Finally - Templeton Rye!

The December spirit is our long sought after Templeton Rye. Look it up and be jealous.

September - Scapa 16 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky Review

The selection for September was the 16 year old Scapa. After a minor uncorking incident, resulting in some creative use of a cork and strainer, we were able to sample this scotch.

It has a delicate nose of fruit and with a hint of honey. The honey carries over with the taste, accompanied by oak caramel and vanilla with a nice peppery burn. Finishing with caramel and spice.

Overall, a very enjoyable scotch.

Poker points updates through October

Not sure I'm a huge fan of how this spreadsheet is working, but the poker points are somewhat updated. Behind the scenes is a spreadsheet with all of the details by month. Should make it easier to do entry but this aggregate screen, well, it is what it is right now. If anyone is a whiz at Google Docs, let me know. Maybe you could help me get this looking a little nicer. Be sure to check your inbox as the next meeting date has been chosen. November 18. Hope to see you all there. If you didn't get an invite, let me know and I'll make sure you get it.

Whiskey purchased for tonight's meeting

With a smile on my face, I can check off one todo item for today: buy booze. Here's a glimpse. Apollo Northwest Liqours set us up with a very good price too.

Don't forget to sign up for the Whisky Tasting!

Don't forget to sign up for the Apollo Scotch Whisky tasting to be held Wednesday October 26th at The Oakwood Broadway Hotel. This time, we will be sampling the Arran Malts. Cost is $25 and the event is limit to 40 people. You can sign up by heading down to the Apollo by Best Buy north.

Oh...and who can host this month?

September's Whisky: Tobermory 10 year

This unchillfiltered 10 year old whisky from the Isle of Mull is the spirit of the month. Early reviews are positive for the peaty whisky lovers. The new guys aren't big fans. I'm sure there will be more to after they get done cracking my pocket aces. Friggin' 4 card flushes.

August - Bakers Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey Review

Once again this months meeting is rolling around without my review from last month. So, I guess it's time to post.

I've been putting this off, not because I didn't like the whiskey, but I failed to take any notes.

We selected Baker's 7 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. I'm surprised, but I think this is one bourbon that I had not tried before, and I don't know why. It's surprisingly smooth for the proof, however, if you let your palette get to clean, the next sip will catch you off guard. As I don't have any notes, I didn't take a detailed profile. However, I don't think I really needed one, as when I think of bourbon this is exactly what it should taste like.

$200,000 for a Blended Scotch?

Chivas will release 21 bottles of a 45 year blended scotch: The Honours of Scotland, Tribute To Honours
The empty bottle might even give you some ROI, with it's 413 diamonds and 22 carats of other gemstones inlaid in gold and silver.

August - Bakers Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey

Boys, the poker points have been updated. Next month, we will have a winner...provided DeeBakes, British Tony and myself show up. Any one of us could easily make it. 16 points is all Tony needs and since I made up for missing a month due to a faulty spinal column, it's anyone's game. Check out the points...

This month we sampled the Baker's Kentucky Bourbon. Aged only 7 years and coming in at 107 proof, all things were destined for a short trip through crazy town.

I'd tell you what an awesome night I had playing poker. Ya. Good times. Unlike last month, I rarely saw a hand and when I did, I couldn't hold on to a dominating lead. When 99 < 77, you know you run not so good. PokerFool made an appearance...he schooled us in the finer points of poker. 30 points in a single night. Crazy.

So, how was the Baker's? I'll be perfectly honest. It was $40 with tax and really quite good. When I pulled the cork, we immediately noticed the fruity aroma. Not sickeningly sweet, but very nice. 107 proof it said on the label but going down, it was very smooth. Much smoother than whiskeys far less strong. I think pretty much everyone was happy with this one. An excellent bourbon at a very reasonable price.

All in all, it was an fun night. Hope you all have a great weekend!

August - Ridge Distillery's Iowa Bourbon Review

Since the August meeting commences in a few hours, I think it's time to put my review in for July.

I went home to visit my family and celebrate my dad's and sister's birthday. We stopped at Hy-Vee to pickup a cake, and while there I decided to check out their whiskey selection (since you can actually by liqueur at a grocery store in Iowa), and see if the latest batch of Templeten Rye was out yet. Well it wasn't, but I found Cedar Ridge Distillery's Iowa Bourbon instead. Always on the lookout for something new, and supporting Iowa business, I picked it up.

