When you’re faced with bad weather you need a good Bourbon strategy. As Snowtorius BIG approaches the East Coast we recommend following Bourbon & Banter’s Bourbon Strategy to ensure that you survive the weekend. Consider this our “minimal” recommendation. The brand and proof of Bourbon is totally up to you. Good luck!
In 1965 this ad from Bellows Bourbon hit the local newsstand. Instead of relying on fancy photography, clever packaging or beautiful women, Bellow’s decided to rely on the pure appeal of their brand name and 134 years of experience. Good idea?
1965 was a few years before my time so I don’t know if Bellows Bourbon was a respectable brand that could legitimately make this type of ad and experience success. Would love to hear from everyone who had personal experience with the brand back in the 960′s.
Today the Bellows Bourbon brand is part of the Beam family of products and is still available in some parts of the country for about $11 for a liter. What a deal!
Whether you fill your glass with Bellows or another bourbon this weekend I hope you have a good one. And to our friends on the East Coast bracing for the winter storm please remember to stock up early and be safe!
Click here to view a previous advertisement we posted back in August 2012 about Bellows Club Bourbon.
Meet Joe Head.
When I first announced last year’s Bourbon & Banter Pilgrimage, I immediately received an email from a woman in Ohio asking me to hold a few spots on the tour. She told me that she owned a bar and that she wanted to surprise her bartender with a ticket on our tour. She went on to tell me that she had converted her bar into a Bourbon Bar several years back and that her bartender, a fellow by the name of Joe, was really into Bourbon and would probably get a kick out of joining the Pilgrimage. Needless to say I held the spots and months later I had the privilege of finally meeting Joe, Diane and her two brothers – Terry and Jerry.
Fast forward several months and I’m honored to call them all my friends. While I’ve yet to visit Diane’s bar – The Century Bar – I’ve heard nothing but amazing stories about it, and how Joe is leading a full on Bourbon renaissance in downtown Dayton. Joe is one of the most knowledgeable Bourbon lovers you will ever meet and he’s always willing to share his knowledge with others.
I’m currently working out the details to make a trek up to visit The Century Bar so I can report on Diane and Joe’s Bourbon evangelism first hand. Until that time, I’d like to share with you a wonderful blog post that Joe brought to my attention. It was written by Michael Klein and posted recently to his blog, Clean & Elegant, after he made a visit to The Century Bar with some friends. I think it does a fantastic job of really capturing the essence of the bar and what Diane & Joe have created in the middle of Dayton, OH. If you find yourself in that part of the country I highly suggest you stop in, have a glass of Bourbon and boost your Bourbon IQ by spending some time with Joe. (Special thanks to Michael Klein for granting us permission to repost his original article.)
Let’s begin with a story…
The other night, I found myself out at a bar on a Tuesday night. Now this is not common for me, as I am not a big drinker and usually workout early in the mornings (6:00 am). However, a particular set of circumstances facilitated the right conditions for this story to occur. Late the previous week, I had undergone PRK eye surgery and was still unable to drive. This, coupled with the fact that I had the entire rest of the week off, made we very much inclined to accept any invitation to get out of the house. So, when my friend Ben invited me to join in on him touching base with an old acquaintance, I agreed for the sake of sanity preservation alone.
So here we are, at a bar on a Tuesday night and I get to know the acquaintance a little better. He works as a district HR manager for Lowes and is new to the area. He tells me about wanting to move into a house soon, about traveling in Europe, how he likes the outdoors, and that he is a fan of Bourbon. The last bit catches my ear, as I had just read of a new Bourbon bar in the area. I also was privy to insider information that Ben also enjoys whiskey quite a bit. I mention that we should stop by and soon we find ourselves en route to the Bourbon Bar.
Century Bar is located in downtown Dayton Ohio and is an experience in itself. Once we entered the front door, we were transformed through time to a day where “bar” meant something entirely different. This was more of a salon, but in a classy sense. It was as if “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” was filmed in the 1940s. The bar was made of old wood, the bottles (and there were well over a hundred), stood like old soldiers…at attention in their rightful place. Behind the bar was a Champaign mirror, which, coupled with the dim lighting, seemed to glow with a soft ambiance.
