Miscellaneous, distracted, various, and inimitable

[heironymouspasparagus]

So tonight there is a special on bourbon on the Ascend network.... people with money must be getting so bloody bored...paying $5,500 for a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle!  Really...??  Give me a break!!

Mila Kunis has her very own dedicated barrel she is gonna pick up in the next few years from the distillery.  Bourbon is becoming one of the latest fads for people with more money than brains....like Harley became in the 90's.

I would bet that all these "new" drinkers could never pick out their favorite in a true blind taste test.  I think the term is "tragically hip"...

[Conan71]

So tonight there is a special on bourbon on the Ascend network.... people with money must be getting so bloody bored...paying $5,500 for a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle!  Really...??  Give me a break!!

Mila Kunis has her very own dedicated barrel she is gonna pick up in the next few years from the distillery.  Bourbon is becoming one of the latest fads for people with more money than brains....like Harley became in the 90's.

I would bet that all these "new" drinkers could never pick out their favorite in a true blind taste test.  I think the term is "tragically hip"...

Or did you ever think you'd hear of a "magnum of beer"?  Beyond that, paying $35 for said magnum of beer.  Shouldn't that still be the price for a decent single malt Scotch or a good bourbon?  (less government greed tax)

[Red Arrow]

Or did you ever think you'd hear of a "magnum of beer"?  Beyond that, paying $35 for said magnum of beer.  Shouldn't that still be the price for a decent single malt Scotch or a good bourbon?  (less government greed tax)

$35/magnum is about $8.25 for a 12 oz size.  I've seen some craft beer singles in that range.  I think one of Prairie's offerings is in that range.  It's above my price point except for maybe 1 (12 oz) bottle if it is rumored to be reeeeealy good.

[Hoss]

$35/magnum is about $8.25 for a 12 oz size.  I've seen some craft beer singles in that range.  I think one of Prairie's offerings is in that range.  It's above my price point except for maybe 1 (12 oz) bottle if it is rumored to be reeeeealy good.

Prairie Bomb is quite the...

Would taste great over vanilla ice cream.

[heironymouspasparagus]

It's beer...

And bourbon...


Not a faddish source of all pretensiousness!!  (Is that a word...?)

[rebound]

It's beer...

And bourbon...

Not a faddish source of all pretensiousness!!  (Is that a word...?)

Didn't see the special, but I've paid over $100 for various bourbons before.  But those were special buys.  I generally drink the stuff in the $40 range.

I read a great article on Pappy Van Winkle (I've never had it), and was very impressed with their marketing.  PVW is made at Buffalo Trace distillery, which makes numerous brands of (varying quality) bourbon.  So it's not like they couldn't make more PVW if they wanted to.  But their marketing position is to intentionally not make enough to fill demand, and thereby keep the price exorbitantly high.   People want it because they can't get it, not because of how good the bourbon is.  (I understand it is good, but my goodness.  I tried to find some, and best I could get was a few hundred for a bottle.)

[Conan71]

$35/magnum is about $8.25 for a 12 oz size.  I've seen some craft beer singles in that range.  I think one of Prairie's offerings is in that range.  It's above my price point except for maybe 1 (12 oz) bottle if it is rumored to be reeeeealy good.

I've bought a few in that range and my satisfaction rate is about 50%.  I generally ignore Prairie's big releases any more, not worth the artificial shortage they create by sending large amounts of distribution outside the state.  This is one reason I will always be a Marshall loyalist (aside from they make really good beer and Eric is a neat guy) is they take care of the home market first. 

I splurged and bought Anthem's Festivus, their Christmas beer in a bomber or magnum.  I ended up pouring out over 1/2 the bottle, it had a metallic taste and generally was not a good beer MC and my friend who was over at the time agreed.  You have to understand, the only other thing that would make me drain-pour a beer is if I knew it were laced with cyanide.  It takes a lot to get me to pour one out.

[DTowner]

Didn't see the special, but I've paid over $100 for various bourbons before.  But those were special buys.  I generally drink the stuff in the $40 range.

I read a great article on Pappy Van Winkle (I've never had it), and was very impressed with their marketing.  PVW is made at Buffalo Trace distillery, which makes numerous brands of (varying quality) bourbon.  So it's not like they couldn't make more PVW if they wanted to.  But their marketing position is to intentionally not make enough to fill demand, and thereby keep the price exorbitantly high.   People want it because they can't get it, not because of how good the bourbon is.  (I understand it is good, but my goodness.  I tried to find some, and best I could get was a few hundred for a bottle.)

