I've just started watching y'all recently. Well last 4 -6 months. Just saw the Rare Breed last vs first and you were saying 3 Years in the future it may not matter. It's 3 years later according to TH-cam😂. Really enjoy the vids. It's one of the Two whiskey tubes that my wife watches with me, you and it's whiskey night. Thanks for the content and your interesting views Erin.
If it's a really old bottle, we've heard they're more flavorful than the new stuff, and years of time open has probably mellowed it considerably too. Be interesting to try leaving something open for years (on purpose) and revisiting it. Cheers Johnathan!
NOTE: These were purchased at the same time but not verified to be from the exact same batch. One bottle is labeled LL/IG and one is labeled LL/JC. How much difference this makes, we don’t know. Does LL indicate they’re the same batch but different bottlings? Does IG and JC indicated they’re different batches? Who knows? After filming this video we opened a bottle of Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered, poured a sample, and then paired that up with another sample poured from the exact same bottle-half empty-two months later. It’ll be interesting to see what’s happens when that matchup pops up. Stay tuned.
Great video! I had a friend that told me that he hated all his bourbon when they got below half a bottle. Went over to his place for dinner a month later and noticed his bar cart was in front of his window which was getting slammed by sunlight.....lol! Things changed once he started keeping everything in a cabinet.
Check the video later in channel history where it’s the exact same bottle of Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered (first 2 oz put in a sample jar immediately upon opening and the last 2 oz of the bottle 6 months later). It’s interesting.
I've started turning the bottle over several times to mix it all up before I open it the first time. I've only been doing this for a short time, but it seems to make the juice more consistent from the first glass.
Caught this in the middle of a double blind (using my version of y'alls excellent framework) between Belle Meade Reserve and Rare Breed...I am at the intro...
Great stuff David! And those 30 seconds right after the reveal are something we both look forward to. It certainly entertains each of us in different ways. Glad you're digging it too! Cheers!
Very interesting... I love rare breed...and I'm enjoying my bottle as it gets lower in volume.... I thought it was in my head but you guys just confirmed it for me.....very interesting indeed...God I love you guys..Todd from North Attleboro Massachusetts.... YAHOO....Cheers
This is a great test! I feel like fresh cracks are not as good as if is sits for a few weeks or months with 75-80% in the bottle. However, when they get really low..they really start losing their goodness
Right!? And we love Rare Breed rye as well. It's been out of stock in the Nashville market lately but we have to stock up when it comes back around! Cheers and thanks for watching guys!
I believe air and time makes an impact too. However, I've certainly seen videos with opposite reactions. So ... guess i need to do this myself! Great video. Thanks for sharing.
This is something I’ve been wondering for some time now. I opened a bottle of 1792 small batch, the first poor was smooth lots of notes when noseing. The next glass was kinda harsh with less distinctive notes on the nose.
Sometimes it's the air over time. Sometimes it's just the whiskey hitting you a different way on a different day. At least that's what we're convinced happens. We've had pours we love hit us very harshly on the wrong day, and likewise have had pours we know we don't like hit us really nicely inside of blinds only to let us down when we go to have another pour.
I'm definitely a believer in the neck pour phenomenon. A smoke wagon pick I had seemed over oaked initially but after getting past the shoulder it became one of my favorite bourbons. Some bottles I don't notice it at all, but for others it's a thing.
Very good point Jason! It'll definitely effect different bourbons differently--it pretty much has to. With this knowledge going forward we'll make sure everything entered into our blind pool has a little air time. So far that's been the case with everything but we'll purposefully continue the trend. Cheers!
Usually when we freshly crack a bottle, we'll pour into a glass and let it sit for 30-60 minutes prior to sipping, similarly to how you'd let a wine open up. Not sure if it makes a difference but we think it does.
Great video, I agree the neck pour theory is a real thing. There have been many bottles on my bar that I wasn't crazy about when I initially opened them, but a couple months later I found myself enjoying them more. Cheers!
