Head to geolog.ie/BREWZLE70 or scan the QR code on the screen and use code BREWZLE70 and they will give you an exclusive 70% off of their award-winning skincare trial set. On top of that you can SAVE BIG on the add-ons products of your choice when you add it to your trial. Thank you Geologie for sponsoring this video!
I think the big difference is the ever expanding product lines. 25-30 years ago, Old Forester just had the bonded and the 86 proof. The really good barrels went into that stuff. Today the exceptional barrels get set aside for the premium product offerings.
If i was a distillery owner I would never set stuff aside for premium products. I would use it to improve my core products, as I do in the wine industry. I am a professional winemaker.
So basically what we can take out of this is the distillers now are turning product over as quickly as possible diminishing the quality and if you want product which used to be the standard you’re now having to pay 50+ dollars for a bottle of bourbon and in many cases much more than that.
Same with the wine industry as a part owner of a winery and pro winemaker seeing prices go up for crap wines hurts me, I try to be as fair in pricing my wines as i can while making enough money to stay in business. I want to deliver a good product at a price I feel is very consumer friendly but still friendly towards me being in business.
What was standard MSRP back in the 60s and what would that be now if adjusted for inflation? It seems like from the video that the quality on these specific bottles was indeed much higher, but those bottles would be much more expensive now. $5 in 1965 is about $50 in today’s money. If we are comparing dusty bottles to nice bottles from the same distillery today, would the outcome be closer or different? I don’t know. Might be a good follow up experiment for the channel to do. Run a dusty blind against something that costs the same in today’s dollars and see what happens.
Let's look at blantons, it was rumored to be 6-8yr old bourbon but now it's 4-6yr. Cost has gone up and age has gone down because of the demand. So yes you are correct
I started drinking bourbon in 1983. The bourbon run over the last decade has ruined the entire industry for the most part. Now distillers are putting out average whiskey on limited runs and calling it “rare” or creating their own scarcity all for money. Yeah, there was rot gut back 40 years ago, but folks caught on and knew what was good and what wasn’t. And if it wasn’t good, it didn’t hang around long.
That is the same as what is happening in the wine industry, every since the judgement of paris created cult wines(cask 23). Screaming Eagle is the perfect example of it, its average wine it really is not anywhere near as good as is claimed, and I am a professional winemaker I am qualified to judge it but they ask a insane price for the limited cases they produce they created scarcity to get money. Its a big scam.
There are so many differences between the older products and the new ones. Old bourbon were mad with different grains, the oak barrels were made with older wood, lower barrel entry proof, still cleaning practices, and vatting systems. These variety of factors make dusties so much more complex, and even at lower proofs allow their flavors to shine. The old fitzgerald prime you had during the video was also Stitzel-Weller.
Big difference is older bourbons had a lot lower barrel entry proof. Once they raised the max to 125 a lot of the flavor gets more watered down when proofed down.
From the UK!, TH-cam algorithm brought me here and can’t stop watching. If a newbie was to get into collecting, what would be the best path to take as a newbie?. LOVE THE CONTENT ASWELL!
Revival Vintage Spirits in Covington, KY specializes in just these kind of spirits. It is an amazing walk though bourbon history with daily pours of the old stuff. Brad Bonds is known as the Indiana Jones of the bourbon industry! Great stuff!
I had a bottle of segrams crown royal that was bottled in 1970 that I opened when my first child was born almost 6 years ago and a bottle of Canadian club that was bottled in 1971 at my wedding 2 years ago Both of them were miles beyond their current versions I still have a pour or 2 from the club left But I'll absolutely grab any vintage bottle I see unopened these days Side note, love your videos and would love to tag up for a drink some day, I am in the huntsville alabama area so not too far away! Keep doing what you doing!
Just wanted to comment to say that I recently bought the Benchmark Bonded (I immediately switched it to a corked decanter to avoid the bad cap oxidation issue) on your recommendation. Absolutely loved it, and your assessment that it punched above its class and sipped well neat were spot on. Thanks for turning me on to my new go to "everyday" whiskey!
Thanks bourbon boom for cheapening all our whiskey while raising prices. I honestly expected there to be a much smaller difference, especially since the vintage is old, but this makes it pretty clear that distillers aren't fully maturing their whiskey anymore since demand is so high. Pretty sad you gotta pay for special bottles now to get what used to be average bourbon.
I have an old bottle of Ardbeg 10 year and it is vastly different compared to a newer one I just picked up the other month. I think this kind of tactic is just hitting everywhere right now. Between inflation, rising cost of ingredients, and companies wanted to keep their profit margins high they're just turning out whatever they can get away with. Obviously that doesn't apply to everybody and every product, but it seems to be fairly common.
Same here. I was on a buying frenzy about 15 years+ ago with bourbons, ryes, and single malt whiskys. I am now down to a small number of bottles and, without exception, when I buy newer replacements, they aren't as good. I heard that it is getting harder to get quality wood for the barrels as a contributing factor in the downfall of the bottles. Also, international demand, much of it from Asia, is resulting in the companies churning out their product as fast and in as great of a quantity as possible.
I have a bottle of Weller Antique 107 that I bought about 12 years ago. In a taste-off it was much better than the “modern” Weller Antique 107 store pick bottle my brother had two months ago.
Hey TJ! Been really enjoying your vids and started getting myself into Bourbon, even if its not as good as it used to be! 😅 The hunting vids are great fun and helped me understand what I was seeing in the shops over here in the UK, certainly helped me appreciate i could pick up a Buffalo Trace and an Eagle Rare for equivalent of $60! Got my sights on maybe a Four Roses Single Barrel now, don't get a whole lot of barrel proof over here though! All the best!
Old stizel weller , National distillers and vintage wild turkey Are my favorite vintage distillers. It can be pretty tricky when hunting for them and it's hard to find stuff in the wild anymore. The days of cheap Vintage whiskey is long gone. There's a lot of information out there on what codes to look for and markings on bottles. That can be very helpful to make sure you get what you're looking for. My favorites are OGD BIB 8YR (national distillers)from the late 80s, (It told you how old it was on the tax stamp). CGF Wild Turkey 12yr Old Weller Antique 7yr (stizel weller) with the gold veins on the bottle. Happy hunting !
