Our FAVORITE Bourbons Of All Time

Hey all, my name is Kurt and I'm here with Trenton. Welcome to SLB Basement Bourbon Bar. And today, Trenton, we've got a big show. I had a really, really cool idea. So big, in fact, I'm sure some of you know this, I don't really prepare anything when we do videos. I just kind of walk down here. Yeah, I know, surprising. But for this one, I actually spent 15 minutes or so coming up with my list. 15 minutes? I know for you, it's like 24 hours. You give yourself a lot of leeway and you write down your notes and everything, but you should have seen it. My face was red, my hair, my head was steaming. I was really getting into it with my list. I should have recorded it for you. You should have, you should have. I got a good one. And now, I usually try to spend a few minutes. Minutes, hours. On a normal video, I wanna at least know the bottles that we're gonna discuss. That's mainly it. We're never scripted, we never have, okay, you say this, then I'll say this, and we'll do that. And we just get up here and whatever happens, happens. That's what we do. But when it comes to these lists, and today, we're gonna talk about our five favorite Urbans of all time. His list is different than my list, I'm sure. But our five favorite of all times, but let me tell you, there was a lot of conversation, some arguments there, what should be included, what should not be included. So what we're not including is anything that's hyper-allocated. Blanton's, Weller's, E.H. Taylor's, anything like that. And Upward, so Pappy's, all that good stuff. What we did allow ourselves, though, is the Elijah Craig Barrel Proofs, the Larceny Barrel Proofs, and the Booker's. We felt that we see those quite a bit around here, and we've seen that quite a bit of you folks are able to get those where you're at. I know that's not gonna be the case for everybody, but we felt that this would give us a little bit of a cushion, because there are some in there that we really enjoyed. So we wanted to allow ourselves that leeway in there. And we did take full advantage of that, so. That did take a bit of conversation, though, to get to that point. Now, we did, for this video, draw that proverbial line in the sand, but if, in fact, you wanna see a video at some point in time to where we give you our five favorite whiskeys of all time, all inclusive. Oh, so Rye's and Scotch and stuff? Rye, whatever. Scotch on my list. Wonderful, you'll have a Scotch on your list? No, I won't, no, no, no, no, no. But, I mean, all inclusive, you know, no holes barred, everything out there. If you wanna see that, let us know in the comments. I know some folks, you know, when you talk about different higher priced, allocated stuff, stop their alley. So, no problem on our part if you do not, but if you do, we can do that as well. But today, let's focus on today. Our five favorite bourbons of all time, for the most part, non-allocated, I will let you go first, sir. Really, oh, you're so kind, since I did prepare this time. I'm proud. I'm gonna get some flack from Walker about this. But, one of my first favorite, not only because of the proof, but also the price is $17.92 bottle and bond. Wow. This did, and this did very well in our Bourbon Madness last year. I think it made it top three, or top five, I can't remember. Top five. But, for what you get for the price in this bottle, it's very difficult to beat this. I went back and forth between different lower price options. I even taste tested some stuff at home. I told you, I went all out. Yeah, and this, to me, it just came out on top. I reached for it quite a bit. I have a couple bottles saved up at home. But, yeah, for me, this was hands down my favorite bottle and bond one. The price point, the flavors and everything, for me. Yeah, it's definitely a solid bottle. I can't deny, though, I'm a little surprised it's on this list. Really? I wasn't aware that that would be in your top five. Yeah. But, that's cool to know. All right, my first bottle is gonna be no shocker to anyone. I'm shocked. That's okay. Wild Turkey Rear Breed, guys, come on now. I'm a Wild Turkey guy through and through. So, this Rear Breed, it's, to me, the pinnacle of the shelf Wild Turkey bourbons. It just is. The proof is great. Everything's great there, Trent. Everything. I would have thought that you'd have snuck 101 somewhere in there at the beginning. I didn't want to duplicate any distillery for this list. That's fair, yeah. But, truth be known, I would reach for the Rear Breed over the 101. Both are great, but Wild Turkey's great. Wild Turkey's my thing. You all know that. But, I gotta love the Rear Breed, man. That's first on my list. Fair enough. My second one, and I think everybody knows that I'm a huge old Forester fan. This is where it gets good. The pick might surprise you, but for me, it was the 1910 Old Forester. Don't get me wrong. I like the 1920, but for the