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Funny thing is, the day you picked yours up at Union, I walked in after you about 2 hrs later when Harry was working. Harry used to own a diner in my home town (as well as Belle Luna) and I recognized him as soon as he said Hi to me. Asked him if he used to own the diner and off we went down memory lane. Turns out, my shift at the FD (prior to me working here) were the ones who saved his life when he had a STEMI when he lived in my hometown. Long story short, he asked what I was looking for and the Russels 15 was top of my list and he kinda looked down for a sec and said, I think we just sold our last bottle earlier. 🥺 Then I saw your post as soon as I got back into my truck and I knew it was you! 😆 But at least we have a similar experience in trying to find this darn bottle (without paying 2nd for it). Ill find one one of these days. Cheers! See you in the chat group weather man!
George T Stagg is mine, at least at a reasonable price. I could have bought one for $1000 if I really wanted to. I was finally able to get a RR15...for $400. But it's so good I don't regret it.
Another great video! Perseverance and relationships for the win! Some of those mid-tier allocations seem to be the hardest to find. I am talking about Blanton's SFTB, ETL, and Rock Hill Farms. Also, for such a large distribution, RR 15 was almost invisible here. Coy Hill was scarce, but priced absurdly so it was easy to ignore missing those.
I feel the pain on the Russell’s 15. My brother in law missed one by 1 person at a drop. Then, I successfully checked out and ordered one for both online drops. Card was charged and received an order number. Just for reservebar to email me 3-5 days later that unfortunately my order was mistakenly processed BOTH times lol. Ultimately I was lucky to have a connection who got multiple backups through VA ABC drops and got one to me for cost. I pick it up at thanksgiving can’t wait
The release in Ohio my store had 18 bottles. There were only ten people at open. My wife and I each got one. I texted several friends and they all said they didn’t want to spend that much. It’s fantastic
Found a Double Eagle Rare. Saw the price. Laughed. Laughed some more. And said, "Yeah, no, I'm good." The distillery should've done better, shame on them. Glad you got one in the end, though.
Haha yeah… the double eagle is $$$$$$$ lol I have seen one guy buy it before. And thank you! I agree, it was a sh!t show at the distillery that day. But I am so pumped to grab one. Cheers!
Welcome to the 513! Knew i recognized you from somewhere 😂 I've been enjoying and collecting whiskeys for a while now, well before the boom. I hate what it's become. Reselling in the parking lot, spending time in line for WSR, seeing grown adults argue and fight over whiskeys, leaving lawn chairs as their place in line...smh
Fantastic story. Glad you were successful. I tried it at the Wild Turkey distillery and it's the best whiskey I've ever had. I'm hopeful of finding it myself.
The bottle I've struck out on the most was Charteuse Green. It's not whiskey but I've been checking the specialty aisle all year waiting for more to ship. Finally landed 2 today and at a store I NEVER would have expected to receive Charteuse. The bourbon/whiskey I've been chasing all year was Bombergers 2024 and Booker's the Reserves. Finally landed Bombergers - due to having friends in Louisville who find it every couple weeks. The Reserve just doesn't exist if you ask me. I've seen 2 on shelfs and one was marked up to 400 and the other was being held for a raffle. I tried to talk the manager into selling it anyway if I buy some other stuff and because I'm a good customer. They didn't bite. It was their last bottle (of two) and they already promised it to the raffle. I'm guessing my best bet is to go to Kentucky during Christmas (and I 100% might do that) and New Year... and I'm off for those two weeks....
I feel your pain with the website drops they had. It was just a waste of a couple hours. I got to try it at Evergreen Liquors in Bardstown during KBF, so I at least got to try it. It is a great pour. Glad you finally got it! Cheers!
Congrats on grabbing not one but two bottles! A buddy of mine is 0-5 with getting a bottle of Russel’s 15. As for me, honestly I wouldn’t know what bottle I am trying to hunt down for the season.
When I hear you've been Thunderstruck my brain just goes to AC/DC Live in Donnington Concert from the 80s. I got one of these in a raffle at retail. If not I would have never seen this one.
I’d love to find this bottle. I was at Wild Turkey a couple weeks back and I opted to try the Rickhouse Camp Nelson B on the bartenders recommendation over the RR15, and I did love the pour. Unfortunately they did not have any bottles of either available for purchase.
Glad you got to try it! Interested in that recommendation. Will have to seek out a pour of the CNB! Cheers Stymie! Appreciate you always watching and commenting! 🥃👊🏽
Don’t blame you there… that’s ridiculous. I mean, if you can afford it and have the money then I won’t tell you what to so with it, but I would hold out to find it closer to retail!
