Woodford Reserve vs Bulleit vs Larceny Bourbon

Welcome back to the Tasting Room! In this episode, we put 3 bourbons to the test in a Gold Rush. Join us, and see if we prefer the bourbon from Larceny, Bulleit, or Woodford Reserve.

Transcript

cocktail of choice

I’m Carl I’m Riley. This is the tasting room. Or today we’re going to try different bourbons in the gold rush

I have a question for you. What’s that? Are you familiar with the gold rush? Well, that would be this beverage and Travis right here. No, really? Yes, really. Well, let’s say in it, what? Isn’t it, that’s a glad you ask.

Two ounces of bourbon, three, four sounds. So honey syrup and three, four ounce of fresh lemon juice garnished with a lemon peel.

Doesn’t sound bad. It sounds pretty awesome. I like honey too. I personally have never had a gold Bush and obviously you have not either yet. So the reason why was gold rush today is we’re going to try three different bourbons and see if we can tell the difference of. A low cost Burbank, a middle and high end and a cocktail that is bourbon four.

So this cocktail is going to be similar to like a whiskey sour, where bourbon is the major player in it. And everything else just enhances that flavor too. But does do our whiskey sours really whiskey forward? Well, I guess this cocktail is based off of a WHISKEY SOUR, so it’s more of a, it’s more of an adaptation, right?

Yeah, that’s true. I mean, the sourness is going to play off and a whiskey sour more, but I mean, all in all, honestly, though, these are the same ingredients except for honey syrup and then don’t egg weight, and no bitters, same ratios and everything. So interesting. So what we’re gonna try is what bourbons we have today.

the bourbons we are reviewing

We have larceny, okay. Kentucky bourbon, straight whiskey. We have bullet. Bourbon. Yep. And we have Woodford reserve, double Oaked, Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey finished in a second book barrel.

larceny

So we’ve had, uh, what was the first one again? Larson. First time we had, that was about five years ago. No, four years ago in Louisville, it was really good.

And it’s a really reasonably priced bottle. Um, $25, right. Something like that. Right. So it’s the same price as decal. Um, you know, and obviously this is bourbon Diggle’s whiskey, but I’m saying in that price point and it’s solid bourbon for $25 bullet, I really like it makes really good cocktails with it.

woodford reserve doubled oak

It’s good straight that runs you about $35 give or take and the Woodford reserve, double Oak barrel. Cost us $60 today, correct? Yeah. And it was on special or something. That was a special price. Yeah, I think it was normally 65, you know, are they doing the whole marketing thing? Oh, you look at it. How much money?

Your statement. So this is the one we chose to go with. I’ve never had this one by itself. So, this has been the first time we were trying it. I knew that nothing I’ve ever had at Woodford reserve, which reserves is a good, solid bourbon, just their single wine. I think that’s about 40, 45 bucks. We’re in the middle of not running the mill, but just in that price guide, it’s a good, solid bourbon.

That price, price point is wasted on me. Right? Well, that’s the point of this channel to see if, uh, see if this guy’s even worth it. You know, bulls people are going to even. What you guys are putting that in a cocktail, not just straight on the rocks, but here at Alchemix, especially in the tasting room, we do the hard work.

tasting room rules

So you don’t have to sure. Did you see how far her eyes rolled in the back of her head? Okay. So again, on every other video we’ve done, I made the cocktails in the kitchen. Well, she put games on her phone, in the living room, no straight up napping.

I was not like these each color coded. And then on my phone, I have a piece of paper coordinate, uh, saying what color to the bourbon. Wow. That was a huge brain fart there. So we’re going to try them, enjoy them, give you art taste notes on them. She’ll try to guess which one is which. And we’ll see, uh, what we can go from there.

So which one we start today with? I’m sorry. I’m nervous. I don’t like, I don’t like bourbon that much. I will prevail over this. Um, uh, I’m going to start with orange. Okay.

well, not a fan. So any other notes, besides that a fan, it doesn’t blend.

tasting begins

I like the honey. I can taste the honey, which is nice. I really like honey. I don’t like the whiskey flavor in it. I don’t know if it’s, I don’t like the whiskey or I don’t like combination. I don’t know. Yeah, this is, this will be a little different cause neither of us have ever had this cocktail. So, you know, when you hear those ingredients, you can kind of guess in your mind what you’re looking for.

Um, and then sometimes your palate brings something else. Yeah. And again, I think this is part of cocktail creation, people using specific liquors in specific cocktails because different bourbons, different gins, they all kind of have, you know, different features that enhance or. Not that don’t go well with other ingredients.

So I agree. I don’t think this blends as well as it should. Um, you definitely taste honey more than I thought you were going to, um, and was kind of just there at the end. It kind of just says up here I am. Yeah. And I don’t, the whiskey is very bitter, but not whiskey better. Yup. I don’t know how else to describe it.

Like, I expect a certain amount of butter from whiskey, but I don’t expect it to be,

I expect whiskey to be earthy better. Right. But this is not earthy better. Right. Okay. Let’s move on to the red glass red sticker.

