Trade- Up Tuesday - Part 18 - The Final Chapter

What better way to close out this 10 month project than to watch it all come full-circle? That’s right, the last trade I made was not a “trade-up” but rather one that completed an exciting journey. The final trade was an Ezra 7 Year for a JTS Brown. This wasn’t as much of a favor as it was closure to a fun time.

Through this project, I was able to interact and personally meet a lot of great people. I’m a people person so chatting for a long time about a passion / hobby we love is always exciting to me. I like to think this project served as an ice-breaker to a few folks who were reluctant to make trades because they “didn’t even know where to start”. As I said, 10 months of trades is quite a lot to manage. But it was my mission to stroll through the journey and show you how a single bottle of JTS Brown turned into a small collection.

Thank you all for following along and engaging with me during this. I made it

a point not to mention the folks I traded with and that seemed to work out well. With the exception of a comment or two on some of the threads, it seemed to go without much disrespect or negativity. I just kept pushing the idea of a “bigger picture” mentality.

If you would like to read about each trade, you can check out each segm

ent broken down here on my website under Reviews and then Projects.

Cheers and thanks for Trading Up with me!

🥃📖🥃

Bushwood Spirits - Long Ball Single Barrel - Review

The Details

Bushwood Spirits Long Ball

Premium Straight Kentucky Bourbon

Black Label

Single Barrel

NAS (No Age Statement)

Bushwood Spirits - Stanford, Kentucky

Distilled in Kentucky

100 Proof

Mashbill: Undisclosed

Price: ~$80

Poured Neat in a Copita nosing glass - Click Here to order

Appearance: Gold

Nose: Light Fruits, Vanilla, Baking Spices, Earthy and a scent of Honey

Palate: Crisp Green Apple, Warm Caramel, a touch of Vanilla and Cinnamon

Finish: Sweet, Medium Finish met with a very light spice.

Overall: This was my first time trying anything from Bushwood Spirits. They were kind enough to reach out and send me this bottle to see what I thought with no strings attached. I'm happy to report, no mulligans were needed and it's quite delicious. The bottle design lures you in. As a golf fanatic, I am drawn directly to the crystal golf ball topper. The labeling on the bottle is also very aesthetically pleasing to look at as the wording seems to pop off the background.

So, let's tee it off and talk a little about the bourbon. The nose meets you with light fruits and the baking spices we all love. I get a scent of honey and just the right amount of an earthy "funk" like when I duff my wedge a few yards from the green. The palate follows suit with the light fruits and bring forward a crisp green apple tone. If I'm going to be serious, this reminds me of going to the fair and enjoying a warm caramel apple (without the nuts). Add a sprinkle of cinnamon to that treat and you might as well just stick me on the ferris wheel. The finish is very well rounded with a sweet medium finish and a nice viscosity which had me smacking my lips a few times in anticipation for another sip.

A lot of times, companies will try to get creative and market something with shiny packaging and a product that just isn't quite there yet as far as age, taste and overall complexity. That's not the case here. Long Ball Black Label is a gimmie in my opinion. Now, if I can just keep it in the fairway...

Library Rating: 8.1 / 10

Trade-Up Tuesday - Part 17

I’m a little bummed out that this will be my next to last post for this project. On the flip-side, this was a monster trade in my opinion. I honestly didn’t see this coming. A friend simply reached out to me and asked if I was still trading up and if the bottle of Old Overholt 11 year Rye was still available. With a little hesitation, I said yes. That hesitation was because I was reluctant to trade that away. Yeah, I wanted it for my personal collection and came close to popping the top on a few occasions. Well, I’m happy to report I did not. After hearing a few options, one really stuck out to me and I knew this trade was happening in some form or another. But we both agreed it was too one sided so I started offering up other bottles I had amassed in the Trade-Up inventory. The following blockbuster was the result:

Old Overholt 11 Year Rye & Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered Batch 120 for a Kentucky Owl 11 Year Rye Batch 2.

This trade worked for both of us and it really put this entire project into perspective.

Only one week left in this Trade-Up Tuesday. Stay tuned!

🥃📖🥃