A store by me has had the Ben Holladay SRW Rickhouse proof lately. If it is something you really want, I could get one and send it to you. Email me if you can’t find it! Brandon@whiskeywx.com
i got SUPER lucky in virginia, and picked up a RR15 on the last announced drop they did at MSRP. actually sent my wife in to get a second, but that was for a friend of mine who's hooked me up quite a bit with a few bottles as well as alot of samples of hard to find bottles. so for about 12 hours, i had 2 lol. It's probably my favorite bourbon on my shelf (I need to blind it against RR13, Stagg JR, and a 10yr willett purple top i have to know for sure), but man it's good. i'm still hunting for a backup, i have found some, but nobody wants to come below 450 for one where i'm at. i'd honestly pay 350 for a backup if i could find it.
Nice!!! Way to be an awesome friend too. Love that. Certainly love helping a friend out. I owe My guy Jason a bottle now haha. Best of luck on the rest of your hunt! Cheers 🥃👊🏽
@@whiskey_weather i'll always help out friends. as much as i'd like to have had that as a backup, i'll find another, and if he or i go out of town we will send a short list of bottles to keep an eye out for. so i'm good with it. and he was happy too.
Congrats on scoring a bottle and nice review! Newberry's is a nice bar, but if you're out near Union Kroger, you need to stop into Union 42 Bourbon and Brew and meet Larry. Great bartender, super knowledgeable on bourbon, and absolutely best per pour pricing anywhere in Greater Cincinnati!
Missed the RR15 by 2 people at the Ohio Saturday drop. Got the Master’s Keep Triumph. The one I’ve been searching for for over a year now is Rock Hill Farms
I would say RR15 is as rare, if not more rare, than Pappy 10-15. There are a TON of those bottles shipped each year, it's just the distribution is very very wide and most go out the back door or to charities. Apparently around 90k pappy were released this year and I heard RR15 between 60-80k. The Pappy number is likely very low actually, because I've seen far more released this year than 2023 and there were around 86k last year. Anyway, RR15 has an incredible nose, but it's a very debatable buy IMO. It's over oaked, like most KY whiskey that is 10+. It's actually extremely over oaked similar to EC18, just more proof. What everyone is getting fooled by the is nose. The aromatics are incredible but they aren't on the palate as much as you'd like. Again, totally a great pour. Top 10 of the year without a doubt... but not unique, and not better than RR13 batch 2 when you stop giving too much credit to the factors that actually don't matter. Color of whiskey DOES NOT MATTER (you don't drink color). Smell of whiskey only sorta matters. It's something you can evaluate and impacts flavor but you DRINK whiskey. The criteria that matters most is flavor. Unfortunately, RR15 is deep and oaky but lacks enough fruit flavors and depth. It has a HINT of cherry but it's pretty diluted when you actually start pairing it up against a good aged MGP or even RR13 in a true blind - removing color and focusing on flavor without knowledge of the bottles. It's massively overhyped and I know it's not just my bottle - I've sampled 4. Again, it's a top 10 this year, but I'm not sure it's even a top 5. It drops out of top 10 when you actually have a wider sampling of high quality craft. I've had 4 whiskies from craft distilleries that are better this year - they weren't cheap bottles though. These were 10 year anniversary drops and whiskey as old as 36 years from craft distilleries. These were special bottles but the were released this year. The best whiskey I drank this year was a 22 year old 100% rye that was limited to about 130 bottles. That was magical juice. It was so hyper limited that no blogger will be considering it in their top 10... other than me.
I don't think any bourbon is worth $250 but the Russels 15 is really good. I just paid for a pour of it because I'm never going to get a bottle of it. Yet I say all this when I paid $300 for a Rock Hill but I never see it available anywhere and they wanted 400 for it and it's my favorite bourbon of the allocated stuff
I never even seen a ECBP. Any release. I see Stagg, EH Taylor (all releases), Elmer T Lee, all the Penelope releases, Blanton's, KC18, Booker's, OF Birthday, Weller (all releases), but never once in the last 2-1/2 years have I seen an ECBP.
Not bourbon, but Springbank 18 is impossible to find. Even the SB 15 is tough but I have found a couple of those. Btw I did find 2 bottles of Russell’s 15 out in the wild. One for msrp $250, and the other was about $350.
@ yes i got both! One of them - to your point- I asked for it and it was the first time I had ever asked my guy for anything (I’ve been shopping there since 2019). I think he was surprised tbh. He knows i am a Scotch guy and the demand for allocated bourbon is so much higher so i don’t bother them with weekly or even daily requests for bourbons (he often laments about customers daily inquiries). But i figured that this Russell’s was worth a shot and i had accumulated a ton of goodwill. Now i have to build up my bourbon palate before i crack it open so as to fully enjoy it. So i have been enjoying your channel et al to help navigate and learn more about Bourbon, but I enjoy Scotch quite a bit more. Great video - the search is the fun for me so this video was on point.
