Ethernut

Dang it! Now I’m going to have to change my return flight.. (will see what I can do)

I will be there the 8th-13th looking forward to seeing the Aussies once more along with a few Americans, Brits and Canadians (hell, maybe even a German). Will be attending some of the unofficial events with the FOH crew. @El Presidente you should totally do another blind tasting, those are always fun on a long lunch day. I have it on good authority that Armando Perez will be there as well! Looking forward to having a habano with him also!

Cory, Dad and I are in!

Great Post @Ryan. Lovely shot! Looks like it was made for your wall. So true about the megapixels. I've seen 8 megapixel images made into billboards. At a certain distance it's impossible to tell.

I edited my post above to punctuate that point.. 😉 Most value the variety (till they dont and decide they want consistency instead). Of course, if one has an unlimited budget.. It's all purchasable all the time and easy to figure out for ones self.

Or.. forget all that and pick up KC SB 120 for $39 and enjoy the heck out of it knowing it's very nearly in the same class all the time.. The "batch numbers" are known because someone said it was so.. doesn't mean their palate is your palate. Much of the pomp and circumstance of Bourbon is highly subjective. Highly... Just like cigars.. the best bourbon in the world is not in the special releases. Its in everyday bottles (namely store picks). Its simply the special releases that get the attention. In Cigars, the best cigars in the world are dropped into regular boxes, all the time. They don't have double bands but they are there, ready to roll.

True.. VERY true...

@JohnS are you coming to Havana in November?

For those of us that truly understand the CC world and are looking to smoke/gift and enjoy cigars I'd say no as there is a bit of charm in the Cuban consistency [sic]. For those with motivations to sell/flip the answer is yes. No clear cut yes or no answer here IMHO.

I wouldn’t call it a scam, it’d call it normal. Have facturas and have some CUC as a backup plan..

Reminds me of the way they used to arrive to the US from Czar back in the mid 2000’s. 😉

I'm gonna be the crazy guy in the room to say there aren't *really* many high roller bourbons. The stratospheric prices bottles of bourbon have been driven to, do not guarantee quality. The quality is the same as it was 6 years ago.. Lemme take you back.. 6 years ago in bourbon.. Weller 12 sat on the shelves under $23...nearly all year right here in Kentucky. You could get Weller Antique 107. all. the. time. Pappy sat out on the shelves for a couple weeks to a month. Most of your secondary distillers (that dont actually distill anything but buy barrels from the Big 5, bottle them and resell) didn't exist. you could buy 12 year old bourbon all day long for around 30 bucks. Max! Four Roses Barrel Strength was $52 at Four Roses and you could by 17.5 year (2011/2012). Check out this review I wrote when I first got into bourbon for a pricing look back into 13 bourbons. I had no idea what I was doing but it's a neat look into that era. http://bourbonreviews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11788 Flash Forward... ...then the insanity hit. ...Now the same exact stuff is inflated to imbecility, guys are arguing on the internet, the bourbon never hits the shelves before it disappears into the woodwork, folks see it as money like an investment into their future, it's become the laymans bitcoin, delivery truck drivers are being bribed, relationships with the distribution centers have been established and guys have the bill of ladings on where/when/quantity of special releases being delivered, dudes stand in line for hours or overnight arguing over who got there first so they can flip the bottle on the secondary market and make a meager $10/hour for their time, everyone is an expert and the dbaggery has reached unbelievable heights. Here's the deal. EVERY distiller is ramping production up. Four Roses for example is doubling theirs. This means (to me) that the scarcity thats creating the insanity has roughly 6-10 years before the supply surpasses the demand. Better sell your bottles in the next couple years.. These days wont last. .....and we're back.... Recently I tasted some bourbon from 1978. Bottled in 78, distilled in the 60's. It was 45% and guess what, It tasted exactly the same. A "G" chord on a guitar has the same pitch no matter the guitar. The tone however is different guitar to guitar. That's the only difference and each distiller has their own tone dialed in. Keeping it real. Most of the bourbon we drink comes from 5'ish distillers. They have their methodology dialed in and it'll taste the same next year and 10 years from now (various barrel and mashbill 'tone' factors aside). The only bit of real excitement in the industry is some of the blending I'm seeing happen, theres something to be explored in that (the Scotch discovered that 100's of years ago). I had the opportunity to try a bourbon blend that was privately done. It's $120 and delivered without label in a glass bottle. The public cant even buy it. It has to be purchased through a network of trusted people. Now, THAT was an eye opener and something I'm excited to see hit the main stream. That's the new frontier because bourbon literally cant do anything new. ....and I love it for that. (same with Cuban Cigars).

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!! So true.. (and I mean no disrespect) I haven't had much rye I thought was worth more than $30, no matter what it is. I hate to tip my hat to BTAC but I have had some expressions of THH that I thought were worth the standard retail price though. (not the secondary market price)

The age statement is still on the Barrel Strength releases. It's on the back label. I'm one who likes OGD 114 also. It however, of late, seems they are bottling it younger.

Both are personal favorites and acceptable substitutes!