@DerrickMarkleymusic I was talking about actual vintage whiskey. The whiskey that was produced before they started up these distilleries again. 80' and earlier, totally different ball game.
I found an unopened old grand-dad in my grandfathers basement years ago. It was old enough that the bottle was not in ML’s. Its still on the shelf and reserved for very special occasions even though it’s not a special bottle
I've been drinking Bourbon for 30 years. The older stuff was way better. When I tell people the new Pappy's are way different than the old ones, they look at me like I'm crazy. I'm telling all of you, the Pappy's from the 90's are nothing like the Buffalo Trace Pappy's. It WAS NOT Stitzle-Weller juice either. It was from Old Boone distillery. Some of you may know that distillery by their new name...Wild Turkey. That's right folks. There were Pappy releases in the 90s that were Wild Turkey juice. And they were the best Bourbon you'll ever drink. Also.. they were not wheaters. The Stitzle-Weller releases were also much different than those early 90s releases. That juice is also much better than the Buffalo Trace Pappy's. I remember drinking the first Buffalo Trace Pappy's and thinking WTF. Don't get me wrong. They're good, but they're not anywhere close to those older releases. That's just the truth. If you drink them side by side, you would not even think they were the same whiskey. Because they aren't. A lot of the Buffalo Trace hype is based on those older releases. They're just not the same. The last Pappy 20 I drank from Buffalo Trace was over oaked. The oak on the older releases has no bitter oak tanins. It's like nothing I've tasted in years. I've lived in Kentucky all my life. Drinking Bourbon is a way of life here. I don't know what has changed with the products but they're not the same as the old Bourbon. Even the old Wild Turkey. I opened a bottle of the old Austin Nichols Wild Turkey 101 a couple of years ago when my wife told me I was crazy when I told her the Bourbon has changed. You wouldn't believe how much better the old Austin Nichols Wild Turkey was. You could put that bottle out today that had a 7.99 sticker on it(I think it was from 95) for $50. No one would bat an eye. It would beat 75% of the bottles on the market for $50. Unfortunately, I don't have any old Pappy's laying around. We didn't collect whiskey back then. We drank it. I could walk into a liquor store and buy Pappy 20 right off the shelf. There was no line for it. I could buy Old Rip for $20. You could buy almost any Bourbon for less than $20.
Everything you described on the vintage OGD, I get on the current OGD. While I'm sure it's different, I'm also fairly certain trying the vintage then going to the new muted flavors on your palette with the new. HOWEVER, the cost-cutting by not aging properly almost certainly effects the modern product. LEAVE IT IN THE DAMN BARREL AND STOP CHARGING A PREMIUM FOR IT WHEN YOU DO! IT CAN'T COST YOU THAT MUCH TO SIMPLY IGNORE IT FOR A WHILE LONGER!
I've had ODG BIB from the late 80s and on the tax stamp it showed the distiled and bottled dates. They were 8 year bourbon back then. I guarantee the current OGD BIB is almost exactly the legal requirement of 4yr. With that aging difference they are vastly different products. Also back then, they were distilled by national distillers. Now it is distilled by Jim Beam.
Distilleries get taxed yearly for the barrels they have aging, plus there is loss due to angels share, so its not just as simple as forgetting about it
@@kodysanders486 I'm not uneducated in these things. You're telling me that $.05 per 100 in value on a barrel equates to an inability to allow the barrel to age beyond 4 years or justifies inflated bottle pricing? I don't think so. Especially not with the volume of production and sales at which the established distilleries operate. I'll grant you the angels share argument, with max possible loss estimated at 5% per year. At 8 years you retain about 66% of your original product. However, I still maintain its possible to produce an 8-10 year product that doesn't break the bank. If not, how does Buffalo Trace do that with Eagle Rare? $30 - $40 MSRP? I think people have just gotten so complacent (with everything) that they just swallow a narrative without ever thinking about it.
Don't know if you take suggestions for mixed drinks, but I got a couple: 1. I call it Snaz it's ice 3 oz of crown vanilla 3 oz of a Christmas ale and fill the rest with Dr pepper cream soda then a lil stir 2. Howler head and root beer
"Smayull...14:27 " - Hints of Alabama with some Georgia thrown in. Rolls off the tongue with a note of a graveled red clay road after a summer thunderstorm.
I'm not surprised about the vintage none age statements being better because they more than likely had older whiskey in them. But I would have thought the bonded would be closer together.
It's a shame that it'll be almost impossible to get any vintage bottles here in the UK, this video has made me want to try some now 😂next time I'm stateside I'll have to have a bourbon hunt of my own
Great video. Sad that most inexpensive current whiskey is cheap whiskey instead of good whiskey. I don’t want to buy an ok or decent bourbon. I want a good bourbon and unfortunately that has been the 45 to 75 range and lately now 55 to 110 with a few sub 55 like Rare Breed.
Ahhh heck, not the ads plug 🤦♂️ I know it takes 💰 to make videos, buttttt, pleaseee don't let it get to the point to where I feel like I'm watching NASCAR and just waiting for "Ok guys let's go to the 'Buffalo Bar' and review this whiskey".... I commend you though for at least separating/sectioning the time frame of the advertisement, cause so many creators don't. THANK YOU. 👏 keep the videos coming brother, Brewzle will truly be a legend looked-back upon one day, your building a legacy 🙌
I could not believe it when I saw the Rebel Yell bottle because I have the exact same bottle sitting in the cupboard. I only have about one third of a bottle left so I rationed it out and did a blind against Weller 107. I was shocked on how close it was. OWA won of course but it was closer than I thought it would be.
I have a few Old Grand-dads from around the 80's. I have a 114 barrel proof, a bonded and a large 1/2 gal 86. That along with the Wild Turkey, Rare Breed, Four Roses 6yr, Old Forester Bonded and a few others. Oh yeah some JD 90 proof, JD Gold and one other I forget. I forgot I had this stuff as it was packed away over 20 years ago. Oh there was more but I sold a bunch Edit I forgot, the older stuff blows the newer stuff away. Not even close
Stitzel Weller distillery is still in business and is located just outside of Louisville in Shively, KY. They distill Blade & Bow among others. Weller is distilled by Buffalo Trace. It gets confusing as hell. 👍😳👍
Yeah, they shut down and their brands were sold off to places (like Sazerac) and someone else bought the facility and is making stuff, but it ain't the stuff that's in these bottles.