@@geofre44 appreciate that! Glad you got them both! Happy for you man! Definitely build of the palate. I appreciate your kind words. Happy to help and answer any questions you have. May have to ask you some about scotch!
My man. Next time just buy the bottle secondary. I know… it ruins the hunt but between the time, gas money, and frustration getting that bottle @MSRP it wasn’t worth it. The MSRP on that bottle is higher anyways. What’s an extra $150-$200? You probably spent that on gas searching lol.
Only time I really spent money on the gas was the trip to Turkey which I made into a trip to BT anyways so it wasn’t a terrible waste of gas but I know what you’re saying. But I don’t want to add to the secondary market. But totally understand what you’re saying. Cheers Trevor! Thanks for watching, commenting, and subscribing!
Really appreciate all your struggles, but I can’t tell if it would be worth it unless you’d be willing to share a 1 or 1/2 oz sample. So I could tell you if it was worth it. 😊
So basically with all the money in gas and especially the time you wasted... secondary would have been cheaper 😂😂😂 By the way, I never saw one in the wild either, I traded an Old Carter AW batch 6 to get one.
Ah didn’t waste too much money on gas because I made the trip worth it. Went and got a EHT Taylor at BT on the WT trip. Made some trades on the other trip to OH. But I get your point, glad you were able to get one too! Cheers mustard 👊🏽🥃
There's a small place near me that I spotted one bottle at. Asked for the price and guy grabs, scans it, says $350. I said no thank you and walked out. I keep hearing it's worth that much, but I generally don't pay more than $100 for a bottle of bourbon, much less than $100 more than MSRP.
Finding a bottle of RR15 isn’t hard in New Jersey. Finding it under $500 is the real challenge. Outside of that finding Weller 107 or Stagg is always a struggle.
@ I’m not the biggest Turkey fan in the world. But I do enjoy it for sure! Takes you on a nice ride of flavors and complexity. I’m more happy to just have it on the shelf to share with guests. Fun to see their reactions. Holding on to the second one for a THH trade hopefully.
@ why the question marks? It was funny. You usually give a bottle away if you become a member or whatever and this time, you will give a sample away. I thought that was funny because of how hard it was to get and the taste. I’m guessing you thought I was being negative on your video. Cool. I’m out
I've never seen the 15-year ever. I saw a 13 year in MI for $450, though. The whole bourbon game is so discouraging, and such a BS situation all around. I've not bought anything allocated in 11 months because of the rat race. People buying just to flip. It's just not fun anymore.
So when it comes to value... I totally disagree. Don't compare the MSRP to Pappy 20. Pappy 20 is a worse whiskey IMO and age, while it represents production cost, does not really mean much when it comes to value. If I sold you a 2 year old whiskey that tasted better than RR15... and I did it for $200 the only factor that matters is how much you paid for the experience. Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. When it comes to whiskey what you get is 1 thing - whiskey. Does it taste good and is it a quality product (as in they aren't cheating to enhance flavors... like some DO's might be doing)? That's really all that matters. So if my 2 year old product was $200 and was better in every flavor category... it's a better value than a $250 20 year old product. That's my point. People often talk about how value is subjective. If I make $10k/day from my investments or make $20 million per film do I really care about $250 per bottle of whiskey? Not at all - the PRICE is not a factor in the value of the product I'm buying. That's why luxury brands like Rolex and LE's like RR15 exist. They are a premium product that are 90% the same as a regular product in their category. RR15 and RR10 are vastly different in price but on the scale of spirits they are incredibly close. RR10 and RR15 share many traits - far more traits than they share with an unrelated spirit like Rum Fire. Within the category of bourbon they are also incredibly similar to each other compared to a 100% corn bourbon that aged for 1 day in new charred oak. Anyway, I just hate the fallacies that so many bourbon channels seem to fall into - value and price don't have a correlation. That's like shade and hue - similar but not synonym's. Similarly - Oak is actually a flaw. Modern whiskey drinkers are brain damaged and have been tricked into thinking a heavy oak profile is actually a boon. Go taste old whiskey, it's incredible and it completely lacks the over oaked nature of modern whiskey. They understood over oaking was a flaw and it buried the complexity of their whiskey. Today brands rely on over proofed whiskey to make a flavor bomb but older whiskey didn't. They used better wood, better water, and longer fermentation. The flavor came from the grain, the yeast, and the wood (not the char). Now we mostly drink wood char water and call it whiskey
Oh totally agree. It was BS I was upset with that part. But also, part of the hunt is missing out, just don't love missing in the way where people were selling multiples.
