June 14th is National Bourbon Day in the USA (with investment tips)

My bourbon days ended more than 10 years ago, but now we rum drinkers can all thank the skyrocketing bourbon market for providing Caribbean distillers with lots of used bourbon barrels to age our rum in. Only the single malt scotch market uses more of these barrels. Tequila falls behind rum in needing these barrels. Many years ago, the coopers union in bourbon country cleverly convinced everyone that it is "unsanitary" to use a barrel more than once. Used barrels are sent off to California to be refurbished and then sent wherever the need is greatest.Many old favorites in the bourbon market are either now unavailable or the price has gone through the roof. It was well known circa 2010 that Old Weller Antique 107 was considered to be Pappy Van Winkle Junior. The Weller bourbon was the same mash bill and only about $20 back then. It now runs about $100 list price. My only bottle of Pappy that I ever had was a 15 Year Old for about $75 back then. List price is now about $350, and I have seen it going for as much as $2000. This is insane, but certain bourbons like these are even more of an investment opportunity than certain rums like Caroni and Black Tot.So what did I do on this National Bourbon Day? I have always hated rye whiskey and preferred wheated bourbons like the Wellers. Since they are downright scare, I went to my old standby that is affordable and readily available, a small 200 ml bottle of Maker's Mark. That used to be my everyday sipper back then. Now sipping it neat, give me back my rum!!!!

Personally, I like both (some) rum and (most) bourbon. Bourbon is just much more consistent in style. While prices for some of the stuff are insane now, there is a lot of very affordable, excellent bourbon to be found. In fact, I have yet to encounter a truly bad bourbon. With whisky and rum there is no shortage of bad stuff. So, after all, bourbon is excellent (for me) for drinking. No idea about and no interest in investment. Good budget bourbons for me are Evan Williams black, all the cheaper Jim Beams, the stuff from Lidl (especially the 5 and 6 year old), and Pennypacker. But then... I even found the various obscure bourbons from the various discount supermarkets drinkable.Interestingly, I would not rate Makers Mark among my favourite cheap bourbons. It is a bit bland and a bit too hot for my taste.

rumtrinker: Be careful with bourbons and whiskey, since they are made from grain, which is full of gluten. My health problems began about 10 years ago in my bourbon phase. Since switching to gluten free rum, my health has improved tremendously. I am not allergic to gluten, but something needs to be said for gluten free products like rum and tequila.

I enjoy gluten a lot. Especially in the form of seitan, which is basically pure gluten and extremely tasty when cooked right. Sorry for being a bit blunt, but the gluten scare is total woowoo with zero support from science. Guten is totally unproblematic for people who are not allergic to it. It is unlikely that there are any health benefits to any sort of hard liquor. Rum is made from sugar, which is probably the substance whose abuse leads to the most health problems, right after tobacco and possibly alcohol. While this is irrelevant, since the sugar gets broken down much during fermentation, most rum does contain levels of sugar. That does not make rum a problem. It merely should caution us against abuse. Plus whisky is probably a tiny bit less unhealthy than sweetened rum, due to containing no sugar. But again - irrelevant, since the real health danger at hand in hard liquor is alcohol, not sugar.The next days after going to bed hot over here. Time for rum and ginger beer. And bourbon on ice :)

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June 14th is National Bourbon Day in the USA (with investment tips)

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