Imaginary Internet Friends Blind Tasting Part VI: Bourbons $20 or Under

Here is another write-up from a whiskey tasting I participated in over the weekend. You can find the backstory and links to the previous tastings at the end of this post but the TLDR; version is a local group of us from /r/bourbon banded together to help each other sourcing booze and also to get together once in a while for tastings.

This tasting was kind of a throwback to our very first get-together. The category that night was bourbons $25 or under and was a lot of fun. In hindsight I think it was so much fun because it was our first tasting and the start of something really great. We soon found at this tasting there is a big difference between most $25 bourbons and those under $20. Being such low end bourbons my notes aren't going to be overly verbose or complex but here's my best attempt to define "not very good" is as many ways as possible. Here are my rankings from first to worst:

1. Sample B: My notes for this one were simply "not the worst". I got a little furniture polish on the nose but that was really the only bad thing about it. The taste had some notable oak, a slight sweetness, and tiny hints of spice.
2. Sample E: The nose on this one wasn't impressive. Tasting it last probably had something to do with that because by the time I got to it the field was looking pretty damn terrible. The taste was redeeming though as there were big notes of rye and some slight sweetness. My guess was that this one was Four Roses.
3. Sample A: Here's where things started falling apart as the first two were a huge cut above this. This one had a nose that wreaked of young whiskey and bananas which is a common note in underaged whiskey for me. The taste was very young with bitter barrel char and hot fruit. My comment was "bad".
4. Sample C: Things went from bad to worse here. The nose had lots of ethanol and overly ripe sour fruit. The taste was flat with stale cardboard notes and some oak. My comment was "really bad". I should note that the entire group winced when tasting this one. The responses were comical.
5. Sample D: This was the lightest in color. The nose was light and there was lots of bitterness and unpleasant hot fruit. The taste was truly awful with bitter acetone. My comment was "terrible".

So the reveal, based on my rankings:

1. Sample B: Old Charter 10 year
2. Sample D: Four Roses
3. Sample A: Ten High
4. Sample C: Benchmark
5. Sample D: Rebel Yell

Really not surprised here. Old Charter 10 is actually decent. I nailed the Four Roses as the rye is a dead giveaway for that one. Those were the only two of these five that I have ever owned before and I'm glad because the last three are just foul.

As for the group, the results were pretty much what you would expect. First two are solid. I'm not sure it matters after that.

1. Four Roses submitted by /u/Imcoolerthanu with 29 points
2. Old Charter 10 year submitted by /u/signde with 26 points
3. Rebel Yell submitted by /u/docjones12 with 22 points
4. Ten High submitted by /u/tvraisedme with 16 points
5. Benchmark submitted by /u/werdx with 12 points

This tasting was a lot of fun just for the pure comedic value - the wisecracks and faces people were making trying some of these were hilarious. Having said that I'm pretty sure we are content with never doing the budget category ever again.

Of course after drinking so much swill we were all eager to break out the good stuff. /u/tvraisedme brought a Balvenie Tun 1401 batch 9 and whew boy is that good stuff. I might have to pick up one of those even with the $275 price tag. From this year's releases we had a bottle of both Parker's Heritage Wheat and the OFBB '14. u/docjones12 brought his Willett FE 11yr that we are all convinced came from Beam as it tastes exactly like a better version of Booker's 25th. /u/helios7 even broke out his Booker's 25 for us to do a side by side and the profile on them is identical. I always like to open something most of the group has never had so this night I popped a High West 21. It was a big hit - I'm still blown away how good it is even at such a low proof. /u/tvraised me also brought a gang of Ardbegs. It was a great night of tasting and good company.

Not sure what's next on our agenda but we should have another tasting in the next month. As always, special thanks so /u/Hispes for being our impartial and picking our lineups.