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Colonel E.H. Taylor Small Batch Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey Bottled in Bond (50%, 750ml) $160 + Delivery @ Boozebud

880

This an excellent bourbon at a reasonable price. Wouldn't recommend it at RRP, but can't think of any bourbon better than this in the $150-200 price range.

I used to get friends in the US to send me EH Taylor bourbon and rye a decade ago when it was around $30 USD and the Australian dollar was about 1:1.

Southtrade, the Australian distributor of the Sazerac portfolio (here's a few I own now or in the past: Buffalo Trace and the Antique Collection, Pappy Van Winkle, Blanton's, Eagle Rare, Weller 12, Elmer T Lee, and my absolute fave Fireball) finally brought it to Australia a few years ago. I haven't bought it here because of the price and I already have a stash. The Rye is also great, the Single Barrel is fantastic if it's a "honey barrel" from Warehouse C, but it's still a bit of a crapshoot. I reckon Buffalo Trace would rather save the honey barrels for the BTACs and Pappy. I'm still on the fence about the whole honey barrel thing, it's almost like some Feng-Shui shit. There's a decent article below:

This normally goes for around $280. Cheapest I could find right now is $69 more.

Article about honey barrels.

Info on bottled in bond

This post took me over 2 hours because I took some strong painkillers (stepped on a big fat rusty nail that hit the bone on the ball of my foot, went to GP, got told to get an ultrasound tomorrow) before I started and was drinking beer. At the halfway point I crawled to a halt, forgot how to spell, words started looking weird and I was convinced "about" was supposed to be "abought", and couldn't focus on the screen. It's only beginning to wear off now. Could've just chilled in bed listening to music.

Worth it because I don't think you can get this calibre of bourbon at this price anymore because all types of whisk(e)y are getting insanely pricey in such a short period of time.

Happy new year fellow alcoholics.

EDIT: CASHREWARDS HAS 7% FOR NEW CUSTOMERS AND YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO GET 10% OFF FIRST ORDER

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Referee gets 15% off their first order (Min Spend $100). Referrer gets 200 points worth $10 store credit.

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closed Comments

  • +7

    Thanks for the top quality post OP. Wishing you a speedy recovery!

    • +6

      Thanks mate. I left out the best part: I have been doing a major service on my car over the past 2 days. Last night I was checking the coolant and tranny fluid levels and left the key in the ignition overnight. Car won't start. Jumpstarter was dead, Sprinted 4 blocks to mum's to steal her car. Made it just in time.

  • +5

    Can't believe you're wasting your painkillers on posting deals. I'd do something productive like watch cartoons or Harry Potter marathon.

    • +1

      Pills + booze + good tv or movie is S-tier entertainment. I'm going to take more and watch that weird Michelle Yeoh movie. I think I saw it on Prime or D+

  • +6

    Make sure your tetanus shot is up to date op

    • +4

      It wasn't, but got one today

  • +4

    Umm. If you hit the balls of your feet with a rusty nail you need to get it washed out in the operating theatre and get a tetanus shot. Normal disclaimer - generic advice only.

    • +3

      GP washed it today, got tetanus shot, ultrasound tomorrow for "foreign objects". It's not that bad, I've done much worse:
      * Demo'd the bathroom with rotary hammer, wearing shorts, flying piece of tile slices my shin open.
      * Installing new windows in my workshop, cut out the hole with 9" grinder and was slowly removing brick by brick, friend comes over and smashed the bricks into 2 slabs and said we'll catch half a slab on each side. I broke my toe, friend trying to catch it with his shoulder and got a deep gash down his neck and shoulder.
      * Angle grinded my knee

      • Perhaps it's time to admit defeat and stop doing, well, things?

        • +1

          "I didn't choose the Thug Life, the Thug Life chose me."

          Tupac Shakur

          Margaret Pomeranz

          But seriously, considering the amount of work I've done I've only slipped up a few times. Doing the bathroom and kitchen myself saved me at least $150k, not to mention all the other stuff.

