I was a taster at the Bourbon's Bistro today, along with julian and Preston Van Winkle, John and Jason, the owners of the Bistro, Susan Riegler and Gordon, a owner of Olde Towne Liquors here in Louisville. We blind tasted and rated 25 bourbons today and will do 19 Other American Whiskeys and Canadians on Thursday. The tastings were of whiskeys submited byb the distilleries for different categories. Today we did just bourbons and there were 10 with no age statement, 5 7 years old or younger and 10 8 years old and older. We were a nuetral panel with Juilian and Preston not submitting any whiskey because of shortages of whiskey for their brands. They decided they did not need the extra publicity.
There were several suprises today. The best whiskey I and several others rated today was actually Jim Beam Black. This whiskey was very good - actually better than the bottle behind the bar at the bistro, but it too was better than I expected, even though I always thought Jim Beam Black was the best Beam product other than Old Grand Dad. The next highest one I rated turned out to be Russell's Reserve.
On Thursday we will be tasting 11 Canadian and 8 American whiskeys other than bourbon. It looks to be an interesting day as well. I will keep you informed.