Hahaha 😂 I enjoyed the Little Book Infinite and Bomberger’s this year, not amazing but good. Price is certainly not worth it imo. Shenk’s was rough this year. Haha Cheers John
I know where two RR15 have been sitting on the high shelf in a small town in KY for the past two months. They’ll never sell there cause no one has the $450 he’s asking. I offered $300 cash and he opened his phone to show me the secondary “going price.” I laughed and said I’ll offer $300 again in December when you still have both bottles sitting up there.
Have been watching the emails and the list. Honestly the only thing I am interested in is the Nulu Maple Brûlée at this point. I wonder what the “special” bottle announced tomorrow will be. My guess is WFP. I’m sure there are already people trying to like up
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Reselling in the parking lot is wild
It's a bit disrespectful honestly
Yeah man… it’s ridiculous. It still bothers me haha
Shameless scumbags
Funny thing is, the day you picked yours up at Union, I walked in after you about 2 hrs later when Harry was working. Harry used to own a diner in my home town (as well as Belle Luna) and I recognized him as soon as he said Hi to me. Asked him if he used to own the diner and off we went down memory lane. Turns out, my shift at the FD (prior to me working here) were the ones who saved his life when he had a STEMI when he lived in my hometown. Long story short, he asked what I was looking for and the Russels 15 was top of my list and he kinda looked down for a sec and said, I think we just sold our last bottle earlier. 🥺 Then I saw your post as soon as I got back into my truck and I knew it was you! 😆 But at least we have a similar experience in trying to find this darn bottle (without paying 2nd for it). Ill find one one of these days. Cheers! See you in the chat group weather man!
@@mrgood1cor13 oh wow! Thats such a small world.
And wow! Sorry to have stolen the last RR15 from you 😉 Hope you can find one if you haven’t already!
Finally finding the one that eludes you is the best!! Cheers B!
Right?? Cheers Amanda! 🥃👊🏽
Great perseverance. If others are looking these are regularly 400 on secondary. Yes it sucks, but might be worth the expense.
Appreciate it @beninato! Definitely sucks paying secondary. Cheers 👊🏽🥃
George T Stagg is mine, at least at a reasonable price. I could have bought one for $1000 if I really wanted to.
I was finally able to get a RR15...for $400. But it's so good I don't regret it.
It’s sooo good! Cheers John!
Best of luck finding a GTS! I know that struggle
Another great video! Perseverance and relationships for the win! Some of those mid-tier allocations seem to be the hardest to find. I am talking about Blanton's SFTB, ETL, and Rock Hill Farms. Also, for such a large distribution, RR 15 was almost invisible here. Coy Hill was scarce, but priced absurdly so it was easy to ignore missing those.
I feel the pain on the Russell’s 15.
My brother in law missed one by 1 person at a drop. Then, I successfully checked out and ordered one for both online drops. Card was charged and received an order number. Just for reservebar to email me 3-5 days later that unfortunately my order was mistakenly processed BOTH times lol.
Ultimately I was lucky to have a connection who got multiple backups through VA ABC drops and got one to me for cost. I pick it up at thanksgiving can’t wait
The release in Ohio my store had 18 bottles. There were only ten people at open. My wife and I each got one. I texted several friends and they all said they didn’t want to spend that much. It’s fantastic
So good! Congrats on the grab! Maybe I need to start shopping at your store! 🤣
Found a Double Eagle Rare. Saw the price. Laughed. Laughed some more. And said, "Yeah, no, I'm good."
The distillery should've done better, shame on them. Glad you got one in the end, though.
Haha yeah… the double eagle is $$$$$$$ lol I have seen one guy buy it before.
And thank you! I agree, it was a sh!t show at the distillery that day. But I am so pumped to grab one. Cheers!
@whiskey_weather Cheers! Glad I found your channel. Like the reviews & hunting videos.
@ appreciate you! Cheers!
Really cool idea for a show! Nice strike with the 15. I haven’t cracked mine yet, maybe waiting for a rainy day. Stay safe.
@@ecconico appreciate the kind words, Nick! Cheers brother 👊🏽🥃 you’re gonna love it! 👊🏽🥃
Welcome to the 513! Knew i recognized you from somewhere 😂 I've been enjoying and collecting whiskeys for a while now, well before the boom. I hate what it's become. Reselling in the parking lot, spending time in line for WSR, seeing grown adults argue and fight over whiskeys, leaving lawn chairs as their place in line...smh
Great video, excited for the sample 🤤
Haha cheers, Noah!
Fantastic story. Glad you were successful. I tried it at the Wild Turkey distillery and it's the best whiskey I've ever had. I'm hopeful of finding it myself.
Thanks, Steve! I was certainly thrilled to finally get one!
And best of luck in your search as well!
Congrats on finally getting not one, but two! Cheers to perseverance! 🥃
Thanks, Eric! Appreciate you! Cheers brother 🥃👊🏽
The bottle I've struck out on the most was Charteuse Green. It's not whiskey but I've been checking the specialty aisle all year waiting for more to ship. Finally landed 2 today and at a store I NEVER would have expected to receive Charteuse.
