Transcription
Today, we are going to find out what the best bottle of bourbon is for under $50. Now, we pulled the Discord, so if you want to be a part of these, make sure you're in the Discord. Should be a link in the description, and this is what they came up with.
Now, I, I might have an issue with one of these bottles being in this, uh, particular blind, and that's this Heaven Hill here. I've been seeing it a lot lately for the mid-50s, $54, $55. So that technically might not qualify, but I did buy this particular bottle for under $50 bucks, so I let it slide. Um, we have these all blinded up, like they're poured into little mini bottles right here. Jill and I have no idea what these are, absolutely none. You've probably not even tried several of these. No, I'll be very, I'm pretty sure probably had. I don't think you've had this Heaven Hill or the Knob Creek. Okay, okay. I don't think you've had either. I've had Eagle Rare. No, I've had Four Roses, I'm pretty sure, and probably Rare Breed. Uh, I don't know. I think I've had maybe, maybe I've had Knob Creek. Well, we're gonna rank them. I don't know. We're gonna rank them and we're gonna see which one of these is the best. And then next week, we're gonna do the best under $75, and that voting should be starting here pretty soon again. Kenny, Discord link should be in the description of the live stream. If it's not, one of the moderators will drop it here in just a second. So, um, all right, so let's go through the bottles that we have in this blind, and we're going to start with Eagle Rare. This guy here, MSRPs for about $30-ish bucks. Uh, very hard to find it at $30-ish dollars, though. I, I've seen them quite often for $50 or less, though. So I, I can get this often times in that $45 to $50 range. So, um, Eagle Rare, and I think that it's gonna be difficult because I think I'll be able to pick that one out. And then once you know what they are, it's like, do you rank one over another? Like, I think I'll know this. I think I'll know the Knob Creek. The rest of these, like you would think The Rare Breed would jump out, but it's been a while since I've had Four Roses in the Heaven Hill. So you think you'll like, actually know which one where? And which one? I think I'll be able to pick those out pretty easy. I will not know any of this, and I would think I'd pick the proof with The Rare Breed, but I haven't drank anything today, so who knows how that proof hits me. So are all these the same proof? No. Uh, Eagle Rare is going to be 90 proof. Um, yeah, $45. This is Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond. Again, these are used to be $40-something dollars, and now I've seen them just over $50. Bottled-in-Bond, so that's going to be 100 proof. And then this is Rare Breed. This is the highest proof one. What is this? 114 proof? Because I am the proof queen, I forget. I can't read that. Can you read that with your good eyes here? All four of them. All four of them. Whoa. Exactly. Exactly. Working and this light. 116. 116 proof. Okay, so this Rare Breed is 116 proof. We've got this Knob Creek nine. Now, we went with the low proof version. I think the other one's over $50. This one also is 100 proof. And then good old Four Roses Single Barrel, which is a fantastic bottle, and it clocks in at another proof that I can't read here because my eyes are bad. Bottom left corner, that says 750 milliliters and 50 alcohol. Got 100 proof. 50 alcohol. Oh, well, I don't know that. There you go. Got your magnifiers on. Yeah, but they, it didn't say 100 proof. So we do have 300 proofers, 116, and 90. So theoretically, the 116 should stand out, but we'll see. Like, I don't really know. Oh, what do you think these are so far? Pleasant. That's Eagle Rare, just by smelling it. Sorry. Oh, you're irritating. I would guess that's probably the Heaven Hill. I'm not sure about that one. Oh, okay. Whoo. Okay. Oh, that one's my nose. My sniffer's a little off here, Jill. I thought I'd be able to pick up that Knob Creek right off the bat, but on the nose, not so much. Hmm. That's gonna be it. This is going to be fun. So I'm just gonna say, just like out of the box, B smells the best to me. That Eagle Rare is really good. B smells the best to me. Yeah, I would be shocked if that's not the Eagle Rare, but I'm not picking up that. Like I can oftentimes get a little nuttiness, but I'm not picking it up. B smells fruity. It's very fruity. It is a Rare Breed on the nose. So he has a little weirdness. Not bad, but I prefer A