Is Your Favorite Bourbon Distillery's Top-Shelf Bottle Worth It?

[@treytison1444]

Yes as a Texas oil baron I often find myself debating whether the 250 dollar bourbon or the 300 dollar is a better value when I'm at the liquor store.

[@mrTrekirk65]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@RedSoxFanatic4Life]

Yes, please continue doing this series for the other major distilleries.

[@userperson5259]

Super valuable insights.. this is premium level Consumer Reports of Bourbon delivered right up to the minute of what's going on out there. Really appreciate it.

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@userperson5259 Thanks so much!

[@ejbsee6081]

I find this a thoughtful video. I'm glad it's a series. This evening I shall enjoy blind for me and. I will pick my favorite from a 10 year old Buckner, 7 year old Dark Arts, 9 year old Chicken Cock double oaked, and a 4 year old New Riff. Decided on this line up yesterday independent of viewing this episode with a similar thought- what bourbon was worth the cost

[@thornelson6289]

I can't add anything to the discussion, as I haven't tried "premium" offerings from anyone, but it's a great discussion! Gives food for thought next time I'm in the bourbon aisle.

[@BB-kr7ep]

We need more episodes like this. Makes for great discussions. Happy Friday!

[@scarcheer7211]

I love this idea for a video. For someone who has most of the usual suspects of whisky , it helps me consider more expensive top offerings if I ever have the opportunity to buy one. The video length was fine. Keep it up. Cheers! 🥃

[@Bwell6610]

Keep this series going, answering the questions we need to know

[@molemanftw]

Love this series

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@molemanftw Thanks!

[@ChrisCan1001]

Love this episode, please do more in the series! I would be very interested in New Riff

[@matthewstuteville8321]

This is a great video topic. Please continue.

[@Cigardr]

Excellent episode. A well reasoned and reasonable evaluation. I enjoyed it and look forward to your next series of distilleries.

[@justinvandee9428]

Great series so bring on more videos. Cheers 🥃

[@rstrunk85]

Love this episode and hoping to see more in the series. 🤜

[@joethesampleguy3414]

Hope to see more like this. Cheers!

[@jeffvance6171]

Please keep up this series! Very fun. curious what you do with Beam and Sazerac - How granular will you get with those brands?

[@liverdrop2]

Enjoyed this video’s concept a lot. I liked the shoutout to Bulleit and agree that they don’t really have a premium release yet. That being said, I think a more appropriate brand to mention instead of Bulleit would have been Old Forester, which is much more popular and has several debatably premium releases (makes for a more interesting discussion). Just my two cents. Loved the video regardless.

[@bumpandrun]

I have a Bulleit single barrel, barrel pick from the Liquor Library in North Myrtle Beach. I would put it up against any Bulleit release. It is really good and the flavor grabs hold and won't let go. It seems to last forever. It's 104 proof but no age statement. Barrel 4-E3-828. I highly recommend it.

[@143bourbon3]

Really liked this episode. More please.

[@adirtysock9720]

I enjoyed this one and look forward to the next in this series.

[@Jimndarrow]

I really like this presentation. It gives me more information about bourbons that are not in my “best of “ list. Keep it up!!

[@Brad-ic4bp]

The Woodford Batch Proof bottles are the only "high-end" distiller offerings mentioned that I can actually consistently and relatively easily locate on the store shelves around here. I wish it had more transparency though, regarding age. Still though, I prefer Four Gate bourbons, even though they're not a distiller, and the cheapest bottle I ever found was $175.

[@ConradF27]

Loved this video. The discussion about distillery offerings are great and fresh content

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@ConradF27 Thanks so much!

[@johnh8268]

Can't wait to see how you do this for Buffalo Trace.

[@TMExtremeOutdoor]

Love the content.

[@jishnumohan1204]

Hope to see the rest of the distilleries as well 🤘🤘

[@Rick-yl9jw]

Great topic! Keep the series going!