The bourbon/whiskey I've been chasing all year was Bombergers 2024 and Booker's the Reserves. Finally landed Bombergers - due to having friends in Louisville who find it every couple weeks. The Reserve just doesn't exist if you ask me. I've seen 2 on shelfs and one was marked up to 400 and the other was being held for a raffle. I tried to talk the manager into selling it anyway if I buy some other stuff and because I'm a good customer. They didn't bite. It was their last bottle (of two) and they already promised it to the raffle.
I'm guessing my best bet is to go to Kentucky during Christmas (and I 100% might do that) and New Year... and I'm off for those two weeks....
When the F-bomb is dropped……I immediately add the bottle to my wish list 😂!! Thanks for sharing the high and the lows of the hunt.
@@Itsduggan hahaha 😂 I think that’s the first F-bomb on the channel 🤣 thanks for watching as always! Cheers!!
I said the exact same thing 😂
I feel your pain with the website drops they had. It was just a waste of a couple hours. I got to try it at Evergreen Liquors in Bardstown during KBF, so I at least got to try it. It is a great pour. Glad you finally got it! Cheers!
Yeah… what a waste trying online. Glad you got to try it at KBF! Such a good pour. Cheers Elijah!
Nice persistence brother. Keep the great vids coming!
👊🏽👊🏽 cheers boss
Congrats on grabbing not one but two bottles! A buddy of mine is 0-5 with getting a bottle of Russel’s 15. As for me, honestly I wouldn’t know what bottle I am trying to hunt down for the season.
When I hear you've been Thunderstruck my brain just goes to AC/DC Live in Donnington Concert from the 80s. I got one of these in a raffle at retail. If not I would have never seen this one.
Haha I was hoping for people to get an AC/DC reference out of it! 🤣
Worst part about distillery drops and people getting multiples... you know 40-80% will be on secondary within 5 minutes of reaching their car
I feel your pain.... I missed R15 and MMCA here in PA
Uggggh sorry to hear, Josh! Fingers crossed you can find them still!
Enjoyed this video! The bottle that has been escaping me is the Penelope Estate Collection. Cheers and congratulations on getting the RR15 👏🏾
Thank you!! That Estate Collection is so good! Best of luck on the hunt for it! Stay persistent!
Editing is on point bro 💪. Just gave you a like and subscribed.
Appreciate you! Thanks for following along. Just subscribed back! Looking forward to checking out your channel! Cheers 🥃👊🏽
@ appreciate you!!
The dedication is inspiring
Appreciate you!
I’d love to find this bottle. I was at Wild Turkey a couple weeks back and I opted to try the Rickhouse Camp Nelson B on the bartenders recommendation over the RR15, and I did love the pour. Unfortunately they did not have any bottles of either available for purchase.
Glad you got to try it! Interested in that recommendation. Will have to seek out a pour of the CNB! Cheers Stymie! Appreciate you always watching and commenting! 🥃👊🏽
Yeah I saw RR 15 plenty in Somerset,KY but they wanted 450-500 for it. I said that was too much for me.
Don’t blame you there… that’s ridiculous. I mean, if you can afford it and have the money then I won’t tell you what to so with it, but I would hold out to find it closer to retail!
I saw 2 bottles in Paducah KY for $450. Too expensive for me.
Great review! I have yet to even taste the Russell's 15 let alone find one at SRP!
Thanks, Rob! Hope you can do both! Stay persistent! I keep seeing people saying they are popping up in a lot of spots!
Heaven hill 18 year for my daughters 18th birthday this year. Have only found at secondary prices.
Ahhh yeah. Thats a pricey one too! $300 MSRP. 😬😬 hope you can find one at a good price soon! Cheers 🥃👊🏽
I’m in a state run store. So I would love to get a weller 107 and Ben Holladay SRW rickhouse proof
What state are you in, Josh? I know that struggle, I was in Alabama for 5 years and it SUCK3D for finding anything other than shelfers.
A store by me has had the Ben Holladay SRW Rickhouse proof lately. If it is something you really want, I could get one and send it to you. Email me if you can’t find it! Brandon@whiskeywx.com
@ Montana and it is hard to get anything. I stick to RR 10 year and a Montana bourbon called Jim Bridger
i got SUPER lucky in virginia, and picked up a RR15 on the last announced drop they did at MSRP. actually sent my wife in to get a second, but that was for a friend of mine who's hooked me up quite a bit with a few bottles as well as alot of samples of hard to find bottles. so for about 12 hours, i had 2 lol. It's probably my favorite bourbon on my shelf (I need to blind it against RR13, Stagg JR, and a 10yr willett purple top i have to know for sure), but man it's good. i'm still hunting for a backup, i have found some, but nobody wants to come below 450 for one where i'm at. i'd honestly pay 350 for a backup if i could find it.
