cowdery wrote:This is also a bit of whispering campaign started by competition. Somebody said it to me recently. Like most good lies it is just true enough to be useful.
It's also true that Woodford and Old Forester share the same recipe, i.e., the same mash bill and yeast. The portion of Woodford that is distilled at the Brown-Forman Distillery isn't distilled separately as Woodford. Some of each batch of Old Forester white dog goes into the Shively warehouses and some portion goes into the Versailles warehouses. (Although it may still spend its first couple of years in Shively. They try to pick only honey barrels to finish aging at Woodford.) Every bottle of Woodford except the Master's Collection contains some whiskey from each distillery, though the proportions vary batch to batch. When they restored Woodford they set out to make the spirit made there taste as close to the Old Forester new make as possible.
Early Times, in contrast, is not the same recipe. It has a different mash bill and yeast. So, of course, does Jack Daniel's, but it's also entirely made at the distillery in Tennessee.
For my novice palet, OF is about as good as there is. A guy here at work is watching his cash and has dropped down to Early TImes, and says it isn't as good. But I haven't bothered to try ET just yet, I know it's the Kentucky Derby mint julip bourbon which is pretty good bragging rights. I'll drink the JD at dad's house but I won't buy it because I'm from KY!!