Yes and no... It's possible there's some batch variability here. In order for this to likely be more effective, the bottles should be purchased at the same time. Open one, leave the other closed. Compare some time later (maybe a year?).
We like how you think, Jose. 😉 These were purchased at the same time but that thought did occur to us, so after filming this video we opened a bottle of Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered, poured a sample, and then paired that up with another sample from the same bottle-half empty-two months later. It’ll be interesting to see what’s happens when that matchup pops up. Cheers Jose!
great stuff guys! We did a similar comparison with two bottles of Micther's 10 year single barrel that were both from the same barrel. Majority preferred the taste of the bottle that had been open longer as well. Cheers!
This was fascinating. Love that it was blind. Would like to see more of these types of comparisons... like Mythbusting. Also interesting would be flavor drift of same release over time.
Absolutely Robbie! And we like where your head is at on flavor drift--obviously a longer range experiment but we'll definitely add that to the sample pool in time. Cheers!
Interesting little experiment! I have two bottles of whiskey from the same cask, and I've opened one of them with the intention of comparing the last dram with the neck pour to see if there's any real difference.
Love the quality you guys put out. Joined you at 350 followers and you guys are gonna blow up. Keep the production value, have some guests and hit some collaborations with a video clip and you will see your followers explode. Gonna open some fun bottles soon myself and will reach out to see if you guys want a sample
Ah Ken, thank you so much! That's so kind. We've definitely got some plans going forward for guests, collaborations, etc. The channel is only going to expand and cover more content over time. We're just happy to be along for the ride. Cheers!
I walked this road many years ago. It makes a larger difference in unbalanced flavor profiles due to the fact oxygen softens the flavor spikes in the spirit and allows the underlying flavors to be tasted more easily. The more complex the profile, the greater the benefit.
Those are great points! We plan to have a few air/no air matchups in our head-to-head pool at varying proof points and flavor profiles. It'll be interesting to see which whiskeys it effects most and which barely change at all. Cheers and thanks for watching!
I did a blind tasting with two bottles of Bowmore 18 year old, bought at the same time. One was freshly opened, and the other opened about 6 months. There was definitely a big difference in the nose, but not so much in the mouth. The fresh one was more aggressive on the nose, but in the mouth, one was more energetic and the other one more mellow, (with flavors spectrum being almost identical). I have since figured out a "sweet spot" for me is from 2 to 8 months after opening, (depending on the ABV and how "empty" it's getting). Beyond 6-8 months, I would transfer them to small bottles with smaller openings, to keep them even longer. Maybe it's just me. Cheers!
@@stuffandwhiskey In all seriousness though, you guys are doing a great job and I enjoy your content. I have a bad habit of not clicking the like button but im trying to change lol.
Fantastic video, Josh and Erin! Air and batches totally make a difference and it’s fun to taste the differences, especially when it’s Wild Turkey. Bourbon is good 😊🥃Keep up your awesome work and have fun
Rare Breed is one of my favorites. One of the things I like about it is they are all different or at least the ones I’ve had. The first of the 116.8s I had was ridiculously good. Everybody that tried it really liked it. All the ones I’ve had since have been different but still really good. I have a philosophy when I can’t figure out what bourbon I want to drink. When in doubt Rare Breed. Nice review.
Another great video, love the match up. A bit surprising to some… I have had bottles improve with age as the bottle loses volume as well as lose flavor or just pick up bad flavor notes as they age and level decreases. I have also had bottles improve with age then start to not taste as well later. I have never had a bottle get worse with age then better though??? I do wonder about the apparently different production dates though? Sometimes the letters in the Julian dates on bottles refer to bottling lines, sometimes they could refer to the hour of the day? I am not sure with a Wild Turkey?
WWW somehow your comment got filtered to the "held for review" section of TH-cam which we didn't know existed until just now. So sorry about that. You've got some great questions in here that we're going to look into as we'd like to know ourselves. Thanks so much for commenting!