and B. I think that's the Knob Creek there. So I'm thinking, I'm thinking Knob Creek. So if I had to guess, just off the nose, that is Rare Breed. That is Eagle Rare. That is Knob Creek. And these two kind of similar, but I'm gonna go Heaven, the Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond, and the, um, Four Roses. That would be my guess. I'm probably completely wrong. You're not showing out if you're wrong. He's gonna shut up pretty good. That's what smells really good. And these three are just okay. I have no clue what they go with. I can't say that they're Knob Creek or Heaven Hill or all that wonderfulness, but I can say A and B smell really good, and C through D, C, D, and E are, yeah, not as good. They're good, but not as good. Yeah, they're good. They're not as good. Will Ratner says Knob Creek always smells like a rusty dog nose mixed with elderberry molar syrup. Get up. Rusty. If I get into it, the more confident I am that that is the Knob Creek, and that this is the Eagle Rare. And the Knob Creek are the only ones I'm extremely confident in. I do think that's The Rare Breed, but then these two, I have no clue. These two, I'm gonna stick to Four Roses and Heaven Hill, but I'm not certain on those. So, oh yeah, that's a Rare Breed. Got a really good aftertaste. It's very, not proof heavy. Whatever this one is. Okay, it's low proof, but it's got a really good. So you think that one's low proof? Yes. Okay. What do you think the proof is on? If you had to guess? If I had to guess, 90. Fair enough. 90-ish, somewhere around the 90. Form is low. What I see your face. Am I wrong? I know you're probably absolutely right. I don't think it's high proof. I don't. Um, but I haven't tried the rest of them, so it may be the highest of all of them, honestly. But so far, what do you think of that one? Okay. You haven't moved on. Sorry. I like to eat, but it was just because it, it's very drinkable. Way less proof than a really. Yeah, yeah. I thought you said that was Andy Brew for 90 proof. This is the list. It smells delicious, but this is way less proof. So you're saying this is not 90 proof? Maybe not. It's, this is, this is less than that. Appreciate it. It's still good, but it's less. It's not as high proof as that. Yeah, because that one's the highest proof we have on this table. I mean, it's my guess. I could be wrong. I could be completely and totally wrong. Probably done to me. You're into proof. That does not the proof queen. I, I authorize Will today to start designing the Glencairn. We may go ahead and throw a t-shirt together too for the proof queen. You created a monster. I like. I hate. This is where I make a joke about you already being a monster when we met. I know. It was just, it was sitting there. It was sitting there, and I did not swing. But that has like, it's like water now. It's like water. Yeah, it's that fragrance. You've been sipping on that Koi Hill. Mm-hmm. Use the Koi Hill for the proof queen. Proof. And that will affect this blind. Once you get used to proof, everything else is a little simpler. And it's to our disadvantage. Like, we don't, we don't know what order. But it's to our disadvantage that we probably started with the really high proof one. And on the nose, I said I thought this was Eagle Rare. I thought this was, um, The Rare Breed, and I thought this one was the Knob Creek. And then this, I'm a little iffy. I forget which order I put those in. I want to say Heaven Hill and Four Roses. Just don't smell. Based on taste, I'm sticking to my predictions for these two so far. C is higher than B. Well, if B is Eagle Rare, which I think it is, it's the lowest proof one, but I don't know. You know, don't go based on. Don't be swayed by my prediction so far. Okay. That smells like it has a little more proof to it. It does. It's been a long, long time since I've drank Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond. That's got a dry oakiness. Yeah. So it's been a while since I've had that. Like, I, I haven't sipped this bottle in quite some time, maybe a sample on a stream or something, but I don't remember it being that dry. But I'm gonna stick to my prediction that that's the Heaven Hill. Okay. This is where it starts getting kind of interesting here. I hold to all of my predictions on the sniffer. I think the sniffer was right. I'm thinking this is Rare Breed. This is Eagle Rare. This is Heaven Hill. This is Four Roses. This is Knob Creek. Now we gotta sort them. Now we gotta. We're gonna go back through. We're