Just walked out with 5 bottles for you guys This store never even put on social they had a barrel. Meanwhile another store in Georgia put it on social and sold the whole barrel in 3.5 hours.
Bought myself a bottle of Four Roses Single Barrel a few weeks back. It quickly has become one of my favorites. Drink it in a snifter with just one cube of ice and it is perfect
In Arizona and bought a baby Saz for $25 at the grocery at 10 am, had my first pour at approximately noon.
Not normally a bourbon drinker as it tends to be much too sweet for my Islay Scotch preferring palate but this one isn’t too sweet. Cigar is the bomb though.
I don’t even know exactly what I drank last night entirely, but pretty sure of these… SWUCUF W12 P15 EHTBP OCB OCAW WLW 2020 GTS 2020 Some anejo tequila Cohiha cigar I feel remarkably fine right now. I also have a convert in my wife’s best friend. Now I just need to convince my wife.
I always get a bourbon for my FIL for Christmas and he doesn’t drink many above 100 proof. The lowest proof store pick I could find was this Clyde Mays 5 year 102 proof. Had some with him last night. Was pretty good.
Christmas Eve was a fun time. EHT SB Stellum Black ECBP Larceny BP Weller 12 Old Elk Wheat pick Blantons pick OF SB Not all pours were equal or else I would not have been able to function at 8 am when the kids barged in the room.
CAVEAT: it’s always harder to find decent bottles at a reasonable price during the holidays Moreno’s - they always seem to have good stuff at or near retail; if you’re into tequila or mezcal they have a fantastic selection as well Grand & Western Liquors - This time of year is tough; right at the holidays they mark up all the rare stuff to secondary or worse (last weekend I saw Bombergers, Shenks, Pappy 15, and OF Birthday there; all were way over retail). On the other hand they had Old Ezra 7 and Heaven Hill 7 sitting on the shelf, which is rare in Chicago. Binny’s - Hit or miss depending on which Binny’s location you go to and what day of the week. Generally, I have good luck at the Lincoln Park location on Sundays right when they open. Warehouse - Owner is well-know in bourbon circles; usually a good selection; in my experience you have to know him to get anything really good Off Premise - guaranteed to have something rare and/or a very good store pick. Guaranteed to be fantastically over-priced. visa
for $25, rittenhouse rye seems like a great bargain that's like 4 of those for 1 jefferson's ocean i mixed some with sugary old fashioned mix and some appalachian fernet for a christmas cocktail
I should’ve also mentioned two shops in Andersonville. In Fine Spirits: principally a wine shop but also worth dropping in to see if they happen to have any store picks. Their OWA and Buffalo Trace picks have been really good. Andersonville Wine & Spirits: I used to hate this place - overpriced and just ok selection. But I’ve gotten lucky randomly walking in there the last year or so with bottles $10-15 over retail - MWND, Woodford FAE-01, Weller 12.
Anison I’m really hoping to find some Smoke Wagon. Any places you know? We’re up in Cary currently but open to driving anywhere. There’s a Binnys nearby that I’m going to stop at this afternoon.
Binny’s is always a good pace to start - especially out in the burbs. I’ve gotten Uncut & Unfiltered pretty consistently at Moreno’s. And Off Premise was advertising a Smoke Wagon vertical on their social media last week, but I’m pretty sure it was secondary priced. If you’re near a Garfield’s check that out too for Smoke Wagon. visa knows the suburban shops much better than I do.
FedEx is usually the go-to but they've been a hot mess for a while so I feel like it's hard to trust your package will actually arrive. I've had them shipped with both, just don't use usps.