Glad to know the intel was good. It’s definitely been odd seeing the waves of formerly always-in-stock products. With Rare Breed the bourbon will hit and then the rye will come a few weeks later. Haven’t seen a store with both on the shelf at the same time in months. Cheers Tim!
Great watch! I've had some bottles change for the better with air, some got worse. It's crazy how many variables there really are. I think the lesson we all learned today is that Wild Turkey is the best value in bourbon, hands down 🦃🥃 #WTWT
That one that got substantially worse for me was Woodford Reserve Double Oaked. Started off like pancakes and syrup and quickly went to musty old saddle.
To me, Rare Breed gets less funky w/ Air. The first couples of pours were so funky and drying on the finish, I wasn't sure I was going to drink any more of it. I'm glad I went back to it, because I enjoy it now. I think the pallet also mellowed out and the cinnamon bomb is less than the first couple of pours, which I kind of miss. It's interesting that you guys always pump up Rare Breed, and then never blind it very high. I think for the proof and price, it's a great bottle, but the flavor to me is just good, not great.
Well it did more than hold its own against George T Stagg for us. 😉 Your points are very fair though, Bo. I think what you’re seeing is what we hope our scoring conveys-take away everything but the whiskey in the glass and very little stands out as incredibly exceptional, which in turn makes Rare Breed exceptional value for the money. That said, it’s obviously a much larger topic than that, which we plan to address in an upcoming filming. It’ll be a fun episode. Cheers and thanks for watching!
@@stuffandwhiskey Yea that makes sense, and how I feel about it, too. While it's not the best pour I've had, it's pretty good and being like $45 makes it a ridiculous value for a high proof bourbon that's hard to pass up. Except OGD 114, I can't think of another high proof bourbon I like that's under $50, and that one isn't as good as Rare Breed, although I do like it a lot.
I've just started watching y'all recently. Well last 4 -6 months. Just saw the Rare Breed last vs first and you were saying 3 Years in the future it may not matter. It's 3 years later according to TH-cam😂. Really enjoy the vids. It's one of the Two whiskey tubes that my wife watches with me, you and it's whiskey night. Thanks for the content and your interesting views Erin.
Appreciate you watching! Cheers!
I would like to see a matchup with a fresh bottle, but using one of the wine aerator devices for one pour
That's a SUPER interesting idea, Robert! We'll try to figure out how to incorporate that. Great suggestion!
Great video very interesting I always wondered about the neck pour now we know
Certainly an insightful (and fun) head-to-head. Cheers Top Dog!
Very good and helpful video!
Thanks so much Roy! We always appreciate you watching and had a lot of fun with this one. Can’t wait for the next air vs no air matchup!
Great video. Love this comparison.
Thanks Nathan! We appreciate you watching and commenting!
My buddy has a Blantons that was opened many years ago. It’s so dang easy to drink.
If it's a really old bottle, we've heard they're more flavorful than the new stuff, and years of time open has probably mellowed it considerably too. Be interesting to try leaving something open for years (on purpose) and revisiting it. Cheers Johnathan!
NOTE: These were purchased at the same time but not verified to be from the exact same batch. One bottle is labeled LL/IG and one is labeled LL/JC. How much difference this makes, we don’t know. Does LL indicate they’re the same batch but different bottlings? Does IG and JC indicated they’re different batches? Who knows?
After filming this video we opened a bottle of Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered, poured a sample, and then paired that up with another sample poured from the exact same bottle-half empty-two months later. It’ll be interesting to see what’s happens when that matchup pops up. Stay tuned.
Fun! Can't wait to see it.
That was the first thing that popped. Were they from different barrels 👍🥃 Cheers
Great video! I had a friend that told me that he hated all his bourbon when they got below half a bottle. Went over to his place for dinner a month later and noticed his bar cart was in front of his window which was getting slammed by sunlight.....lol! Things changed once he started keeping everything in a cabinet.