gonna drink them back through this way, and then we'll sort them out. The last one I really like. The last one. None of these are bad whiskeys. I'm, I will say big money, but not bad. But just like, just you want more birds. I feel like you need more Kentucky hug on that one. I feel like in B, that I've put a couple ice cubes in it already, and I have it, but he is very interesting. Proof Queen. What? Okay. All right. So I'm gonna start ranking them as I go back through. Maybe this is getting difficult though, because these are, these are both nice whiskeys. Really difficult to choose between them because I like them both, and they're so different. Um, and again, I think I'm, I think I'm looking at Knob Creek and, and, um, Four Roses is what I think I'm looking at here. And I'm, for Rose, this guy, I'm that guy. I'm the one that talks about how much I like Four Roses. Now, I'm usually going for single barrel, barrel strength when I'm drinking, but am I going to put Knob Creek above it? Because I'm not the Knob Creek guy, but that Knob Creek, again, speculating as to what it is, could not be, but I, I think I might like that Knob Creek tonight, just a hair better. Like there's just more going on. Now, uh, this is a fresh bottle crack right here. If it is the Knob Creek, that the Knob Creek is a fresh bottle, correct? The Four Roses has been open for a little while, although it's still fairly full. That one's really nice as well. Like, this is a good whiskey, but it is my least favorite thus far. Um, what I think is the Heaven Hill. It's a really, none of these are bad. There's nothing I've had here that I wouldn't say was worthy of this blind. So I'm not, I'm not hating on that at all. And it's probably battling out here with the Four Roses. Um, but I know this bottle's been open for quite some time, so that, this bottle might be a year or two old, so that definitely could be playing in against it. In that maybe it's, if, if that is what that's what's in this glass, right? I'm just again, speculating. What do you think? You struggling? I am, because B, other than B seeming to be the least proof of the bunch, still gotta get some pretty good taste. Like it's really good. That's Eagle Rare. But give me 101 proof. But it's kinda, I don't know, it's just kind of bland compared to the proof. It's not. No, the taste is good. It's just like, I watered it down. Good. Yeah, a little bland, a little plain, a little, little simple. Yeah. For me, with B, like I, I'm 100% confident that if this is, if this is not Eagle Rare, I'm just gonna quit. I'm just gonna quit doing reviews. I'm gonna shut the stream down. Um, I'm just gonna crawl under a bridge somewhere and and rot if that's not Eagle Rare. Do all that. Boo. That's how confident I am. But let's be, now, Mimi could have just mislabeled, and then that'd be hilarious. The funniest thing ever. But that's Eagle Rare. Um, that I like the proof on this. There's a lot more fun things going on on this Knob Creek, but I'm just not sure. The Eagle Rare is such a good sipping whiskey. It's just at a disadvantage against all the proof. If you came down here and had one pour, just one pour, pick one bottle, poured it, I think this one would be better than the Knob Creek if that was the only thing you would have. And I think it's at a disadvantage because we started with A, and A is the high proofer of the bunch, it seems. Um, so I'm having a hard time ranking. I, I wish I should just not guess, right? Because I feel like I just set myself up for like, all sorts of mental games. The thing is, I know none of these. Like, I could tell you none of these are blah, blah, blah, or blah, blah, blah. Have no clue what it. No, none of it. But I know what I like. Well, what do you like? Do you? I like E and I like A. Like them all. They're all good. They're not. There's none of them that I would just be like, nah, never, never want to try that again. But E is exceptional. A is exceptional. Um, and that's, I'm gonna go back through them and just make sure I'm right. But go through them as much as far. E and A are my. They're something different about those two than the rest of them. Okay. But there's none of them bad, especially for under $50 bucks. Yeah, they're all. Look, I have seen Bruiser's, um, receipts. You call me Bruiser now? Yeah, I've seen Bruiser's receipts. I've seen Thomas's receipts, um, under $50 bucks. I'm, I'm a fan of. Okay. Yeah. Oh, for these? Yeah, yeah. I'm a fan of under $50 bucks because I've seen the