A traveler in Edo period Japan making their way from Tokyo to Osaka by way of the Tōkaidō route would make their last stop in Moriguchi. They might stop for the night, and have a meal and a drink.
If you’re like me, you’ve probably wondered what is the best bargain when selecting a bourbon that won’t break the bank. Well, we decided to put that query to the test. We selected seven bourbons that were all purchased for under $25 and blind taste tested them. The results were quite informative. Some results were predictable. Some were eye opening.
Well, we were lucky enough to get our hands on a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 15 year, which some say is the best of the product line. It wasn’t an easy task securing a bottle that’s for sure. This line of wheated bourbon has a cult-like following. The craze got its start in 1998 when Van Winkle 20 year was submitted to the prestigious Beverage Tasting Institute. It received an unheard of rating of 99 out of 100.
I love that the Willett team is getting creative with this new Exploratory Cask Finish (XCF) product line. Version 1.0 is a seven-year-old rye finished in Curacao casks. The rye was distilled by MGP of Indiana (I know, I know…) and then aged in Willett’s warehouses for seven years in American white oak barrels with a #4 char.
This is a bottled-blend of four of the Four Roses bourbon recipes including a 13-year-old, a 12-year-old, an 11-year-old, and a 9‑year-old. The different recipes include a mix of 60% corn, 35% rye, 5% malted barley to 75% corn, 20% rye, 5% barley; and four different yeast strains.