What Do You Do While Self Isolating?
In our case, while hunkered down in Kelowna for six weeks, we have your own happy hour and discuss our day. We usually work until about 6pm, make a beverage and go sit on the patio until the sun goes down. Friday happy hour at the Ciecko ‘house’ is Old Fashioned’s (OK, we’ll admit, sometimes we have them on Saturday too). Luckily back in December we mastered our versions of the perfect Old Fashioned. You can read the step by step details here.

The Best Old Fashioneds
Last weekend, while sipping our favourite Friday beverage we started debating which Bourbon makes the best Old Fashioned. There are a large variety of options you can choose from when making and Old Fashioned, although the options are a little more limited in Canada than in the United States (and the prices are certainly a lot cheaper down South).

We’ve had the opportunity to tour a number of Bourbon distilleries during our last four years of location independent travel. The best Bourbon tastings are in Kentucky. This makes sense since 95% of the world’s Bourbon is made there. The City of Louisville itself has many tasting rooms and endless opportunities to enjoy a Bourbon flight. Our favourite tour so far has been at Old Forester. You can read that blog here.

Here are the results of last weekend’s Bourbon debate:

Jeff’s Favourite Bourbons:

  1. Gentleman Jack Whiskey Bourbon – Jack Daniels. The Bourbon matures in white Oak and is put through a layer of charcoal twice. It is an upscale Bourbon in price and has great flavour. We save this one for special occasions.
  2. 1870 Original Batch Bourbon – Old Forester. This Bourbon is very rich and smooth with the taste caramel and brown sugar. It is also on the higher end of the price range and more difficult to find in Canada.
  3. Bulleit Bourbon – Kirin Brewing Company. This is one of my go to Bourbons. It’s generally easy to find and at the cheaper end of price range for Bourbon. It has a heavier Rye content which appeals to me.
  4. Woodford Reserve Straight Bourbon Whiskey – Brown-Forman Corporation. The Reserve is a very smooth Bourbon with a rich taste. However, it is about in the middle of the price points for a good Bourbon.
  5. Maker’s Mark Whiskey Bourbon – Beam Suntory. Maker’s Mark is a fairly well know Bourbon. It is produced mostly with wheat vs. rye, which is probably why it is at the bottom of my list. Like Bulleit, it is an affordable and very drinkable Bourbon.

Tara’s Favourite Bourbon’s:

Tara’s list is the same just in a different order:

  1. Jack Daniels, Gentleman Jack
  2. Old Forester, 1870 Original Batch
  3. Woodford Reserve Straight
  4. Maker’s Mark Whiskey
  5. Bulleit Bourbon

We have also tried varieties from Jim Beam, Four Roses, Wild Turkey, Bardstown and Evan Williams but the specific Bourbons we tried from these distillers did not make our top 5.

What’s Your Favourite?

We, Jeff and Tara Ciecko of CK Golf write two blogs, one is our 19th Hole Blog where we share personal experiences and the other an Industry Blog where we comment on general business and internet marketing best practices, sales strategies and give golf industry related opinions. We have owned CK Golf  for 12 years and provide business services to the golf and other industries. As of July 31, 2016 our life and our business became ‘location independent’. Our 19th Hole Blog is about the places we visit and the things we do. If you have any questions or comments, or happen to be in the same location as us please reach out and contact us anytime.

Related Posts