receipts. And, um, the thing is, is that most of those receipts, I'm buying bottles for under a hundred. I'm just buying seven of them. Well, like, you could get this whole lineup for like $350 bucks, tax, tag, and title, just about anywhere. $250 bucks if you're in a state that doesn't mark them all up stupidly. You might be under $200 right there. Because I'm not sure this is my. Yeah, yeah. I'm just, I'm looking. I'm all the minutes you would like, man, all the men that you would like. I think I'm done because these are just splitting hairs, and I'm just, I did the best I could. People. Okay, so you think you get the best I could. They're all pretty darn good. So I'm gonna try to remember. Um, this is, this, I've got a first. Jill's got E. Um, I've got E second, and you've got A. Oh, look at us. I think that is Rare Breed. I think that is Knob Creek. I'm pretty confident that B, which I've got third, and you've got fourth, is Eagle Rare. This one I was a little iffy on, but I think if I remember correctly, that is Four Roses, and that is the Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond. But they're all really good. Yeah. This one, this one really stands out. It's probably not fair. The Rare Breed stands out, not only because it's delicious, no, but also because it's got a lot of proof. Easton ends out. E and A are very similar, but E stands out to me. Like, that one's just kind of dusty. Are you standing? Yeah. If that's Rare Breed, I'm gonna be upset about it because that's got a little proof to it. I'm gonna be upset. If that's a Rare Breed, I'm gonna be upset. That's the only one I'm like, he has a little bit about sure that the rest of them don't have. Well, okay. He has a little bit of burn that the rest of them don't have. All right, so hand me the rabbit hole bag over there. Both of us. Both of us put C last. If that's Rare Breed, that's gonna be shocking. A, B, they better not be last. I'm with you, Devin. It better not be last. C, Heaven Hill. Heaven Hill. I'm one for one, baby. One for one. Heaven Hill right there in C. I said D was Four Roses. What do you think it is? I don't know. It's pretty good. I don't know. Four Roses. Oh, look at you. Four Roses. You stink. Now I have B third. That's Eagle Rare. You've got it next to last. You're gonna get a lot of hate in the comments. I mean, no, I just have it there. Similar. Don't hate me. There's a lot of hate in the comments. I just said all these are darn good. That's all I said. How right do you think I am? What do you think the odds are that I picked up? Pretty darn right. I'm sure. Gosh, Mr. Koznarski with the $1.99 Super Chat. And now we're down to E and A. Thank you, Dean. No hate for Jill ever. Nobody, nobody ever hates Jill. Uh, E is the one that I said was the Knob Creek. I don't know. That's what you've got as your favorite. But E is good. E is the Knob Creek. It is good. And it means A is the Wild Turkey Rare Breed. And so I picked every one of them off the nose. I was right on every single one of these on the nose. And I get a lot of hate in the comments. I feel good. I should feel like fireworks, fireworks, fireworks, fireworks over you. Sparkles, sparkles. Now. [Laughter] You can disagree with Jill, but don't booge. But honestly, like the E is the Knob Creek's pretty easy for me to pick out. Matthew just handed it to me randomly. I'm not sure I would say that's a Knob Creek, but like, in a context of five Bourbons, that one is distinctive. The Rare Breed is also distinct, but I drink a lot of Rare Breed, so I, I recognize that flavor profile and it stands out. That's the Knob Creek. That's the square bottle down there. B is Eagle Rare. Like, I honestly, if you just handed me a bottle randomly, I, there's a good chance I would be able to pick that one up for sure. Um, the, the real wild card was the Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond because I just don't drink a lot, but that one's just kind of dusty and muted, and I'm afraid it might have just, it might have been oxidized a little bit, like it's, it may just be a little oxidized. We may have put it at a disadvantage because it tastes like it's a little oxidized. And that again, is just a kind of that plain middle. Good Four Roses. Out of all of these, this one, this one is the clear winner. Click to you. Clear winner. Clear winner. Devin gave us the $20 Super Chat, but he had to hold off till he knew that Rare Breed won. But Rembrandt only won half. It won for me. Jill picked the Knob Creek. [Music]