  • +4

    I'm a bourbon drinker and this annoys me

    decade ago when it was around $30

    We used to get plenty of decent bottles for decent prices. Now the scalpers have moved in and prices are dumb.

    The first batch of michters toasted barrel was about $150 a few years back. Now it's $500. And still sold out. Absolutely insane.

    • If you look at the whiskey reddit page, its insane. The scalpers in the US are off their tits. Everything important Alc wise in Australia I’d expect to have a bit of a price hike cos of the high tax on alc here. The people were saying this bourbon isn’t that special and people regret paying anything over 60 USD (80-90 AUD).

    • I was really lucky to have friends send me stuff like Smooth Ambler single barrel for Caskers, Four Roses single barrel in all different recipes. I have a lot of BTACs and Pappy 15 (the best Pappy), Four roses Limited editions, Willett single cask Ryes (the sourced ones, most over 7yo). All the cool High Wests like Midsummer Night's Dram. Elijah Crag Barrel Proof etc

      • Willet is amazing

    • +2

      going back about 10 years I was drinking a lot of Blantons. I was paying about $40-45 a bottle for it, basically jim beam price, but for a far far superior bourbon. It was good enough to drink straight, and I didnt have to act like an ass if people wanted to mix it with coke. I just checked Dan's and its up to $105. I stopped buying it when it hit $70ish
      WTF!!!

    • +2

      How is bourbon being scalped? Is there artificial scarcity by the producers, or are all the distillery workers' bodies piled up in the streets from covid?

      • Well aged alcohols like Blanton's they can't just make more and have it ready next week. They made it expecting a certain demand 5+ years ago, that demand has now increased and it's taking time for increased supplies to come through.

        • Is there some explanation why the demand for mid range bourbon has increased massively enough to double (triple?) the price?

    • +1

      All buffalo trace products are in this category. The RRP of EH Taylor by distillery is still USD40, in US even the regular BT and Eagle rare is allocated and marked up (we still get it at a decent price, albeit at 40%abv)

      BTAC collection has RRP of $99

      Pappy is the same - 2022 RRPs

      Old Rip Van Winkle Handmade Bourbon 10-Year-Old: $70
      Van Winkle Special Reserve Bourbon 12-Year-Old: $80
      Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13-Year-Old: $120
      Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon 15-Year-Old: $120
      Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon 20-Year-Old: $200
      Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon 23-Year-Old: $300

      Buffalo trace knows well what their products will be selling at, I refuse to believe that they sell to wholesalers at a fraction of what the consumer is paying through the retailers. Good bourbon, but not at the practical price you will have to pay. WT and plenty others put out more affordable and comparable products

      • +1

        Some US retailers do sell the bottles at RRP, usually by raffle or first come first serve and people will camp out like how new iPhones caused people to camp outside Apple stores, but once that bottle leaves the store it's instantly worth 5-10x RRP. Even ordinary shit like Weller 12 is impossible to get and idiots still pay hundreds for it.

        My first bottle of BTAC was a Thomas H Handy for about $200 a decade ago. BTACs were shelf turds and would sit there for months, and $200 for a bottle was a lot to me at the time.

        I own all of the ones you listed, some from friends in the US when there was little hype for BTACs and Pappy, and others by buiding relationships with independent bottlos and having them ordered from Southtrade, who get very little stock for the entire country.

        Of all the BTACs, in today's market, William Larue Weller and Thomas H Handy are exceptional and I'll happily up to $500, because there's not many comparable barrel proof wheaters and ryes. Parkers Heritage did a wheater once, was super hyped and priced only slightly lower than WLW. Willett also had a few wheaters but impossible to get. The only high proof ryes I can think of is older Willett Family Estate single barrels when they sourced the ryes from MGP?, and were reasonably priced online from Europe funnily enough. Now the sourced ones are massively over priced, and I've only tried their self produced 2yo which wasn't good. Whistlepig ryes are also MGP and getting very pricey. Smooth Ambler single barrel ryes are gerat, again sourced from MGP, and I only have them because friends fron the US sent them to me. So we're left with Rittenhouse 100 and Pikesville; both sourced from Heaven Hill and both very good. They're cheaper than Handy but I love Handy and will pay the premium, same with WLW.

