3rd Annual Bourbon Bash and Three New Barrel Picks
Bourbon Bash: Next Friday April 19 at CB18 Bar and Grill from 5:30-8:30 we will be having our 3rd Annual Bourbon Bash! We are teaming up with Jeff O’Hara (Cocksby90), the Letterman’s Association, and The Garnet Trust to bring everyone a fun Friday evening before the Garnet and Black game the following day. Everyone will leave with a commemorative Glencairn whiskey glass which will also be used to taste 4-5 of our private barrel selections. If you haven’t tasted any of them, this will be the perfect opportunity to do so while listening to some live music. The Letterman’s association will be enjoying themselves with us and who knows how many Gamecock Legend’s will show up to shake hands with fans and watch the USC-Arkansas baseball game on the big screen. Coach Beamer decided to make a half hour to 45 min showing last year, and we couldn’t have been more flattered or appreciative of him for stopping by.
We will be having a raffle with tons of giveaways as well. Each person who purchases a ticket to the Bourbon Bash will get 1 raffle ticket and so far we have some pretty incredible things to give away. You can get your tickets at (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-spring-game-bourbon-bash-tickets-879726815587)
Barrel Selections: Starting today, The Gamecock Bourbon Society has 2 barrels arriving at Green’s on Assembly St in Columbia with a very limited number of bottles per barrel; both around 100 bottles. I couldn’t be more excited that these are finally being offered to y’all as they are both exceptional whiskies not often (if at all) found in South Carolina. I love allocated whiskies as much as the next person, but we all know when we’ve tried a relatively unheard of craft whiskey from a distillery that blows you away with flavor. These two barrels are both offered at Cask Strength and haven’t been diluted with any limestone water. Let’s break it down:
Broad Branch 7 ½ yr: This is the Hazmat bourbon we selected last fall, and it blew us away (G.C., his wife Kyle, and myself) with how rich and flavorful it is. It would hold up with any of the heavy hitting hazmat’s across the nation today. I personally tasted in next to Buffalo Trace Antique Collection’s William Larue Weller and the Broad Branch was a clear winner for me; but the profiles are much different. Do you prefer sweet and fruity, or leather and tobacco with a slight malty finish? I was lucky to be gifted a bottle and have shared it with 10+ people…all had great reviews of the quality, and all will be buying a bottle. Go back and read my article on Hazmat whiskey and the Broad Branch experience (https://gamecockbourbon.com/2023/12/18/whiskey-journey-what-is-hazmat-whiskey/). This bottle clocks in at 144 proof and is a no doubt about it “Buy a backup bottle” whiskey for me personally. There may never be another Hazmat barrel offered to the Gamecock Bourbon Society. Just look at the color difference between our pick and two other AMAZING bottles from Broad Branch.
Driftless Glen 8 yr Rye “The Palmetto Cut”: We went in expecting to pick a bourbon, yet all 3 ryes we had to choose from were better than every bourbon (6 total). We selected this after a round at Palmetto Golf Club (1892) with a couple of “celebrities”. Gamecock great and former MLB player, Grayson Greiner, and the head Golf Proffesional at the world famous Palmetto Golf Club, Brooks Blackburn. This will be the least expensive bottle that we have selected as well and will be sold for $63. I cannot stress how good this Rye is for the price point. We were drinking Stagg Jr. on the course before this tasting, and all of us enjoyed the change from high proof oaky bourbon to the fruity and lighter rye on a hot day. If you appreciate the craft distillery approach with sourcing local grains based on terroir and climate, this is it. Don’t forget: Rye is the flavoring grain in a bourbon. When you get a high rye mash bill, you get an extremely flavor packed whiskey. Cheers!
Maker’s Mark “Sweet Carolina”: (this is reserve only and you will be emailed when its ready for pick-up) It’s an incredible private selection with a stave profile that almost mimics the distillery only release “Ice Cream Social”. I sipped on this at lunch the day we selected our private barrel, and immediately knew I wanted something just like it for the group. It’s delicious. We appropriately named this bottle “Sweet Carolina” as it smells, tastes, and finishes sweeter due to our stave selection. So proud to offer the Gamecock Bourbon Society a barrel from the distillery that is run by a Gamecock Alum.
To understand a Maker’s Mark Private Selection pick means you know there are literally hundreds if not thousands of ways to change the flavor of a typical Maker’s Mark barrel. They have different staves (types of wood) that alter the flavor profile after another 3-6 months of aging. Our profile that we chose is:
2 - Baked American Pure 2
3 - Seared French Cuvee
2 - Maker’s Mark 46
1 - Roasted French Mendiant
2 - Toasted French Spice
We have plenty of this available, but no home for it just yet.
*Disclaimer for those new to the group: The Gamecock Bourbon Society, or anyone affiliated, does not and legally cannot make money off of whiskey sales. These picks are sold to the retailer and every transaction is done through them and their legal license to sell liquor in SC.
Future of the Barrel Program: Sometimes you must publicly admit when you make a mistake, and today is one of those days. When we announced our first barrel, Knob Creek “Under a Carolina Rye”, we sold 150 bottles in 2 weeks. We thought that there was a large demand for unique private selections amongst our Bourbon Society, and we set a plan to select some of the best whiskies we could find and bring them to SC for everyone to enjoy last fall and this spring. We selected an ultra-premium bottle in Blue Run, a local and 100% Red Corn bourbon in High Wire Jimmy Red, a name appropriate 8 yr bourbon in Chicken Cock Whiskey, and an affordable yet incredibly delicious bourbon in Yellowstone. Not one of those barrels has sold out, and some have been available for nearly 6 months (with 3 that need to be delivered).
I’m taking the blame for over saturating our group. It’s completely my fault for assuming each barrel would sell like the first, and I have stressed to the moon and back about it. Green’s has put up a lot of money to bring these barrels in for us, and I would love and appreciate it if your next bourbon purchase (personal or gift) would be one of our private group picks or through word of mouth to your friends. I can assure you that the quality of each pick we have is top notch, and each bottle is purposefully different than the other.
Moving forward, if we can get these barrels sold by the end of the year, we are going to select no more than 3 barrels per year and I plan on having a party or get together to enjoy the release together. This group was founded to get people who love the Gamecocks and Bourbon in the same place and meet new people with a like mind. It’s time we get back to that, and we can put an express lane on it with y’all helping to spread the word about these great bottles being available at Green’s in Columbia. Unless 6 or more bottles are reserved in Myrtle Beach or Greenville, the bottles will be picked up in Columbia. If 6 or more bottles are requested to be reserved in the other locations, Green’s will happily get those on the next truck and make them available closer to you.
I want these barrel releases to be exciting and not stressful. I want to include more of our members when we go to taste barrels. I want the releases of these bottles to be as exciting as any bottle you buy that year, and for you to have a place to come enjoy it with other members who like to support our barrel program. I hope to see some of you at our Bourbon Bash on Friday where I will formally announce our 2nd Annual Golf Tournament planned for June 29!