You need to find an old bottle from 70s or 80s of early times and do a side by side. Its amazing to see the difference. Got some old bottles that were never opend from my granny's house when she passed.
One problem with the ODG review is the dusty was distilled by OGD and the new one is JB distillate from a different distillery. It would be like tasting a 1970 Old Crow versus a current OC. Current OC is JB distillate. But as a judgement of a 1967 OC I sampled it was very nice.
Great video. Subscribed. Reminds me of how good and affordable ($30ish in my area) Elijah Craig Small batch was 10 years ago when it had a 12yr age statement.
Hey TJ if you want to reseal that bottle you need to follow what is done for chip bags. 1. Get some nitrogen 2. Shoot a bit of nitrogen into the bottle This will displace all the oxygen 3. Reseal and keep the cork moist. 4. Enjoy later.
My buddy got me a 1979 Old Forester bottle for the morning of my wedding to toast everyone (and just get loose lol). Immediately noticed the quality of it compared to some of the stuff I've tasted.
Hi, so I‘m just getting into Bourbon. I started with a Buffalo trace and i quite Like it. For my second bottle im deciding between an Eagle Rare 10 and the Old Forester 86. Which one should I get? (Price is roughly the same)
Get OF 1910, 86 is good, but 1910 is far superior and still relatively low proof. ER is good, I just don't think it's that good, especially if you pay more than $40
@@Jake-n8vI agree. 1910 is about the best you can get for price and availability. I prefer the 1920 due to the higher proof but if you’re starting out, the ‘10 is the way to go.
Quick question. I have a bottle of buffalo trace i juat got after it being hard to find in my area. Finally had it for the first time and didnt much care for it. My absolute favorite is Bulliet. Are my taste buds just bad? Where do i go from there. I think ita the citrus taste of Bulliet that i like so much. Any suggestions?
My first bottle of eagle rare was a vintage bottle. I absolutely fell in love and bought the last vintage bottle they had. The new eagle rare bottles they ordered and had delivered isn't as good . The old bottles were covered in a thick layer of dust so I know they were old.
It's the price vs sales. Back then they did it to make now they do it to make money. I'm a young blood and just started but wow the application to the vid and the old ways. Man my mouth was watering every sip great vid
I have two odb’s from the 60’s. An Austin Nichols eight year Wild Turkey and a BiB Old Forester. I’ve been reluctant to open them because once they’re gone they’re gone forever but the day may be coming.
Store picks changed the game. They have no need to market their own product anymore as individual liquor stores will brand and sell a standard bottle as "unique". Dumping whiskeys or perhaps a better term of rejecting specific whiskey barrels isn't a thing anymore as they sell or distribute every single drop. You only get a few options to pick from so you've only ever had "the best whiskey ever" out of those you have the privilege of sampling. Flavor drift is a real thing. I find great differences between bottles that are only very few years apart. (Not blends) To me this wide of a time comparison doesn't mean a thing. If a product changes flavor in the aging process just by what the barrel goes through by as little as 1% difference each year, then even when the master distiller controls every variable the same for every batch flavor drift still appears often failing to identify how the slight change even occured. When we begin to compare things decades apart it starts to mean nothing just from a standard deviation mindset as they indeed aren't and cannot be the same product as flavor changes drift exponentially. You're describing a whiskey museum hoping you guess right and store away a bottle for future $. This assumes you know which bottle will have demand or will bring in the $...the bottles being kept sealed/secondary market now are based on a psychological phenomenon of "not missing out" on very exclusive experimental releases. I won't say these bottles are better 10yrs from today..because the "dusty" bottle collection the market will have access to going forward are all of these unicorns that many haven't or won't even be able to try in a timely fashion close to their release and hence will have no memory or flavor base to compare them 10yrs from now. Everyone keeps reminding me "i would have bought all the Weller a decade ago if I'd known" to which I counter "because it's that good? Or because you wanted to scalp it?" Old and sealed bottles don't matter. Drink what you can find. It's happening right now before our eyes with secondary market prices and the "unicorn" old, first batch, experiment bottles are almost never worth the prices asked. These "old" bottles are just that..collection value that consumers won't buy due to secondary prices..those whom do benefit something more from it than just flavor would be for education purpose, or a distillery looking to make an attempt at a clone. That's about the extent of long saved bottles IMHO. No significant use to general consumer...maybe to host a party to spend $ you don't have to impress people you don't like. Don't fall for that trick either. Cheers.
An old man in Kentucky told me it's "all about the trees". The oak used for barrels back then was probably 100's of years old, whereas today, they only reach 30-50 years old before being harvested. Not sure how true that is, though.
Been watching a lot of your videos. Also been hunting old bottles of Rebel Yell. I can’t find ANYTHING. Worked at a liquor store for a long time and it was my go to. Use to get the bottles with the soldier on it. COULD YOU PLEASE Point me in the direction of where I may be able to find some old bottles of Rebel Yell !?!?
I found a bottle of OGD bonded in McComb, Mississippi. I thought hard about picking it up, but I went with Wilderness Trail that day. I may have to ride back up there and see if Northside Spirits still has some.
I don't know a ton about old whiskey but is there a chance that just sitting there all those years in the bottle made a difference? Or is that impossible?
I think there are a couple factors that are to blame for this. 1-Older wood had tighter grain and the could lead to different barrel interaction, 2-the demand on whisky is now much higher leading to the non age stated bottles being younger than they used to be.
I picked up an unopened Beam decanter commemorating the 1969 Kentucky Derby at an estate sale last year. I have no intention of opening it, just thought it was kind of cool to have
I grabbed 6 different unopened ceramic decanters of Jim Beam, all from 1974, that I found at an estate auction. I opened 2 so far and they are very yummy. You're missing out if you just put that on a shelf.
Could you do a video on sediment at the bottom of bottles you might would buy or leave on shelves. When do you typically see it occur or in what bottles it’s good or bad to see.
Id like to see a background story on you man. Like what you did before youtube, and what got you into wiskey, what made you start a youtube channel. Just a brewzel back story. Please??