Hahaha, yep that'll do it! Great comment James! Thanks so much for watching. Cheers!
This is perfect
Thanks Kanden! Cheers!
I doubt they are from the same barrels anyway. So it has nothing to do with air.
Check the video later in channel history where it’s the exact same bottle of Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered (first 2 oz put in a sample jar immediately upon opening and the last 2 oz of the bottle 6 months later). It’s interesting.
I've started turning the bottle over several times to mix it all up before I open it the first time. I've only been doing this for a short time, but it seems to make the juice more consistent from the first glass.
That would make for a fun blind.
Caught this in the middle of a double blind (using my version of y'alls excellent framework) between Belle Meade Reserve and Rare Breed...I am at the intro...
...and Josh, my brother, the best 30 seconds of these blinds is you on the reveal...I feel ya...
..this has largely how I have felt about neck pours...I have never been this far out, cuz science... th-cam.com/video/coBAgjyPn0U/w-d-xo.html
Great stuff David! And those 30 seconds right after the reveal are something we both look forward to. It certainly entertains each of us in different ways. Glad you're digging it too! Cheers!
Very interesting... I love rare breed...and I'm enjoying my bottle as it gets lower in volume.... I thought it was in my head but you guys just confirmed it for me.....very interesting indeed...God I love you guys..Todd from North Attleboro Massachusetts.... YAHOO....Cheers
Thanks so much Todd! This was definitely a very fun one. So glad you enjoyed!
This is a great test! I feel like fresh cracks are not as good as if is sits for a few weeks or months with 75-80% in the bottle. However, when they get really low..they really start losing their goodness
Great video! I was surprised how different they tasted for you both! We love Rare Breed and the Rye as well.
Right!? And we love Rare Breed rye as well. It's been out of stock in the Nashville market lately but we have to stock up when it comes back around! Cheers and thanks for watching guys!
I believe air and time makes an impact too. However, I've certainly seen videos with opposite reactions. So ... guess i need to do this myself! Great video. Thanks for sharing.
Drinking more whiskey in the name of "science" you say? Sounds like a solid game plan. Cheers!
This is something I’ve been wondering for some time now. I opened a bottle of 1792 small batch, the first poor was smooth lots of notes when noseing. The next glass was kinda harsh with less distinctive notes on the nose.
Sometimes it's the air over time. Sometimes it's just the whiskey hitting you a different way on a different day. At least that's what we're convinced happens. We've had pours we love hit us very harshly on the wrong day, and likewise have had pours we know we don't like hit us really nicely inside of blinds only to let us down when we go to have another pour.
I'm definitely a believer in the neck pour phenomenon. A smoke wagon pick I had seemed over oaked initially but after getting past the shoulder it became one of my favorite bourbons. Some bottles I don't notice it at all, but for others it's a thing.
Very good point Jason! It'll definitely effect different bourbons differently--it pretty much has to. With this knowledge going forward we'll make sure everything entered into our blind pool has a little air time. So far that's been the case with everything but we'll purposefully continue the trend. Cheers!
Wonder how it would be to let a bottle set open for a day, as most bars leave the spout in the bottle and let it set.
Usually when we freshly crack a bottle, we'll pour into a glass and let it sit for 30-60 minutes prior to sipping, similarly to how you'd let a wine open up. Not sure if it makes a difference but we think it does.
Great video, I agree the neck pour theory is a real thing. There have been many bottles on my bar that I wasn't crazy about when I initially opened them, but a couple months later I found myself enjoying them more. Cheers!
All the more reason to have several bottles in varying stages of openness, right!? Cheers NWB and thanks so much for watching!
Yes and no... It's possible there's some batch variability here. In order for this to likely be more effective, the bottles should be purchased at the same time. Open one, leave the other closed. Compare some time later (maybe a year?).