Nice!!! Way to be an awesome friend too. Love that. Certainly love helping a friend out. I owe My guy Jason a bottle now haha.
Best of luck on the rest of your hunt! Cheers 🥃👊🏽
@@whiskey_weather i'll always help out friends. as much as i'd like to have had that as a backup, i'll find another, and if he or i go out of town we will send a short list of bottles to keep an eye out for. so i'm good with it. and he was happy too.
That’s a great system! Cheers! 👊🏽🥃
Mine is JD coy hill hazmat. Never found it in the wild
I’ve only seen it once and it was at a place where you need 2,500 points 😩 hope you can find one someday! Cheers 🥃👊🏽
How do you like the Hard Truth stuff in the backgound? It is local to me so I am hesitant to pay what they want for it just to try it.
I really enjoy Hard Truth. I have tried a majority of their offerings. Their Sweet Mash Rye is one of my favorite ryes. The High Road Rye is as well!
Wife and I went to Boomtown for dinner the other night and they have the birthday bourbon, so I got a pour....so good!
I was hoping to find a way reasonable priced pour for my birthday the other day but i couldn’t! Will have to check out Boomtown!
@@whiskey_weather it was $25
Congrats on scoring a bottle and nice review! Newberry's is a nice bar, but if you're out near Union Kroger, you need to stop into Union 42 Bourbon and Brew and meet Larry. Great bartender, super knowledgeable on bourbon, and absolutely best per pour pricing anywhere in Greater Cincinnati!
I used to life 5 minutes from Union 42 and never made it in. Need to go visit soon! Cheers 👊🏽🥃
I wasn't able to get this one. My bourbon brother got one tho. So that's almost like I got one too 🤷🏾♂️ cheers!
Haha close enough! Just steal a pour from him haha cheers!
Still looking for one! Never heard of one in my area 😢.
Best of luck! Where are you at?
In the corn fields west of Chicago! Thanks for the great review, glad to hear there are still some out there.
@ oh no way! Out like near DeKalb? I grew up in Lombard/Downers Grove!
And appreciate the kind words!
@ yes sir! I grew up in Wheaton. Small world.
Love the videos, but absolutely hate the swallowing sounds.
Understand that. Is it the chewing or the swallowing? I will see if I can be better. Thanks for watching jbuck! Cheers!
Missed the RR15 by 2 people at the Ohio Saturday drop. Got the Master’s Keep Triumph. The one I’ve been searching for for over a year now is Rock Hill Farms
Happy Birthday!
Still havent seen a RR15 in the wild
🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼 you do soon!
I would say RR15 is as rare, if not more rare, than Pappy 10-15. There are a TON of those bottles shipped each year, it's just the distribution is very very wide and most go out the back door or to charities. Apparently around 90k pappy were released this year and I heard RR15 between 60-80k. The Pappy number is likely very low actually, because I've seen far more released this year than 2023 and there were around 86k last year.
Anyway, RR15 has an incredible nose, but it's a very debatable buy IMO. It's over oaked, like most KY whiskey that is 10+. It's actually extremely over oaked similar to EC18, just more proof.
What everyone is getting fooled by the is nose. The aromatics are incredible but they aren't on the palate as much as you'd like. Again, totally a great pour. Top 10 of the year without a doubt... but not unique, and not better than RR13 batch 2 when you stop giving too much credit to the factors that actually don't matter.
Color of whiskey DOES NOT MATTER (you don't drink color).
Smell of whiskey only sorta matters. It's something you can evaluate and impacts flavor but you DRINK whiskey.
The criteria that matters most is flavor. Unfortunately, RR15 is deep and oaky but lacks enough fruit flavors and depth. It has a HINT of cherry but it's pretty diluted when you actually start pairing it up against a good aged MGP or even RR13 in a true blind - removing color and focusing on flavor without knowledge of the bottles.
It's massively overhyped and I know it's not just my bottle - I've sampled 4. Again, it's a top 10 this year, but I'm not sure it's even a top 5. It drops out of top 10 when you actually have a wider sampling of high quality craft. I've had 4 whiskies from craft distilleries that are better this year - they weren't cheap bottles though. These were 10 year anniversary drops and whiskey as old as 36 years from craft distilleries. These were special bottles but the were released this year.
The best whiskey I drank this year was a 22 year old 100% rye that was limited to about 130 bottles. That was magical juice. It was so hyper limited that no blogger will be considering it in their top 10... other than me.
Congrats on grabbing it and opening it! Can’t stand the museum pieces
I don't think any bourbon is worth $250 but the Russels 15 is really good. I just paid for a pour of it because I'm never going to get a bottle of it. Yet I say all this when I paid $300 for a Rock Hill but I never see it available anywhere and they wanted 400 for it and it's my favorite bourbon of the allocated stuff
You liked RHF? I can get 2 for 260. Should i get one or two?