Price is important . I can't afford to pay $$$ for the pappy etc . Even in 2010 i bought 23yo Pappy van winkle at auction for £128 ( here in the UK ). Which was cheaper than retail !
Some of us cared. There wasn’t nearly the number of brands back in the 80’s and, for the most part, the bourbon was all good. There was still rot gut around, but it didn’t stay in business long.
Heck back in the 70's and 80's even wines that are now cult wines were not known and were higher quality and I have bottles of wines that are now like $400 a bottle that sold for $4 a bottle in 1973@@brianhayes7153
So my question is dose the extra time the vintage bottles have on them lend anything to thier over all out come. Just asking because it seems they all had a better everything!
Glass usually doesn't contribute to the aging process, but what is different are the distilling techniques used back in the day. Bourbon lovers back then really did have it better!
Just learned your local to me , that's amazing. I'm in valley. Wish I could have joined you on your Columbus hunt. I would lime your top recommended for 100 and under...
There used to be a stamp on every bottle on how long it was in the barrel.( Typical 48 months for most, the others were listed in years 5,6,7,) Those days are long gone. You also got bottlers, that as long as the quota is hit don't care.
Bourbon was not popular and large amounts of older whiskey went into the blends. Regular old Elijah Craig Small Batch had a 12 year age statement just 10 years ago.
These small rural liquor stores will have dusties with the same price tag on it from the day it arrived. I found a bottle of Chivas just last year with a 1983-1985 tax stamp. Still had the original price sticker on the box.
Hit estate sales in your area or auction houses in your area on their auction days. Right now is prime because the guys that had basement bars full of this stuff in the 60s and 70s are moving into condos and assisted living and their families are cleaning out the house. Unopened bottles of booze are being tossed in the trash during the clean out or auctioned at the estate sale for pennies. I just scored 6 unopend bottles of Jim Beam in decorative decanters from 1974 for 1 dollar each. The lady said they only kept those because they looked cool. All the other unopened bottles from their Dad's bar they threw out.
To be honest, I just chug it down as fast as possible and wait for the feeling. Which one feels better and leaves you with less of a hangover? lol that’s what I want to know.
Really Cool Video! If you are ever in Atlanta and want to open a bottle of Seagrams VO Canadian Whiskey from 1962, let me know. Looking for an excuse to give it a sip.
I’m very new to whiskey but can attest that bottles like Buffalo Trace are not good at all. They don’t have taste. My favorites so far have been Chattanooga Whiskey Barrel 91 and Elijah Craig Rye and Original 94 proof on the lower end price wise. Woodford Double Oak has been my overall favorite on the little more expensive side but Buffalo Trace is just boring. I’d love to try some of the early batches of buffalo and Elijah craig to see if their are any differences tho🤔
Isn't this mostly true for all consumer products? Appliances were built to last decades, food was freshly made with no BS added, a McDonald's hamburger tasted like meat, bourbon was better.
It makes you wonder if the barrels were older growth, making the biggest difference. I mean, Have we not improved our Distilling technique and execution?
its old growth lumber used for barrels. different type of wood than whats available today. and vintage liquor was not run thru 40 foot tall reflux stills. there was still mash flavor in it, much more so than modern booze. combine that with the barrels, its not the same whiskey anymore
I honestly am not a whiskey guy at all but I really like your channel. I'm a Rum guy. If I drink whiskey straight no chaser its a 50/50 Ill puke. Ive literally thrown up on the bar before when someone bought be a shot lol yeah, talk about embarrassing
Head to geolog.ie/BREWZLE70 or scan the QR code on the screen and use code BREWZLE70 and they will give you an exclusive 70% off of their award-winning skincare trial set. On top of that you can SAVE BIG on the add-ons products of your choice when you add it to your trial. Thank you Geologie for sponsoring this video!
I think the big difference is the ever expanding product lines. 25-30 years ago, Old Forester just had the bonded and the 86 proof. The really good barrels went into that stuff. Today the exceptional barrels get set aside for the premium product offerings.
That's a really good point
You’ve had some good stuff. What Bourbons do you see frequently where you are?
@x5j94Have you ever had Caol Ila? That and Talisker are my favorite Scotches, for what it's worth. This is coming from a Yank though, haha 😉
If i was a distillery owner I would never set stuff aside for premium products. I would use it to improve my core products, as I do in the wine industry. I am a professional winemaker.
That’s exactly right
So basically what we can take out of this is the distillers now are turning product over as quickly as possible diminishing the quality and if you want product which used to be the standard you’re now having to pay 50+ dollars for a bottle of bourbon and in many cases much more than that.
Yep people care more about money than quality
Same with the wine industry as a part owner of a winery and pro winemaker seeing prices go up for crap wines hurts me, I try to be as fair in pricing my wines as i can while making enough money to stay in business. I want to deliver a good product at a price I feel is very consumer friendly but still friendly towards me being in business.
What was standard MSRP back in the 60s and what would that be now if adjusted for inflation? It seems like from the video that the quality on these specific bottles was indeed much higher, but those bottles would be much more expensive now. $5 in 1965 is about $50 in today’s money. If we are comparing dusty bottles to nice bottles from the same distillery today, would the outcome be closer or different? I don’t know. Might be a good follow up experiment for the channel to do. Run a dusty blind against something that costs the same in today’s dollars and see what happens.
There’s a reason ppl gush over BT products. They don’t mass produce it like the others.
Let's look at blantons, it was rumored to be 6-8yr old bourbon but now it's 4-6yr. Cost has gone up and age has gone down because of the demand. So yes you are correct
You should do the vintage old Fitzgerald against Pappy 15 since old Fitzgerald used to be what the actual Mr. Pappy Van Winkle was distilling
I started drinking bourbon in 1983. The bourbon run over the last decade has ruined the entire industry for the most part. Now distillers are putting out average whiskey on limited runs and calling it “rare” or creating their own scarcity all for money. Yeah, there was rot gut back 40 years ago, but folks caught on and knew what was good and what wasn’t. And if it wasn’t good, it didn’t hang around long.
