The Waxhole: Speakeasy & Whisk(e)y Lounge

Guys I’ve bought like 20 bottles in the last month. I’m thinking about starting an infinity bottle.

I feel like somebody posted about High Weat Campfire recently. Was it @kvetcha? I just read that distribution of it is being halted and it’ll only be available on site in Utah from now on. Snagged a couple of bottles in my last excursion. Get it while you can.
 
sahomerrocks said:
AFAIK, yes, people do. But from what I've seen, that community is more into pouring into little sample bottles and trading as opposed to full 750mls.
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Ah right. Okay, seriously just thinking out loud here and not trying to box you into something, is that just because of cost, do you think? People ship 750mL beer bombers all the time. Are the potential penalties for liquor so severe as to make it riskier, or is the assumption that you’d only be shipping *good* whiskey in the first place so it would naturally only be limited amounts, or...?

Because, again in theory, I’d be totally willing to trade small quantities of the plentiful and reasonably priced BT for Eagle Rare to spread the wealth (I mean, as long as I don’t learn that’s like a federal felony or something). That could actually be kind of fun: ship a bottle or two of what the person actually wants, plus a sample not of a highly sought after spirit, but of one that is only available from a local distillery.

Somebody who has put more thought into this than I have tell me why this is a stupid idea.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
Ah right. Okay, seriously just thinking out loud here and not trying to box you into something, is that just because of cost, do you think? People ship 750mL beer bombers all the time. Are the potential penalties for liquor so severe as to make it riskier, or is the assumption that you’d only be shipping *good* whiskey in the first place so it would naturally only be limited amounts, or...?

Because, again in theory, I’d be totally willing to trade small quantities of the plentiful and reasonably priced BT for Eagle Rare to spread the wealth (I mean, as long as I don’t learn that’s like a federal felony or something). That could actually be kind of fun: ship a bottle or two of what the person actually wants, plus a sample not of a highly sought after spirit, but of one that is only available from a local distillery.

Somebody who has put more thought into this than I have tell me why this is a stupid idea.
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I don't think it's a crazy idea, but I do not personally trade for the same reasons I don't trade beer. Not knowing individual state laws, the hassle is not worth it and I have access to great stuff without worrying about all the stuff I can't get.

I hate that kinda stuff so much that if I were in your shoes, I would just make the drive to Frankfort.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
Guys I’ve bought like 20 bottles in the last month. I’m thinking about starting an infinity bottle.

I feel like somebody posted about High Weat Campfire recently. Was it @kvetcha? I just read that distribution of it is being halted and it’ll only be available on site in Utah from now on. Snagged a couple of bottles in my last excursion. Get it while you can.
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Thanks for the heads up! I’ll try to grab another bottle.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
Guys I’ve bought like 20 bottles in the last month. I’m thinking about starting an infinity bottle.
Click to expand...
I started one earlier this year. I am using a large mason jar right now, until I finish a bottle that I like the shape of. Thinking about using this St. Germain bottle, but there's no cork for it, so I may wait until I finish something else. I pour 1oz. from every new bottle into it, and have kept a running log of all whiskeys that have ever gone in, along with the date that I added it. The only omissions are very peaty scotches. I will add a scotch like Macallan or Glenmorangie, but nothing like Laphroaig or Wee Beasty. The bottle is surprisingly good.

In fact, I did a Blind Tasting this year for my birthday and the Infinite Bottle came in surprisingly high! It was a little bit of set up, but ended up going smoothly. The only problems were that we started it at 8pm after drinking since 11am, and that one of the fellows stopped rating anything and just said "this is awful" after every single sample. Actually, that wasn't a problem, that was a bonus! :ROFLMAO:

Before doing the blind test I thought Woodford Reserve was my favorite all-rounder. I wasn't too far off.

The competing whiskeys were:

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof A121
Glenmorangie
Buffalo Trace
High West Prairie Bourbon
Woodford Reserve
Traverse City Barrel Proof Rye
Eagle Rare
Jefferson's Reserve
Eastern Kille Bourbon
Macallan 12 Double Cask
Wild Turkey 101
Infinite Bottle (which at this point was a mix of all of these and some Maker's Mark)

I knew there were a couple that were out of place and I would know immediately, blind or not. Like the Rye and the two scotches. The Glenmorangie looked completely different from everything else. But, I had already sunk a good $350 into this and didn't feel like buying two more dark bourbons.

Here's the order I rated them in

1. Buffalo Trace
2. Woodford Reserve
3. Wild Turkey 101
4. Traverse City Barrel Proof Rye
5. Eagle Rare
6. Infinity Bottle
7. Jefferson's Reserve
8. Elijah Craig Barrel Proof A121
9. High West Prairie Bourbon
10. Macallan 12 Double Cask
11. Glenmorangie
12. Eastern Kille Bourbon

I was pleasantly surprised that my top choice (blind) was a $26 bottle that I can easily find. Also, Wild Turkey 101 getting bronze was a surprise, too. Not surprising that Woodford sat so high, or that Eastern Kille came in dead last. The scotches were really out of place and just weren't tasting good next to all the bourbons, so they didn't get a fair shake. I will say, though, that I love Macallan 12 and this Double Cask just does not taste very good to me. Shame, too, because it is one of the more expensive bottles on my shelf. Not worth the $90 at all. I thought I would be able to pick out the Elijah Craig immediately because it's so much more "hot" than the others, but it didn't really stand out. There were a few that I thought could be the high proof Elijah Craig. I'm surprised it landed so low, though. It was fun and by the time my next birthday rolls around I'm sure I'll have a full cabinet of only bourbons to test out.
 