price, for me, and also the proof point, when I first tried this, just looking at the proof point, I would have thought it was a little bit low, but the flavors that come through on this 93 proof option is just incredible. And it's not something that I have to put over ice. The 115 proof sometimes can be a little hot for me, and this one I can just go all in, no ice, no nothing. I did kind of struggle between that and the 1920. Well, don't worry, because next on my list is the Old Forester 1920. And I understand everything of what you're saying. My list was done yesterday, and so was yours. I understand where you're coming from with this 1910. It's very sweet. It's a magnificent double oak bourbon. It really, really is. But for me, our winner of last year's Bourbon Madness Tournament, it pretty much has everything. It's got a little bit of what? A little bit of caramel, whole great stuff of baking spices in there. It's just a great bottle. I mean, I love everything about it. The proof for me is right on point, and it's a stalwart here in the bar, that's for sure. So that's my bottle number two, the 1920. Well, like we said, we were gonna give ourselves a little cushion on some of the maybe not so allocated ones. My next one is the Booker's Bardstown batch that came out last year. This was, in my opinion, the best Booker's batch that came out in 2022, and I think it's the best Booker's for me in quite a while. It was really, really good. It hit our list, top of the year stuff. Yeah, it has a really nice red apple note in there that is just front and center. It's almost crispy. Like, you can get the crispiness from, and that sounds weird, but you can. You can, it's great. And I know that Booker's are getting a little bit up there in price. Some of them are a little bit harder to pull the trigger on. That's why, I mean, between us, I think we try these at bars now before we buy them just because the price points are getting a little bit up there. But for me, this was hands down one of my favorite bourbons of all time, I think. That's a solid picture. All right, my next one is an Elijah Craig burl proof. Now, this one breaks my heart just a touch, Trent. Why? It's the B520, all right? So, a little bit of the background here. I've always said, for what, two years, three years, my favorite's the Elijah Craig C919. You know what's coming, right? I love that bottle. I bought three of those. I did, and I'm on my last one over there. However, you know, you can't deny a blind tasting. You can't deny it. That's true. Twice now. Twice. Has it been twice? Twice, trust me. These things just, they hurt me. Twice, B520 beat out the C919 for me. My choice on a blind. So, what can I do? So, what I'm gonna put up here is obviously what I picked in the blind, the B520. It's marshmallow-y. You know those candies that are like chocolate cream, it's got the cream in the, I'm not talking about chocolate, it's like caramel with the cream in the middle, kind of like? Like a Charleston chew? No, no, like the, how do you remember that? Cow Tales? The caramel, I don't know. No, it's like you unwrap it, it's got caramel, it's got like the vanilla cream in the middle. I, uh, no. Anyway, trust me. I don't. It's fabulous. It doesn't sound good, but. It is good. It is good, and that's what I get in this bottle. Obviously, so far, it's my favorite Elijah Craig burl proof release. So, it had to be on this list today. I don't remember, I don't remember doing two blinds with that. Yeah, we did. Other one's a live show, too, with Ken and I. Oh, that's, okay. With the old Elijah Craig, and I picked that over my C919 there, too. My next one, I had to go with this one. It's a weeder, and it is the Old Elk weeded bourbon. Now, this is our store pick, or our barrel pick that we did for Patreon, but I have a couple other ones, either picks, or just the regular weeded bourbon at home that I really enjoy, and the price is, I think, 80-ish dollars, so it's up there for a weeder, but a lot of these are seven, eight years old, so you get a really nice, nicely aged weeded bourbon, and I know Weller's are options. You know, they're seven years rumored, and they're like 32 bucks, but I think, for me, that the proof that these come in at, and the age really stands out to me in this, and it's just like the sweetest weeder I've ever tried, and to me, these are incredible. I love what Old Elk is doing, but I think, by far, their best product is the weeded bourbon. I love it, too, man. Yeah, it's solid stuff. It's good. All right, my next one, I know Trenton was a little bit of a surprise for you. Yeah, I was. A little bit, but I gotta put it out there. Bardstown Discovery Series. Now, listen, here's where I'm coming from for this one. This is Discovery Series number four, number four. How much were they back then? You remember, I just, I don't know, $89, something like that? Yeah, $89. Something like that? Yeah. So it