That is the same as what is happening in the wine industry, every since the judgement of paris created cult wines(cask 23). Screaming Eagle is the perfect example of it, its average wine it really is not anywhere near as good as is claimed, and I am a professional winemaker I am qualified to judge it but they ask a insane price for the limited cases they produce they created scarcity to get money. Its a big scam.
a vintage whiskey hunt would be an awesome video. wanna see evan williams stuff compared old vs new
There are so many differences between the older products and the new ones. Old bourbon were mad with different grains, the oak barrels were made with older wood, lower barrel entry proof, still cleaning practices, and vatting systems. These variety of factors make dusties so much more complex, and even at lower proofs allow their flavors to shine.
The old fitzgerald prime you had during the video was also Stitzel-Weller.
Big difference is older bourbons had a lot lower barrel entry proof. Once they raised the max to 125 a lot of the flavor gets more watered down when proofed down.
From the UK!, TH-cam algorithm brought me here and can’t stop watching. If a newbie was to get into collecting, what would be the best path to take as a newbie?. LOVE THE CONTENT ASWELL!
So what'd we learn today? When the old timers say shit was just better back in my day. They were categorically correct.
The lead in everything just made it that much sweeter. 😂
Revival Vintage Spirits in Covington, KY specializes in just these kind of spirits. It is an amazing walk though bourbon history with daily pours of the old stuff. Brad Bonds is known as the Indiana Jones of the bourbon industry! Great stuff!
Jill got em. TJ thanks for not quitting TH-cam
I had a bottle of segrams crown royal that was bottled in 1970 that I opened when my first child was born almost 6 years ago and a bottle of Canadian club that was bottled in 1971 at my wedding 2 years ago
Both of them were miles beyond their current versions
I still have a pour or 2 from the club left
But I'll absolutely grab any vintage bottle I see unopened these days
Side note, love your videos and would love to tag up for a drink some day, I am in the huntsville alabama area so not too far away!
Keep doing what you doing!
Just wanted to comment to say that I recently bought the Benchmark Bonded (I immediately switched it to a corked decanter to avoid the bad cap oxidation issue) on your recommendation. Absolutely loved it, and your assessment that it punched above its class and sipped well neat were spot on. Thanks for turning me on to my new go to "everyday" whiskey!
I had a pint of old #7 in my motorcycle bag for 4 yrs. It was very smooth.
Thanks bourbon boom for cheapening all our whiskey while raising prices. I honestly expected there to be a much smaller difference, especially since the vintage is old, but this makes it pretty clear that distillers aren't fully maturing their whiskey anymore since demand is so high. Pretty sad you gotta pay for special bottles now to get what used to be average bourbon.
I have an old bottle of Ardbeg 10 year and it is vastly different compared to a newer one I just picked up the other month. I think this kind of tactic is just hitting everywhere right now. Between inflation, rising cost of ingredients, and companies wanted to keep their profit margins high they're just turning out whatever they can get away with. Obviously that doesn't apply to everybody and every product, but it seems to be fairly common.
Same here. I was on a buying frenzy about 15 years+ ago with bourbons, ryes, and single malt whiskys. I am now down to a small number of bottles and, without exception, when I buy newer replacements, they aren't as good. I heard that it is getting harder to get quality wood for the barrels as a contributing factor in the downfall of the bottles. Also, international demand, much of it from Asia, is resulting in the companies churning out their product as fast and in as great of a quantity as possible.
I have a bottle of Weller Antique 107 that I bought about 12 years ago. In a taste-off it was much better than the “modern” Weller Antique 107 store pick bottle my brother had two months ago.
Hey TJ! Been really enjoying your vids and started getting myself into Bourbon, even if its not as good as it used to be! 😅 The hunting vids are great fun and helped me understand what I was seeing in the shops over here in the UK, certainly helped me appreciate i could pick up a Buffalo Trace and an Eagle Rare for equivalent of $60! Got my sights on maybe a Four Roses Single Barrel now, don't get a whole lot of barrel proof over here though! All the best!
Old stizel weller , National distillers and vintage wild turkey Are my favorite vintage distillers. It can be pretty tricky when hunting for them and it's hard to find stuff in the wild anymore. The days of cheap Vintage whiskey is long gone. There's a lot of information out there on what codes to look for and markings on bottles. That can be very helpful to make sure you get what you're looking for.
My favorites are OGD BIB 8YR (national distillers)from the late 80s, (It told you how old it was on the tax stamp).
CGF Wild Turkey 12yr
Old Weller Antique 7yr (stizel weller) with the gold veins on the bottle.
Happy hunting !
@DerrickMarkleymusic I was talking about actual vintage whiskey. The whiskey that was produced before they started up these distilleries again. 80' and earlier, totally different ball game.
I found an unopened old grand-dad in my grandfathers basement years ago. It was old enough that the bottle was not in ML’s. Its still on the shelf and reserved for very special occasions even though it’s not a special bottle
I just finished off a bottle of Rebel 100, it is a pretty nice whiskey for $35 around here in Slowhio. Cant wait for this video to drop.
I've been drinking Bourbon for 30 years. The older stuff was way better. When I tell people the new Pappy's are way different than the old ones, they look at me like I'm crazy. I'm telling all of you, the Pappy's from the 90's are nothing like the Buffalo Trace Pappy's. It WAS NOT Stitzle-Weller juice either. It was from Old Boone distillery. Some of you may know that distillery by their new name...Wild Turkey. That's right folks. There were Pappy releases in the 90s that were Wild Turkey juice. And they were the best Bourbon you'll ever drink. Also.. they were not wheaters. The Stitzle-Weller releases were also much different than those early 90s releases. That juice is also much better than the Buffalo Trace Pappy's. I remember drinking the first Buffalo Trace Pappy's and thinking WTF. Don't get me wrong. They're good, but they're not anywhere close to those older releases. That's just the truth. If you drink them side by side, you would not even think they were the same whiskey. Because they aren't. A lot of the Buffalo Trace hype is based on those older releases. They're just not the same. The last Pappy 20 I drank from Buffalo Trace was over oaked. The oak on the older releases has no bitter oak tanins. It's like nothing I've tasted in years. I've lived in Kentucky all my life. Drinking Bourbon is a way of life here. I don't know what has changed with the products but they're not the same as the old Bourbon. Even the old Wild Turkey. I opened a bottle of the old Austin Nichols Wild Turkey 101 a couple of years ago when my wife told me I was crazy when I told her the Bourbon has changed. You wouldn't believe how much better the old Austin Nichols Wild Turkey was. You could put that bottle out today that had a 7.99 sticker on it(I think it was from 95) for $50. No one would bat an eye. It would beat 75% of the bottles on the market for $50. Unfortunately, I don't have any old Pappy's laying around. We didn't collect whiskey back then. We drank it. I could walk into a liquor store and buy Pappy 20 right off the shelf. There was no line for it. I could buy Old Rip for $20. You could buy almost any Bourbon for less than $20.
