Is Bourbon Getting BETTER or WORSE? Final Episode!

[@mister_bailey]

“Markedly” is indeed what you were looking for. 👍🏾 I have to go back and watch Episodes 1 & 2. This was a really cool experiment.

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@mister_bailey Thanks!

[@curtiskoch4731]

Evan Williams single barrel back in the early 2000s made me fall in love with Bourbon.

[@trentonfettig7265]

Agreed. I started with the 2002, 2003, and 2004 bottles(Still have a couple), and they are great. Newer ones, not so much. They need to be 10+ years.

[@jasono.1629]

great bourbon research. I’ll continue to hunt for older bottlings of anything no matter what it is. Hopefully the current bourbon demand slack grows to the point distillers don’t have to rush out product anymore, and revert to more aging from lower demand.

[@stevenreep385]

Hey I’m not trying to be funny here but I loved seeing the transition from the first glass to the last! I think y’all should do bigger blinds more often. But I’m going to watch all of the videos in between. I enjoy all The videos that you two do.

[@Johnny5_]

Excellent editing and production quality - great job as always!

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@Johnny5_ Thank you!

[@Jimndarrow]

Great job doing this. It’s very interesting to see the “old” and “new”. I only have a few bourbons that are old and new (Weller’s 12 and E.H. Tayler’s small batch}. It gives me a view of what I need to look for in the stores. Keep up the great work!!

[@bobbymac03]

Ideas for some old vs new. Bookers batches Elijah Craig SBBS Stagg Jr. vs (just) Stagg ….maybe Elmer T Lee? Plus y’all’s Kentucky Spirits Or Little Books or MWNDs!

[@David-Drinks-Dusties]

The Evan Williams single barrel products are some of the best bang for your buck "vintage" bottles. The dusty funk you get with prefire Heaven Hill cannot be replicated

[@clydekimsey7503]

What does prefire mean?

[@David-Drinks-Dusties]

@clydekimsey7503 in 1996 a fire wiped out several rickhouses as well as Heaven Hill's distillery. After the fire they had no means of production, so for the next couple of years contract distilled with local distilleries. In 1999 Heaven Hill purchase the newly renovated Bernheim distillery from Diageo, and after some more renovations they began production that year. Prefire is a term referring to products distilled prior to the destruction of the distillery in 1996.

[@-RONNIE]

Good video thanks 🥃

[@scooter2d2]

Good informative vid! This was great. Your pallets have certainly changed over the years and this was really a pretty good test for that since you can pick out some simple nuances or, of course, some major differences in notes between the older and newer distilled bourbons. Plus, you know what you like, so some of that will sway your pick, but overall your picks were what you each felt is the better of the two. Began my own bourbon journey about 10 years ago now (and actually your channel in 2016 was the VERY FIRST YTube channel I ever subscribed to 🙂) and would love to find some older bottles myself and see. If I looked and dug hard enough in my dad's liquor cabinet, I'd probably find something! Ha! Although, he's a Black Velvet fan! No thanks.

[@jrod4488]

I would assume that any differences from old to new have to do with changing climates, changing the grain crops they are grown from, as well as the aging inside of the barrell.

[@Vortex1988]

Also different equipment. The whole process has gotten a lot more automated, which allows for a lot less variability.

[@drgallup]

I think they have been rushing so much to keep up with demand that quality of some of the (lower cost) brands inevitably slipped. I think demand has finally turned a corner. At least I've seen a drop in prices of some bottles. I think as the market matures and they can't sell every bottle they can slap a label on we will see an uptick in quality again.

[@JK13A]

Been seeing way more hard to get bottles stay on the shelf. I know I was spending way too much on whiskey in 21 and 22. I've really stopped buying because I have too much.

[@yomama9462]

Great video!

[@thomasanderson2870]

50 + years ago when I started sipping on the juice the bottles had age statements on them, used older barrels for better flavor and old growth oak for the barrels made a difference, well to me anyway. Rushing aging to keep up with the demand isn't helping either 🤔 Cheers 🥃👍

[@JK13A]

I definitely have some FOMO because when I was just turned 21 there was still some time to get in on the good stuff before things got crazy. This was 2017 but I wasn't into bourbon yet. Now I just buy what I enjoy and I'm trying to bring my whiskey library way down in number. Also having way less bottles that I have never tried before. Wanted to add that I do think that bottles get worse as they spend more time with air in the bottles. Another reason to keep a small collection.

[@thomasaccuntius9946]

I just pulled out my un- opened bottle of Kentucky Spirit in the fan tail bottle and it was bottled on 9-28-15 at 101 proof.

[@WhiskyForBeginners]

Another Old vs. New angle would be brands that have been around for a good while compared to brands that are fairly new. You'd of course want to keep the proof and the mash bill roughly congruent - no wheated bourbons against rye bourbons, no 120 proof bottles against 90 proof bottles, like that - but it would be a way to see whether newer distilleries are matching or even improving on what's been around. Of course it'd be tough to line things up fairly...

[@gerhardschote8000]

Sehr interessant wie immer Danke

[@justinvandee9428]

On the Old Fitzgerald wonder since one was Spring Green label and the Fall Black label if they planned into taste. Kinda like the EC C9 seems to be better them the A1 versions

[@phlcollison]

Find a new cork for that 03 Evan Williams, rinse and dry the bottle, and transfer back to the original bottle 😊

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@phlcollison Way ahead of ya, already done 😁

[@Jamison-]

Wild Turkey 101 has 100% slipped in quality

[@JK13A]

I wish they would have done 101 over the 81. I wouldn't ever consider buying the 81 lol.