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@Rick-yl9jw It getting good feedback so I think we will!

[@crellis13]

Cool idea y'all.

[@javariashford7491]

Great series to start I’m ready for the next video!!

[@WhiskyForBeginners]

My favorite distillery is Balcones Distilling, but I couldn't tell you what their most premium bottle is. It's surely a barley whisky, since that's their main focus (indeed, they've quit making bourbon altogether 😢). I do know that my standard bottles from Balcones are all worth more than the price (Texas Pot Still Bourbon - $30, Baby Blue corn whisky - $40, Lineage Texas Single Malt - $40). 5:36 Cask strength BiB? That's got to be a misspeak, since by law bottled in bond whisky has to be 100 proof regardless of the proof in the barrel. 12:47 I've not had the other three, but the Bulleit Barrel Strength is absolutely worth the price. 16:18 I can't conceive of any whisky can be genuinely worth multiplied thousands of dollars, not even when you take rarity into account. I certainly wouldn't pay it even if I could afford it, which I can't.

[@jasonc.5718]

Great topic, more please.

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@jasonc.5718 Would love to!

[@-RONNIE]

Thanks for the nice video 🥃

[@garrettwood4567]

Very cool idea for a video and I’m looking forward to the reviews of the rest of the distilleries! Particularly Michter’s and Buffalo Trace!

[@raygalles2517]

I am a WR Double Oaked homer-period.

[@CyrixSG]

Sam's outside Lexington has had a Baccarat Woodford in stock for something like $1300 since before the Derby, and it's still there as of yesterday. The decanter is essentially what you're paying for in my opinion (the juice isn't that special comparatively when they do so many other offerings so well), and it takes a certain kind of person to feel it's worth it. Same Sam's has a Double Oak store pick, and that's way more worth the price tag ($60 after tax).

[@nickp5511]

Nice content! For me with Wild Turkey I would go with Russell’s 15yr or Russell’s Rickhouse CNF Angels Envy I would go with my store pick and call it good. I’m not a Maker’s fan but I like the BEP. I enjoy my Bulliet 10yr over the others. Haven’t had any Woodford Masters:( Cheers!

[@stillcookin]

I don’t love that Woodford prices their batch proof offering at $130+ (imagine if Rare Breed was that much 😮) but I have to admit the BP 118.4 from 2022 that I have is amazing, one of my absolute favorites

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@stillcookin They are pretty stinkin’ good.

[@joshuabrown4874]

Enjoyed the video do more.

[@j.st.8037]

Excuse me if this is hella reductive, but if you're into the B-F kind of profile and have access to which, the JD SiB BP can easily hang with (if not best) the Woodford Batch Proof at half the price.

[@bryanmacke]

Yeah but JD won’t get u in the country club 😂🤦‍♂️

[@stevebrangaccio4331]

Interesting episode. I think you might even want to dial it back to products that are fairly available. For example, I can get my hands on MM wood finishing series bottles, but not Cellar Aged. Same thing with Double Double Oaked. There’s no way I can get that, but I can and did buy a $150 batch proof. And since I don’t have an extra $15K lying around, that barely needs to be mentioned.

[@rstrunk85]

Also, RR15 is the top dog in 🦃!

[@877-MASH-NOW]

WHISKEY CHEERS 😎

[@chadb.396]

Great topic…to the discussion topic, I think if the the question is what is the distillery putting forward as their best, then it is all American whiskey that they make. If the question is which bourbon or which rye, that feels like a different question. Also, I think to the first question, it should also be their juice. Bulleit shouldn’t get credit for MGPs rye. Thanks!

[@davetonnwrites]

Woodford Reserve releases the bourbon in the Baccarat to the intl market called Double XO. It’s the same whiskey but in a standard bottle. I was lucky enough to pick one up in London. And it’s def worth the $150 I paid for it! Now the same juice in the Baccarat crystal is not worth 1500 - but you’re paying for crystal at that point.

