Official PCF Whisk(e)y Thread (46 Viewers)

Sooooooo...... @Cliff brought a Booker's 2021-04 to the Jersey meetup a few weeks ago, and upon popping the cork instantly confirmed that the newer releases simply aren't what they used to be. Thankfully I had a wee bit leftover, so in warming up for my tounery tonight, figured I'd do a head to head blind with last year's 01 batch:

Bookers 2021-04 vs 2024-01
Noe Strangers vs Springfield


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Left glass:

Nose: butterscotch,vanilla, brown sugar, nutty, cinnamon, funky oak. Some sweet borderline dark fruit notes in the background. A bit all over the place.

Palate: burnt brown sugar, butterscotch, nutty/funky oak and barrel char up front, with a dry, almost bitter cinnamon followup. Decent mouthfeel, strong but not overpowering.

Finish: long, spicy finish, cinnamon and oak and barrel notes. Some of the butterscotch returns as it fades.

Score - 8.1/10

Right glass

Nose: vanilla, brown sugar, honey, some slight fruity/circus hints. Similar but more balanced & refined.

Palate: palate follows the nose, sweet honey and brown sugar, vanilla, with a bit of rye spice, subtle dark fruits (black cherry) in the background. Dries just a hair as it sits, with the oak becoming more prominent. Oily mouthfeel. Very nicely balanced, this is delicious.

Finish: long but subtle warm finish, dark honey and cherry notes linger for a good while, complimented with some drying oak.

Score - 9.1/10

You can tell these are the same bottle, but the refinement on the right glass is just unmistakable, it's so much more balanced, which makes for just an incredible pour. If this isn't the 2021 I'm flipping the table lol
The reveal:

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Easy to pick. The newer batches are good, but they just don't compare to years past. I will be hiding the rest of this bottle for myself @Cliff , thank you very much for bringing it to the meetup!
 
The reveal:

View attachment 1527724

Easy to pick. The newer batches are good, but they just don't compare to years past. I will be hiding the rest of this bottle for myself @Cliff , thank you very much for bringing it to the meetup!
I definitely agree with your critique, I drink my newer bottles just to save the older bottles. I wonder if it has anything to do with popping them and letting them sit and chill out for a couple years. I had some ec18 from a year or 2 ago and it was delicious, so I made it a point to buy a bottle. I popped it and was disappointed because it wasn't nearly as good as the older batch. I had my nephew bring his bottle back over and did a 3 pour blind and was able to easily determine which one was which. My new bottle has got better with shelf time tho. I've never been a big believer in shelf time, however there's a few bottles that make me question it.
 
I wonder if it has anything to do with popping them and letting them sit and chill out for a couple years.
We popped this 2021 Bookers brand new at the Jersey meetup 3 weeks ago, so it was a fresh pop. There are a number of bottles where IMHO some air time does make a pretty big difference.
 
On a nice summer day I like to put some whiskey in my Arnold Palmers. However since it has alcohol in it, it's not really an Arnold Palmer anymore. We call it a "John Daly". Is there a proper name for this drink? Otherwise I'll stick with the John Daly.
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I hosted the inaugural Bourbon Bowl at the Good Times Poker Room this evening and it was a huge success! We had 10 entries in the blind tasting competition. we structured it by splitting into two groups of 5 and each group sampled 5 whiskeys. Each group then selected the top two and all judges sampled the top 4 before casting their votes on a 10 point rating system. The winner?— Mitcher’s Small Batch Bourbon. What was crazy was two guys brought it, one in a mason jar the other guy in the bottle— they placed 1st and 2nd with the mason jar whiskey winning the top prize! In for $75, out for $251. Oh and my entry of Kentucky Silk placed 3rd and Bushmills came in 4th.
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On a nice summer day I like to put some whiskey in my Arnold Palmers. However since it has alcohol in it, it's not really an Arnold Palmer anymore. We call it a "John Daly". Is there a proper name for this drink? Otherwise I'll stick with the John Daly.View attachment 1527751
This is known as a tipsy Palmer.

I drink them frequently in the summer, using Crown peach.
 
John Daly here, too. Unless the booze is rum, in which case it's a Lee Trevino.

But iced tea and lemonade is a Jack Nicklaus. Lemonade and iced tea is an Arnold Palmer.

Our club is different...:cool
I would think a Lee Trevino would be made with tequila. Maybe you should call the Rum drink a Chi-Chi Rodriguez. He was born in Puerto Rico.
 
Really nice pick - a peppery caramel apple pie. Very balanced for these, typically I feel like these need to breathe for a few weeks before they settle down, not this one.

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Is Eli actually involved in this, or is he just lending his name to some group or liquor store that does the pick?
 

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