During this ongoing bourbon boom, somehow retail prices of $80 to $200 per bottle of bourbon became normalized. The masses that jumped into Bourbon over the past 3 to 4 years have bought into the fallacy that price equates to quality or rarity. This is a result of masterful manipulation by spirits companies. The chairman … Continue reading “How to stop FOMO and enjoy bourbon again”
George Dickel, which is owned by Diageo, recently cleared a new label for George Dickel and for the first time called the product Bourbon instead of TN Whisky. Both Jack Daniels and George Dickel have always met the legal requirements to be called Bourbon although they elected to designate themselves as TN Whisk(e)y. Nothing about … Continue reading “George Dickel is Bourbon”
In my local bourbon group, Houston Bourbon Society, I have run 5 group blind tastings. Each time it has included between 18 to 21 whiskies with 15 tasters. Why 15? Because a 750ml bottle breaks down neatly into 15 samples of 50ml each. Each taster paid the actual cost for the samples. Most of the … Continue reading “5 Blind Whiskey Tastings Results”
Brown Sugar Bourbon? We all know that Bourbon by code can’t have any coloring or flavorings, so how does this grotesque whiskey exist? The answer is ‘Brown Sugar Bourbon’ is not Bourbon but a Whiskey Specialty; it’s listed in this product’s COLA application as a fanciful name. When a spirit type does not fall under … Continue reading “Fanciful Name Fallacy”
I stumbled upon a word document that I saved from a 2012 road trip report to KY. My have times changed. Kentucky Bourbon Trip Last week, Randy Blank & I left Houston on Tuesday morning for our road trip to KY. We stopped Tuesday night in Memphis and we ate some above average BBQ at … Continue reading “KY Bourbon trip circa 2012”
Without a doubt, in every whiskey group I’m in, someone will eventually ask for advice on a ‘really good’ tequila. These posts are heavily commented on and often with some questionable advice. In the bourbon world equivalent advice would be along the lines of ‘Kentucky Owl Confiscated is the best’. So I’m writing this … Continue reading “Guide to Tequila for Bourbon Drinkers”
The TTB proposed several new rules and solicited input under a proposal titled “Modernization of the Labeling and Advertising Regulations for Wine, Distilled Spirits, and Malt Beverages” last year. Today they published their response along with which code change is occurring and its effective date of May 4, 2020. Here is my summary on how … Continue reading “TTB Update CFR’s on Spirits”
One of the things that make Bourbon unique is that nothing can be added post distillation other than water. This is true regardless if it’s labeled Bourbon or Straight Bourbon. Other American whiskey types such as Rye, if it’s not labeled Straight, can have up to 2.5% HCFBM, which stands for Harmless Coloring Flavoring Blending … Continue reading “Label says Bourbon but it’s not?”
I recently came across a newspaper article about a company, Persedo Spirits, with a patented process that discussed polishing whiskey. The article mentioned turning bad liquor into good. Over the years I have seen and tasted several other spirits produced by some type of contraption, they were poor substitutes for and easy to detect apart … Continue reading “Tater-Talk Myth Busting Patrol – Polished Whiskey”
Time for another drinking for science post. This time it’s a blind tasting conducted within the Houston Bourbon Society, HBS, with 15 tasters of 18 straight whiskies. This is the 3rd time I’ve done a blind tasting with this group. Here is a link that covers previous blind tastings – https://tater-talk.com/2018/01/23/blind-tasting-of-20-american-whiskies/. This time when I … Continue reading ““If it’s not straight, you must abate” blind tasting”