We like how you think, Jose. 😉 These were purchased at the same time but that thought did occur to us, so after filming this video we opened a bottle of Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered, poured a sample, and then paired that up with another sample from the same bottle-half empty-two months later. It’ll be interesting to see what’s happens when that matchup pops up. Cheers Jose!
great stuff guys! We did a similar comparison with two bottles of Micther's 10 year single barrel that were both from the same barrel. Majority preferred the taste of the bottle that had been open longer as well. Cheers!
It certainly seems to be a common theme. Will have to dig that video up. Absolutely love you guys! Thanks so much for watching!
Not in my head at all. I accidentally left the cap off a handle of WT101 for a week one day. It transformed magically.
Right!? We've gotten to where we'll pour a freshly cracked bottle and not touch the glass for ~2 hours before enjoying it.
This was fascinating. Love that it was blind. Would like to see more of these types of comparisons... like Mythbusting. Also interesting would be flavor drift of same release over time.
Absolutely Robbie! And we like where your head is at on flavor drift--obviously a longer range experiment but we'll definitely add that to the sample pool in time. Cheers!
Interesting little experiment! I have two bottles of whiskey from the same cask, and I've opened one of them with the intention of comparing the last dram with the neck pour to see if there's any real difference.
Let us know what you find out! Cheers DFW!
Love the quality you guys put out. Joined you at 350 followers and you guys are gonna blow up. Keep the production value, have some guests and hit some collaborations with a video clip and you will see your followers explode. Gonna open some fun bottles soon myself and will reach out to see if you guys want a sample
Ah Ken, thank you so much! That's so kind. We've definitely got some plans going forward for guests, collaborations, etc. The channel is only going to expand and cover more content over time. We're just happy to be along for the ride. Cheers!
I walked this road many years ago. It makes a larger difference in unbalanced flavor profiles due to the fact oxygen softens the flavor spikes in the spirit and allows the underlying flavors to be tasted more easily. The more complex the profile, the greater the benefit.
Those are great points! We plan to have a few air/no air matchups in our head-to-head pool at varying proof points and flavor profiles. It'll be interesting to see which whiskeys it effects most and which barely change at all. Cheers and thanks for watching!
I did a blind tasting with two bottles of Bowmore 18 year old, bought at the same time. One was freshly opened, and the other opened about 6 months. There was definitely a big difference in the nose, but not so much in the mouth. The fresh one was more aggressive on the nose, but in the mouth, one was more energetic and the other one more mellow, (with flavors spectrum being almost identical).
I have since figured out a "sweet spot" for me is from 2 to 8 months after opening, (depending on the ABV and how "empty" it's getting). Beyond 6-8 months, I would transfer them to small bottles with smaller openings, to keep them even longer. Maybe it's just me. Cheers!
Love it Steve! Transferring to smaller containers is something we didn’t touch on but may at some point. Great comment and point. Thanks for watching!
Came here for Erin, stayed for the whiskey.
Josh here. Same. 😂 Cheers and we appreciate you watching!
@@stuffandwhiskey In all seriousness though, you guys are doing a great job and I enjoy your content. I have a bad habit of not clicking the like button but im trying to change lol.
@@InSearch4I we hear ya. We’re the same way. It took us starting a channel to realize how much it helps. 😂 We appreciate you watching!
Fantastic video, Josh and Erin! Air and batches totally make a difference and it’s fun to taste the differences, especially when it’s Wild Turkey. Bourbon is good 😊🥃Keep up your awesome work and have fun
"Bourbon is good" is really what it boils down to. Everything else beyond that is just for fun. Cheers Richie!
Always sad to see a near empty Rare Breed bottle. WHISKEY CHEERS 😎😎😎
Cheers to backup bottles and cheers to you Jay G!