@@Faisalhossain-s5h get two for that price
I love your videos so much
I never even seen a ECBP. Any release. I see Stagg, EH Taylor (all releases), Elmer T Lee, all the Penelope releases, Blanton's, KC18, Booker's, OF Birthday, Weller (all releases), but never once in the last 2-1/2 years have I seen an ECBP.
Eh Taylor barrel proof or straight rye
Good call… haven’t been able to ever see any of those other than at 3x MSRP. Cheers Jeremy! best of luck on your hunt!
Party Town had the Russell's 15 for $400 a few weeks back. The name didn't change but they sure charge Good Spirits prices now lol
Not bourbon, but Springbank 18 is impossible to find. Even the SB 15 is tough but I have found a couple of those. Btw I did find 2 bottles of Russell’s 15 out in the wild. One for msrp $250, and the other was about $350.
@@geofre44 ahhh not too adversed in the scotch world, but now you have peaked my interest. Did you grab an RR15??
@ yes i got both! One of them - to your point- I asked for it and it was the first time I had ever asked my guy for anything (I’ve been shopping there since 2019). I think he was surprised tbh. He knows i am a Scotch guy and the demand for allocated bourbon is so much higher so i don’t bother them with weekly or even daily requests for bourbons (he often laments about customers daily inquiries). But i figured that this Russell’s was worth a shot and i had accumulated a ton of goodwill. Now i have to build up my bourbon palate before i crack it open so as to fully enjoy it. So i have been enjoying your channel et al to help navigate and learn more about Bourbon, but I enjoy Scotch quite a bit more. Great video - the search is the fun for me so this video was on point.
@@geofre44 appreciate that! Glad you got them both! Happy for you man! Definitely build of the palate. I appreciate your kind words. Happy to help and answer any questions you have. May have to ask you some about scotch!
@@whiskey_weather anytime!
RR15 is just perfect 🥃😋💯
My man. Next time just buy the bottle secondary. I know… it ruins the hunt but between the time, gas money, and frustration getting that bottle @MSRP it wasn’t worth it. The MSRP on that bottle is higher anyways. What’s an extra $150-$200? You probably spent that on gas searching lol.
Only time I really spent money on the gas was the trip to Turkey which I made into a trip to BT anyways so it wasn’t a terrible waste of gas but I know what you’re saying. But I don’t want to add to the secondary market. But totally understand what you’re saying. Cheers Trevor! Thanks for watching, commenting, and subscribing!
I feel your pain! I finally traded a kind soul for one last week.
Just when I thought the old Fitzgerald's could not be surpassed...wow⚡
Really appreciate all your struggles, but I can’t tell if it would be worth it unless you’d be willing to share a 1 or 1/2 oz sample. So I could tell you if it was worth it. 😊
Hahaha I mean.. I’m giving away two samples to a few lucky patreon members 😉
So basically with all the money in gas and especially the time you wasted... secondary would have been cheaper 😂😂😂
By the way, I never saw one in the wild either, I traded an Old Carter AW batch 6 to get one.
Ah didn’t waste too much money on gas because I made the trip worth it. Went and got a EHT Taylor at BT on the WT trip. Made some trades on the other trip to OH. But I get your point, glad you were able to get one too! Cheers mustard 👊🏽🥃
There's a small place near me that I spotted one bottle at. Asked for the price and guy grabs, scans it, says $350. I said no thank you and walked out. I keep hearing it's worth that much, but I generally don't pay more than $100 for a bottle of bourbon, much less than $100 more than MSRP.
Finding a bottle of RR15 isn’t hard in New Jersey. Finding it under $500 is the real challenge. Outside of that finding Weller 107 or Stagg is always a struggle.
Saw them both tonight. Found a honey hole.
Stagg was under 3 and 107 was 160? It was out on the shelf.
Sometimes the hunt is more fun than the actual drink. Glad you found one and it seems like it was worth the effort.
Agree with you there in that sentiment! Haha cheers Sean! Definitely glad this one is good and that I got it. Cheers man!
I got one on both online drops. 😬
Lucky duck! Congrats. How do you like it??
@ I’m not the biggest Turkey fan in the world. But I do enjoy it for sure! Takes you on a nice ride of flavors and complexity. I’m more happy to just have it on the shelf to share with guests. Fun to see their reactions. Holding on to the second one for a THH trade hopefully.
😂 lol! He said a sample. That’s funny
??
@ why the question marks? It was funny. You usually give a bottle away if you become a member or whatever and this time, you will give a sample away. I thought that was funny because of how hard it was to get and the taste. I’m guessing you thought I was being negative on your video. Cool. I’m out
Stagg Jr and ET Lee at msrp.