Since I hadn't seen let alone heard of it before, I didn't know what to expect. The nose is distincly bourbon, with hints of nut and apricot. The taste is mildly fruity with overtones of vanilla and hints of marshmallow. Reminiscent of Jim Beam's Basil Hayden's. The finish is clean and quick.

Well worth the $35 price tag. I'm looking forward to trying their Single Malt Whiskey when it is released later this year.

Revised: Poker Points Adjusted

While for several days, I enjoyed watching the race for the king of poker points look like it was going to be a close one, as it turns out, I can't add. I carried the one when I shouldn't have. With that, DeeBakes retains the top spot. A tight race for sure. Although, I'd like to point out that if we repeat the points this time from last, I think I end up the champion...it could happen.

With that in mind, I should be sending the email out tonight regarding the location and date for the August meeting of Bourbonators. Who's hosting and when???

I'm getting thirsty!

July meeting is in the books - Cedar Ridge Iowa Bourbon

The July meeting has come and gone. Thank you to Colin for hosting. Kinda wish I had time to throw down for some heads up Rock-m-Sock-m-Robots but alas, I was too busy playing cards. If you are curious, poker points have been updated.

For those of you that missed it, we sampled Cedar Ridge Distillery's Iowa Bourbon. Don't worry if you've never heard of them. Colin found them while exploring in Iowa looking for something different. He might have been checking into some Templeton Rye. We could only hope to finally get some of that.

It's been a while since had a non-scotch I really liked. This Cedar Ridge was a nice surprise for me.

As other reviews have stated, this bourbon is extremely smooth with a bit of sweet for the lips. After sipping it neat for a while, enjoying its slight caramel tones, I added a sliver of ice as the other reviewer had recommended. This did loosen it up even more. Really quite enjoyable.

For a $35 bottle, it was an exceptional find. Who knew Iowa could be the home of a very good bourbon?

So guys, what do you think?

Scottish Whisky Tasting

Cam, Colin, DeeBakes, Chris and I are attending a Scotch whisky tasting put on by Apollo Liquor this evening at the Kahler. So far my favorite is the Deanston 30 year. Go figure I like the second most expensive spirit of the night.

Mobile browsing Bourbonators.com

Blogger rolled out mobile templates recently. I took the liberty of checking "Yes" to use the mobile theme on this site. Next time you browse it with your mobile device, it should format better. I checked it out and it sure made looking through the whiskey list easier. Any of you geniuses now how to get http://bourbornators.com to work? I got http://www.bourbonators.com working. I'm sure there's something in the host file I need to do.

Enjoy! See you tonight!

The late May meeting post

Because the Captain is preemptively posting for tomorrow's meeting, I better get the update in for last month.

Let me start off by saying, I am not the biggest whiskey connoisseur of the group. Hell, I don't even know if there is an "e" in whiskey or not. Being the late game fill in for the ailing wannabe host, I went out to the liquor store and simply wandered the aisles, which in of itself can be fun. Unlike the Captain, I asked some young punk working there for some advice. I also wasn't sure about the number of attendees, so I wanted something on the less expensive side. What I ended up with was this $35 bottle (well within the budget so the kitty is growing):



From the tag which appears to not have an "e" in whisky, who'd have thunk?

Pendleton Whisky was specifically created to celebrate the bold spirit of independence and hard-work ethic of the American cowboy and cowgirl. It’s borne of the rich tradition of the 100-year-old Pendleton Round-Up, one of the most prestigious rodeos in the world.

Pendleton Whisky has been a proud sponsor of the Pendleton Round Up since the brand’s inception and we are honored to be a part of an event that has such a long standing history in Oregon.

Each Pendleton Whisky bottle prominently features the rodeo’s famous bucking horse symbol and Let’er Buck slogan. A portion of proceeds from every bottle sold is donated back to the Pendleton Round-Up.

I actually liked this one, although it was not overly unique. A smooth drink, not a rough finish (which I dislike) and well received by all who attended. Although I don't think it really made that big of an impression overall. Another person who attended brought some Jack Daniels Honey, which made for a nice sampling night.

As far as the poker went, game 1 went oversees to the Dutchman and game 2 was a LONG heads up battle that I eventually took down.

Happy now Captain?

June Meeting - The Tasty Beverages

I went to Apollo Northwest Liquors tonight on the quest for something tasty. The manager was working again, they guy that hooked us up with the Lagavulin.

