Well, guess I needed a few more bottles. The BT on the right is a local store pick. $30, instead of the usual $27. Still 90 proof but from a single barrel. Hard to tell from the pic, but that bottle is a shade darker.
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Nice grabs! Let us know what you think of the Wilderness Trail. I've had an owner's pick of it that I quite liked.
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Will do. I’ve seen good things about them, like how they quickly became the 14th largest distillery in one a short time. Juice must be good if you can do that.
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Cracked open the WT last night for a taste. Very good, and should get better hopefully. First sip was kinda hot, but it was my first taste of the day. Gave it a few minutes to open up and my palette adjust. Vanilla, oak, spice. Long finish. The heat in my chest gradually built after a few more sips.
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You definitely have the bug, Bob, be careful out there. :-)

I cracked a new 9 year KC pick.

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Bottled in 2019, this one isn't as tasty as the last couple 9 year picks I've opened. I hear the latest 9 year picks have been excellent and I'm hoping that continues as this is the last of the 9 year KC picks on the bar.
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Question for the hive mind. Do you think bourbon is going to experience an implosion like the cigar boom of the early 2000’s? As I watch more videos and see all of the new brands coming out, there has to be a point where it reaches over saturation. And the prices. Hard to pay what some of these newcomers are asking when you can find the established brands cheaper.
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I think it's possible that the market gets wildly oversaturated with all the craft distilleries, and all the variants/finishes/etc that keep hitting the market. I see stuff now that sits on the shelf forever around here. My favorite was Digits, the Scottie Pippin bourbon. One of the stores here dropped it by over 50% and it still sits untouched.
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I think it's going to stop increasing at the rate it recently has, but I don't see an implosion on the horizon. Small brands will die off, big brands will keep putting out stupid amount of whiskey because they make their money on $20 Evan Williams not $300 Old Fitz decanters, and experimentation will always be around but will slow down. I bet there will always be a class of super premium extra high end to appeal to the scotch collectors but I think the $90-$150 range brands who don't have a core offering under $60 will have a hard time keeping people's attention
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I am starting to see some slowing down in some areas of the market, and some speeding up in other areas. Example, Smoke Wagon was previously considered allocated by Spec's, so it was in the glass case, one-per person per day rule. A few weeks ago, i saw cases of all expressions on the end cap, no limit. Same with Heaven Hill 7 Year. Not sure why those (and a few others) suddenly became widely available. As for the speeding up, I see some newer brands get snapped up and placed on secondary markets at lighting speeds. Case in point: Penelope Rio. It is gone two minutes after the doors open at the stores.

Overall, I agree with Sterns; the boom is going to slow down, but it isn't going to implode.
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Eventually I think we will see the "investors" coming into the market - people that are buying sourced bourbon, putting a label on it and selling it for $80-$90 a bottle, slow down or go away when the margins dry up. In the meantime, there is still a lot out there that is good and reasonably priced that people have moved on from that will end up being there after others go away.
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Lucked into a bottle of the new Hardin's Creek release Clermont today. 17 years and 110 proof, and sourced from barrels at the same location they age Booker's barrels. Two versions from other Beam distillery locations will be released in August and September, but as a Booker's junkie, this is the one I really wanted.

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Damn man, what a pickup, let me know what you think when you give it a try. I'm hoping to get a whiff of any of those three but it seems unlikely
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Ben, I go to tis store maybe 4 times a year. I've lucked into several good bottles there, I really should go there weekly during the summer. Good excuse for a nice little ride on the bike.
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Trying the Wilderness Trail again. Man is this good. Like the sweet mash profile.
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Try the rye, it’s better
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Was on my local Air Force Base today and they had Larceny Barrel Proof. It's the first time I've seen it there so I grabbed a bottle. It's the B523.
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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x2O...w?usp=drivesdk
Picked this up today at the local liquor store
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Interested to hear your thoughts on it. I got a bottle that I’m meh about. Hopefully it opens up.

Nice pickup.
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Nice pickups, James and Clay. :-) :-)

James, I've never tried the Larceny BP but I've heard good things. I've also heard the batches have gotten progressively better.
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I've heard that, too. I had some from 2021 (can't remember the batch). It was decent, but nothing special. So I'm curious to see how they've progressed once I open it up.
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