[@trooper5157]

Good series, looking forward to following and to seeing what you have to say about Bardstown. Those Discovery series are pricey, even considering their more entry level bottles are still in the $70 range nowadays.

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@trooper5157 interesting, Is that just in your area? Here the Original series ryed bourbon is $45 and the wheater is $50.

[@GOTAisMe]

Tremendous topic. I have no idea if these are worth it because they are so expensive that I would never purchase them. I do though appreciate you experts letting me know. For me personally I am much more likely to spend on top dollar Scotch whiskies than bourbon. Both are expensive but I feel that I get something better with an 18 year or 21+ year Scotch than a 13 or 15 year bourbon for the same price

[@TomMorrow78]

Limestone Farms Private Stock. Yes. Especially considering the price drop across the board on all expressions.

[@XO_Sanada]

New intro is tight!!!

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@XO_Sanada Thanks!

[@WhiskeyDearg-MichaelS]

I love it when you balance tasting videos with discussion videos. It more information a consumer can use before dropping the big bucks. Point/Counterpoint would be an idea, if you had a Meet The Press background; I think Chad would be a master-debater 😮

[@ejbsee6081]

My top on nose, palate, and finish - New Riff, the youngest of the 4. 2 - Buckner's, 3 - Dark Arts, last for me Chicken Cock 9 year double oaked

[@YoJimBo851610]

I think the Angel's Envy cask strength is their top of the line, its been out longer and most consistent

[@alandye4654]

Angels Envy Private Select for $70 @ Costco. I prefer it over the Regular AE.

[@YoJimBo851610]

Angle's Envy lol😹😹😹 (check the bookmarks)

[@JoeJimenez-x9y]

Do more of these.

[@jondilly1974]

Bourbon shouldn’t need a finish to be excellent IMO. I want the cask strength, UCUF, best bourbon out of the original cask. That’s how we should choose which juice is the best.

[@mattschmitt9924]

It just sucks when they finish garabage bourbon. Finishing can be cool for sure. It's nice if good juice is used in a tasteful way.

[@ItsBourbonNight]

UCUF….gotta admit, it took me longer to realize what that stands for than it should have! First time I’ve seen it abbreviated like that before.

[@roscoepcoltrane23]

No. Wild Turkey is my favorite but their prices are getting ridiculous. I’ve never had a bourbon of any kind I thought was worth more than Ardbeg Uigeadail.

[@theheebs100]

ive never heard of that ardbeg. Ive only had their 10, but I absolutely loved it.

[@roscoepcoltrane23]

@@theheebs100 Cheers. I love Ardbeg 10 one of my favorites for sure. I highly recommend the Uigeadail to me it doesn’t get much better than that.

[@amealor63]

Yes, my favorite distillery, Chattanooga, top whiskey is worth it. 13th Colony is worth it too, forget the haters.

[@benp827]

What is Chattanooga's top whiskey? I'm crazy about their Cask Strength High Malt.

[@erarmas]

@@benp827founders

[@amealor63]

@@benp827 Anniversary Blend; but I snag all of their bottled-in-bond editions

[@thomasgallagher1945]

I applaud you both having this discussion --- it certainly is worth having. I think the most revealing fact here though is that many distilleries are MORE focused on the MARKETING of their product than the QUALITY of which is actually going into the bottles! Price is no longer simply reflective of the quality of the juice, but how nice the box/bottle looks! Distilleries like Wild Turkey are charging mind boggling MSRPs because of their belief that customers will pay for the "perception" of a superior product whether or not its truly "the best"..... I'm looking forward to the continuation of this series. Cheers to all!

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@thomasgallagher1945 Great thoughts, thanks for sharing!

[@Chundoh]

What would you say on Russell's 13/15 vs Russell's Single Rickhouse releases that were also $250~?