[@Jamison-]

@@JK13A same, but I did accidentally buy the 81, still had the older label on it. Was mad at my mistake at first, but it actually tasted way better than the current version 101

[@motohead077]

Yup, I heard this & thought so myself as I drank it a lot around 2015 to 2017. So have learned how to find the bottling date on all WT bottles & kept my eye out for dusties. Found 6 bottles with the old label (2021 & before). 1 was from 10/2017 & the others were from 1/2021. Blinded those 2 with the 2023-24 WT101 on 3 different days & it was no contest. The 2017 turkey was on another level, clearly much better in all ways, nose palate & finish plus never got any nutty notes. The other 2 were the same. So they started putting in the bad juice in 2021 (or maybe before) in the old labels. So if you just hunt for a dusty by the label, you could get the same juice as today. Only go by the bottling date!

[@patrickq7489]

Nice video. Next you should go into why the older bourbon is better...age, ingredients, etc.

[@midnitekreapa8372]

My Eagle Rare from 2019 was the perfect Bourbon, even my fiance liked it and hates whiskey. Miss the days when it was available at $32.....new one had a harsher note and I can't find a bottle of it anymore

[@patrickbennett439]

I smelled some bourbons from empty found bottles as a kid. I still cannot find that same smell. Might have just been how they smell because they were empty like an empty whisky glass that smells so good.

[@WhiskeyDearg-MichaelS]

See...OLDER IS BETTER! Who's with me Gen Xers?! 🤣

[@beaudwayful]

First! Love your videos!

[@MrBoostin18]

The problem with opened vs new opens is too much time to air and it turns for the worse.

[@jasonczfan8658]

I didn't really get into bourbon until about 2017/2018 so i don't have a whole lot of experience with old stuff to make a good comparison. Also, comparing single barrels really doesn't tell all that much about quality changes.

[@RobBalazs]

Was the wax the same in the new Blanton’s? I just bought one at an ABC store in AL, and the “wax” was like rubber. It didn’t shatter at all, the wire just slipped out from under it.

[@877-MASH-NOW]

WHISKEY CHEERS 😎

[@baron24601]

Did they make better bourbon before or do they actually mature in glass bottles?

[@ItsBourbonNight]

If we're talking about an unopened, fully sealed bottle that was stored properly (meaning not in extreme heat or sun light), it doesn't really change in the bottle over time, though it can in small amounts. The more time, the more change that can happen, including evaporation. That's why when you look at some bottles that are 40 or more years old, you can see a lower amount in the bottle even if it's never been opened. You will increase the amount of change in a bottle if it's been opened and drank from, especially if the fill level is half full or less, and again greater amounts of time will effect the change more.

[@dunnosmapdi]

And I wasted the 90s drinking 7&7s with actual 7, or maybe a nicer Canadian if I could afford it.

[@donishita]

80's and 90s Blantons hit way differently

[@David-Drinks-Dusties]

Prior to selling the Blantons name to Takara the stock was much much older. The late 80s until 1991 much of the stock was aged up until 16 years. If you ever get a chance to do a side by side there is no comparison. Vintage Blantons taste like a completely different bottling.

[@franktwocheese7058]

make a mens Whiskey Weather sweater please

[@gerhardschote8000]

The Rare Breed from the 90 was sooo much better than in this days

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@gerhardschote8000 And that’s saying something!

[@gerhardschote8000]

Have a nice Weekend Here in Frankfurt/M the sun is shining And the Match from Eintracht Frankfurt started in a few minutes

[@DeweyVenus-e2p]

Johnston Stream

[@WhiskeyForge]

Since it’s clear that older bourbon is better, the question is why? Wood quality? Grain quality? What’s the reason.

[@McAdamSandwich]

General thoughts - wood quality is much younger/new growth than it used to be, grains are probably different from "better" farming and different climactic events, and most production processes are way more controlled and much clean than they have ever been. Drink a vintage '80s WT101 and compare to today's product. The vintage one *tastes* like a completely different animal because of all of these factors... plus lead! lol

[@RhinoViper]

Not that I'm a big WT fan, it's fine, but who the hell buys the 81proof when the regular 101 is so damn cheap anyway.

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@RhinoViper Not us. But there are people who stick in that 80 to 90 proof range and just never leave it.

[@jwoah1835]

Ironic as I just cracked a handle of 1984ish WT101 last night. And now I'm spoiled. It tasted wonderful. Something akin to R15. Or I guess R15 was akin to it. 😂

[@thewhiskybadger174]

Either Chad got the visual bottle labels mixed up on the Old Fitz or y'all got the glasses mixed up. Looks, and sounds, like Sarah had the 13 at the end. Both you's seemed to like the 13 better. Keep up the good work y'all!

[@MrBoostin18]

The quality is going down and the price keeps increasing.

[@deangood6682]

more expensive so definitely worse

[@baconator1550]

As long as it numbs ya out… that’s what matters (hiccup)…

[@grcigar9911]

My advice. The sooner one learns that there are other great spirits out there in the world beyond just whiskey/bourbon, the better.

[@jbbourbon178]

Remarkably better ….that’s what you are looking for. You are welcome

[@FakingANerve]

😬

[@Brad-ic4bp]

It really is hard for me to believe that bourbon, in general, doesn’t taste better now than it ever has in the past, with all of the competition and innovation that’s come with the whiskey boom of even the past 4 years (since I started drinking bourbon and other whiskey (thank you pandemic lockdown)).

[@Vortex1988]

"Opening up" is just allowing your whiskey to lose flavor and go flat.

[@WhiskyForBeginners]

You must be drinking different whisky from everyone else.

[@venezaiyan]

Wow

[@FakingANerve]

True. I HATE when my whiskey loses carbonation!

[@hottoddy2647]

Tour. Ter. Tear. Semantic Satiation is a real thing.

[@nefarious_saint]

To our health while destroying your own. 🤌