We took a seat and immediately were greeted by our bartender “Joe”. Joe had the look and feel of the bar, the same juxtapose of the 40s and the west. He was dapperly dressed in a white button up shirt, with rolled up sleeves covered by a black vest. Joe also had black slacks on, but they were contrasted by boots that a miner might wear who made out to seek his fortune during the California Gold Rush. To top it off, Joe had a scraggly long beard that one might expect to see displayed by a strong man or boxer of the 1920’s, who would trade hits in the ring while displaying a pair of pants held up by a rope. A man you may not be surprised to observe taking a cigar break in-between rounds at one of his fights. The only thing that really gave away that Joe was not a prisoner from some time-machine experiment gone wrong is that his forearms were completely covered in modern tattoos.
“This is my thing”, Joe stated. Hinting yet not completely confirming that he was the owner. “I love Bourbon, always have. I love the aggressiveness of it…the bold flavors” Joe stated.
Joe continued to talk to us throughout the night. Though the bar was pretty busy, he would simply excuse himself from time to time to tend to other customers and return shortly.
Soon, we found out he had a story for every bottle behind the bar, “this one is no good, overpriced, over rated” he stated about one Bourbon. “This one? This one has been aged too long, not worth it, the 18 year is better”. “Oh this Bourbon? It’s a small batch made from a family recipe that was just recently acquired by a major distiller”. It was amazing. Not only the passion, but the authority in the way in which Joe spoke was a marvel to observe and inspired you to want to try anything he recommended without pause.
The example above leads me to the purpose of this story. When you visit a venue, you want the employees and staff to resemble , someone who not only is passionate about their job, but who sparks people’s curiosity with his ability to capture your attention. Not only someone who has knowledge about the menu and the place itself but also has the internal drive and love for their area of expertise to stay on top of their game; to stay informed and up to date on current events. Joe knew everything about Bourbon of the past and what the previous batches were like. He had his empirical knowledge of the market down to a science. But, Joe also knew how to articulate what was different about this year’s batch vs. those previous years, and he was also very active in predicting where the future Bourbon batches were headed based upon recent trends.
Trust me, you want a “Joe”…once you have one, you simply wonder why you had any other kind of bartender before.You will wonder why anyone would ever frequented a bar staffed by bartenders who are just pouring drinks as a job. True excellence requires passion, and passion most certainly means that your occupation must be more than a job.
So to conclude the story, we left the bar after about a hour and a half, with both of my friends inspired to research Bourbon and to come frequent the bar more often. We all joked about how we should have been taking notes and Ben stated, “I’ll have to bring my note pad next time”. To be honest, I don’t think he was joking.
Want to know a little more about The Century Bar? Check out their listing on Yelp for review and more information – The Century Bar on Yelp.
You can also become a fan of The Century Bar on Facebook.
Bulleit Bourbon has always been one of my favorites. It’s easy to drink, priced right and has a nice story surrounding the brand and its founder, Tom Bulleit. In fact, I like it so much that it’s one of the Bourbons I usually recommend to folks who are looking to try something beyond the “entry level” Maker’s Mark. The fact that you can’t walk into a bar these days without spying Bulleit’s distinctive frontier bottle is further proof that Bulleit Bourbon is a clear favorite among Bourbon drinkers.
As a long-time fan, I was honored to attend a Bulleit tasting event this past November where I was able to meet Tom Bulleit in person. At that event I was one of the first to see the label for Bulleit 10 and was able to spend some time with Tom after the event learning about the upcoming release of Bulleit 10. Since then, I’ve been eagerly awaiting my chance to taste Bulleit 10 and share my review with all of you.
Two weeks ago I received a Bulleit 10 tasting sample and was finally able to sit down this weekend to do a proper tasting. To make it even more interesting, I decided to do my testing side-by-side with the original Bulleit Bourbon so I could properly compare them. Before we dive into my tasting notes, let’s learn a little bit more about Bulleit 10.
Here’s a bit of information direct from the brand.