Skeletonframes said:
I started one earlier this year. I am using a large mason jar right now, until I finish a bottle that I like the shape of. Thinking about using this St. Germain bottle, but there's no cork for it, so I may wait until I finish something else. I pour 1oz. from every new bottle into it, and have kept a running log of all whiskeys that have ever gone in, along with the date that I added it. The only omissions are very peaty scotches. I will add a scotch like Macallan or Glenmorangie, but nothing like Laphroaig or Wee Beasty. The bottle is surprisingly good.

In fact, I did a Blind Tasting this year for my birthday and the Infinite Bottle came in surprisingly high! It was a little bit of set up, but ended up going smoothly. The only problems were that we started it at 8pm after drinking since 11am, and that one of the fellows stopped rating anything and just said "this is awful" after every single sample. Actually, that wasn't a problem, that was a bonus! :ROFLMAO:

Before doing the blind test I thought Woodford Reserve was my favorite all-rounder. I wasn't too far off.

The competing whiskeys were:

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof A121
Glenmorangie
Buffalo Trace
High West Prairie Bourbon
Woodford Reserve
Traverse City Barrel Proof Rye
Eagle Rare
Jefferson's Reserve
Eastern Kille Bourbon
Macallan 12 Double Cask
Wild Turkey 101
Infinite Bottle (which at this point was a mix of all of these and some Maker's Mark)

I knew there were a couple that were out of place and I would know immediately, blind or not. Like the Rye and the two scotches. The Glenmorangie looked completely different from everything else. But, I had already sunk a good $350 into this and didn't feel like buying two more dark bourbons.

Here's the order I rated them in

1. Buffalo Trace
2. Woodford Reserve
3. Wild Turkey 101
4. Traverse City Barrel Proof Rye
5. Eagle Rare
6. Infinity Bottle
7. Jefferson's Reserve
8. Elijah Craig Barrel Proof A121
9. High West Prairie Bourbon
10. Macallan 12 Double Cask
11. Glenmorangie
12. Eastern Kille Bourbon

I was pleasantly surprised that my top choice (blind) was a $26 bottle that I can easily find. Also, Wild Turkey 101 getting bronze was a surprise, too. Not surprising that Woodford sat so high, or that Eastern Kille came in dead last. The scotches were really out of place and just weren't tasting good next to all the bourbons, so they didn't get a fair shake. I will say, though, that I love Macallan 12 and this Double Cask just does not taste very good to me. Shame, too, because it is one of the more expensive bottles on my shelf. Not worth the $90 at all. I thought I would be able to pick out the Elijah Craig immediately because it's so much more "hot" than the others, but it didn't really stand out. There were a few that I thought could be the high proof Elijah Craig. I'm surprised it landed so low, though. It was fun and by the time my next birthday rolls around I'm sure I'll have a full cabinet of only bourbons to test out.
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Etsy has a lot of infinity bottle designs, but most of them are a little too 'cute' for my tastes. I did find this interesting design where the bottle "auto-samples" a portion of the bottle. I'm not exactly sure I understand the supposed advantage over just pouring an ounce off the top, but still it's a cool design. Is it $560 cool? I'd say no. But I still have it saved in my favorites and go and stare at it sometimes.

I too just had a blind tasting that I organized over the weekend. I limited it to just 6 bottles, and made up an arbitrary category of "10-15 year old bourbons that are between 90-100 proof" to give me some guardrails while I was selecting bottles. I ended up bringing:

Henry McKenna 10 (100 Proof)
Russell's Reserve 10 (90 Proof)
Eagle Rare 10 (90 Proof)
Whistlepig 10 Rye (100 Proof)
Calumet Farm 14 Year Single Rack Black (96.2 Proof)
Dickel 11 (100 Proof)

Turns out we are NOT good at tasting bourbons (nor do we actually know anything about bourbon). We absolutely failed at even picking the one rye out of the six (most of us guessed the Calumet Farm for this). We also weren't diligent at all about the rankings, but I know that I ended up with the McKenna and Calumet Farm at the bottom of my list, and the Eagle Rare, something I expected to naturally float to the top, in the middle of the pack. The Dickel and the Whistlepig are near the top in my mind, but they were also the first two I sampled, which has my gears turning already about doing the same blind tasting but changing up the order and seeing if I end up with the same result. We also stopped and had dinner between flights of 3, and I'm sure that also changed how we tasted everything.

At the end of the tasting I turned to the cheap stuff and pulled a bottle of Old Granddad BiB to sip on into the wee hours, and frankly I thought it held its own against any of the prior 6 contenders (although I was also rapidly losing my tastebuds).

A tasting with 12 samples! That's a lot. I thought I was being a little spicy sneaking one rye into my list, but your inclusion of the Scotch wouldn't have even occurred to me. How much were you pouring, and how long did it take to go through all of those? What did you do to reset your palate between tastes? My tasting was informal, to the point that we all had a beer cracked and the only snack on the table was popcorn. So we weren't controlling for all the factors very well. It ended up being more of an activity that gave us a framework, something to do, while we hung out for the first time in a year and a half, more than it was about the bourbons themselves. To that end I decanted a sort of heavy pour per taste for each person (1.5oz per bourbon), so everything was getting a bit warm and hazy by the end. In that sense, highly successful as far as I'm concerned.
 
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