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Originally Posted by Slow Triathlete
Agreed. Great stuff OHMatt
I discovered Black Maple Hill a few years ago in NJ of all places. I lucked into three bottles of it last year ($55 each) and I have about 1/3 of my last bottle left. With the price increase on these I don't think that I'm willing to pay a high price for a bourbon that they do not even put the age on the label. With that said, it is darn good so it might depend on the price that I see it at next. However, I have heard that because of the demand this might be a once-a-year release from now on and I'm not into jockeying for stuff like that.
I was up in Tarrytown, NY last week for work and the liquor store across the street from my hotel had a bottle of Pappy for the low, low price of $1000. I asked the guy how long they have had it and he said a long time. He said that everyone asks the price and then moves on. It's good but I can buy A LOT of good bourbon for $1000.
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Most of what is known as "Bourbon" and what made Prohibition news was rye mash bills. Wheated mash bills were very few and in between, in general, although sales of Van Winkle for decades suffered due to that. SO, in order to make ends meet they had to sell barrels to others. This is where Black Maple Hill story comes in.
Black Maple Hill, or at least what it used to be, is no more. Sadly. Name and bottling rights were bought and moved to OR distillery, their new bottling, with the black type and label, is just not what the old one used to be and not worth the effort. New mash bill, new everything, and way below par.
Original one, as I dug into the story and rather very few details, seems the 15-17 year Van Winkle barrels that could not be sold in the days past and before the hoopla with Van Winkle started after a TV show a few years ago. Those barrels, previously scooped up by the guy in San Mateo and bottled as Black Maple, basically just a registered label in CA, are no longer available, as one can imagine with Van Winkle selling every bottle they have now. Oh well... Best Bourbon on the market, by far. Have only 9 bottles left after sharing some with my cousin. Cases of "old" Black Maple were sitting in SF Bay Area at $34 per bottle just a bit over a year ago, wish I just bought them all. Hindsight and all that... Although asked the shops to let me ASAP if they somehow see any old bottle appear.
If you see the new black font Black Maple bottles, and eventually you will as they ramp up production, stay away and save your money. Its not the same stuff.
Stocking up on Black Maple "siblings" now, seems many caught on and are now buying all they can, in Las Vegas there are maybe 2-3 bottles sitting on a shelf at any one time, seems new owners will not be producing them going forward with the new distillery now up and running. Shame, it was a good run, I'll just make sure to stock up on these 2 before they also "expire" like Black Maple Hill did. Total Wine in NY area ran out months ago and have no idea when new stock shows up, if ever.
As daily drinkers, though, Four Roses should not be discounted, even their very affordable Small Batch, which I prefer over Single barrel. They have 2 mash bills, and where Single Barrel has these two with 2 yeasts each blend (for "4 complexity levels"), Single Batch, has same 2 mash bills over 5 yeasts each for more than double the complexity. And its cheaper, to boot, at $25 per its probably the best QPR out there in Bourbon. Which reminds me as I am looking at empty bottles...