        Sazerac 18 and George T Stagg are excellent and I'll pay up $300. There are lots of great high proof bourbons for under $200, and comprable to GTS. I can't think of many nice ryes with an age statement. Only Whistlepig which is now expensive af.

        Eagle Rare 10 is already a boring whisky, Eagle Rare 17 is just older and slightly less boring and I'll pay $200 because the 10 is now over $100. I only have 1 bottle of ER17 so I can say I have a whole set of BTAC. All the other ones I have multiples.

        This post took foever to type. I was gonna do the Pappy as well. maybe after a nap. These painkillers are awesome

        • Agree, the market has shifted into the collector/flipper/auction centric phase.

          As long as people pay that money, market will sustain unfortunately.

          How do you get mates to ship from US? My understanding was you are not allowed to ship alcohol in states as an individual and DHL etc do reject individuals trying to ship internationally?

  • +1

    Thanks for the post. After a recent illness, my tastebuds can't tell the difference between bourbon and whiskey, so this drop would probably be a silly purchase for me at the moment, but nice to hear from someone who clearly knows what they're talking abought.

    • +1

      bourbon is whiskey :)

      • But is whiskey always bourbon? :)

        I can't tell the difference between Jack Daniels/Jim Beam and Johnny Walker, let's just put it that way.

        Buying anything top shelf when you can't possibly appreciate it, would be a waste.

        • I can't tell the difference between Jack Daniels/Jim Beam and Johnny Walker, let's just put it that way.

          Probably cause they all suck, except Johnnie Gold/Green :/

        • +1

          Yeah man that all makes sense, and I agree that would likely be a waste! :)

          If you're interested, whiskey (with the E) is either Irish or American. Bourbon (e.g. Jim Beam) is one type of American whiskey.

          Whisky from elsewhere in the world, including Scotch whisky (from Scotland, e.g. Johnny Walker) doesn't have an E in it.

          (And Jack Daniels is a Tennessee whiskey, which is basically bourbon produced in Tennessee!)

      • +1

        But bourbon isn't whisky

  • +2

    160 seems kinda crazy. Americans were saying its only worth at around 40-60 USD so import tax from us i’d say a reasonable price would be like around 100 ish bucks AUD
    In my opinion

    • 60usd is nearly 100aud. Duty is around $30 I think on something this strong. Add some shipping etc. Probably not too far off really.

      • Well its more like a 50 AUD bourbon, I think, anything over 100 AUD seems kinda crazy

        • Yeah I got in before all these dumb price hikes. So anything this price feels wrong. Having said that, there just isn't much else I can buy. I've run out of my last toasted barrel bottle, and I'm not paying $500 for more…so I'm at a loss for what to get!

            • @DeliriousWhale: Haha US$185 blimey good luck to whoever was selling that!

              Far out looking at the posts there makes me both excited and jealous haha. Happy for the guy that got an eagle rare 17, but blimey I want one =P

              • @incipient: I want to try eagle rare but it’s $115 at Dan Murphy - is that worth it?!

                • +1

                  @prankster: It’s decent but I think I bought it when it was around 90, still kinda expensive but we don’t live in the US so its kinda expected.
                  Don’t have too high expectations with it, in the end it all comes down to your taste not what someone else thinks is good.

                  Try to taste it somewhere first (which will be hard) and make a decision based on that.

                • @prankster: ER17 I only had once in the states which I quite enjoyed, but I can't remember how it tasted.

