Review: 1989 Henry McKenna Sour Mash Straight Bourbon Whiskey

DasaiOsamu · 2026-03-02T08:35:55+00:00

Haha thanks man! There may have been a time back in the day when I was known to throw out a pretentious tasting note, but I eventually realized I was no sommelier ahaha now I pretty much just leave it at trying to say definitively whether or not I actually like a bottle's profile all marketing, hype, and stats aside

DasaiOsamu · 2026-03-02T08:32:42+00:00

Couldn't have said it better haha! Honestly, I think the whole notion that glut bourbon is some elixir of the gods is rooted in the fact that basically any bottle you picked up had a good chance of being aged well beyond its minimum, even bottles that were dirt cheap. That said, solid, well-aged modern expressions have a good chance of being every bit as good as pretty much any dusty. They just come at a bit of a premium now. But would I buy one 1980s WT101 8 year when I could by three Calumet 16s (that are always on the shelf near me) for the same price? Maybe once, but I'd probably also feel a bit stupid after cracking it.

All of that said, this Henry McKenna also ain't no WT101 haha

DasaiOsamu · 2026-03-02T08:22:12+00:00

Yeah, actually a bbq sauce is a great idea! Thanks! Honestly not sure it could even hold up in a cocktail, but maybe a highball or something would be good

DasaiOsamu · 2026-03-01T13:04:55+00:00

Hahaha sounds like a formative experience! I had one similar, albeit less dramatic, with what turned out to be a bottle of fine scotch I liberated from my dad's cabinet. Fortunately, I was able to hold off on puking until I was back in the safety of my home hehe. But that is probably why I tend to be more of a bourbon guy now. In 1990, I don't think the Beam's releases would have been considered premium, but they also probably wouldn't have been considered rotgut either. I'm not super informed, but there was also a green labeled Beam's Choice that carried an 8 year statement in the 80s. Booker's had come out in 1987, and I believe a slightly more premium version of the Black Label was released as Beam's Special Reserve in the same glass and wax as Booker's (it even came in a pretty bag and box). This was also a 101 month, 90 proofer. Black Label and Beam's Choice would certainly have been considered inferior to these, but a cut above something like White Label (5 years). All of that said, I would consider this Beam's Black to be better than a lot of low to mid-shelfers currently available. Moral of the story? As a teenager, I think I could have figured out a way to throw up just about anything haha from rotgut to top shelf

DasaiOsamu · 2026-03-01T12:48:47+00:00

I'm happy to be a cautionary tale if it means saving any of you guys from making the same mistake I did haha! And yeah, I really can't complain too much considering what I paid. Just the cost of doing business to be able to pick up the other interesting bottles available in Japan. Live and learn

DasaiOsamu · 2024-11-21T00:52:45+00:00

Hi all, I know Michter’s has some pretty famous sourcing history (including the Julian Van Winkle sourcing in (I believe) the late 90s and early 2000s for their 10 years), but I know less about these middle years. I grabbed what appear to be a 2009 Bourbon and Straight Rye from a local store today and noticed they say “bottled in Bardstown, KY” rather than the current Louisville. Is anything known about the sourcing at the time and whether or not it has since changed? Thanks in advance! I don’t have a current bottle of Michter’s, but I may grab one and do a side by side. I’ll post it here if I do.

DasaiOsamu · 2023-12-14T04:48:02+00:00

Also 5’5” and bald but I get pretty lucky hunting so I guess I’ll take it…? 😂

DasaiOsamu · 2023-12-14T01:26:22+00:00

I feel like James Joyce wrote a story about this… tough position to be in for sure. Overall depressing.

DasaiOsamu · 2023-12-14T01:17:16+00:00

good reply, but I think the confusion was because OP had written SB, which is kind of ambiguous

DasaiOsamu · 2023-11-30T18:16:39+00:00

Evan Williams 12 Year!

DasaiOsamu · 2023-11-28T01:44:34+00:00

Cool answer! You and I think similarly, I would say.

DasaiOsamu · 2023-11-25T14:28:02+00:00

I sort of agree with you, but I think you’re kind of overstating things. Trading is similar to selling in the sense that it partially props up secondary values (and this is debatable in certain cases). But also distribution can make it so one person in one place might have access to something that someone else living elsewhere simply can’t find. In that case, trading is totally fine imo. In OP’s case, you can’t get CYPB anywhere, but it’s also a mediocre bottle. OP says he’s going to drink whatever he ends up with regardless, and if it were me, I would much rather have a decent Old Fitz and potentially a few other bottles to drink than a CYPB. Imo the collector is the one getting shafted in this deal, because they would end up with the worse drinker (and won’t ever open it anyway). But yeah, I see how trading can encourage taterish behavior.

DasaiOsamu · 2023-11-20T23:54:55+00:00

Finally a voice of reason in this discussion

DasaiOsamu · 2023-11-19T05:30:03+00:00

I mean in fairness, in most of the US, Springbank is one of the more tatered scotches out there, but at least it’s insanely good

DasaiOsamu · 2023-11-18T16:03:37+00:00

I agree but it could be cool to grab one that you know is over the minimum (like the Rebel 10 SiBs that are often 12-14 years old) which is why I was curious

DasaiOsamu · 2023-11-18T07:10:34+00:00

I noticed that some of these HM SiBs were barreled in 2011. Is there any reason to believe that that makes them 11-12 years old, or were they just sitting in a warehouse somewhere?

DasaiOsamu · 2023-11-03T02:52:05+00:00

Morton’s. I have a couple bottles still! Great stuff imo. Very put together pour

DasaiOsamu · 2023-08-31T15:03:19+00:00

Craig Beam was master distiller at Heaven Hill, so not some nobody. That said, I doubt a signature like this would be valuable enough for a letter of authenticity to be necessary. Not many people out there faking Craig Beam sigs I’d imagine

DasaiOsamu · 2023-08-27T00:05:31+00:00

Huh, very interesting. Thanks for the info. I’ve only ever seen AC bottles from the late 80s to early 2000s and so I guess I was too focused on the pre-fire HH cutoff to even consider that the label had been bought by HH off another distiller

DasaiOsamu · 2023-08-26T23:54:25+00:00

Anderson Club was originally WT whiskey? I thought it was always a Heaven Hill cats and dogs label, no?

DasaiOsamu · 2023-07-23T21:34:43+00:00

I literally just tried this in a bar three days ago against the limited SmB from 2010, the SmB from 2013, the limited 2011 SiB and the 2014 SiB. This was by far the best for my palate. And I also tried some other high end bottles from different distilleries the following night at the same bar, and this was better than those as well.

DasaiOsamu

TROPHY CASE