Tasting the World's Most Hated Bourbons

From the looks at the bar top today, I'm not sure if I'm gonna have a good time or not, so we'll see what happens. My name is Kurt, this is Trenton. Welcome to SLB Basement Bourbon Bar. Why, this is my video idea. Why aren't you excited? You're not excited about my video idea? Yeah, yes. Well, yes, I am. That's the enthusiasm I'm looking for. Yes, I am. I'm on the internet a lot, and I don't know if, like, I get a lot of targeted ads for articles and products and things advertisements about stuff like Basil Hayden's and whatnot, but I had an article pop up on the side of a website when I was looking at it about the best bourbons you can buy. I was like, okay. I usually don't click on them. I was like, well, let's see what this is all about. On the, I went through it, and the content was maybe a little bit clickbaity, but I went through it on the bottom in the section, there was like, you might also be interested in this. It was the same variation, but like the most disliked bourbons. So I clicked on that, and I was like, huh, a lot of these are stuff that we either have reviewed, talked about, maybe not reviewed, and I thought it would be interesting to kind of pull also Patreon and see what our patrons and subscribers and things thought of the bourbons and if they had any that they really dislike. Sure. So these are four of those that were either the most common, with the exception of Jim Beam, it wasn't mentioned a ton, but in some of the other articles I read about the most hated or disliked or things like that, that came up quite a bit. But it's also the most popular in terms of sales value or the highest sold bourbon in either the United States or the world, I can't remember. So I saw that there was a statistic that said 25% of people do not like Jim Beam White Label. And I thought, 25% is good enough for me to put in a video. Well, I get where you're coming from now. I see your mindset and how you came about to this video. Yeah. So you just didn't pull these out and go, I think these kind of aren't so good, let's try them. No. You had a thought process here. You and I both have our ideas of bourbons that we don't like or we might look as the most hated or disliked, but I figured we would pull in some data points. I will, and I will confirm what you're saying, because out of any articles I've ever read, people I've ever talked to, these particular bourbons, more than not, are on those most disliked lists, unfortunately. But back to the Jim Beam White Label. That's, Trenton, that's kind of an odd one because so many people's grandfathers, this is what they drank. This is what it is, Jim Beam White Label. And there's a lot of people, a lot of folks are gonna like it for that reason, and I get that. This is one of the first bourbons that I ever purchased, actually. Really? Because it was cheaper, it's Jim Beam, let me give it a try. Maybe one of the first 10 bottles that I ever bought. Kind of surprised. And so I thought I'd give it a shot. I didn't like it then, it's been a long time since I've had another sip of it, so I'm kind of looking forward to trying it again. My palate may change. Is this the original bottle that you bought? Yes, yes it is. And there's this much plus this in there. And I think we also did a budget video, so you probably took one sip out of it and was like, nah, not for me. I'll bet you that bottle's four or five years old. I'll bet on it. Okay. Well, at least it's been open for a while, it's been aired out and everything. Yeah, and before we get started, let me just preface by saying, hey, Trent and I both have the same opinion. Just because we may not like something, somebody else may not like something, if this is one of these bottles is, you love it and it's your favorite, it's your jam, more power to you. Drink what you like, the way you like it, and don't let anybody tell you anything different. Well said. Let's get on with it, and let's see what we got here, Trenton. I'm kind of excited about this. It's been forever, Jim Beam White Label. Man, maybe things have changed a little bit for me. Get a little sweetness up there, you want a tiny bit of vanilla? It's like, it's really oak, or something's off about it. It's either oaky or leathery or something. I don't know about you, but when I first stick my nose in the glass, I always want to search for the sweet note first. I usually do that. Do you do that? I don't know why. Well, I mean, I like candy. I just kind of discovered that, because when you said oak, I'm sure it's in there, but the first thing I'm looking for is what sweetness can I find, and I found a little bit of sugary vanilla. I can see that, but it's just like immediately for me. