591654-F28B-4BBB-91FF-5D330C6932E2 (resized).jpeg

Having a nice pour of Peerless while I plan out my month. Oldschool that way. I like Peerless a good amount. It is pretty tasty!
11BECF62-1B13-4EEA-B866-8E68D42D1802 (resized).jpeg

Old Overholt is a sorry excuse for a rye. It is thin, watery, underproofed, and has few if any redeeming qualities except for price. Ryes should be either spicy or dill, not flat and milquetoast. It does not even make a passable Manhattan.

Hard pass.

If you want a decent budget rye, look at Buleit, Rittenhouse, or Old Forester. I wouldn’t sip on any of them neat, but at least they will make a serviceable cocktail.

Now I’d you are willing to spend more, you can get into a lot of fun with rye.

Piggyback was distilled to be a mixing rye. It is pretty darn good by itself, but is fantastic in a Manhattan or an Old Fashion. This is what I prefer for rye cocktails. If you do any smoked cocktails it really picks up the smoked flavor nicely.

Give Whistle Pig a try. Most of their distillate is Canadian, but a fair amount comes from MGP in Indiana, which is the source for most of the ryes on the market today. Only a few ryes are actually distilled in Kentucky, due to the climate. My home state of Maryland was a big producer of ryes, and is beginning to turn out ryes again. To get started though, they are using MGP while their distillate matures. Should have some local MD ryes this summer/fall.

As for price, that is always subjective, but I can definitely tell a difference between bottom shelf ryes, good pours in the $50 range, and then your higher end ryes. They tend to have a higher level of complexity in their flavors compared to others. Due to the higher production costs of ryes, the better stuff does tend to be higher.

I might know where a Boss Hog III exists...

Have tried both. Don't like either. This is coming from a big Beam fan as well. They use a barely rye mash bill which at the end of the day just does not have enough rye notes for me compared to the MGP recipes which are 95% rye or WP which is a 100%. The Bonded is a little better, but nothing interesting.

Here's a good article about the history of Old Overholt. https://www.whiskyadvocate.com/true-story-old-overholt-rye/#:~:text=Once%20a%20rye-heavy%2C%20100-proof%2C%20bottled-in-bond%20dynamo%2C%20Old%20Overholt,recent%20years%2C%20Old%20Overholt%20is%20actually%20doing%20well.

Finishing out my basement and just got my liquor cabinet in. Say hello to The Vault. 4 ft tall, 4 ft across, 2 ft deep of industrial storage. Not a single Buffalo Trace product to be found.

1A396359-D3A8-4F90-869E-E94B8CAC3EEC (resized).jpeg

10140F23-62F3-4DB9-A814-7BA4DF2BB706 (resized).jpeg

FC1F66F2-8F65-4973-AC99-AEA989EA2657 (resized).jpeg

Hey Chisox we miss you over at that place. You need to come visit us.

CrabFest Bitches! No cameras allowed due to the salt. No cell service either due to international waters.

I might have a special bottle of Booker's that I have squirreled away for the past 5 years to share with everybody at CrabFest. It has a nice green label on it...

Just to clarify what PinDeLaPin was talking about we will have a special performance by Annapolis' own Jimmies Chicken Shack here by the pool for the welcome reception and Manhattan fountain. Also, I have finalized the CrabFest '21 logo and Sweatsedo is hooking us up. You can get it in the Beerfest Red, White and Blue, or the ultra-limited DooDoo Brown (my favorite).

Doo_Doo_Brown_Suit_full_frontside_compact (resized).jpg

Not yet but soon. Will let the team know.

I don't even like Weller and I thought it was great. Let's see if the other pick come through.

True. I just want people to be surprised by what we were able to pull off. For everybody I will give two hints: it is not Weller and not what you would expect.

Damn this thread has become boring. I know a lot of us moved to Discord but I would have thought people would have risen to the occasion and posted some interesting pours. Love @pindelapin’s Smoke Wagon collection. Truly a great pour. For those that know the story I give you Smoke Wagon’s bigger, older brother: Old Carter. Bottle 3 of 163, and this batch is only found around here in DC. Skol!

81BAFD5D-704C-4783-863E-8F9FE1E9C862 (resized).jpeg

Frozen margaritas are legit as well!

Rather have freeze pops and umbrella drinks compared to half the rotgut posted in here.

If you know, you know.

C5DCB866-70A1-412B-BAD8-0D2C2DDFC5A9 (resized).jpeg

Eh, it is just Blanton’s. Not like it is a good bourbon. You do you, though.