People ask me to recommend bourbons pretty regularly, either in person or via social media. The more I learn about bourbon the harder this is to do. Recommending bourbon for someone who is new to the bourbon world can feel like a huge responsibility. What if I’m responsible for turning them off to bourbon completely?
A lot of people ask me to recommend a bourbon within a certain price range. This was an easy question when I worked at the liquor store and knew by looking where it was on the shelf what the price range would be. Now that I’m not staring at the price labels every day this is an almost impossible benchmark for me to gauge. Is Eagle Rare still around $30?
Then you get into the flavor profiles, the mash bills, the age statements, and proofs. This is the next level of bourbon awareness. Knowing that you prefer Four Roses’ OBSK over their OESV or any of their other recipes (ten in total) takes time and practice. Most of the time I like the OESK, but it depends on a lot of factors. I also know I sometimes prefer wheated bourbons and I sometimes prefer bourbons that have rye in the mash bill. Sometimes I even prefer rye whiskey instead of bourbon. I also tend to like bourbons that are in the 10 year range, but I have been pleasantly surprised by many four year old Bottled In Bonds and blown away by some 23 year offerings.
Proof is another variable in bourbon that is all over the place, ranging from 80 to more than 130. I really love all the cask strength offerings that are hitting shelves lately. Most of them are not chill filtered, which helps them retain some of the oils from the barrel. Not only are these offerings closer to what bourbon was decades ago, they also pack a punch in the 110-130 plus proof range. The most common of these is Booker’s, which I absolutely love and recommend to people often when they want to get into barrel proofs.
Beyond all this is rarity. Some people just want to find a really rare bottle of bourbon or something they can’t get in their state. This one is also a tough one for me because whether or not you can get something in your state probably has a lot more to do with what the liquor stores are ordering than distribution in your state. Most of the larger bourbon companies have distributors who can get them into all 50 states, so if your local spirits culture can support a bourbon aisle in the store you are going to be able to find a decent selection. If your local liquor store’s bourbon aisle contains Jack Daniels, come visit Kentucky and we’ll take good care of you.
So the moral of the story here is that it takes practice. Try a lot of different bourbons, and keep notes if you can. Attend tasting events. Go meet Master Distillers. Join a Bourbon Society or Barrel Club. If you like the first bourbon you ever try and you want to stick with that, that’s great. But if you want to try something different, please do. Try them all. Don’t turn your nose up at the cheap stuff. Don’t refuse to try anything that doesn’t require special connections to get. Remember that recommendations are highly subjective, and the person doing the recommending probably doesn’t like the same things you like or have the same reasons you do. With time and practice you will be able to figure out the perfect bourbon for you for every situation.
Do you have a bourbon recommendation for me? Tweet me @LouGirl502!
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