About a week after emailing my contact back a package arrived containing what looked liked two bottles of perfume. Then I looked more closely and realized it was the bourbon I had been promised! And at that moment I realized that after threes years of bourbon reviews, over 100,000 unique visitors, and 300,000 page views…I had finally gotten something out of building this website.

Setting aside my excitement at this monumental occasion, I decided to keep the bottles around until the right occasion. That occasion turned out to be my brother coming to visit with his very first girlfriend. We were meeting her and her sister out and decided to start our evening with a little bourbon from our new friends at Angel’s Envy.

From there I will let my brother take over:

Comes at us with an interesting twist: it is aged in a port barrel. That was enough to peek my interest. Yet…yet I was skeptical. It is a skepticism that comes to any change in a proven method.

The Pour :
This may be the second most important criteria for evaluating a good bourbon bar. Are they stingy with their liquor? Fortunately, for The Remington, the answer is no. The serve the bourbon in a fairly standard highball glass, and fill consistently to the half inch mark. However, we found that when ordering either on the rocks or with water the amount of liquid in the glass was the same. In other words: Always order on the rocks and if you need water ask for a separate glass.

The Environment :
The Remington definitely caters to an older wealthy crowd. The valet area is a mix of German luxury sedans, Porches, and super exotics (i.e. Bentley’s, Rolls, and silly sports cars). Inside, you are going to see a great deal of wood and leather. It all smells of rich mahogany. There is only one main bar, but it stretches across the entire main room. On a Friday night it is full of rich men in their fifties and sixties, and a women of assorted ages (21-80+). There are also tables and couches away from the bar with plush seating that make for both a comfortable seat and good people watching. If you are lucky/unfortunate (depending upon your perspective) expect to see a great deal of making out and second base type relations. I suspect more than one room at the attached hotel has been booked over the years by the bar’s patrons.

The Final Verdict:
The Remington at the St. Regis is a great place to drink bourbon in Houston. On a weekend the crowd has a real energy to it, the pours are generous, and the selection is more than adequate. The only disappointment I had was with our waitress who had no idea what kind of bourbon they had and the glares our group consistently received all night from old men who seemed to be worried we would dance with their wives. I will simply consider that a compliment.

Bars with a human skeleton riding a motorcycle on top of their bar are a good place to drink bourbon.

Confirming the rule is the Twisted Spoke in Chicago. They bill themselves as the neighborhood “family biker bar” but it seems to be only for families with no kids in them…just the way we like our bars (“Really you brought your kid to a bar?”). Selection is no problem as there are 40-50 different choices and our waiter had decent recall. What really sets this place apart though is the uniqueness: a pressurized keg of bourbon on tap (Jim Beam when we were there), Saturday night porn screenings (we were not there for this but heard it is a good time to go), and a signature dish called “smut and eggs.” This place is not for everyone (particularly women seem to avoid it), but go any way (Wednesday is the best night to try bourbon since they are half price).

Location:
Chicago, Illinois

I headed over to the bar to take a look. More of a scotch selection than anything else. Finally I spotted something called Old Charter. That sounded like a bourbon since a good rule of thumb in naming bourbons is to choose any word and add “old” in front. On delivery everyone asked what I had chosen. I said, “something I never heard of called ‘Old Charter.’” That resulted in several of these baby boomers nearly spitting Yellow Tail merlot out their nose. Apparently Old Charter is a classic bourbon they had been drinking all their life, and I was an idiot for not knowing anything about it.

Here is what I found out. These people knew what they were talking about. Literally this is a classically styled bourbon. I found it to be very fruity with significant amounts of caramel and charring. The alcohol is a manageable 90 proof that for me did not require anything but ice to easily enjoy.

Overall I say this is a terrific bourbon. A poor man’s Woodford in some ways. Pick it up for less than $12 a bottle, but make sure you never suggest to someone over 50 years old that you never heard of it.

Address:

2348 Wisconsin Avenue

Washington, D.C.

I’m not going to lie that smells like pure gasoline.

Those are the words that go through your head when you pull the wax off the top of a bottle of Booker’s. I guess I should have known to expect a stout bourbon when the guy working the cash register at the bottle store said I better buy some bottled water to go with it. 
Some background info is in order. I bought the Booker’s because I am from a town called Booker. Hopefully they are marketing this stuff to more than just people from my hometown who think the novelty is just too good to pass up, even at $55 a bottle.

Packaging:

As you can see in the picture, it is rather plain looking. Apparently they used some sophisticated computers to make the label look hand written as though you might believe that these bottles are in such limited supply that someone hand wrote everything out. I might have been fooled, but I don’t think anyone could write on the curve of a bottle that good. I must admit, I like the wood box it comes in. Some how it seems like if you spend over $50 on a bottle of bourbon they should include a box. Since I was giving this to my buddy as a graduation present, it made it easier to wrap.

Taste:

The taste is very bold. So much so it almost burns your lips. I can’t imagine trying to drink this without water. I have never spoken to anyone who has either. Or at least that enjoyed it that way. Its over 120 proof, and you feel every bit of it. Apparently this is “uncut” and not in a Jewish way, but rather they stuck a spout in the barrel, poured it in to the bottle, and stuck a wax top on it. 
I love this. Hands down my favorite bourbon. Several of us here at the the Review, consider Booker’s to be the measure for all other bourbons. Since it is such a pure form of bourbon it makes for a good measuring stick. Most of the taste is at a particular extreme. Still, someone with the right amount of water it manages to be both oaky and sweet at the same time. In my mind, this is the perfect bourbon.