Everything you described on the vintage OGD, I get on the current OGD. While I'm sure it's different, I'm also fairly certain trying the vintage then going to the new muted flavors on your palette with the new.
HOWEVER, the cost-cutting by not aging properly almost certainly effects the modern product. LEAVE IT IN THE DAMN BARREL AND STOP CHARGING A PREMIUM FOR IT WHEN YOU DO! IT CAN'T COST YOU THAT MUCH TO SIMPLY IGNORE IT FOR A WHILE LONGER!
I've had ODG BIB from the late 80s and on the tax stamp it showed the distiled and bottled dates. They were 8 year bourbon back then. I guarantee the current OGD BIB is almost exactly the legal requirement of 4yr. With that aging difference they are vastly different products. Also back then, they were distilled by national distillers. Now it is distilled by Jim Beam.
Distilleries get taxed yearly for the barrels they have aging, plus there is loss due to angels share, so its not just as simple as forgetting about it
@@kodysanders486 I'm not uneducated in these things. You're telling me that $.05 per 100 in value on a barrel equates to an inability to allow the barrel to age beyond 4 years or justifies inflated bottle pricing? I don't think so. Especially not with the volume of production and sales at which the established distilleries operate. I'll grant you the angels share argument, with max possible loss estimated at 5% per year. At 8 years you retain about 66% of your original product. However, I still maintain its possible to produce an 8-10 year product that doesn't break the bank. If not, how does Buffalo Trace do that with Eagle Rare? $30 - $40 MSRP? I think people have just gotten so complacent (with everything) that they just swallow a narrative without ever thinking about it.
Real estate is the the most expensive part of producing whiskey. Making whiskey/bourbon is generally pretty cheap, storing it for years is not.
You have had so much whisky that you are drawn to the different.
Thanks to this channel I ended up buying turkey 101 and damn its good! been missing out, the only whiskey I've had has been Jameson so far.
If you like Jameson you will love Red Breast 12. Also Rare Breed is a nice step up from 101.
Don't know if you take suggestions for mixed drinks, but I got a couple:
1. I call it Snaz it's ice 3 oz of crown vanilla 3 oz of a Christmas ale and fill the rest with Dr pepper cream soda then a lil stir
2. Howler head and root beer
"Smayull...14:27 " - Hints of Alabama with some Georgia thrown in. Rolls off the tongue with a note of a graveled red clay road after a summer thunderstorm.
I'm not surprised about the vintage none age statements being better because they more than likely had older whiskey in them. But I would have thought the bonded would be closer together.
It's a shame that it'll be almost impossible to get any vintage bottles here in the UK, this video has made me want to try some now 😂next time I'm stateside I'll have to have a bourbon hunt of my own
That’s because we won the war and are keeping them to ourselves! USA 🇺🇸
I don't even drink bourbon but this is one of my favourite channels.... Maybe I should grab a bottle for the next video...
Great video.
Sad that most inexpensive current whiskey is cheap whiskey instead of good whiskey.
I don’t want to buy an ok or decent bourbon. I want a good bourbon and unfortunately that has been the 45 to 75 range and lately now 55 to 110 with a few sub 55 like Rare Breed.
I'm drinking 8 year Jim Beam from a ceramic horse decanter from 1974 that I opened yesterday. It's like liquid marshmallow, do good and smooth.
Do you have any additional information on your SHOT show event?
I dont know anything about whiskey but its oddly interesting to watch these videos
Ahhh heck, not the ads plug 🤦♂️ I know it takes 💰 to make videos, buttttt, pleaseee don't let it get to the point to where I feel like I'm watching NASCAR and just waiting for "Ok guys let's go to the 'Buffalo Bar' and review this whiskey".... I commend you though for at least separating/sectioning the time frame of the advertisement, cause so many creators don't. THANK YOU. 👏 keep the videos coming brother, Brewzle will truly be a legend looked-back upon one day, your building a legacy 🙌
TJ, what a phenomenal video. Thanks for sharing. Super enlightening!
I could not believe it when I saw the Rebel Yell bottle because I have the exact same bottle sitting in the cupboard. I only have about one third of a bottle left so I rationed it out and did a blind against Weller 107. I was shocked on how close it was. OWA won of course but it was closer than I thought it would be.
Do more of these! Seriously I enjoyed it so much!
I’m from bardstown and some of the master distillers are good friends of mine so this was super interesting!
I’m not even old enough to buy alcohol but just watching these videos is so satisfying! 2 more years!!!
Pace yourself. You only have one liver.
I have a few Old Grand-dads from around the 80's. I have a 114 barrel proof, a bonded and a large 1/2 gal 86. That along with the Wild Turkey, Rare Breed, Four Roses 6yr, Old Forester Bonded and a few others. Oh yeah some JD 90 proof, JD Gold and one other I forget. I forgot I had this stuff as it was packed away over 20 years ago. Oh there was more but I sold a bunch
Edit I forgot, the older stuff blows the newer stuff away. Not even close
Stitzel Weller distillery is still in business and is located just outside of Louisville in Shively, KY. They distill Blade & Bow among others. Weller is distilled by Buffalo Trace. It gets confusing as hell. 👍😳👍
Yeah, they shut down and their brands were sold off to places (like Sazerac) and someone else bought the facility and is making stuff, but it ain't the stuff that's in these bottles.
You need to find an old bottle from 70s or 80s of early times and do a side by side. Its amazing to see the difference. Got some old bottles that were never opend from my granny's house when she passed.
I like the rebell 100 I get it for $ 22.00 here in Indiana
I’ve got a old unopened bottle of Yellowstone. From back when it was distilled and bottled in st louis mo.