I like that one much better. Okay. Um, that one

tastes like those ingredients belong together, you know? And it’s it. The best features of the bourbon. Are played off of with the honey. Uh, what kind of honey did we use? Cause I think that might play in the thing. So there is, uh, about 17 miles away. There’s Galena, Illinois. Um, chef Evo, um, had, uh, has a store called Galena Caney company rest in peace chef.

Um, it’s an amazing story. He makes a lot of different sauces. Uh, purees syrup’s and stuff like that. Anyways, this is a natural honey that has an orange blossom note in it. It’s um, it’s orange blossom, honey. There’s no added flavors. It’s the, that’s just what it is. Oh, okay. So I don’t think that orange Boston was going to play out too much.

I mean, I tried the honey syrup before and now it definitely tastes different than some of the hunting that you get in your local grocery store, for sure. Mostly high-fructose corn syrup with honey flavors added. But I definitely think, you know, you know, maybe the different types of honeys out there also play an effect to the different bourbons that blood’s with too.

So I just don’t think the orange blossom is going no, but I think it, I think depending on the bourbon it will kind of enhance certain things and yeah. Or that yeah. But no, definitely this blends a lot better. Um,

I w I think the bourbon with the first one, the bourbon is kind of there at the end. This one is more upfront in the middle. And in the end it kind of goes on a journey in that honey kind of helps it takes you on a journey on your pallet. Right? The first one is more like separation. Okay. Third one, the purple glass.

Okay. Bye.

Oh, hello, Berryman.

Not in a bad way though. Okay. It’s very bourbon forward. Yup. They’re not mad about it. No, it has kind of has this weird caramel flavor at the very end. It’s the orange honey. That’s the orange blossom, honey. Yeah, you think so? Okay. This is weird that it’s not dominant in any other one, except for this one.

So how the first one went honey than bourbon and the taste. This one goes bourbon and then honey in the finish, but still has that bourbon taste at the end. Also, which one do you like the best? We already know which one I’m assuming we both dislike the first orange one to lease him up. Correct? We dislike it the most.

Yes. I think I like the pink glass or purple. That’s not purple. That’s pink.

I wonder if that picked up.

Yeah. I don’t know. Like I w would not be mad with either of these, the, the red or the red or the purple pink. Okay. The red or the pink. I wouldn’t be mad at either. Or if someone brought this to me, um, because I could definitely taste the bourbon, especially after knowing hat never having had one before.

Right. I, if I ordered these cocktails and I got one and I drank it, I would be. Happy with my experience. Right? First one is someone brought that to me. I wouldn’t be upset. I’d just be like, okay, I guess this is a cocktail, you know? Cause again, there’s a lot of cocktails that we try that we’ve never had before.

You know, especially when we go somewhere where the bartender mixologist created their own. Right. We have no idea what to expect and we tend to order those more than we do. Classic cocktails. I, I guess I view going to a restaurant where there are, where they’re crafted cocktails. Um, I view that as more of an experience where, I mean, theoretically, we could make a classic cocktail at home and by we, I obviously mean him.

Hey, you made margaritas the other day. Okay. You made the perfect migrated the other day, but margarita is a margarita. That’s not, that’s not, that’s not true, but margarita, they’re easy to make, especially THE PERFECT MARGARITA because they’re only three ingredients. And what is that? I don’t know, but it stabbed me.

Okay. That was weird. Hey, come on kitty. But, um, yeah, I, yeah, I would, I would order one of these as long as I knew which bourbon I wasn’t supposed to be using or as long as I trusted the bartender and F tissues. Yup. Yeah. It’s definitely a good cocktail for sure. Um, you know, it’s nice light. For bourbon cocktail, easy drinking.

I think, you know, the sweetness from the honey just rounds up those notes. And as long as that honey is sitting there enhancing right, the alcohol doesn’t smack you in the face and it doesn’t, it doesn’t do the burn thing, thinking an old fashioned would deal or, yup. So price-wise the Larcy again? I would, again, it’s a $25 bottle.

So I would assume if you’re going to pay that at a restaurant. Six bucks would probably get the most, I would pay bullet I’d be seven to eight. And then definitely I would, if you’re going to, if someone offers the Woodford reserve, double Oak as a Cattell in a restaurant, tell me $12. Probably at least at least $12, I would think.

riley has her guess

Um, but place the bottle behind which bottle or which urban you think it is, or hold on, that was. Please the model of the bourbon behind the drink. You think each one is? Okay. So it’s important to note that I’ve had larceny and I’ve had bullet and I have not had one producer, so I do have an idea of what each of, one of them tastes like.

So I’m going to get all of these wrong anyway. Um, and you, and you like bullet and you like larceny when it’s made in like a whiskey sour. And that’s honestly why I. I like larceny. That’s why I bought larceny the first time. Yeah. Because I saw that it was not expensive and I saw, and I had had it in a whiskey sour in a bar and it made sense to buy.

