A 1/4 glass of Marker's or Eagle Rare and a cube of ice makes the world go round. Haven't bothered with any special release stuff, should pick a few up though since it pretty much never goes bad.

I never mix it, just one cube of ice, let it breath for a minute or 2 and slowly enjoy. Great for sipping on after a long day at work. I'm more of a wine drinker but every once in a while nothing beats a nice glass of bourbon.

When you order woodford reserve at a restaurant you get screwed everytime. Good bourbon, not that for that price though.

I grew up in the bourbon belt of KY and got pretty spoiled on everything being available. Went back for a weekend trip recently and visited a few distilleries.

Castle & Key is going to be one to watch for down the road. Really cool historic place with the first woman master distiller in the region and she's only 31.

You know you are in Bardstown when the bars have 3 wine choices, 5 beers on tap, and over 100 bourbon choices everywhere you go.

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It all changed when a few distilleries were smart enough to make a collectable product. I know people that have more in bourbon then I do in pinball. They buy 50 bottles plus most years of everything limited that they can find. Most drink about 1/100 of what they collect and are sitting on a few thousand bottles in some cases. Beer has really gotten into the special release small batch market also.

For me Elijah Craig, Four Rose's small batch or single barrel, or willett rowan's creek are all affordable and readily available and 4 of my favorites. So I dont worry much about collecting or special release stuff. I'm lucky enough to be able to try most of them at friends houses without waiting in lines or spending money. I waste enough on wine, got to pick my vices.

The small batch no longer carries an age stamp. It's a blended 8-12 year bourbon now. Heaven Hill wanted to have more available since the brand exploded and the supply of 12 year barrels is limited. I was pretty pissed when they announced this but honestly I haven't been able to tell a real difference in the taste yet. I assume you are talking about the 18 single barrel EC. It was out of production for almost 3 years but had a large release late 2017. It will have a black line label towards the bottom of the bottle. A few places around here held some cases and have been releasing them periodically through out the year. You can still get them but you may have to pay a premium. I got one from my local store but they had a 1 per person allotment. It really s incredible stuff.

I've seen it several times in KY but not in TN for a bit. I could have just missed it though as the bourbon isles have gotten so huge. I swear there's 6 new labels every time I look.

Whysnow if you are looking for a bottle I can pick one up next week when I'm visiting family in KY. I haven't paid attention to see if the 23 year is available now or not. I'm usually cheap and just buy the small batch (what used to be the 12). But I know I an get the 18 there no problem.

Well affordability kind of went out the window with the last shortage. I think I paid $129 for my bottle when it was released in 2017. I've seen it on shelves in KY still but I believe it was $169.99 or something like that. Happy to grab you one and ship at cost.

There's a lot of truth to that. A $200 bottle of bourbon goes a lot further then a $200 bottle of wine. Well unless you are that one cousin of mine that drink's a fifth every night. No kidding a full fifth damn near every night. Been doing that off an on, mostly on, for 35 years. Baffles me how he even functions but he never misses a day of work.

He's more of a get in his truck at work, fill up about 8 ounces in a cup for the drive home, polish off the bottle in the next 2 hrs kind of guy. You will always have a nice rosy nose and cheeks and do a lot of sweating if you go that route. Your waist line will also take an unrepairable hit lol. Good dude with a heart of gold, just has a real drinking problem.

If I can find one I'll grab it for you.

You're paying for a Buffalo Trace premium product. I'm sure it is different then in the 90's. Back then four Rose's was contract distilling their brand in Canada and it was awful. Buffalo Trace selects based on taste and ages accordingly. It's still a premium very good product. Not my favorite or worth the money for me but it's a really good bourbon.

Sipping on one of my favorite cheap bourbons. Made by some really nice people at a small family ran distillery. Willett has a really interesting history and for a cheap bourbon they really deliver.

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Last year it was just a matter of being at the right place at release. But 12 year was typically $89. You just had to be lined up an hr or more before the store opened to get it. The older varieties go for $269 or more in some cases. $900 is crazy for a 12 year, it's a solid bourbon but nothing special in my opinion.

Pappy 15 year typically goes for a touch more then then what a Handjee does. You can pick up 2018 Handjee for $400 no problem and in some cases $350 or so. The prices always fall before they start going back up. If you hold it for 3 years it should be worth $550-$750. Personally I'd rather have a solid $150 bottle of bourbon and keep the Handjee.

It's pretty hard just to get tickets most years. Generally 1 or 2 of the variants end up bringing that type of money but the variants are randomly distributed so you are more likely to get one worth $150 instead. To get tickets you have to be online with multiple systems trying to get through the que. Internet speed is critical.

Gotta to do what's best for you. If you want to trade it for something really good I'd set on it 2 years as it will go up 50% or more. I'm with you on the chemtrailmix, it was great this year, lounge against the machromachine was my favorite for 2018. Lounge, chemtrail, hung, and handgee in that order for my preference.