That is entirely possible. My whisky friends and I do blind tastings every month or so. It is interesting to see how what people like does not consistently correlate with price point. When we did a cask strength rye night, the Willet was the favorite followed by Thomas Handy rye which is much more expensive. I don't remember what the others were, but those two stood out when tasting blind.
It is an interesting hobby. I think the distillers play a lot of games too. One of my favorites is Stagg Jr. The batch #9 they released last year was remarkably better than other batches--so good I suspect it is George T. Stagg bottled as Jr.
Both single barrel picks from local store in the city, 12 is off the shelf Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login Bought these at a charity whiskey auction recently. Looking forward to trying them.
Just picked up another bottle of Noah's Mill. I've reported in the past that a couple of bottles were very grassy and generally not up to standard. The bottle I bought last night, though, was excellent. The store had four more bottles from the same lot. I am really tempted to go grab them all.
Recent expansions to collection. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login 2006 F430 Spider, Rosso Corsa
On sale so I stocked a couple. Yum. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Sent from my SM-G960W using FerrariChat.com mobile app
I opened a bottle of Stagg Jr Batch 11 last night. It is superb. Cherries, a bit of vanilla and black pepper and silky smooth for 127.9 proof.
I picked up a bottle a while ago and haven’t opened it yet. Mine is also the 127.9 but I don’t see a batch #. Where do you see it?
You have to do a search online, the proof varies by batch #. Batch 11 – (Winter, 2018) – 127.9 Proof Batch 10 – (Spring, 2018) – 126.4 Proof Batch 9 – (Fall, 2017) – 131.9 Proof Batch 8 – (Spring, 2017) – 129.5 Proof Batch 7 – (Fall, 2016) – 130.0 Proof Batch 6 – (Spring, 2016) – 132.5 Proof Batch 5 – (Fall, 2015) – 129.7 Proof Batch 4 – (Spring, 2015) – 132.2 Proof Batch 3 – (Fall, 2014) – 132.1 Proof Batch 2 – (Spring, 2014) – 128.7 Proof Bourbonex.com Batch 1 – (Fall, 2013) – 134.4 Proof
I haven't seen anything out there in a couple months now. Not one bottle of Stagg Jr. Poof, it's gone I guess.
Just getting into bourbon season for me, plus really busy so haven’t checked on what’s out there. Guess it’s time to stop by a few of my favorite stores. Still have my Stagg Jr unopened from last year along with a few others ready to be unsealed.
Actually both the Peerless rye and bourbon are pretty widely available in most markets. Look on wine-searcher for them.