One problem with the ODG review is the dusty was distilled by OGD and the new one is JB distillate from a different distillery. It would be like tasting a 1970 Old Crow versus a current OC. Current OC is JB distillate. But as a judgement of a 1967 OC I sampled it was very nice.
Great video. Subscribed.
Reminds me of how good and affordable ($30ish in my area) Elijah Craig Small batch was 10 years ago when it had a 12yr age statement.
I have one of those EC 12’s in my basement. One of these days…
Hey TJ if you want to reseal that bottle you need to follow what is done for chip bags.
1. Get some nitrogen
2. Shoot a bit of nitrogen into the bottle
This will displace all the oxygen
3. Reseal and keep the cork moist.
4. Enjoy later.
Do you think that the barrel wood hardness is the difference? For example my oak hard wood floors are softer than Pine from back in day...
My buddy got me a 1979 Old Forester bottle for the morning of my wedding to toast everyone (and just get loose lol). Immediately noticed the quality of it compared to some of the stuff I've tasted.
Hi, so I‘m just getting into Bourbon. I started with a Buffalo trace and i quite Like it. For my second bottle im deciding between an Eagle Rare 10 and the Old Forester 86. Which one should I get? (Price is roughly the same)
Eagle rare
Get OF 1910, 86 is good, but 1910 is far superior and still relatively low proof. ER is good, I just don't think it's that good, especially if you pay more than $40
@@Jake-n8vI agree. 1910 is about the best you can get for price and availability. I prefer the 1920 due to the higher proof but if you’re starting out, the ‘10 is the way to go.
Old National Distillers (OGD & OT) had a great butterscotch flavor back then for sure
Great Question O.O I say Yes. But towards the end though, once you’ve tried a few of both 👉
I find Old Forester 100 proof quite tasty and a great buy
Come to Louisiana, you can get OG BIB anywhere for msrp
Quick question. I have a bottle of buffalo trace i juat got after it being hard to find in my area. Finally had it for the first time and didnt much care for it. My absolute favorite is Bulliet. Are my taste buds just bad? Where do i go from there. I think ita the citrus taste of Bulliet that i like so much. Any suggestions?
It’s okay to like what you like.
I have had the urge to wanna bourbon hunt since watching, thank you for the videos! Love em
I have a 1980s old fitz 100 from stitzell that I’ve yet to crack the seal on. Waiting for that occasion.
It all looks tasty to me. Wild seeing how much darker a few of those classics were. Yum
I found one of those Old Forester's.... I should have picked it up...
My first bottle of eagle rare was a vintage bottle. I absolutely fell in love and bought the last vintage bottle they had. The new eagle rare bottles they ordered and had delivered isn't as good . The old bottles were covered in a thick layer of dust so I know they were old.
But what would the Rebel yell 100, taste like in 20 years? Do you think it's a brewing issue or an age issue?
Doesn’t age in glass
It's the price vs sales. Back then they did it to make now they do it to make money.
I'm a young blood and just started but wow the application to the vid and the old ways. Man my mouth was watering every sip great vid
Have you had any expressions from Dettling distillery in Alabama?
Even just older bottles of Jack are so much better. Not surprised by this.
I have two odb’s from the 60’s. An Austin Nichols eight year Wild Turkey and a BiB Old Forester. I’ve been reluctant to open them because once they’re gone they’re gone forever but the day may be coming.
3:10 "The harshness is starting to go away, the more I have."
Funny how that works.
Store picks changed the game. They have no need to market their own product anymore as individual liquor stores will brand and sell a standard bottle as "unique". Dumping whiskeys or perhaps a better term of rejecting specific whiskey barrels isn't a thing anymore as they sell or distribute every single drop. You only get a few options to pick from so you've only ever had "the best whiskey ever" out of those you have the privilege of sampling.
Flavor drift is a real thing. I find great differences between bottles that are only very few years apart. (Not blends) To me this wide of a time comparison doesn't mean a thing. If a product changes flavor in the aging process just by what the barrel goes through by as little as 1% difference each year, then even when the master distiller controls every variable the same for every batch flavor drift still appears often failing to identify how the slight change even occured. When we begin to compare things decades apart it starts to mean nothing just from a standard deviation mindset as they indeed aren't and cannot be the same product as flavor changes drift exponentially.
You're describing a whiskey museum hoping you guess right and store away a bottle for future $. This assumes you know which bottle will have demand or will bring in the $...the bottles being kept sealed/secondary market now are based on a psychological phenomenon of "not missing out" on very exclusive experimental releases. I won't say these bottles are better 10yrs from today..because the "dusty" bottle collection the market will have access to going forward are all of these unicorns that many haven't or won't even be able to try in a timely fashion close to their release and hence will have no memory or flavor base to compare them 10yrs from now.
Everyone keeps reminding me "i would have bought all the Weller a decade ago if I'd known" to which I counter "because it's that good? Or because you wanted to scalp it?"
Old and sealed bottles don't matter. Drink what you can find. It's happening right now before our eyes with secondary market prices and the "unicorn" old, first batch, experiment bottles are almost never worth the prices asked. These "old" bottles are just that..collection value that consumers won't buy due to secondary prices..those whom do benefit something more from it than just flavor would be for education purpose, or a distillery looking to make an attempt at a clone. That's about the extent of long saved bottles IMHO. No significant use to general consumer...maybe to host a party to spend $ you don't have to impress people you don't like. Don't fall for that trick either. Cheers.
An old man in Kentucky told me it's "all about the trees". The oak used for barrels back then was probably 100's of years old, whereas today, they only reach 30-50 years old before being harvested. Not sure how true that is, though.
Lol this is gonna set Brewzle on a vintage hunt now 😂😂😂 thats an expensive journey right there!
Been watching a lot of your videos. Also been hunting old bottles of Rebel Yell. I can’t find ANYTHING. Worked at a liquor store for a long time and it was my go to. Use to get the bottles with the soldier on it.
COULD YOU PLEASE
Point me in the direction of where I may be able to find some old bottles of Rebel Yell !?!?
I found a bottle of OGD bonded in McComb, Mississippi. I thought hard about picking it up, but I went with Wilderness Trail that day. I may have to ride back up there and see if Northside Spirits still has some.