                  The eagle rare at bottleshops here I find is a bit light on the rich oaky notes for me. It's what I'd call lighter and cleaner. No clue how all the fancy people describe it, but that's what I found haha

                  • @incipient: ER17 is good but also my least favourite BTAC, the regular ER is very ordinary. Lots of good bourbon in the $120 range

                    • @rosebank: Sorry what’s BTAC?

                    • @rosebank: Any reccomendations? I normally drink scotch but wanted to try some bourbon so I bought a bottle of eagle rare based on ralfy and others great rating of it. Maybe should have asked your first hehe, but wanted to get that 25% Cashback.

                      • @Drpepper666: Wild Turkey 101, should be under $70, used go on sale for under $50

                        It's 50.5% ABV, so add water if need. If you drink cask strength scotch you should be fine witth it neat

                        • @rosebank: Great thanks I'll pick that up next. Wow, a lot cheaper ($60 for dans members ATM) but I've got enough whisky to last 6-12 months I think hehe

                • @prankster: Very smooth, subtle flavour notes, an easy drinking bourbon for sure. Blanton's does more for me personally.

          • @incipient: Check out the Gospel Rye from Victoria, i rate it!

  • -1

    Yeah so I'm definitely not spending $160 on bourbon tonight, but I also appreciate your post and all the info you provided. Thanks for persevering.

  • +2

    Nice first post, I’m into the Gospel Solera Rye atm

    • Tried that; it's not bad, I prefer Belgrove if we're sticking with Aussie ryes.

      • Cool I didn't know about Belgrove. Another Tassie revolution by the looks!

        • I met Peter Bignell when I went to TAS around 2011. He is crazy and I loved talking to him; he told me how he made his own still and makes biodiesel to run it. Said he was growing rye and other grains, Dude could do anything, and he's very experimental with his whisky - I've tried his peated rye, an oat thing, different casks like shiraz. I met all of the distillers in Tasmania (except Hellyer's Road because they're shit), and Peter was by far the coolest, most interesting one.

          Check out his stuff, it's insane: https://belgrovedistillery.com.au/purchase/

  • +2

    +1 for the description!

  • +1

    Just used Mod: Removed referral code which gave the further $24 off, however when I add a second bottle I get the $48 off for the 2, but also they add a 200ml Suntory Haku Vodka for free for some reason.

    • +1

      $200 spend gets you the free Haku

  • +2

    Any recommendations for best value, nice tasting bourbon closer to the $60-70 per bottle range?

    • +3

      Wild Turkey 101. I bought cases when they used to cost under $50 on sale

      • +1

        Yes often $62 in 2022 plus cashback makes it a steal at the higher proof.

    • +6

      Buffalo trace

      • Big +1 from me, best bourbon in this price range by a signifant stretch for me

    • +4

      Makers Mark 46 when there is a cashback going on.

      • Yeah surprisingly good! But on the rocks, rather than neat for me. I found it really lifted it up.

      • +1

        I recon 46 is better than Buffalo Trace

    • +2

      Everything I used to get in that price range is now sitting at 100-150
      Thats a huge jump for less than 10 years

    • +1

      Always personal taste but my go to bourbon in that price range is Woodford reserve

      • Double Oaked is where its at!

    • +3

      Bulleit Rye is excellent for the price (it's rye, so slightly different to bourbon, but same neck of the woods)

    • Sazerac rye (like askvictor said, rye not quite bourbon) is really nice if you can get it on a special. I also really like Tincup and Woodford reserve (normal or the double oaked one)

  • +1

    I’ve never had a bad bottle in bond bourbon. Quality at good prices (in the US). My favorite cheap one is Rittenhouse Rye. Unfortunately it’s $90 here in Australia.

