Bourbon: America's Native Spirit!

MuchoReverbo · October 22

I wanted to start a thread on a subject that's near and dear to me. Good old American bourbon!

It's definitely my drink of choice. How about you guys? Are you bourbon drinkers?

I'm going to pour me one of these tonight and do a little sippin'.

Are there any other bourbon drinkers here?

muncybob · October 23

Developed a taste for Bourbon about 8 years ago. Knob Creek 9, Willett and Buffalo Trace(when you can get it) are among my favorites. I regret not liking bourbon while my Dad was alive as he thought Windsor was good stuff.

Currently planning a trip to Kentucky to visit some distilleries next spring.

MuchoReverbo · October 23

Oh I like a lot of them. Too many to list plus there are a ton more I've never tried. I'd love to go to a "Bourbon Trail" tour in Kentucky one of these days. A lot of my friends have gone to them.

If you noticed, that bottle of Woodford Reserve in my picture was a store pick from Whiskey Business in Covington, TN. Since you like Knob Creek here's another store pick I bought the same day from Whiskey Business.

Delicious!

billbillw · October 23

I like it, but it usually isn't consumed as much as scotch for me. I tend to go for the lower price picks since I don't really enjoy the barrel proof and the store picks are just insanely priced around here. I'm a on-the-rocks partaker.

muncybob · October 23

I normally don't like a bourbon that has anything added for flavor, but the Knob Creek Maple surprised me.

MuchoReverbo · October 23

Oh I'll take bourbon over Scotch any day. Bourbon prices have dropped significantly over the past year as demand has dropped and there is now a glut on the market. Allocated selections and store pics are now not only more affordable, they are more readily available where before top shelf bourbons would fetch a lot more than the MSRP on the secondary market.

It looks to be a buyer's market for bourbon for at least another year or two.

Time to stock up.

tratliff · October 23

Yes the market in the DFW area is changing. I picked up a number of bottles today. All these were at very reasonable prices.

3 - 750ml Weller Antique $66 each
1 - 750ml Eagle Rare $52
1 - 750ml EH Taylor Single Batch $47
1 - 1.75l Buffalo Trace $47

billbillw · October 23

Eagle Rare was a $35-$40 bottle before the bourbon craze of the last 3 years. Prices are still elevated.

CottageChz · October 23

I haven’t seen a difference in my local options. I also had heard that prices would come down a little and rarer bourbons would be easier to find due to drop in demand and overproduction the past few years. Not seeing it.

MuchoReverbo · October 23

I went and picked up three of these awesome picks......

This one of my favorites. It's liquid gold! An allocated single barrel that the store has to purchase an entire barrel in order to sell. It varies in proof from about 120 - 135. Of course my favorite store "Whiskey Business" got the 135 proof.

I'm drinking one right now. Tomorrow I think I'll go buy at least three more bottles while they still have them.

If you ever see this, grab it. You will not be disappointed!

muncybob · October 24

Have not seen price drops in this area either. I also do like a good lightly peated single malt scotch.

MuchoReverbo · October 24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xc4QL_WMA8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJxwMal1YE0&t=32s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8otvjefHI8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFkbq7yjjBk&t=15s

billbillw · October 24

So you believe YouTube hype over real store experience from many of us?

MuchoReverbo · October 24

Well I'm a bourbon enthusiast who travels the nation and is always looking out so I know what the reality is. It's not a conspiracy theory.

You may not notice it if you only buy lower-tier bourbon. A bottle of regular 80 proof Jim Beam or Evan Williams haven't changed a whole lot. They were already cheap and readily-available but as you go up in quality (and price), selections that used to be basically unobtainable to normal folks like store picks and allocated bourbons that were price-inflated by the secondary market are now a lot more accessible.

Take the last picture I just showed for instance. Old Forester single barrel / barrel strength. It used to be pretty-hard to find and if you did there were two things about it. One was it cost over $100 per bottle. The other was you were usually limited to one or two bottles if the store even displayed it to the general public. Usually it was reserved for their top customers.