Pappy's is pretty fantastic.  While bourbon is having its day as the trend du jour, the crazy pricing is mainly about supply and demand.  The good bourbons being sold now were put in barrels several years before the bourbon boomlet began. 

[heironymouspasparagus]

Pappy's is pretty fantastic.  While bourbon is having its day as the trend du jour, the crazy pricing is mainly about supply and demand.  The good bourbons being sold now were put in barrels several years before the bourbon boomlet began. 

We are in the midst of the "bourbon boom" (fad).

This is one of those things where people bored with their last "big thing", spend stupid money responding to propaganda (marketing) and couldn't tell you anything real beyond mouthing the platitudes they hear around them.  Caramel and vanilla in bourbon...yeah, I guess...tastes more like bourbon to me.  I would bet that there aren't more than a few hundred people in the country who could tell you differences between bourbons in a blind taste test....  Fred Noe or Jimmy Russell probably could.  But both of them said in this show that it don't really matter - if it's bourbon, drink it!!  It's all good.

Heaven Hill had a fire and was bottling Beam for a while....so how did all those Heaven Hill aficionados respond to the contamination of their favorite?  They didn't know at the time.  There was an interesting comment about distilleries - either they have had a fire, or they are waiting to have a fire....  Yep.  I can see that.



In other markets;
Louis Vitton
Armani
Rolex
Mercedes/BMW
Prada


Really??  Pretentious nonsense for people with more money than brains.  Travelpro is gonna give better luggage results.  Mens Warehouse has serviceable suits (it's a suit, for crying out loud).  Casio makes a great timekeeping piece of electronics.  Toyota and Honda make better cars.  And Prada?? Geez....

[Conan71]

I read somewhere that many boutique brands are being made by larger distilleries who private label for them.

People want to appear prestigious.  Granted there are some products superior to others, but most of it is marketing hype to appeal to the ego.

I used to think expensive cigars were great.  That is until it dawned on me that every cigar left me wondering which of my cats took a dump in my mouth as I slept after smoking one.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

I read somewhere that many boutique brands are being made by larger distilleries who private label for them.

People want to appear prestigious.  Granted there are some products superior to others, but most of it is marketing hype to appeal to the ego.

You can insert Vodka, Tequila, Rum, Whiskey, and Champagne into that as well. They all have had their time as the got to have, new hot thing. Want to bet Gin is next?

[Ibanez]

As someone who has been drinking Bourbon since before I was legally old enough to do so this whole trendy Bourbon fad pisses me off. Not only that it has made the price of my favorite type of alcohol increase far too much.

[DTowner]

I don't know about fires and whatnot, but I disagree all bourbons are the same.  You don't have to be a whiskey aficionado to note differences in sweetness and spice and other flavors between one bourbon and the next.  In fact, I think it is always surprising at a tasting how wide the range of flavors can be between the different brands.

Pappy's and other premium bourbons have been known as such for a long long time.  It's only now that there's a bourbon boomlet has it created the phenomenon of waitlists for the best stuff.  And yes, the Kennedy-type trust funders and newly minted techie billionaires are looking for the next thing to wear/drink as a symbol of their desire to project status.  That said, bourbon is not like vodka and some other spirits, the distillers simply can't turn up the dial to 11 and crank out more of it for immediate sale.  In the meantime, the market speaks and prices go up for the good stuff.

[heironymouspasparagus]

As someone who has been drinking Bourbon since before I was legally old enough to do so this whole trendy Bourbon fad pisses me off. Not only that it has made the price of my favorite type of alcohol increase far too much.

Life and bourbon selection was so much simpler when I was 15.... we had a guy who would sell you a bottle, either brown or clear booze - your choice.  Guaranteed to be at least 3/4 bottle, depending on supplies, but most of the time full bottles.  $5.00.

Not bad.  If he got several less than full bottles, he would just poor from other bottles to fill them up.

Tasted like bourbon...even when there was some of that nasty Scotch stuff mixed in....

[RecycleMichael]

I am going to start a magazine/blog that goes to a different local bar each week and writes about their bourbon selection.

I'm calling it Bourbon Tulsa Weekly.