Something that you’re just going to wreck right. With extra, like with sour mix and stuff like that. So, or lemons or whatever you use, if you make YOUR OWN SOUR MIX, whatever. Yeah. So I think because larceny is so mild from bourbon, I’m going to say it is the red glass. Okay. Um, I’m going to say, bullet is the orange glass, which we weren’t the biggest fan of, because I, if I remember correctly, I don’t think bullet pairs well with the honey, like the way I remember it tasting by itself.

I don’t think that the honey and what I remember of bourbon or what I remember it would be. Yeah. Matchy-matchy and then I think the Woodford reserve is this last one where the alcohol punches you in the face. Right. And I have a very, very, very superficial reason that I believe this, this one’s darker than all of the others.

And this one started, you know, that that is something that I kind of, wasn’t going to mention because I didn’t know if that would. If you didn’t bring it up, I wasn’t gonna mention it, but not since you brought it up. I would agree with that too, because it is the darker of the three. Um, you know, cause again, it’s the double Oak is pulling more of the wood, the chart and everything out from it.

the results

So it’s going to be a darker. So Mrs. Taylor, you got them all correct. I’m getting better guys. Right. So I’m sorry. I scared you. Right. So it kind of makes sense, right? Like, and this is part of drinking and understanding, uh, the liquor that you’re drinking. This is part of understanding what you’re drinking and the characteristics of the different things and what they pair with, what they don’t.

And this is kind of where we’re doing these. That kind of shows you the evolution of if, if you’re drinking different cocktails, trying different things with it, trying a different spirit, trying a little bit more of this, trying a little bit more of that. Right. And it’s not necessarily how much you pay for the bottle.

It’s what’s inside the bottle. That’s going to determine whether or not you, your cocktail is good. Yes. The quality counts sometimes unless you’re drinking. A cosmic Fleischmann’s is better if you don’t know what we’re talking about, checking this video out about cosmos, but it’s still, you have to match the flavors with, you have to match the flavor of your liquor with the flavors of your mixers, if you’re mixing.

Correct. Um, you know, at the end of the day, too, There’s might be people who enjoy this one way more than the other two. Yeah, because bourbon is such a diverse right. Spirit. It does have, every bourbon has its own unique characteristics. Every bourbon is made to taste. Unique as opposed to other liquors where it’s supposed to taste like tequila or like vodka.

Um, I would put bourbon in the same or whiskeys. I would put whiskeys in the same class as chin, where there is a lot more room for variation. There’s a writer, a wider range of flavor profiles in different types of whiskeys than there are virtually. Any other spirits out there other than Jen? I think Jen has the highest range because of all of the botanicals I can go into, but I think the whiskies are a close second.

Um, hopefully in three years we will know the answer to that question, whether there’s a wider range. Yes. I’m basically saying hopefully in three years, we’ll have a drink a whole lot and have a. More in-depth answers to that. I’m just thinking mathematic mathematically based on ingredients. I know, like you also say it was a joke to say that we’re going to drink a buttload of liquor the next several years.

Absolutely. We’re going to drink a bunch of liquor, but I don’t think it’s going to change my mind. No, I know. Okay. So at the end of the day, they’re all three really good. You know, I would prefer these two over that. In this cocktail, this cocktail bullet makes a great old fashioned. I was from what, from what I understand.

Yeah. I don’t know what a great old fashion is because I haven’t started to like them yet. I’m excited to try this sort of free reserve, double Oak and an old fashioned. Yeah, I would. Uh, should we just pour it into a snifter uh, here we’ll make that a different view. It’s fine. So at the end of the day, This is a really good cocktail.

If you’ve never had it before, it’s super easy to make. Honey syrup, just take four ounces of water, four ounces of honey, have the water heated up, put the honey in there, stirred up, and then it’s dissolved. Then you have three easy ingredients to make this cocktail super easy, not over complicated, um, and use a nice rounded.

Yeah. Uh, Bourbon or whiskey. I mean, you can substitute whiskey Fest if you are not a huge fan of bourbon. Um, but yeah, and all in all larcenies is a great whiskey. Great. It’s great bourbon. You know, if you, if you’re just starting out drinking, um, or even like us, you don’t like to have. A lot of different liquor at home, you know?

Cause I mean, it is expensive to carry a different lot of liquor at home. I mean, having a Dickel as your whiskey, having larceny as your bourbon, those are two great bottles to have as you’re just like, you know what, these are my sippers, these are what I’m just going to have and enjoy on a daily. Yeah.

Because you’ve, you’ve made, uh, an old fashioned with larceny and you didn’t hate it. No, it’s good. It’s fine. I mean, it, it works. It does the job, you know? I mean, yeah. I it’s obviously it’s nice to have more expensive bottle. But it hurts your pocket book. And then when you have to have four women at night, you realize I just drank like $20.

That’s why when we go out and we drink after the third craft beer, I switched to PBR because he can’t taste it at that point. Yeah. Crazy. I’m going to enjoy, we are going to enjoy drinking these, unlike some of the other videos where I didn’t drink anything, we may or may not have left the. Any Martinez on the table.

Oh, we sure as hell did leave them. And we dumped them out. Sorry for people who think there’s alcohol. I ain’t drinking. So anyways, to be fair. Hey, wait, I got to get, thanks again, guys, for tuning in and cheers. .