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. I get where you're coming from, for sure. This is also 80 proof, if you weren't already aware, and as a clarification, these all are pretty low proof. They're not on here because they're low proof. This is just based on the statistics that I gathered, and some of the stuff that you saw in some articles you've read before. It's honestly not the worst thing I've ever had. I'm a little bit surprised right now, because when I first had that, I didn't like it at all. This will never be on one of my top 10s. Oh, shame, come on. I mean, for real, but it's 80 proof. It's 15 bucks. You're not putting that above Wild Turkey 101? No. Come on. No, no, no, no, no. It's $15, so it's budget friendly, but I found the same kind of little bit of sweetness up front, but it's got a pretty heavy oak presence to it, for sure. And everything else is like rather earthy. Honestly, I was expecting it to be a little bit worse. This is the first time, I'm sure I've had Jim Beam White Label and cocktails and things before, but it's never something I've drank on its own. I'm sure we've done a video at some point, maybe, that I was in that I forgot, but it's not the worst. I mean, a little bit of sweetness, oak leather. Yeah, there you go. I mean, that's what it is. Not too complex. I think this one, Trenton, I don't know. It's been a long time. This is one of the first ones I ever had in a restaurant. Oh, you got this in a restaurant? Your mom and I were in Arizona, and I said, I'm kind of new. I don't even know what to order. And she said, why don't you try Basil Hayden's, which actually is a pretty good recommendation for somebody that really hadn't been into it. And so I haven't had it much, but Basil Hayden's, I think it's a little bit of a bad rep, but it's expensive for what you get. And that's the point. It's 80 proof still. I think it's a good beginner. You know, I do think of all that stuff about it, but it is $35, $38 here. Pretty sure, almost 40 bucks. 30 something, maybe even pushing 40. I think this is also, it's either 80 or 86, 80 proof. Also coming from Jim Beam, but the biggest complaint that I saw, and this bottle came majority from the folks in Discord, Patreon, subscribers, that kind of thing. And the common complaint is that the price you pay for the value you get is just atrocious. From what, like, this as a $20 bottle, from what people said, would have been a really good bargain. Okay. Because it's, I mean, a little bit higher, more of a, maybe more of like a craft step above Jim Beam light label, tack on five bucks, maybe you're getting somewhere. Okay, I can understand that argument, that's for sure. It's been a while though, let me see. Oh man. I also haven't, I've had the Subtle Smoke and the Red Wine and the Toasted and the Dark Rye and stuff, I don't think I've ever had the regular one. Mm, mm. Yeah, I've had it a few times. It's all right, I mean, to me it's a little bit thin, it's a little bit weak in the flavor department. But there's nothing bad, I wouldn't say there's nothing in there that I would say, oh, that's awful. No. There's not much oak presence there, especially compared to the Jim Beam white label. But there's just not a whole, it would take me a while to really try to, there's a little bit of some light sugary sweetness there. There's just not a lot going on, it's not really complex. I would expect maybe a little bit more for the price point. And I could see the argument there. Would I buy another one? No. I would, however, maybe recommend this to some beginners. Possibly. But preface it with saying, okay, there's better options for cheaper, but Basil Hayden's comes highly recommended as like a more of a beginner friendly kind of thing. Yeah, and I can see why it's a beginner. Yeah. Because your flavor, everything about it is not gonna blow you out of the water. The proof is low, there's no strong flavors in there, there's no strong oak presence there. It's like the LaCroix of bourbon. There you have it. That's the best analogy I can think of to tell you the truth. That's perfect. The LaCroix, if you like LaCroix. Minus the bubbles. You might love Basil Hayden's. You might. I'm just saying. All right, let's move on to this. I have no idea what this is. Without fail, this is on every single worst list that I've ever read. That's why I had to find it. And what's it called again? I don't even know. I've never bought it. Baby Hudson, or no, Hudson Baby Bourbon Whiskey. Okay. I'm reading the label. 