Back from Vacation

The call of the open road is powerful, and they don’t call Montana Big Sky country for nothing.

Things have been a little quiet since our August tasting, but rest assured we are back from vacation: tan, rested and ready. After taking a little time to travel and see the beauty of Montana, it’s now back to work planning more great tasting events

Tickets for the September 18th Bourbon tasting are selling well – get yours at Bottles Fine Wines in Providence before it sells out. Planning is already underway for the October, November and December tastings. We have some interesting things on tap for the rest of the year.

Sometimes you really do get to see Unicorns in the wild. The local liquor store in Montana had about 8 bottles of Pappy 12 on offer – and to top it off they were dusty.

On vacation I may have been, but that doesn’t mean thinking about future tastings I wasn’t. The hard work of sampling whiskies never ends. So I chose to go to the local package store down the street and imagine my shock when see bottles of Pappy Van Winkle 12 sitting there and collecting dust.

Once I documented the existence of this rare in the wild sighting of the buzzed about brand, I promptly purchased a bottle of Montana Whiskey’s Rye. Why you may ask? Several reasons – one, I already have multiple varieties of Pappy sitting at home, all of them open and needing to be finished; two, I can drink Pappy any time and I was in Montana and wanted to drink local Montana whiskey.

As much fun as it is being able to taste well-known and famous whiskies, I derive almost as much, if not more sometimes, pleasure from tasting and discovering new whiskies, even if they are only new to me. If I wanted to drink the same thing no matter where I was, I probably would never have tried anything beyond the Cutty Sark my grandfather drank or the Jim Beam my parents bought. Now I have nothing against either of those whiskies – in fact both of them are on my liquor shelf for different reasons. Beam because they have so many great brands (the eponymous bourbon of course, but also Laphroaig, Bookers, Bakers, et al) and Cutty Sark because I like to have a dram or two on the rocks with soda every year to remember my grandfather.

Like many people I’m always open to trying something new – in fact someone I trust just raved about the Prichard’s Double Barrel Chocolate bourbon. I admit to being somewhat skeptical, but I know I’ll be trying a taste soon enough. Now as much as I enjoy finding something new, I’m not a slave to the tyranny of the new. Sometimes I much prefer enjoying the taste of a known entity – be it because of who I’m with or because I’m in the mood for a particularly spicy, or peaty or salty or fruity dram. But if you are traveling to see new vistas why shouldn’t your taste buds get to taste new vistas as well. To that end I sat on the porch looking out into the Bridger mountains watching a thunderstorm rumble through bringing much-needed rain while enjoying the local Rye whiskey made with Montana grains. What could be better (other than the photography).

A view of the Bridger Mountains while drinking the local Montana Rye was something that could only happen in Montana.

 

 

 

 

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2 Responses to Back from Vacation

  1. Amanda Garrett says:

    Hi there, I’ve been online and on the phone looking for Pappy’s for days. I saw your page and I’m in RI this week, live in KY. Shopping for my brother’s xmas gift, he is ‘father to be’ and it’s my last year to spoil him. I know Pappy’s is out of question after making calls across the US, was looking for a nice recommendation for his collection. You seem to appreciate the goodness. Please let me know if you have any ideas. Your trip looks amazing! Montana is my favorite state!!!

    -Amanda

    • Thom says:

      Amanda thanks for the kind words and you are right Pappy prices have so far outstripped the value that it is silly. You live in a great state for really good bourbon. I’m a fan of giving someone a choice – instead of one beautiful bottle of bourbon that may not be their favorite style – I like to give 2 or 3 or 4 more moderately priced bourbons. I’m not sure where you live in KY but there are some really good stores that will have private barrels of well known brands. Those are usually safe and interesting picks that are “reasonable” although I’m not sure what reasonable is anymore in the world of bourbon.

      Right now I think there are quite a few good values to be found – Willett Family estate bourbons – especially those made in Kentucky can be really good, especially the ones aged for at least 6 or 7 years. I would also look for a nice 4 Roses Single Barrel, although the small batch is a really nice bourbon. Not as much cachet but very tasty. A great bourbon that people overlook in Kentucky is Ancient Ancient Age 10 Year Old – not the 10 Star. It’s a bottom shelf bourbon that out performs many top-shelf bourbons. If your brother likes Rye a bottle of WhistlePig is a really nice gift to “spoil” someone with. Good luck and congratulations to your brother.