The BEST Bourbons For Beginners

top five Bourbons for beginners I get this question a ton in the live stream that I've never compiled the list so let's freaking do it well I've got some bad news for you on the list because I couldn't pick five I just couldn't pick five there's so many good whiskeys that you need to try that we're actually gonna do eight they're just bonus whiskeys hopefully you're not mad at me for bonus whiskeys but we'll try to get through these pretty quickly but let me preface with what I'm looking for when I'm trying to recommend something to a beginner so what we're looking for is fairly widely available we're also looking for low proof so we're not going to go for any like Barrel strength stuff when you're just getting started we want to start you on the lower end of the proof range so up to a hundred and one proof we also want a variety of whiskeys although we do have a few here from the same Distillery we want to try things with slightly different flavor profiles to see what you like like that's the goal figure out what you like and then go deep into that and then at least we have a basis for making recommendations of things that you might like my name is TJ Gamble and this is bruzel which is just an elaborate attempt to make my bourbon selection a tax deduction let's get into the list there is no particular order on these we'll start with Evan Williams bottle and bond now this guy comes in at a hundred proof here in Alabama where things are kind of pricey it's still like 18 this is to me the best bottle of whiskey you can regularly get here in the state of Alabama for less than twenty dollars so you're gonna get a hundred proof you're going to see what a hundred proof drinks like and even for something that is so cheap you get a lot of complexity you get some interesting Oaky flavors and you get that Evan Williams flavor profile so this will give you a good idea whether or not you like that extra proof it's also got kind of that that you know a little bit of tobacco a little bit of that oakiness that I mentioned and we can start to discover whether or not you like those notes and the next one on this list is Buffalo Trace so Buffalo Trace is going to check in at 90 proof from the most popular Distillery on the freaking planet and this guy is popular I was trying to long but where I was I was trying to Long poor it's okay this guy is popular for a reason it's really kind of mainstream right like Buffalo Trace blantons all of the things that they make are very mainstream bourbon they're a little more sweet forward you're not usually going to get a ton of oakiness unless you're getting something you know really aged from them so it's super sweet it's very red fruit and this the whole Buffalo Trace flavor profile is what maybe didn't get me started in Bourbon but this flavor is what got me to go deep that's what she said and so really really easy Drinker exactly what bourbon is supposed to taste like and if you don't like Buffalo Trace you probably just don't like bourbon I know there's exceptions to that I know there's that one guy watching right now that's going to go down in the comments he's going to give me a hard freaking time he's gonna be like I'm a bourbon connoisseur and I love Bourbon and I hate Buffalo tricks I know there's that one guy and I apologize to that guy for just making blanket statements on the freaking internet like everybody does that wants to get any views but realistically that's exactly what bourbon's supposed to taste like and it's not going to give you a ton of burn it's going to go down super easy these guys around here like 25-ish dollars they're not super easy to find like you might have to do a little looking to find one but I've been seeing them everywhere lately so if you put enough effort into it you ought to be able to find a Buffalo Trace so let's go ahead and get all of the Buffalo Trace stuff out of the way I got a few bottles from them just because they are so popular this is Benchmark small batch which again made by Buffalo Trace it's going to come in what is it 90 Proof it's going to not be quiet as complex and sophisticated as that Buffalo Trace to me but still a really exceptional whiskey with a very similar flavor profile I don't get quite as much oak on it as I do with the Buffalo Trace although that's not an Oaky bourbon so I feel like this is probably a little younger or maybe it was just in a different part of the Rick house but this guy in a lot of places is a lot more available and accessible than Buffalo Trace here in Alabama happens to not be the case they really don't distribute The Benchmark stuff here or if they have they've just kind of started Distributing a lot of benchmarks I actually have to go over to Georgia to find these but this or an Ancient Ancient age 10 star if you can't find this guy although at this point I think the 10 star is probably harder to find than the Benchmark small batch but any of these benchmarks are good I like the small batch because it's 90 Proof it's not a finished whiskey or anything like it's just good straightforward bourbon for beginners so we don't have to worry about any sort of variables around a toasted finish or a top floor or you know a barrel strength or anything like that and the next Buffalo Trace is going to be good old-fashioned Eagle Rare the Eagle Rare is going to be similar to a buffalo low Trace it's made by freaking Buffalo Trace it is also 90 proof but this one has kind of an interesting grape note to it like just a little bit of kind of a a sour bitterness to it that gives off a grape flavor profile so a lot of people that don't like Buffalo Trace may prefer this and it's 10 years if you can find it this msrps it went 30ish dollars or so typically they're going