46 ABV, 92 proof, made in New York, aged under four years by the Tuttle Spirits Gardener, New York. That's an odd statement. That could be anything. So this is on every single list that I've ever seen. Yeah. Have you ever had it? No. Me either. This is like $46. Wow. I'm surprised. You're paying that New York, Maybelline, New York, Hudson, New York, that kind of premium. I don't know if this is coming from the Hudson River, and that's why you're getting the premium. I have no clue. But oddly enough, you know what Cast Cartel is? No. There are some websites that'll sell bottles, like secondary prices, that kind of thing. This bottle is $460 on that website. Get out of here. And if it's on these lists, I can't imagine why. Why, is it hard to find some places? They are not making this anymore, from what I heard, because it's that bad. Well, let's find out. Yeah, I'm scared. Let's see. Now my interest is really perked, because they're not making it anymore. Holy cow. Oh my gosh. That has to be some of the worst aromas I've ever smelled in a bourbon in my lifetime. Really? That's horrible. I kind of, I don't hate it. Oh, dude, it's horrible. It's kind of like a pencil-shading rotten prune. Okay, okay, okay, hang on. It's kind of, it's kind of, you went with pencil shavings, all right, and it was kind of in my brain. It's kind of like a, it's approaching the nose of a heavily-peated scotch, but in a not-so-good way. So when you mentioned the pencil shavings, remember the connection that was made with Lafroig and pencil shavings, you know, and the aromas and things like that? You know, that's kind of what my thought process went to. My eyes went across the way. That's where my shelf is of my peated scotch over there, and it's like, it's kind of like a crappy attempt at a peated scotch nose. Yeah, well, set the glass down. We're not gonna try it just yet. I have one, some preparation that we're gonna do. Oh, no. No, what are you doing? What are you doing? Babe, what's he doing? What are you doing? All right, you ready? I am absolutely not ready for that. Have you ever had a pour that big, that much? You poured the Thomas Handy that I brought down here once. No, I know. I was just joking. Have you ever been at home and done that? No. I've seen some on Instagram, some folks, man, they just, they notch that up there. Good for them. I don't, personally. I don't either. I like to have smaller ones, one ounce possible. I'm usually about where, like, the bowl starts to go back up. I try, like, the one ounce, because I like to bounce around a little bit. I don't wanna tank out on one whiskey. If I'm gonna drink that night, I want two or three different ones. Well, let's see if you wanna tank out on some Baby Hudson. Oh, I can only imagine. Let's see. Kind of smells like Corner Creek. I almost got goosebumps. That is, if it's possible, the nose absolutely transfers to the palate, but worse. Dude, it is, like, the most bitter, unpleasant, You almost said coffee, didn't you? Like a bitter coffee. Bitter coffee grain. Burnt coffee. Bitter. I'm on that. Very bad. Very bitter, bad coffee grain. $460 on a secondary? Get outta here, man. Oh, I hope people don't buy that. That is so bad. I hope people don't buy this. There's absolutely no sweetness that I can find in there whatsoever. It's extremely earthy. Bitter coffee. Horribly, horribly cooked mushrooms. I don't like mushrooms. I mean, dude, burnt mushrooms, maybe? There was this, I'm saying. I'm being legit. This is a true story. There was a mushroom in my yard. Like this big. No, I cooked it up. I took it out of the yard. I did. You can ask Michelle. Oh my God. It was massive. I was told that you could eat these. So I took it out. Who told you that? Like a mushroom steak. The internet. They make it like a mushroom steak. I'm sure it wasn't a portobello. No, it wasn't a portobello, but it wasn't like one of these like. It was a yard mushroom. I put some butter on it and then I burnt it and I tasted it and it tastes somewhat similar to this. There were holes in it, so I'm sure there were worms and maggots in there. I imagine it probably did. It probably did taste like this. This has to be Hudson. Legit, I'm thinking bitter coffee grains and burnt mushrooms. It just tastes really young, but also like there's something wrong with it. It's like, if you were to drink pen ink. I can't do that again. I'm gonna go on a limb because, you know, when you're clipping on 60, sometimes it takes you about, you folks that are on my age bracket, you understand, it takes you about 20, 30 minutes to remember everything about everything, you know, what you're trying to say. But I have to go out on a limb and say, that's the worst bourbon I've ever tasted. I'm with you. Is there anything else you can think of that I don't know of anything else that could be worse than that, that I've had? I feel like it would be this, in first place for the worst, Corner Creek and Hill Rock. Hill Rock. Would be my three. Now that, that, my particular Hill Rock, Solaria Age was god awful. A lot of people said it might've been the cork thing or whatever going on, I don't know. But that, those are the two. That would be the battle right there for me. Unbelievable. All right, let's move on to this Will It. This is probably the most, it is. It was the most controversial bottle that was on our regrets videos. Because a lot of folks love it, and I don't know if it's because it says Will It on it. Yeah. And maybe they actually do love it. And if you do love it, good for you. I'd rather