Ahhh ETL is hard to find! Haven’t ever seen that one before in the wild. Cheers Barry. Best of luck on the hunt!
6:20 that was the day i got mine ....
Weller Single barrel....
Same… haven’t seen it for less than $800 😬😬
I've never seen the 15-year ever. I saw a 13 year in MI for $450, though. The whole bourbon game is so discouraging, and such a BS situation all around. I've not bought anything allocated in 11 months because of the rat race. People buying just to flip. It's just not fun anymore.
RR 15
I got it for $300, which I was okay with.
Nice, Barry! Yeah not a terrible buy at $300. Probably the most I would pay for a bottle IMO. Hope you loved it!
@ The first pour didn’t wow me. But now, holy cow what a banger!
So when it comes to value... I totally disagree. Don't compare the MSRP to Pappy 20. Pappy 20 is a worse whiskey IMO and age, while it represents production cost, does not really mean much when it comes to value. If I sold you a 2 year old whiskey that tasted better than RR15... and I did it for $200 the only factor that matters is how much you paid for the experience. Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. When it comes to whiskey what you get is 1 thing - whiskey. Does it taste good and is it a quality product (as in they aren't cheating to enhance flavors... like some DO's might be doing)? That's really all that matters.
So if my 2 year old product was $200 and was better in every flavor category... it's a better value than a $250 20 year old product. That's my point.
People often talk about how value is subjective. If I make $10k/day from my investments or make $20 million per film do I really care about $250 per bottle of whiskey? Not at all - the PRICE is not a factor in the value of the product I'm buying. That's why luxury brands like Rolex and LE's like RR15 exist. They are a premium product that are 90% the same as a regular product in their category. RR15 and RR10 are vastly different in price but on the scale of spirits they are incredibly close. RR10 and RR15 share many traits - far more traits than they share with an unrelated spirit like Rum Fire. Within the category of bourbon they are also incredibly similar to each other compared to a 100% corn bourbon that aged for 1 day in new charred oak.
Anyway, I just hate the fallacies that so many bourbon channels seem to fall into - value and price don't have a correlation. That's like shade and hue - similar but not synonym's. Similarly - Oak is actually a flaw. Modern whiskey drinkers are brain damaged and have been tricked into thinking a heavy oak profile is actually a boon. Go taste old whiskey, it's incredible and it completely lacks the over oaked nature of modern whiskey. They understood over oaking was a flaw and it buried the complexity of their whiskey. Today brands rely on over proofed whiskey to make a flavor bomb but older whiskey didn't. They used better wood, better water, and longer fermentation. The flavor came from the grain, the yeast, and the wood (not the char). Now we mostly drink wood char water and call it whiskey
EHT SB
The small batch or the single barrel? That SiB is def hard to get by me. Hope you can find one!
@@whiskey_weather haha both! PA sucks... we don't get anything. They do random drops online and if they drop anything in stores is gone in minutes.
Selling in the parking lot is NOT part of the hunt! And it’s illegal for the public to sell liquor, especially on WT property. Just my thoughts.
Oh totally agree. It was BS I was upset with that part. But also, part of the hunt is missing out, just don't love missing in the way where people were selling multiples.
Join the club and if you do find it mark up out if this world
@@loveandlight8286 thankfully I have gotten a few now right at MSRP. Hope you can find one too! Cheers 👊🏽🥃
Don't waste your time or money on Rio.
I enjoyed batch 1 when I tried it with a friend and a Second time at KBF 2023. But the secondary pricing is ridiculous
Lol. Most of the first bottles are price. I can find all of them.
Yeah shenks, bombergers and little book aren’t worth af that’s why you didn’t buy them lol
Hahaha 😂 I enjoyed the Little Book Infinite and Bomberger’s this year, not amazing but good. Price is certainly not worth it imo. Shenk’s was rough this year. Haha Cheers John
117👍
Calling a white whale a white elephant is funny
Thanks for watching 🥃👊🏽
Lmao wait no the one down the street had it????
Yep! 😂
Oh wait watching him drink it is even worse
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I know where two RR15 have been sitting on the high shelf in a small town in KY for the past two months. They’ll never sell there cause no one has the $450 he’s asking. I offered $300 cash and he opened his phone to show me the secondary “going price.” I laughed and said I’ll offer $300 again in December when you still have both bottles sitting up there.
Hahaha 😂 I would offer $275 at that point. Ridiculous, places trying to charge secondary 🙄🙄
November 16 big barrel release in ohio. Check out OHLQ for info.
Have been watching the emails and the list. Honestly the only thing I am interested in is the Nulu Maple Brûlée at this point. I wonder what the “special” bottle announced tomorrow will be. My guess is WFP. I’m sure there are already people trying to like up