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@Chundoh Never been able to own a bottle of single Rickhouse to do a side-by-side comparison but a friend just gave us a 2oz sample. Maybe we’ll do blind flight.

[@justinmassa6287]

Wish I was just able to find and buy even 1 of the bottles in the show. I don’t ever see anything allocated that isn’t Secondary or above secondary priced

[@brettheiner7125]

That’s a universal no for me. Law of diminishing returns really applies in bourbon for me. Plenty of stuff I love in the $60-200 range - I really start to think twice about spending more than that on a bottle. Exceptions have been RR15 and some of the better Michter’s 10 Year and Barrel Strengths…

[@SHHDADDYSWORKN]

I hear more good things about the russels LE releases than the masters keep series

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@SHHDADDYSWORKN Same same!

[@jmiller8745]

To me, these distilleries are GOUGING people on the price....I would never pay these outrageous prices on some of these 'high end' bourbons...(Masters Keep)

[@lrbtechie]

Bulliet? Why is sourced/contracted whiskey in this discussion?

[@B1gC4st]

Blender's Select hasn't come out again, right? Scotch, Irish Whiskey, Tequila, Rum, all aged mostly in used bourbon casks. There is no Scotch that I know of that is easy to get to that is aged in new oak.

[@charlesyoung8276]

What about WT Generations from 2023? That would be a better representation of RR vs. WT

[@joshuathejack]

Maybe I’m off, I thought that bourbon could still be considered bourbon even if finished as long as it wasn’t finished longer than its original aging in new charred oak barrels? Does that mean Jim Beam’s premium as well as Woodford’s Baccarat are both finished longer than they are aged?

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@joshuathejack The finishing time doesn’t have anything to do with it, it’s the rule that only a never before used, charred oak container is the only way you can age Bourbon. The used wine or rum or whatever barrel it is, breaks that rule and keeps it from being legally called a Bourbon.

[@joshuathejack]

@@ItsBourbonNight - thanks for that! I find two things funny - 1) even though the rules have been around for a long time, it still isn’t clear, and 2) companies violate the rules with their labels all the time. There are quite a few companies that have bourbon all over their labels but are known for their finished products. Another known for this same thing shows their product category as whiskey but then states bourbon on their bottle with the finishing. I don’t really care because I drink them all, but my point is that the regulation seems out of date and moot if people have found ways around it. Thank you for the education and clarification! I’ve never said I was the expert!!!!

[@givannimikel4586]

Find a friend who's constantly buying these tip tiers whiskeys and is willing to let you try 😊

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@givannimikel4586 Those are great friends to have!

[@BuffaloBourbonEnthusiasts]

Deb won the Cellar aged at a lottery and paid $150/$160 ... love that bottle. One of our first "high end" bottles was the AE 2022 for about $220/$230 and we enjoy it. TBH, you're paying for the box though. Now they got rid of the bo and are charging the same ... PASS!

[@robertrackuzius3722]

If a popular Bourbon channel has been around for several years and hasn't tried a product because of the price, it's probably not worth it. *wink wink* Taking about you, Woodford baccarat.

[@paulyoshida1747]

Not trying to be a wet blanket, but just trying to provide some feedback from a longtime viewer. I don't find this discussion to be terribly interesting, at least in this format. If you've ever done a blind head to head comparison, that would already have given us a more definite answer(say R13 vs MK or Woodford BP vs DDO), and if you haven't, then perhaps you should. I think a blind lineup of all contenders from one distillery would have been a better video. I know I've always come to y'all for your honest blind comparisons. I haven't seen as much of that lately, and miss it. Also, on a side note, I think y'all can do more scotch content. Not that you need to, but I would enjoy it as a viewer. Ok. That is all. Be well.

[@YoderJosh]

Disagree, while I agree at the end end of comparing the best of each distillery against each other it would be cool to do a March madness of the best offering from each distillery. I go to a distillery and see these expensive bottles and have a hard time justifying $130+ for something that becomes pee and goes down a drain. Is it better at 175 or 225, sure. Is turkey masters keep better 10x better than WT101. Nah.