you purchase a bottle that you love and drink than purchase one that you hate. Yeah. That's a fact. So, let's see what this is all about. It's been a long time, Trent, since I've tasted any of this. This, but this is- I gave away my bottle. This is the exact bottle that I bought, the first one I ever bought. I was actually at a liquor store. Is it as old as my Jim Beam? This is probably three years old. Okay. Three, four years old. I was at a liquor store, I saw this, I texted you a picture of it, and I was like, hey, should I buy this? You didn't answer, didn't answer. I was there for a half hour. I remember this, yes. I bought it, as I'm walking out, he's like, that's bad, don't buy it. I was like, oh, wonderful. I remember. So, this is that bottle. I do. So, this is three or four years old. Yeah. All right, well, let's figure it out. I will say that there's some folks out there that are saying now the juice has changed. It's different. In the Will It Pot still. And somebody I would actually respect, I respect their opinion, said that. Oh, they did, okay. In a video, another YouTuber, but since that's old, we don't have a new one. Maybe that's another video. If you want to see that video, if you want to see new pot still versus old pot still. I'm going to look out for one. I'll be interested. Let us know. It's sweet on the nose, a little bit butterscotchy, but also. It is, a little sweet. I almost said toilet seat, that's not right. It's almost like, it's weird, because it's like grassy, a little bit like hay. But also, if you've left your laundry in the washing machine too long after you wash it. Oh, yeah, we've done that a time or two, haven't we, honey? A few times. Yeah, well I have some, my dryer broke. It smells like propane when you run it, or kerosene for some reason. I took it apart. I didn't fix it, so we haven't dried anything. And we have something in the washing machine that's a little bit damp that smells very similar to this, minus the sweetness. If you toss a couple butterscotch chips in there and rerun the load, let it sit there, I'm sure it would have similar aspects. There you have it. I can't say anything to that. I'm just gonna stop right there. I got nothing more than that. One takeaway, I like the sweetness on the nose. I will say that. Whoa, okay. At first I went, hmm, because you get a little bit of that butterscotch-y type, not full-blown butterscotch. A little bit, but it doesn't take long, that freak train of sour for me, sour. Ooh, that's a good one, very sour. It's almost like, it's like a woody in like a not-oak-y way. Mm-hmm. I've said it before, and I'll set it against a second sip there. Right on the front of the palate, I get a little bit of sweetness there, kind of butterscotch-y a little bit, but then it runs really sour. And then, for me, I always get like a cedar note there. Like, for the wood note, it's like a raw cedar. You know, it's a- Based on like, you're biting into a cedar? Yeah, like, you know, working in different houses and stuff, you see the cedar closets. You remember your house? Oh, yeah, yeah. Your old house, you had some cedar closets. So, you know, take a bite out of that puppy. That's kind of what, it's kind of what I get on the back end of this, for me. That's so weird that it's like that sour. Almost like a sour milk kind of vibe with some grass. Very dairy-like, for things you would associate with a cow. Dairy, grass, I don't know. Right? I will seek out another one. Let's do that. Just to see if there's any comparison. Because also, like, a lot of the comments in our video, what were you, well, you talked about it, I didn't talk about it, the regret buying. A lot of it was like, well, maybe you got a bad bottle, maybe it was a bad bath, that kind of thing. I feel like with Will It be more of like a Prestige or like that kind of thing. I would assume that if they had a batch that tasted like this, Quality Control would step in and be like, hey, this doesn't fit our profile. This doesn't fit our, like, kind of what we're trying to put out with this label. Sure. So I'll look for another one. Just to buy it and see what it is. I think it was like 65 bucks. I'll say this. If the new one's better, I'll reveal my source and who said. Another YouTuber friend of mine who said, buy it, try it. You won't be disappointed. I will seek it out and we will, maybe we'll do a video on it. Yeah, let's do it. All right, that's all we got for you today. Hey, take a moment in the comments, let us know what your worst bourbons are. If, yeah. On the bottom of your list. We might even do another crowdsource video based on the comments. Yeah, we probably will. I'd love to read that and see what your lists are. All right, that's all we got for you today. Thanks so much for watching. As always, we ask you to please drink responsibly. See you next time. Right down here with Trent and I in a good old basement bourbon bar. See you later.