How Much Did You Pay For Whiskey Today?

I've finally developed a taste for Scotch, as well. Yet I still love a good PBR from time to time.

 

Were you with us at VPAs that one year in....Roanoke, I think...when the kegs were tapped and we all started passing around a bottle of horrible scotch? We went to great lengths to keep the evening going.

 

Ha. No. I've only gone to the VPAs when they've been in Norfolk.

 

I developed my thing for Maker's -- and bourbon in general -- at a Metro Conference tournament in Louisville. The Maker's was flowing from all fountains that weekend. Glorious stuff, even if my dumbass college kid self drank it in the form of bourbon sours more often than not. Still. When I went back, I searched out Maker's and have done so for 20 years as my go-to whisky.

I probably don't have a discerning enough palate to pick out 84 proof from 90, but it's the principle of the thing. The Maker's loyalists would have paid a few bucks more. The casuals would have done what they do anyway, and wait for a sale at the package store.

At first I wondered if they were trying to drive their higher-end drinkers to 46, but that's a different enough bourbon that you wouldn't drink them interchangably.

I think F_B might have something: after a while, they may introduce a premium variant with a higher price tag and higher proof. Some European airport stores and bars are apparently testing Bailey's Gold, which has the same 34 proof as all the other Bailey's products but alleges a higher-quality experience.

Ultimately, I guess they didn't think enough of their drinkers would pay the upcharge, especially if it puts their bottle in a different weight class. Maker's vs. Knob is one thing. Maker's vs. Booker's or Basil Hayden is something else entirely.

 

This makes me wonder if we were at a Metro tournament together and I didn't know it, Meat. Only one I went to was the last one in '94.

 

If you went to the last one, that was 95. I went to the Metro tournament in Louisville in 93 and Biloxi in 94. Most notable for having everyone in town tell me that the casinos only card for 18, only to be denied access to every one for not being 21.

 

I just got back from the liquor store, and although not even going for Maker's, I bought THE last bottle of 90 Maker's the store had. I guess I'm a sap or something. As I said earlier, I'd play the wait and see game. When I walked in and saw one bottle left of the shelf, I snagged it.

 

Previous ad from Maker's:

 

Saw a Makers TV ad last night for possibly the first time ever. That doesn't sound like a company that can't keep the shelves stocked.

 

Didn't discover Maker's till a concert I went to about 12 years ago in Fort Worth where it was kind of a big deal onstage. Good stuff. But I'm a beer guy.

 

Tennessee Whiskey ain't ever watered down.

Maker's Mark -- more Kentucky fail.

 

Skinny girls love the Dickel.