I’m not going to lie that smells like pure gasoline.

Those are the words that go through your head when you pull the wax off the top of a bottle of Booker’s. I guess I should have known to expect a stout bourbon when the guy working the cash register at the bottle store said I better buy some bottled water to go with it. 
Some background info is in order. I bought the Booker’s because I am from a town called Booker. Hopefully they are marketing this stuff to more than just people from my hometown who think the novelty is just too good to pass up, even at $55 a bottle.

Packaging:

As you can see in the picture, it is rather plain looking. Apparently they used some sophisticated computers to make the label look hand written as though you might believe that these bottles are in such limited supply that someone hand wrote everything out. I might have been fooled, but I don’t think anyone could write on the curve of a bottle that good. I must admit, I like the wood box it comes in. Some how it seems like if you spend over $50 on a bottle of bourbon they should include a box. Since I was giving this to my buddy as a graduation present, it made it easier to wrap.

Taste:

The taste is very bold. So much so it almost burns your lips. I can’t imagine trying to drink this without water. I have never spoken to anyone who has either. Or at least that enjoyed it that way. Its over 120 proof, and you feel every bit of it. Apparently this is “uncut” and not in a Jewish way, but rather they stuck a spout in the barrel, poured it in to the bottle, and stuck a wax top on it. 
I love this. Hands down my favorite bourbon. Several of us here at the the Review, consider Booker’s to be the measure for all other bourbons. Since it is such a pure form of bourbon it makes for a good measuring stick. Most of the taste is at a particular extreme. Still, someone with the right amount of water it manages to be both oaky and sweet at the same time. In my mind, this is the perfect bourbon.

Packaging: This is part of the problem. Don’t create a bunch of fancy packaging unless you are going to blow my doors off. For example, Louis XIII comes in a crystal bottle, and a fancy box. Why? Because it is will pin your fucking ears back with a serious alcohol experience. Evan Williams Single Barrel comes in a special box, is marketed by the year it was made like it was a special bottle of Opus One, and at the end of the day it it pretty good but not any better than Evan Williams’ $8 green label. That is not really a complaint about the Single Barrel as much as it is a compliment to the quality and value of the Green Label.

Taste: Since both bottles taste the same I have combined the reviews into one. These are both on the sweet side. Not nearly the quality of a quality small batch bourbon. You can taste the tannins so to speak. Neither one of these is going to inspire a note to the master distiller telling him how impressive he was. But at the end of the day, this is a good quality sipping whiskey. Faint hints of oak. To me this is every bit as good as the Jack Daniel’s it is trying so hard to emulate. Jack makes much better small batch bourbons than Evan Williams, but the Evan Williams is hands down better for the value than the No. 7 sour mash.
One note to add, make sure you mix this thing with plenty of water or coke or whatever you prefer. The day I was moving out of my house, after watching a Spurs playoff game, a buddy and I arrived back at my empty place. Poured giant glasses of this stuff, took about 3 sips, and promptly passed out. However, when I woke up, I distinctly recall thinking “man I should have put more water in that thing.” Luckily I had not spilled the drink during my sleep and was able to have it for breakfast.

Final Rating: Since I have to take price in to consideration the Evan Williams Green Label get a 71 since it only cost about $8 and the Single Barrel which cost about $25 gets a 35.

Packaging: This is part of the problem. Don’t create a bunch of fancy packaging unless you are going to blow my doors off. For example, Louis XIII comes in a crystal bottle, and a fancy box. Why? Because it is will pin your fucking ears back with a serious alcohol experience. Evan Williams Single Barrel comes in a special box, is marketed by the year it was made like it was a special bottle of Opus One, and at the end of the day it it pretty good but not any better than Evan Williams’ $8 green label. That is not really a complaint about the Single Barrel as much as it is a compliment to the quality and value of the Green Label.

Taste: Since both bottles taste the same I have combined the reviews into one. These are both on the sweet side. Not nearly the quality of a quality small batch bourbon. You can taste the tannins so to speak. Neither one of these is going to inspire a note to the master distiller telling him how impressive he was. But at the end of the day, this is a good quality sipping whiskey. Faint hints of oak. To me this is every bit as good as the Jack Daniel’s it is trying so hard to emulate. Jack makes much better small batch bourbons than Evan Williams, but the Evan Williams is hands down better for the value than the No. 7 sour mash.
One note to add, make sure you mix this thing with plenty of water or coke or whatever you prefer. The day I was moving out of my house, after watching a Spurs playoff game, a buddy and I arrived back at my empty place. Poured giant glasses of this stuff, took about 3 sips, and promptly passed out. However, when I woke up, I distinctly recall thinking “man I should have put more water in that thing.” Luckily I had not spilled the drink during my sleep and was able to have it for breakfast.

Final Rating: Since I have to take price in to consideration the Evan Williams Green Label get a 71 since it only cost about $8 and the Single Barrel which cost about $25 gets a 35.