    • +1

      Rittenhouse is one of my favourite ryes. It used to be cheaper, but I think $90 is still reasonable for 100 proof

      (I keep clicking the wrong thing when trying to reply to people, pls ignore all the unpublished comments)

      • +1

        yep it used to be about $50
        So many good options have skrocketed in price

        Blantons, Eagle Rare, Rittenhouse, Elijah Craig, Bookers

        • +2

          I haven't even seen any Blantons anymore, you used to be able to get Gold and Straight from the Barrel at Dan Murphys for about $100-120. I still have a few bottles of each, and Bookers when it was 60-70 bucks

          There are no more good cheap ryes, I'm still salty WT 101 Rye was discontinued

      • +1

        Dangerous one … will shoot you if it doesn't like the look of you.

  • -3

    Priced by the marketing dept.

    You can get an bottle of 18yo Glenfiddich for this price, which is a much more rewarding drink.

    • +2

      You're comparing a Scotch to a bourbon.

      The only Glenfiddichs I like are independant bottlings teaspooned with Balvenie that can't be called Glenfiddich. William Grant & Sons has never liked giving casks to indy bottlers of their single malts for some reason. I have a 25yo 1989 single cask "Burnside" bottled by Maltbarn. Everyone knows it's Balvenie, but they can't call it Balvenie because it has a tiny bit of Glenfiddich in it.

      Priced by the marketing dept.

      and then says Glenfiddich. Yeah ok

  • +1

    Great post and posts @rosebank
    I love Aberlour 12 but that has gone up 100% past few years also

    I Have a few bottles I need to grab for friends and family member

    $70 go for WT101
    What is a nice bottle around the $150
    And then again at $250
    Thanks 👍🏽

    • Depends on your preferences and type of whisk(e)y

      Bourbon? rye?
      Peat? Sherry? Cask Strength?
      Country of origin?

      • The bottle is for a mate having a new born
        Something nice around 150-200 - he mainly a beer drinker so doesn’t matter

        • +2

          I'm going to rep my home state.

          Tinshed Distilling Co. founded by Ian Schimdt of the now defunct Southern Coast Distillers. He does some interesting stuff and here are two from the Anomaly Series:Sticky Fingersand Flustercluck Too
          Sign up to get 5% off all orders. These guys are very transparent and provide a lot of info about each whisky.

          Cut Hill is a distillery I didn't even know existed until I tried their whiskies at a tasting. Their Keystone series batch 1 was a port cask bottled at ~50% ABV iirc, and it tasted almost exactly like a young Sullivans Cove, My mate tried it and agreed, bought a bottle, and said it was best whisky at this event that had 20+ spirit makers. Most were vodka and gin, but I think there were 10 distilleries that had multiple whiskies on offer. Here is batch 3:
          Key Stone Release | Small Batch #3 Bready, Set, Go Whisky, Batch 2 is still available, but it's just a typical sherry bomb

          5Nines is also a distillery that I didn't know existed until I tried it at the sanme tasting, They make great whisky. I can't remember which ones I tasted because I was a dozen drinks deep and even started trying vodka because tried all the whiskies. Anyway here is one on a site I used to buy from a lot; they sell intersting stuff you can't find on other more popular sites:
          5Nines, Vatted Lightly Peated, Bourbon Cask 44.2%, PB001, Single Malt Australian Whisky

          What Aberlour do you drink? There is a NCF 12yo bottled @ 48%, which is superior to the loser 40% version. Here is a link: https://www.smwhisky.com.au/product/aberlour-12-non-chill-fi…

          Shout out to Ian Baxter at https://www.smwhisky.com.au/ great selection, competitive pricing, but needs better inventory management.

          I stopped buying whisky about 5 years ago, except the occasional lucky find, is super interesting, or from a distillery I love,

    • +2

      Yes, absolute price rort on Aberlour. Which you could get on special at $60 a couple years ago

  • +1

    Couldn't help myself and had to grab a bottle to have a crack at it. Cheers OP

  • +2

    $124.80 on Boozebud ebay with ebay plus code BTSR22 😎🥃

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