Lately, I've had the Balvenie on the brain, so the quest was on to find another double casked. As it turns out, Glenmorangie has two different double casked spirits. One is a port and the other a sherry.

Since the Balvenie was on my brain, I chose the sherry.

He also suggested a beer, Brothers Reserve Barrel Aged Bourbon beer. Um, BOURBON BEER. While I'm quite sure this will never be allowed as an official drink at whiskey club, um BOURBON BEER! This beer was cask aged in bourbon casks.

So tomorrow night, my house!

Poker points have been updated

I've updated the poker points, and even though I wasn't there, I still seem to be in the top 3 :)

DeeBakes is our new leader with British Tony now holding down second place. Were there 3 new guys? We have one more sheet in the official poker points note pad. Anyone got a spare? Could I continue to ask stupid questions until the next scheduled rapture?

I believe I could.

Something cool to start your day

Saw this on Twitter today...Buffalo Trace has a distillery webcam page. Kinda cool actually. (Hat tip to Mattazuma)

First Tastes - Laphroaig

John shared this on the Bourbonators Facebook page. Too good not share with everyone, everywhere! Next time we have, let's bring the making of S'mores.

Enjoy!

Meeting scheduled, poker points and horse races

If I understand Zack's chicken scratching performed with a pen on a little legal pad, poker points are updated. Looks like DeeBakes and myself are a top of the leader board until a week from Friday. We will be meeting May 20th.

Darrin's post about the Single Oak Project has me intrigued and incredibly thirsty. Not to mention, I still have a post to do about last month's tasty beverage. The Highland Park 15 year needs some attention. Anyone else care to do a review? Tony?

The horse race comes from the fact that our poker points leader board is jam packed at the top. Right now it's anyone's game. Of course, DeeBakes is really the guy to beat. I'd focus on taking him out.

I'm game for any suggestions for whiskeys to try. I'm sure I'll take a trip to Apollo, HyVee and Andys in the next few days doing "research".

In the mean time, I highly recommend reading this article from the Huffington Post entitled "Poker Players Are Nearly As Skilled As Baseball Players, Freakonomics Economist Finds". I've enjoyed reading the other stuff from the Freakonomics guys, their take on stats and research is really quite fascinating. There's some flaws in this one too but you should still find it interesting.

Let me know what you think!

The Single Oak Project

Came across this link to a story about an interesting project from the Buffalo Trace distillery, called the Single Oak Project, where they selected 96 trees from the same forest and had barrels made from them, and then treated the wood in various controlled ways to determine how it would affect the bourbon aged in them. The first batch was released this month, with the rest scheduled to be released every quarter over the next 4 years. Every bottle is labeled with the barrel it came from and you can log on to their website, SingleOakProject.com, and give your critique of each bottle you try.

http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2011/05/buffalo-trace-single-oak-project-ultimate-bourbon.html

Updated Whiskey List

I updated the whiskey list with everything from March and April. I'm running my first road race this weekend, so I'm not sure if I'll get my review done quickly of the Highland Park 15 year old. I could do a full review of the Jameson and Bushmill's but I can probably just sum it up here. Jameson - decent, standard whiskey. Drinkable. Bushmill's - not so much. Rather harsh and a bit blaach.

Any other reviews, thoughts on the whiskeys of the last two months?

All is not lost...

Ars Technica has the details on how on-line poker players may be able to get their money back after the seizure of the poker domains.

Tony.

Coupon for J.D. Single Barrel

I found a coupon online for Jack Daniel's Single Barrel. I think that we have had this one recently so I don't care if we get it or not for the next meeting. However, I wanted to share it if anyone wants to snag a bottle for themselves. It expires on April 30.

http://www.andysliquor.com/text-coupons.html

Payout structure

Darrin did the hard part, we now have the payout structure as a tab on this site. Check it out and lets here what you think.

Luck of the Irish

Our Chief pointed out that we really are meeting the day after St. Patrick's Day. Last month, we had talked about going the Jim Beam Rye route this month as it's price is quite affordable and wouldn't be an enourmous, cliff like drop into the abyss of horrible whiskeys from the Lagavulin.

But I need to ask, should we be looking for a comparable Irish whiskey for the month? Is the Jim Beam set in everyone's heart? How bad could Jameson really be? Has the beauty of the sweet, sweet nectar that is Lagavulin drifter far enough from our short term memory? Thoughts? Jokes? Gassy expletives?

