Videos

Open the Bottle - Michter's 10-year-old Single Barrel Rye, 2019 release. Maybe not a unicorn bottle but certainly a difficult bottle to come by at retail. A wonderful example of Kentucky rye whiskey owing to a low barrel entry proof, barrel toasting, and well-seasoned barrels in the first place. But…

Open the Bottle Wild Turkey Rare Breed Barrel Proof Rye 112.2 proof 2020 release - the first release of a barrel proof rye from Wild Turkey. Non-chill filtered is one of my favorite things and when combined with rye whiskey at barrel proof with a low barrel entry proof, it's…

What, if anything, can be learned simply from the color of whiskey? We all talk about the color when we find new whiskey and color is evaluated along with the nose and taste but what should whiskey shoppers know about whiskey color and what can it dependably tell us? For…

For years, I didn't pay much attention to how much money I spent on whiskey. 2019 was just a mess where I bought whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it and it was just too much. So, for 2020, I put myself on a $1,000 annual budget for whiskey -…

Open the Bottle - Evan Williams Bottled In Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Are there still Kentucky Straight Bourbons that are worth drinking, at a decent proof for $15? There sure are and this one is bottled in bond to boot.

Back to the Bottle - Old Tub Bottled In Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The latest of the 100 proof, unfiltered inexpensive offerings from Jim Beam. Seems like a well rounded and attractively priced bourbon under a label that goes back a long way for the Beam family. Is it…

I don't know why but I often end up with quite a few bottles with just a little bit of whiskey left in them. For some reason, I'll just let them sit that way for too long. Usually, the last sip is my favorite so maybe I just don't want…

Open the Bottle - Booker's Country Ham Uncut, Unfiltered Bourbon Whiskey from Jim Beam's Small Batch Collection. Is this finally the time Dan opens up a Booker's release and doesn't like it? Or, will it be delicious bourbon as usual? We open this bottle as part of Episode 10 of…

One day, we looked at our whiskey shelves and noticed there were no open bottles of Scotch. What happened? Why did we suddenly stop buying and opening bottles of single malt Scotch whisky? And, when we finally did open up what should have been a lovely Bunnahabhain 12, did it…

Back to the Bottle - Belle Meade Cask Strength Reserve Bourbon Whiskey. Another bourbon sourced from MGP in Indiana. Does that make it bad whiskey? Does that make it good bourbon? Not necessarily but in this case, it does make for a pretty good whiskey that I don't feel is…

Open the Bottle - McKenna 10-year-old Bottled In Bond, Single Barrel, and I miss my dad. McKenna was my dad's brand back when bourbon drinkers had 'brands' and rarely strayed from them. He'd never just say 'McKenna' it was always 'Henry McKenna Sour Mash Bourbon' to him. This bottle from…

We open up Mellow Corn Bottled In Bond Straight Corn Whiskey and talk about the specific requirements to be a straight, corn whiskey. At $15 it certainly isn't a big commitment for us to try something we haven't tried before but is it a whiskey that we'd want to drink…

The Peerless Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey was my first experience with Peerless whiskey and it was a good one. A reasonable price for a very enjoyable bourbon that employs and seldom-used sweet mash process rather than the more popular sour mash. Is that how a 4 year old…

Back to the Bottle - Wild Turkey Rare Breed Barrel Proof Bourbon. At 116.8 proof, it isn't the highest proof barrel strength bourbon out there but that due to lower barrel entry proof. Rare Breed is all the wonderful flavors of Wild Turkey bourbon whiskey pushed all the way up…

We got to wondering if older whiskey is always better, why are some of our favorite bottles not very old? We love Booker's and it's only 6 to 7 years old. What about Pikesville Rye at 6 years, Wild Turkey 101 without an age statement but known to be 6…

Weller 12 sits with Weller Special Reserve and Old Weller Antique as the typical bourbon drinkers best shot at experiencing one of the more famous bourbons ever. Sharing a recipe with the vauted Pappy Van Winkle and William Larue Weller whiskies, Weller 12 used to be a daily drinker for…

We open up a Knob Creek 15 Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon and see if it is worth the extra money over a KC store pick. It's a Knob Creek with more age than we usually see but I'm thinking that Fred Noe can find some great barrels around the…

Dan and Mark appear in an Open the Bottle video together for the first time. Barrell Craft Spirits Dovetail Bourbon is a whiskey finished in Rum, Port, and Wine barrels. It is 'too finished'? Does the whiskey shine through? Is the Indiana bourbon from MGP? Is the Tennessee whiskey from…

Elijah Craig Small Batch Toasted Barrel Bourbon is the latest entrant into the ever-growing toasted barrel finished whiskeys coming into the market. It starts off life as the standard Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon but then undergoes a secondary maturation in a toasted and flash charred barrel. Does that make…

Dan opened this bottle of uncut, unfiltered bourbon about a month ago and was blown away by the unique, cream soda flavor. How has the whiskey stood up and changed? Does he still like it as much as he did when he opened it?

The Practical Still is about enjoying whiskey and there is much more to it than unicorn bourbon and allocated releases. Dan and Mark became friends over whiskey and want to share what they've learned with others. Whiskey is about sharing and having fun with one of the greatest inventions ever.

Open the Bottle - Barrell Craft Spirits Single Barrel, unfiltered Rye whiskey. A store pick from Lincoln Road Package store in Hattiesburg, MS. 13-year-old Rye whiskey distilled in Canada, aged in both Canada and Kentucky. Misty and Jamie Farris have a solid reputation for picking great barrels and this one,…

Dan and Mark discuss packaging in the retail whiskey industry. Specifically, does it even matter to the experience and enjoyment of sipping on bourbon, rye, and single malt whiskeys? Cardboard and wooden boxes, tubes, stoppers, toppers, wax, plastic, ribbons, and beautifully crafted stories printed on cards and booklets. Do you…