There are a lot of others too. I'm not saying anything here that all bourbon afficianados don't already know. The bourbon market has softened. Now is definitely a good time to stock up on bourbon if you ever wanted to buy some.

I'm liking it!

CottageChz · October 24

I don’t buy lower tier like Jim Beam/Jack Daniel’s, but I also don’t buy secondary market, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

MuchoReverbo · October 24

Here's a great bourbon with a low price that hasn't changed a lot. It has always been one of the best values in bourbon. You can never go wrong with this stuff. They could charge twice as much for it and it would still be worth it. I paid less then $50 for this 1.75 Liter bottle. A regular 750 ML bottle is like $25 or less.

While you might not notice a price decrease in the lower shelf bourbons, none have gone up in price and most of the rest have seen a dramatic decrease in price and increase in availability.

MuchoReverbo · October 24

CottageChz wrote: »

I don’t buy lower tier like Jim Beam/Jack Daniel’s, but I also don’t buy secondary market, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I try not to buy from the secondary market but sometimes you have to in order to get some of the more limited top-shelf bourbons. They are still making a killing on some items but overall the prices have dropped some in 2026. You'll still pay a lot more than the MSRP for stuff like Pappy Van Winkle and Wild Turkey Gold Foil.

MuchoReverbo · October 24

billbillw wrote: »

So you believe YouTube hype over real store experience from many of us?

Well let me tell you something there Bill.....

I will never believe YouTube hype over your own personal experience old pard. I know you don't talk BS.

I guess I'm speaking from my own experience. I do buy a lot of bourbon. Spent $400 today and walked out with some pretty-good stuff! I'm drinking some right now.

I recently moved to Tennessee and love it down here. Liquor prices are better than Illinois where I came from. My car insurance dropped in half too. Sold my house and got a whole lot more house for the money down here. Property taxes are a lot less too but I live in the country now versus suburbia.

Cannabis is illegal down here where it was legal in Illinois but heck, you can't have everything right? lol

muncybob · October 25

Agree that it depends on where you live. Pennsylvania will likely be the last state to see any meaningful drop in bourbon prices and top shelf opportunities. With that said, I've tasted a few of the top shelf offerings in my time and very few are worth the $$ IMHO.

Quit smoking everything 10+ years ago and must say the state of mind that a good beer or bourbon gives me is so much more enjoyable than choking on some weed.

MuchoReverbo · October 25

I grew up in PA as a kid and remember when they had the "State Stores" for liquor. On one hand it kinda sucked because the state controlled everything and the prices were a little higher than other states but on the other hand they always had a pretty-nice selection of booze.

The same goes for PA "Beer Distributors". You couldn't buy beer in grocery stores but the Beer Distributors had an awesome selection of beers including imports. Kegs too.

muncybob · October 25

We still have both State Stores and distributors but grocery stores now also sell beer & wine. Wegmans in particular has a decent beer & wine selection, The problem with the State Stores is not only the price but "the good stuff" sells out quickly. Our local stores get delivery on Thursdays so I try to time it for mid day on any given Thrs.

CottageChz · October 25

Yep the state stores are my problem as well. No secondary market here even if I wanted.

MuchoReverbo · October 25

When I lived in PA in the 70s we had a secondary market. It was called Maryland. lol

The drinking age in PA was 21 but the drinking age in Maryland was 18 at the time. Eventually Maryland raised theirs to 21 too but all of us who were born in the grey area before the law changed were "grandfathered" and were still able to buy liquor in Maryland at age 18.

It was awesome. I could buy alcohol but some of my friends who were born like a month later than me had to wait three years before they were legal. I lived about 40 minutes away from the MD border and used to drive there about every weekend to get beer and liquor.

I can still remember the place we use to go to the most. It was right across the border and was called "Mountain Liquors" in Emmitsburg, MD.

I understand why they raised the drinking age to 21 nationwide but still have a hard time rationalizing how you can send a young person to fight & die in a war for their country but they can't buy a beer. It sure seems to me if you are old enough to do one, you should old enough to do the other.

MuchoReverbo · October 27

I had some of this store pick over the weekend. Pretty-tasty stuff....

Bourbon: America's Native Spirit!

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