Rare Breed is one of my favorites. One of the things I like about it is they are all different or at least the ones I’ve had. The first of the 116.8s I had was ridiculously good. Everybody that tried it really liked it. All the ones I’ve had since have been different but still really good. I have a philosophy when I can’t figure out what bourbon I want to drink. When in doubt Rare Breed. Nice review.
"When in doubt, Rare Breed" is pretty much our life motto here as well. Cheers to that Roscoe!
Another great video, love the match up. A bit surprising to some… I have had bottles improve with age as the bottle loses volume as well as lose flavor or just pick up bad flavor notes as they age and level decreases. I have also had bottles improve with age then start to not taste as well later. I have never had a bottle get worse with age then better though??? I do wonder about the apparently different production dates though? Sometimes the letters in the Julian dates on bottles refer to bottling lines, sometimes they could refer to the hour of the day? I am not sure with a Wild Turkey?
WWW somehow your comment got filtered to the "held for review" section of TH-cam which we didn't know existed until just now. So sorry about that. You've got some great questions in here that we're going to look into as we'd like to know ourselves. Thanks so much for commenting!
Yeah the glass shortage is affecting just about everyone. Like it's impossible for my store to get Jack Daniels fire right now.
Glad to know the intel was good. It’s definitely been odd seeing the waves of formerly always-in-stock products. With Rare Breed the bourbon will hit and then the rye will come a few weeks later. Haven’t seen a store with both on the shelf at the same time in months. Cheers Tim!
@@stuffandwhiskey it's also been happening for beer and soda cans
@@timfehn4637 that’s good to know! We’re clueless on those as all we ever drink is coffee, water, wine, and whiskey. 😂
Great watch! I've had some bottles change for the better with air, some got worse. It's crazy how many variables there really are. I think the lesson we all learned today is that Wild Turkey is the best value in bourbon, hands down 🦃🥃 #WTWT
We can get behind that endorsement, Edward! #WTWT cheers man!
That one that got substantially worse for me was Woodford Reserve Double Oaked. Started off like pancakes and syrup and quickly went to musty old saddle.
Rare Breed is really good. Interesting to see how it changes over time.
Definitely. We’ve tasted different single barrels that were closer together in flavor than these two. Cheers Patrick!
Loved this one! Love Rare Breed, and this is very interesting. I also wonder if there is a difference in batches too?
Just left a pinned comment addressing this as it has popped up a few times in the comments. Cheers and thanks for watching Timm!
Can you tell us how far apart these were purchased? If not at the same time, what's the proof on each bottle?
Both are 116.8 proof purchased in the same local release. See our reply to Jose’s comment for a bit more info. Cheers and thanks for watching Jeff!
To me, Rare Breed gets less funky w/ Air. The first couples of pours were so funky and drying on the finish, I wasn't sure I was going to drink any more of it. I'm glad I went back to it, because I enjoy it now. I think the pallet also mellowed out and the cinnamon bomb is less than the first couple of pours, which I kind of miss. It's interesting that you guys always pump up Rare Breed, and then never blind it very high. I think for the proof and price, it's a great bottle, but the flavor to me is just good, not great.
Well it did more than hold its own against George T Stagg for us. 😉 Your points are very fair though, Bo.
I think what you’re seeing is what we hope our scoring conveys-take away everything but the whiskey in the glass and very little stands out as incredibly exceptional, which in turn makes Rare Breed exceptional value for the money. That said, it’s obviously a much larger topic than that, which we plan to address in an upcoming filming. It’ll be a fun episode. Cheers and thanks for watching!
@@stuffandwhiskey Yea that makes sense, and how I feel about it, too. While it's not the best pour I've had, it's pretty good and being like $45 makes it a ridiculous value for a high proof bourbon that's hard to pass up. Except OGD 114, I can't think of another high proof bourbon I like that's under $50, and that one isn't as good as Rare Breed, although I do like it a lot.
Air always changes whiskey. Whether or not its for the better is the question
Spot on. VERY good point Aidan!