(picture a character like The Frog from Courageous Cat)
Nyeaaaahhhh, nyeahhhh, lissen here shee, try da toid race at Belmont tomorrah, . . .
NO, . . .
not that kind of tip, . . .
a CASH tip.
Thursday afternoon, after seeing a few clients and getting a rather sizeable tip from one of them I happened into Park Avenue Liquor Shop on gasssssssssssssssssssssppppp, . . .
MADISON Avenue(!!!, don't ask, don't tell
) to make a purchase of something fine, and what was originally designed to be a less than $30 bottle of an item in the bourbon or rye venue to get me through the few remaining chilly days and nights in Lower Dutchess County.
But with a quite unexpected and undeserved sizeable tip, I decided it might be a good time to satisfy some curiosity and go for the home run.
I've been eyeing up The Classic Cask bourbon series. Having tried their 21 year old rye and loved it, I've been noticing their 17 and 18 year old bourbons getting play on web sites and in the window display poster at Park Avenue Liquor Shop. So I walked in and asked about The Classic Cask 18 year old bourbon, since they weren't showing the 17 year old. I also asked what the difference was, whether it was the mash bill or just a year of age. They replied that they didn't have any, but they just got the 20 year old in!!!
20 YEAR OLD!!!??!?!?!??? I DIDN'T KNOW THEY HAD A 20 YEAR OLD, BREAK IT THE HECK OUT AND TELL ME THE PRICE!!!
And the guy the first two behind the counter consulted to answer my question about the mash bill wasn't quite sure, but said it was most likely just an age difference. So, $81.47 later I walked out with bottle #438 of a 630 bottle lot, at 90.8 proof, getting ready to take care of some serious curiosity here. If the 21 year old rye was a gem, could this be any different? Well, HOW good could it be? Good enough to make me not regret spending more than a month's payment on my cable bill?
THAT would be very debatable, since I still maintain that great deals can be had for a walk-out* price of $18-30, and that after $50 you can really begin to feel "had" a lot of times.
Well, two tastings this weekend have told me all I need to know. This is the first bourbon that has truly made me sit up and bark (like Special Ed :wink: ) in a dog's age. Of course, I'm going to go through a customary third tasting before placing it, but it WILL make the Bloofingtonian Top Ten and look for it to place in the Top Five.
The flavors of this bourbon are rich and bold, mostly spicy oak from being in the gol danged barrel for the whole time that Rip Van Winkle was asleep, or since 1984, when Big Brother was supposed to have totally taken over, . . .
or something like that. Not the most complex flavor profile here, not four to six flavors going back and forth every time you take a sip. Just basic, classic bourbon, spicy oak with unsweetened cherries rounding by the fourth sip into less spicy oak, maple syrup, with maybe a little honey, possibly a hint of dried apricots. The cherry flavor is unsweetened but bold at the beginning but spreads out by the last two or three sips. It is at times starkly reminiscent of Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 20 year old bourbon, almost uncannily so, except . . .
it tastes more like if someone had kicked Knob Creek up to 'notches previously unknown.' And it's 9.2 proof LESS than Knob Creek, but aged 11 more years, hence the spicy, bold oak notes all the way through.
Classic bourbon. Well, it's made by . . .
The Classic Cask.
But of courrrrrrrrrrrrrse.
These guys are really good. And yes, it's worth the price, and after 20 years you have only about one third or a little more of what you put into the barrel, so it's not the local merchant's price gouging scheme.
Folks, it's a rustically designed, unpretentious label, but a name that sounds like it came from the famous Madison Avenue advertising machine. I'm telling you, The Classic Cask? . . .
If they make it, buy it.
________________________
*Editor's Note: 'walk-out price' means after all shipping and possible tax charges from a web site are applied or a liquor store's price plus their applicable tax.
Nyeaaaahhhh, nyeahhhh, lissen here shee, try da toid race at Belmont tomorrah, . . .
NO, . . .
not that kind of tip, . . .
a CASH tip.
Thursday afternoon, after seeing a few clients and getting a rather sizeable tip from one of them I happened into Park Avenue Liquor Shop on gasssssssssssssssssssssppppp, . . .
MADISON Avenue(!!!, don't ask, don't tell
) to make a purchase of something fine, and what was originally designed to be a less than $30 bottle of an item in the bourbon or rye venue to get me through the few remaining chilly days and nights in Lower Dutchess County.But with a quite unexpected and undeserved sizeable tip, I decided it might be a good time to satisfy some curiosity and go for the home run.
I've been eyeing up The Classic Cask bourbon series. Having tried their 21 year old rye and loved it, I've been noticing their 17 and 18 year old bourbons getting play on web sites and in the window display poster at Park Avenue Liquor Shop. So I walked in and asked about The Classic Cask 18 year old bourbon, since they weren't showing the 17 year old. I also asked what the difference was, whether it was the mash bill or just a year of age. They replied that they didn't have any, but they just got the 20 year old in!!!
20 YEAR OLD!!!??!?!?!??? I DIDN'T KNOW THEY HAD A 20 YEAR OLD, BREAK IT THE HECK OUT AND TELL ME THE PRICE!!!
And the guy the first two behind the counter consulted to answer my question about the mash bill wasn't quite sure, but said it was most likely just an age difference. So, $81.47 later I walked out with bottle #438 of a 630 bottle lot, at 90.8 proof, getting ready to take care of some serious curiosity here. If the 21 year old rye was a gem, could this be any different? Well, HOW good could it be? Good enough to make me not regret spending more than a month's payment on my cable bill?
THAT would be very debatable, since I still maintain that great deals can be had for a walk-out* price of $18-30, and that after $50 you can really begin to feel "had" a lot of times.
Well, two tastings this weekend have told me all I need to know. This is the first bourbon that has truly made me sit up and bark (like Special Ed :wink: ) in a dog's age. Of course, I'm going to go through a customary third tasting before placing it, but it WILL make the Bloofingtonian Top Ten and look for it to place in the Top Five.
The flavors of this bourbon are rich and bold, mostly spicy oak from being in the gol danged barrel for the whole time that Rip Van Winkle was asleep, or since 1984, when Big Brother was supposed to have totally taken over, . . .
or something like that. Not the most complex flavor profile here, not four to six flavors going back and forth every time you take a sip. Just basic, classic bourbon, spicy oak with unsweetened cherries rounding by the fourth sip into less spicy oak, maple syrup, with maybe a little honey, possibly a hint of dried apricots. The cherry flavor is unsweetened but bold at the beginning but spreads out by the last two or three sips. It is at times starkly reminiscent of Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 20 year old bourbon, almost uncannily so, except . . .
it tastes more like if someone had kicked Knob Creek up to 'notches previously unknown.' And it's 9.2 proof LESS than Knob Creek, but aged 11 more years, hence the spicy, bold oak notes all the way through.
Classic bourbon. Well, it's made by . . .
The Classic Cask.
But of courrrrrrrrrrrrrse.
These guys are really good. And yes, it's worth the price, and after 20 years you have only about one third or a little more of what you put into the barrel, so it's not the local merchant's price gouging scheme.
Folks, it's a rustically designed, unpretentious label, but a name that sounds like it came from the famous Madison Avenue advertising machine. I'm telling you, The Classic Cask? . . .
If they make it, buy it.
________________________
*Editor's Note: 'walk-out price' means after all shipping and possible tax charges from a web site are applied or a liquor store's price plus their applicable tax.