was $89, now wait, wait, wait. Here's what I wanna show you, dude. You ready for this? This is what the blend was for Discovery Series number four. 55% 13-year Kentucky bourbon, 37% 15-year Kentucky bourbon, and 8%, I think that's 18, right? I'm still having a hard time. Yeah. 18-year Kentucky bourbon. That's a heck of a lot. All around, 75% corn in the mash bill. That is spectacular. That one is so good. There's some maple notes in there, and that's like baking spice overload. It's so good. It's so far superior, in my humble opinion, to the eights and nines that came out when you have the Ontario corn whiskey and the dickle stuff in it, too, which I know they do a great job blending, so please hear what I got to say, but it doesn't compare, in my humble opinion, to this number four. It was my favorite, and it's been my favorite. With all those quality Kentucky bourbons in the blend, it was fantastic. I didn't realize that the mash bills were that high. To be fair, I'm not into many Bardstown things back in the Discovery when it was kind of newer, but I didn't realize that the mash bills were that, heck, for 80, 90 bucks, and they still had this solid brass or whatever cap on there. Those mash bills, that's hard to beat for that price. I'll have to try it after this and see what I think. You know what is sticky back here? You dropped some syrup. I'm standing in syrup back here. What's happening? I think your mom must have done it. Oh, come on. Sorry, honey. I know that I was surprised by your last one. I think you were surprised by my last one, and I'll say the price on this one is a little bit higher, and it's not available in Indiana, but when we travel and stuff, I do see it quite a bit, so I thought that that would be maybe enough. I didn't think it was hyper-allocated or anything. It doesn't seem to have a release schedule of any kind, but it is the Old Kirk single-barrel bourbon. Now, this is rumored to be the same, it's supposed to be rumored to be Willett bourbon, so the same stuff that you see in a Willett Purple Top. The price kind of does reflect that. I think I got this for 129, and I think it's rumored to be a seven or an eight-year, but compared to what you're getting when you get a Willett Purple Top at like 199, 229 for those seven or eight-year, maybe nine-year age statements from Willett, I think this is a killer deal. Now, this is a single-barrel, and this is, I think, the second Old Kirk that I've ever had. The first one, unfortunately, is gone. I just picked this up when we were in Tennessee doing our Jack Daniels pick, but I honestly think for what you get, it is an incredible bottle. Again, the price is a little bit high, and the availability is not, it's not available in a ton of markets, a ton of states, but my gosh, is it good. Well, you gave me a pour of that just, I don't know, maybe a couple weeks ago, and I was floored. I remember that. It was, I even said, what is that? Yeah. You know, it's really good. Yeah. That's solid, man. That's a solid bottle for sure. All right, my last on the list, too, is one we just got last year, but I was so impressed with it, I had to put it on this list. Calumet, 16 year. Shocked. Yeah, and I know a lot of people are saying they can't find it. They're still on the shelves here. Are they? Yeah, I've seen them a week or so ago. Really, okay. So, I know it's 150 bucks, I get that, but it's just so good. It's a 16 year. I love the cherry note on there. Remember we first opened the bottle, and it was fresh. We were trying to determine if that cherry note was a little too medicinal, but once it aired out and had some time to sit in the bottle, it's a quintessential bourbon with that beautiful cherry note to it. I really like it, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get a backup for that one. If you like it that much, I would, before the video goes out and everybody scoops them up and then you can't find them anywhere. Well, that's our list. I hope you enjoyed it. I'd like to see any arguments that you have for and or against. Send them our way in the comments. Those you thought might should be in this list. If you know Trenton, or if you know myself well enough to know what you might have thought we would have put on the list. Ooh, that would have been interesting to see. This is not easy. This isn't easy. Plus, if you want to see a video where we cover more than just bourbons, if we just do whiskeys and ryes and scotches and all that stuff, if you want to see that, we'll include allocateds and things if you'd like that. Let us know in the comments, and depending on the kind of feedback we get, we might end up doing that sometime in the future. All right, that's all we got for you today. Thanks so much for everyone, thank you. As always, we ask you to please drink responsibly. And we'll see you next time right down here with Trent and I in a good old basement bourbon bar. See you later. ♪♪♪