Banter Rigorous testing is the norm for every Maker’s Wood Finishing Series Referring to a pair of upcoming Wood Finishing Series fall 2022 releases, Jane Bowie, the brand’s director of innovation says, “These whiskeys will be further away from our normal taste profile than before. … With what we’ve done in the past, I believe we’ve earned the trust of consumers..."
Banter The Bourbon Blues: Life with Post-Covid Anosmia When my wife tested positive for Covid in November of 2020, she bounced back from it quickly. So, when we suspected our kids might have it 10 months later, I assumed that any fight would be equally brief.
Banter Maybe it’s time to ditch the term ‘craft distillery’ If you’re a whiskey drinker who likes variety and isn’t hidebound to a single notion of what “bourbon should taste like,” then I’d love to pour you some whiskeys you probably haven’t had. Ryes and bourbons from distilleries making a 2,000 to 3,000 barrels a year—or less.
Banter Heads & Tails: “Back in the Grave” Edition In Chuck Cowdery’s early 2022 edition of his quarterly print piece, “The Bourbon Country Reader,” he says MGP should kill off the George Remus brand and find another name for the otherwise good bourbon created for that SKU.
Banter Heads & Tails: Are Single Barrels Illegal Edition That’s the growing concern at Kentucky distilleries, where thousands of whiskey fans sample whiskeys from thousands of barrels every year.
Banter Whiskey Writer, Steve Coomes, Named Editor of Bourbon & Banter Patrick “Pops” Garrett, founder of Bourbon & Banter, has appointed Steve Coomes editor for BourbonBanter.com. The global top 10 whiskey-centric website includes a podcast and virtual bourbon club for its nationwide membership.
Banter Whiskey Advent Calendar Scam Christmas is over, the New Year is here, and you may have received a whiskey advent calendar that you ordered online after seeing multiple ads. The sales were terrific, and dammit, this was just a super-cool idea! You clicked on the ad.
Banter Bourbon 101 – A Primer for Bourbon Novices If you’re new to the world of bourbon, this post is for you. This post is written with the novice-to-intermediate bourbon drinker in mind, so please read on for a primer. It is essentially a condensed and compiled list of information I was curious about at the start of my own bourbon journey.
Banter 13 Must Haves for the Perfect Bourbon Bar When the Urban Bourbon Trail was created in Louisville, Ky., in 2008, member bars were required to list at least 50 bourbons. Is 2021, does 50 sound like too few to have at a dedicated bourbon bar? I don’t think so. Then what is the ideal number?
Banter Buffalo Trace 2021 George T. Stagg Non-Release Review Every year, I wait longingly for the release of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, praying to snag just one bottle. This set of five ultra premium, highly prized whiskeys from Buffalo Trace garners a wild-eyed, cash-throwing frenzy from bourbon collectors and flippers alike.
Banter Top 5 Most Overrated Bourbons Top 5 Most Overrated Bourbons – Now that Bourbon Heritage Month is in the rearview mirror, the fall release season will be picking up steam and we are sure to see email announcements, raffles, charity auctions, and lawn chair tater lines wrapped around liquor stores across this great land.
Banter Bottled In Bullshit A whiskey using a new barrel aging concept has taken double gold at the International World Whiskey Awards. Smith and Johnson’s Small Batch Bourbon took home double gold in the bourbon category and was named “Best Overall Whiskey” in the Small Batch American Whiskey category.
Banter Bourbon Food Pairing 101 Want to make your bourbon taste even better—without spending a penny more on it? Do that by pairing bourbon with food. Wine’s gotten the food-pairing nod for centuries, and for good reason: It’s made for food. But bourbon—any good whiskey, really—is worthy of the same role. Trust me.
Banter Join Us for the 2021 30 Days Of Bourbon Challenge The rules are pretty simple: This is a Bourbon challenge. No Rye, Scotch, Irish, Indian, Taiwanese, Canadian, Japanese, Australian, yadda, yadda, yadda. If it ain’t Bourbon, it doesn’t count.
Banter Heaven’s Door Master Blenders’ Edition Redbreast Collaboration Review I’m someone who likes to try new things and enjoys seeing the results of experimentation. Because of that, I very well may have been curious enough to try this even at it’s steep price point had I not been sent this sample from Heaven’s Door. How did it fare?
Banter Back To Where It All Began It all makes sense now. When I got into chasing down bourbon a little over a decade ago, the limited releases were annual and still fairly easy to obtain. My local Hy-Vee grocery store always had Elmer T. Lee and every Weller on the shelf (which at the time were a mere three expressions).
Banter What To Do With That “Bad” Whiskey? Recently, I had someone approach me saying they bought a whiskey they didn’t like and asked if I could recommend a good cocktail they could make with it. This is more common of a question than you’d imagine.
Banter American Blend – The Future Is Here Blends are not the future of American whiskey. There, I said it. Why? Because they’re already here. A brief history: the word “blend” has been verboten in American whiskey for over a century.
Banter How To Train Your Senses For Whiskey Tasting The legendary Parker Beam once said, “People say they taste mangoes and leather. I don’t put mangoes or leather in the whiskey. I put in corn, and I age it in oak barrels and that’s what I taste: corn and oak!”
Banter Is Bourbon Broken? Part 4 – A Final Argument I think that one final argument that can be made as to why bourbon is broken, is that consumers keep paying ridiculous prices at retail stores for bottles of extremely young or sourced bourbon from a myriad of new brands.
Banter Is Bourbon Broken? Part 3 – The Distribution & Retail Problem Another large reason that bourbon can be viewed as broken is the three-tier distribution system in this country. Unfortunately, we can’t do too much about the system. It is what it is. By law, the distillers have to sell to the distributors.
Banter Is Bourbon Broken? Part 2 – The Secondary Problem If you really have to have that bottle, you’re forced to buy it on the secondary market. That is when you are at the mercy of the hype train. People are paying 4-8x retail for $30 bottles? Are you kidding me? That’s insane to me.
Banter Is Bourbon Broken? Part 1 – The Consumer Problem I’ve been into bourbon for about 25 years now. It started with drinking Woodford Reserve on the rocks. Now I pretty much only drink it neat. The only real exception to this is if it’s a hot day and I’m relaxing by a pool, then I probably have a Kentucky Mule.
Banter Woodford Reserve’s “200 Flavors” Claim Challenged, Recount Underway Woodford Reserve’s “200 Flavors” Claim Challenged, Recount Underway In what sounds like incredibly ironic timing, Brown Forman is being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission for its claim that there are more than 200 flavors to be discovered in a bottle of Woodford Reserve.
Banter It’s Not The Destination But The (#DrinkCurious) Journey On February 7th, it will be five years since my first article appeared in Bourbon & Banter. And on February 9th I will be 68 years old. Quite the journey so far.