[@paulyoshida1747]

@@YoderJosh I'm not sure what you disagree with?

[@vihtoripuurola3775]

Found some Horse Soldier wheated reserve barrel proof at 127.7 for $79 in Wisconsin and it is now my favorite proof point.

[@AmandaAcresHomestead]

"A whole bag of wax." - Chad, 2024

[@ItsBourbonNight]

:)

[@drgallup]

Not really a fan of finished bourbons. Really hard for me to pay extra for it. Now obviously scotch and Irish whiskies need finishing because they start with used barrels. Also, rye can benefit from finishing, not sure why.

[@Bourbonandbrews]

Cellar aged makers for 150???? Where

[@hazydavo]

Length of video no issue for me. Longer would be just fine.

[@jmiller8745]

And from watching more of this video, people are in the phase of FOMO, so all of the distilleries are doing the same and gouging on prices

[@chriskososki9931]

Too much price gouging going on.

[@Vortex1988]

1) I can't stand Angel's Envy. I don't know how people drink it. If you like it, just go drink wine instead of bourbon. 2) Cellar Aged is awful, especially for the price. They aged it in a cooler part of the warehouse where the age would have the least amount of impact. As a result, it's boring, not complex, and tastes like any regular $25 bottle of Maker's Mark. The Wood Finishing series is infinitely better. It's more complex and the different batches bring different flavor profiles, unlike the Cellar Aged. Maker's Mark is allergic to aging bourbon. I wish they'd let it age naturally and give us a unique product instead of scamming their customers by releasing higher age statements that have the least amount of barrel impact. Stop being cowards, Maker's Mark.

[@nathancrevonis3351]

It will almost always be a mostly pointless exercise to attempt to objectively rate the worth of super-premium and Ultra-premium categories of a luxury product. It’s too subjective, your conversation on this platform is to reductive (and I don’t mean that to be an ass but if Kenny and Ryan host hour long podcasts with industry guests then what hope is your 5 min per distillery talk going to actually shed light on the inputs into pricing). And of course your conversations won’t truly touch on economies of scale, marketing, the three components of whiskey production (grain, yeast strain, aging) except in the most distilled, digestible way. If you want to talk cost you maybe should touch on the cost accounting, market analysis and strategic goals of these distillers. But it’s never that in these videos, it’s “well Russell’s 15 is two years older than 13, it should be $20 more har har”. I hate short hand value math, it’s always simplified value math from KZbinrs and that doesn’t explain the nuance of pricing. But hey, actual discourse is difficult. Now let’s read the insightful opinions of 30 commenters saying they’ll never pay more than a nickel per liter because they think these premium categories are targeting them, but they’re not.

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@nathancrevonis3351 Cost and value are very subjective, of course. We can’t represent everyone’s sensibilities, obviously, so we just come from a place of our own personally thoughts, as I suppose all channels have to do. This episode was meant to be less about the dollar amount and more about if a distillery’s “best” is in fact their best, or if there’s another bottle to pay attention to - again, based on our opinions. We think it’s a fun topic to have discourse about and something a little different than our regularly scheduled programming.

[@thomasaccuntius9946]

WOW......what got into Sara? Did she have 6 cups of coffee just before recording this? For my tastes buds and budget or willingness to spend on a bottle of Bourbon, I peak out at $80. I have watched so many videos of tastings, and had a sample to go along, I cannot taste the flavors a lot of them say they detect. So on that note, I will stay in my prefered price range. And Sara, slow down and relax.

[@Bourbonandbrews]

Do you guys have children?

[@seanm4887]

Yes it's worth it. People get mad because they can't find it or can't afford it

[@ItsBourbonNight]

@@seanm4887 Talking about a particular bottle or just in general?