OGD used to be realllllll nice before they basically octupled their output starting about 2-3 years ago. Now it is just non-offensive.
I remember buying antique 107 by the gallon in the 80’s
Hmmm... Stitzel-Weller reopened in 2014 with their own brand names. I wonder how they'd compare to the vintage Stitzel-Weller Rebel Yell 🤔
I don't know a ton about old whiskey but is there a chance that just sitting there all those years in the bottle made a difference? Or is that impossible?
It won’t age in the bottle. The flavor should be unchanged, but If the seal breaks down, and they do, it can start to evaporate and change the flavor.
I think there are a couple factors that are to blame for this. 1-Older wood had tighter grain and the could lead to different barrel interaction, 2-the demand on whisky is now much higher leading to the non age stated bottles being younger than they used to be.
I picked up an unopened Beam decanter commemorating the 1969 Kentucky Derby at an estate sale last year. I have no intention of opening it, just thought it was kind of cool to have
I grabbed 6 different unopened ceramic decanters of Jim Beam, all from 1974, that I found at an estate auction. I opened 2 so far and they are very yummy. You're missing out if you just put that on a shelf.
If you ever get a chance try pre 60's 4 rose's it is grate
I found on old fitz in my grandparents home that was from the 1960s, unfortunately I sold it and wish I hadn’t. It was before I was into bourbon
Could you do a video on sediment at the bottom of bottles you might would buy or leave on shelves. When do you typically see it occur or in what bottles it’s good or bad to see.
Sediment would be good imo
More pure
Id like to see a background story on you man. Like what you did before youtube, and what got you into wiskey, what made you start a youtube channel. Just a brewzel back story. Please??
I ran into Brewzle’a page last month. Never been into bourbon now I’m several thousand dollars in and still hunting 😐
So I have come across a bottle of wax sealed A.H. Hirsch Reserve. Spring of 74 Sour Mash. Any suggestions?
The people today are not the same people who actually cared about their products, and imo are now pumping out whiskey as fast as they can.
Price is important . I can't afford to pay $$$ for the pappy etc . Even in 2010 i bought 23yo Pappy van winkle at auction for £128 ( here in the UK ). Which was cheaper than retail !
This makes me sad too. We're missing out. And bourbon wasn't a thing back then, was just sitting there being awesome with no one caring.
Some of us cared. There wasn’t nearly the number of brands back in the 80’s and, for the most part, the bourbon was all good. There was still rot gut around, but it didn’t stay in business long.
Heck back in the 70's and 80's even wines that are now cult wines were not known and were higher quality and I have bottles of wines that are now like $400 a bottle that sold for $4 a bottle in 1973@@brianhayes7153
I wonder if it’s like a wine thing were bottle aging has an impact
So my question is dose the extra time the vintage bottles have on them lend anything to thier over all out come. Just asking because it seems they all had a better everything!
Glass usually doesn't contribute to the aging process, but what is different are the distilling techniques used back in the day. Bourbon lovers back then really did have it better!
Just learned your local to me , that's amazing. I'm in valley. Wish I could have joined you on your Columbus hunt.
I would lime your top recommended for 100 and under...
There used to be a stamp on every bottle on how long it was in the barrel.( Typical 48 months for most, the others were listed in years 5,6,7,) Those days are long gone. You also got bottlers, that as long as the quota is hit don't care.
Is it good because it’s old or because of the old distillery was doing something different? We may never know.
Bourbon was not popular and large amounts of older whiskey went into the blends. Regular old Elijah Craig Small Batch had a 12 year age statement just 10 years ago.
How much were each of those vintage bottles? Hundreds each or more?
These small rural liquor stores will have dusties with the same price tag on it from the day it arrived. I found a bottle of Chivas just last year with a 1983-1985 tax stamp. Still had the original price sticker on the box.
Hit estate sales in your area or auction houses in your area on their auction days. Right now is prime because the guys that had basement bars full of this stuff in the 60s and 70s are moving into condos and assisted living and their families are cleaning out the house. Unopened bottles of booze are being tossed in the trash during the clean out or auctioned at the estate sale for pennies. I just scored 6 unopend bottles of Jim Beam in decorative decanters from 1974 for 1 dollar each. The lady said they only kept those because they looked cool. All the other unopened bottles from their Dad's bar they threw out.
To be honest, I just chug it down as fast as possible and wait for the feeling. Which one feels better and leaves you with less of a hangover? lol that’s what I want to know.
The Bourbon craze has caused the distilleries to push out too much too fast. IMHO
Really Cool Video! If you are ever in Atlanta and want to open a bottle of Seagrams VO Canadian Whiskey from 1962, let me know. Looking for an excuse to give it a sip.
Still waiting for you to try the Skunk Brothers whisky's from Washington State. Preferably the Smoke Jumper's Burbon.
Added to the list!
@@Brewzle I would be happy to send you a bottle if you can't get out this way. Let me know, love the channel!
I’m very new to whiskey but can attest that bottles like Buffalo Trace are not good at all. They don’t have taste. My favorites so far have been Chattanooga Whiskey Barrel 91 and Elijah Craig Rye and Original 94 proof on the lower end price wise. Woodford Double Oak has been my overall favorite on the little more expensive side but Buffalo Trace is just boring. I’d love to try some of the early batches of buffalo and Elijah craig to see if their are any differences tho🤔
Isn't this mostly true for all consumer products? Appliances were built to last decades, food was freshly made with no BS added, a McDonald's hamburger tasted like meat, bourbon was better.
It makes you wonder if the barrels were older growth, making the biggest difference. I mean, Have we not improved our Distilling technique and execution?
its old growth lumber used for barrels. different type of wood than whats available today. and vintage liquor was not run thru 40 foot tall reflux stills. there was still mash flavor in it, much more so than modern booze. combine that with the barrels, its not the same whiskey anymore
I honestly am not a whiskey guy at all but I really like your channel. I'm a Rum guy. If I drink whiskey straight no chaser its a 50/50 Ill puke. Ive literally thrown up on the bar before when someone bought be a shot lol yeah, talk about embarrassing
Glad you're sticking around! Hopefully one day we'll be able to bring some rum content for you!