@Ctrexman mea culpa. We all have our bad days. I’ve also been leaning into the bourbon a lot more recently.

Yeah Ward...I thought you were a little hard on the beaver

Update: Perhaps I was too hasty in my first judgement of this bourbon. Maybe I had a bad batch. Or I wasn’t in the mood for bourbon. Either way, I decided to give this another shake and bought another bottle. While it’s not gonna turn any heads, this is a solid, classic bourbon, with some fruity elements and some nice brown sugar notes. Good for weeknight sipping or pandemic day drinking. Just as an aside, in my part of Texas, we only get this and Weller Special Reserve out of all the BT products. Once in a while I’ll spot a Colonel Taylor or Eagle Rare for way over MSRP, but that’s about it. Both this and Weller SR are generally available and always at around $25, so while I wish we got more, I’m grateful for what we get, as they’re both solid, tasty, dependable bourbons.

@WhiskeyLonghorn Sadly we don't have that sort of availability. The better outlets have maybe two or three shelving bays of American whiskey, and I'm sure we never see the more esoteric small-distillery whiskies over here, just the big sellers. It's probably the same for you guys - 95% of Australian whisky never makes it to the US, and unfortunately that includes all the good stuff. As a rule of thumb we pay 2-3 times the US price. Even more annoying almost all bottom and lower-mid shelf US whiskey is sold here at 40% abv. The better expressions are sold at the proper strength, probably because the volume of sale here is low so it's not worth doing a special lower-strength run.

This has risen in price, undeservedly. Here in NJ, I’ve seen it for $40. I’ve found myself liking bourbon, but only the ones that are like Four Roses LE, EC Barrell strength, or the Stagg Jr releases. They seem to add more complexity. Side by side, for me, it’ll be the single malts or blends over rye, and rye over bourbon any day.

@cascode that’s way too much, even at import prices. There’s a lot of better bourbons you can get for that much, though I’m unsure how much of what we have access to in the States makes it to Australia. Some of our bigger liquor stores have two aisles as long as a city block full of different American whiskies.

@Ctrexman I keep seeing this for MSRP all over Austin too. Interesting since some of the other BT products are near impossible to find here like Eagle Rare or Stagg Jr. On another note, I picked up that Belle Meade Sherry Finish on your recommendation. All I can say so far is “Holy fucking shitballs”. That’s how good it is. Thanks for the push!

@WhiskeyLonghorn Great summary. It's a dead average whiskey and as you say, not worth the hype. It's also only any sort of a bargain in the US. Over here, when you can find it, this costs the equivalent of US$45.

Well I must admit I intially though this was amazing......but a few years of single malt and other high quality bourbon puts things in perspective. I like it more than you for sure but agree it is not some halo bottle as portrayed. In NH this was EASY to get available at all state liquor stores

I think I have a two BT reviews on here. My first was tasting head-to-head with similarly priced bourbons and BT fared VERY poorly. Seemed thin and flavorless. I have revisited and found it to be much more enjoyable... which leads me to think my opinion is situationally-dependent. Regardless, I wouldn't seek out a pour, nor complain if I were offered one, but also wouldn't compare to any but the lowest-tier single malts. This is a mass-market bourbon (despite the fact that it's hard to find), not a carefully curated dram. In short: it's decent.

I quite liked this bourbon, a bit like Glenfiddich, cheap but reliable.

In terms of distilleries, macallan dreams of being buffalo trace. That said this isn't exactly a trophy bottle, but certainly not one you can just get anytime you want either. I like it for what it is, cheap, easy to drink, and mixes well. There are some store picks however that really do go next level.