Might this replace Celtic Crossing?

While waiting for the Apple Next Big Thing event, I noticed Arstechnica was sponsored by Red Stag. Morbid curiosity led me to this review on about.com. While Darrin's bacon infusion experiment was in need of refining (Jeremiah Weed was just too sweet to mix with bacon). Anyone have thoughts on trying a classic Bourbon infused with black cherry? My guess is the review is correct in that it's medicinal cherry after taste will be too much but as a mix it might have legs. Could this turn stomachs as quickly as Celtic Crossing?

I open the floor to discussions, gagging sounds and ridicule.

Pay Schedule

Here is my first draft at coming up with a set, formulaic pay schedule based on number of players. The formula is: First place gets 1/2 the total rounded up to the nearest $5. Second place gets 1/2 of what first place got, rounded down to the nearest $5. Third place gets half of second, rounded down, and so on, always rounding down after first place. The correction column represents the money left after following the formula. The spreadsheet won't let me add this money back in, because that changes the amounts used to calculate this amount, and it recurses into a tailspin. Maybe someone more skilled with spreadsheets than I can figure out how to handle this, but my proposal is this: if the correction amount is 5, it goes to the winner; if it is 10, first and second each get 5; if it is 15, first, second, and third each get 5 extra. If I figure out how to attach a file I can post the actual spreadsheet document, otherwise here is the table:

The Lagavulin story and review

I posted the story and my review of the Lagavulin from last month over at OhCaptain Poker. Maybe I should cross post it here. Hm.

Who else is gonna review it? Bueller? Bueller?

A Real Woman

A Real Woman

A real woman is a man's best friend. She will never stand him up and never let him down. She will reassure him when he feels insecure and comfort him after a bad day. She will inspire him to do things he never thought he could do; to live without fear and forget regret. She will enable him to express his deepest emotions and give in to his most intimate desires. She will make sure he always feels as though he's the most handsome man in the room and will enable him to be the most confident, sexy, seductive and invincible...

No wait...

It's whiskey that does all that crap. Never mind.

As complete a list of whiskeys as I've got

I've updated the page that lists all of the whiskeys I have record of. I'm quite sure there are more. If you have more, just let me know. In case you haven't seen it, at the top of the first page of this blog it says "Whiskeys we've tried" - that's the permanent link. Also, if you have something online about a particular spirit you'd like to link to, let me know and we'll update it. I think any of us that are listed as contributers can update the list.

Go get thirsty looking at the list.

Expanding the house that whiskey built

While I know I still have a great deal of writing to do, I added two pages to this web site and I think there goals will be self evident. The links are at the top of the page.

First is a page called "Whiskey's We've Drank". I've been going back through my blogs and photos and adding the booze of the month to the list. I was also hoping to add links to anything we have written about them. So if you have something you want shared, send me the link.

Second page is for poker points. Zack, I'll need to figure out how to add you to the spreadsheet so you can change the numbers. The post with the points will drop off as soon as we post more stuff. The spreadsheet can be done in real time and is sortable, which makes it handy to see that while I'm currently in first place, my stellar performance on last Friday should result in a new leader soon.

Let me know if you have any thoughts on this. Comments and emails are more then welcome!

DeeBakes wins!

With 14 players in tourney 1 playing stellar donkey poker, DeeBakes and his storm trooper survive to win a ton of BSOP points and 45% of all the money.

Tonights booze

Islay single malt scotch whisky Bruichladdich. More to come!

Bourbonator Scores

Here are the current scores for the BSOP Trophy after 1/21/11. I apologize for any of the names that might be misspelled.

16 Colin
38 J-Lo
14 Cam
52 Zach
30 Tony
53 Darren B
30 Danny
4 Mark M
15 Mark J
58 Tim
39 Chris
34 Jon B
41 Darren L
8 Mike V
6 Bryan C
41 Ross
14 Matt C
16 Matt B
23 Andy
10 James
22 Jeff
17 Marshall

Cracking the seal

I think it's time to take the lid off of this or some other strange analogy and make the first post. I've invited several members to join me here and tell the story of Bourbonators, our whiskey club.

Tonight is our first meeting of 2011. It's friggin' cold here so some tasty whiskey will probably hit the spot nicely.

Enjoy!