to be marked up a little bit but if you've never had one if you find one of these for less than fifty dollars buy it I think it would be worth it just to try it but 10 year old whiskey for 30 dollars at MSRP God have mercy hard to beat that like oh that is so exceptional now when I first tried Eagle Rare wasn't a huge fan I like those like that's fine but not not the thing I really want to go to but over time like I've really developed a love for Eagle Rare now this particular one is a store pick whatever you can get if you get a store pick that's fine just know that store picks may vary a little bit so if you really love a store pick the next one might be a little different than that now that we're past all that Buffalo trace-ness let's go with old Forester 86 proof now this is going to be the lowest proof whiskey in this list regularly available pretty much everywhere like if you can't find old Forester 86 proof you're not trying real hard or you're in a very very strange State and you probably need to move old Forester is going to be a good bit different than most of these we've tried and again just kind of a classic bourbon really really smooth and easy zipper like this guy is probably the easiest Drinker that we've had in this list of whiskeys so you definitely want to give old Forester a try because old Forester doesn't put their name on a whiskey that's bad I've never had an old Forester product unless I I don't like that now we're into glencairns that are lettered because I'm running out because we dirtied them all next are going to be some bottles that we haven't opened yet that I just bought for this particular video because they either got drank or I just didn't have them this is Elijah Craig small batch now there's a ton of Elijah Craig's there's Barrel proofs and toasted barrels and all sorts of things if you're just getting started I want you to try the small batch this comes in at 94 proof and again it's just kind of one of those quintessential Bourbons it's got a good bit more oakiness than most of these that we've drank this will give us a good understanding of whether or not you like the oak whether you crave the oak even though like that Eagle Rare is 10 years old doesn't have a ton of oakiness to my palate and I pick up a lot of kind of Oaky nuttiness on this Elijah Craig so we'll have a good idea of your flavor profile there Four Roses Single Barrel is another one of those just kind of straightforward Bourbons easy to drink I like four roses because I typically get a lot more of a sweeter profile on it and I like sweet Bourbons they put a lot of freaking plastic on their bottles they give you a little hang tag with a little leather thing that just gets them a freaking way this particular one is 48-2v down there on the bottom does it have a mash Bill like four roses has a bunch of different Mash bills doesn't really matter just buy a bottle let's not let's not pick mints damn that's a hell of a cork pop that's the best cork pop we've had today I'm gonna be honest with you all right so this guy checks in at 100 Proof a lot of interesting flavors this one has a lot of rice spice on it now this is again A Single Barrel so each one may vary a little bit but I'm getting a ton of rice spice on that one so we can start to figure out if you like some of those Rye spices Four Roses has several different Mash spills and I know with like the barrel strength that'll put it on there this one I don't see a particular Mash peel so not real sure if there's some way of looking it up and finding out what the mash bill on this guy was maybe it's their high rise bill I assure you this one is it's their high rise bill it's got a lot of freaking Rye spice to it so overall a good whiskey and we'll learn a lot about your pallets if you can try one of these well I'm all out of glencairns we're going to move to the New Orleans glass right here and Wild Turkey 101 which again to me is the best bottle of whiskey you can get for under 25 regularly here in the state of Alabama now I know a lot of people are saying some of these benchmarks the benchmarks are 20 22 or so you know those may give this a run for the money but I can't get the benchmarks regularly here in the state of Alabama so this guy wins for now and will do some contests later to see if that changes a hundred and one proof wild turkey see that's got a nice oakiness to it like wild turkey tends to take a lot of Oak like it tends to impart a lot of Oak flavor which can get me on some of the Russell's Reserve stuff like I get a little too much bitter Oak but this Wild Turkey 101 has that perfect balance of it for me so again you're going to see whether or not you like that oakiness it can come across a little bitter so you might not like it it does have a little bit of bitterness to it but it strikes a nice balance with the sweetness of the bourbon I understand this is not for everybody but it's a 25 bottle so give it a try let me know your thoughts on it and then I can make some recommendations that's the list what do you think are the best bottles for beginners and if you are a beginner let me know if you've tried any of these

Channel: Brewzle

Views: 198,272

Keywords: bourbon, brewzle, best bourbons for beginners, best bourbons, top 5 bourbons, best bourbon for beginners, beginner bourbon, best bourbon, bourbon review, top 5 beginner bourbons, top 5 bourbon, top 5 bourbons for beginners, whisky, buffalo trace, whiskey review, bourbon whiskey, evan williams bottled in bond, buffalo trace bourbon, benchmark bourbon, eagle rare bourbon, old forester 86 proof, elijah craig small batch, four roses single barrel bourbon review, wild turkey 101

Id: PIGZrV9oDGQ

Length: 10min 20sec (620 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 28 2022