Bulleit 10 is the brand’s selected reserve, a delicious bourbon that, at 91.2 proof, is consistently smooth, russet in color, rich with oaky aromas and hints of vanilla and dried fruit with a long smoky finish.
Aged in charred American white oak, a select number of Bulleit Bourbon barrels were set aside to age for ten years to see how the already award-winning bourbon would develop. Bulleit distillers were thrilled to find that the additional years resulted in a special expression of Bulleit bourbon that provides a rich, deep, incredibly smooth sipping experience that maintains the inherent character and high rye content for which the Bulleit brand is best known.
Sounds good, right? Let’s jump right in and see what an extra 4 years in the barrel does for Bulleit Bourbon.
Bourbon Name: Bulleit 10
Proof: 91.2
Age: 10 years
Year: 2013
How I Drank It: Neat, in a Glencairn Whiskey Glass
My Nose Noticed:* Lots of Toasted Oak | Dried Fruit | Spice | Hint of Vanilla
First Sip: Oak | Rye/Spice | Trace of Vanilla
The Burn:** As with regular Bulleit, Bulleit 10 has very little, if any, bite on the tongue. In fact, it’s rather light on the tongue with a pronounced dry oak finish. The burn appeared in the back, lower part of my throat and was very pleasant albeit non-committal. It was gone way too soon and left little behind to remember it by.
Neat, Splash or Rocks: I started drinking this one neat and was nervous about adding water to it. I feared the water would amplify the oak flavor and drown out the hint of vanilla I tasted earlier. I decided to add water anyway and was rewarded with more of the subtle vanilla notes I noticed earlier backed up with some nice spicy notes from the higher than normal rye content of Bulleit’s mash bill.
Share With: Bulleit 10, just like original Bulleit, is a great bourbon for sharing with folks who are relatively new to bourbon. It’s highly approachable, easy to sip neat and provides a good introduction to traditional bourbon flavors like oak, vanilla and spice.
Worth The Price: The MSRP for Bulleit 10 is $44.99 as compared to $24.99 for original Bulleit. I know there’s been a lot of online discussion with the prevailing thought being that Bulleit 10 is asking too much of a price premium based on how similar it is to regular Bulleit. In the St. Louis market, I’ve seen Bulleit 10 listed for $31.99 which eliminates much of the premium price argument. For me, it comes to what tastes better. Try them both and then decide which one you prefer.
Bottle, Bar or Bust: At the end of the day, I prefer regular Bulleit over Bulleit 10. I think Bulleit 10′s extra years in the barrel were not well spent. Deep traditional flavors were sacrificed for increased oak notes and a stronger spice profile. While I enjoy both of those, it has to be in balance with things like caramel, vanilla and honey. Try a glass at your local bar, but make sure to do it along with a glass of regular Bulleit. Then you can decide which one should take up a slot in your home collection.
*I like to let my bourbon sit in the glass for at least 5 minutes before I start to smell it or have a drink. I personally find that it’s better to let some of the alcohol waft off before diving in. If I’m drinking bourbon on the rocks I skip the waiting and dive in both feet first.
**Some of you refer to this as the “finish” but let’s be honest. Don’t we all just want to know if it burns good?
Did everybody survive the Super Bowl blackout without incident? I hope no one ran out of Bourbon as a result of the extra time needed to watch the full game.
Whether your team won or lost yesterday, I’ve got just the thing to brighten your Monday. It’s the February installment of our Bourbon & Banter Desktop Wallpaper Series.
This month’s wallpaper features Maker’s Mark Distillery and their iconic red wooden shutters.
Click on the image below for a larger version and then save to your computer in a convenient location. Then follow your operating system’s instructions for how to use it as your desktop wallpaper. Then your done and on your way to impressing your friends with your new computer artwork.
We hope you enjoy this month’s installment. We’ll have another one ready in March.
You can also purchase a print of this month’s featured photo as part of our Barrel Proof Fine Art Print series.
PS – Please spread the word about our February Bourbon Wallpaper. The more people we get using them the easier it is to spread the Bourbon gospel.
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