New Trombone Parts

New to the herd...  A complete Shires Bell section.

Specifics:
-Traditional rotors.  Not my favorite, but surprisingly open and nimble.
-BII 7YM Screw Bell. Feels pretty stout, unlacquered.  Has a nice vibrancy and solidity.
-C drawn Tuning Slide.  I only briefly played a B, and never back-to-back so I cannot really comment.

Overall a nice sounding, solid and full bass trombone with my Edwards Dual-Bore Orchestral Weight slide.  I'll have to try this with my Standard Bach slide, but I'm thinking this will be the winner.  The valves aren't as open as my Thayers (duh.), but they have plenty of punch down low and only are a hair slower responding.  That is really picking nits, but it is enough that I do have to think about it when sliding around down there.  I wasn't planning on this being a horn that I had... the valve section came on a trade.  I tried to move it, but not very hard.  This flare and tuning slide just came up as an opportunity that was too good to pass up.  I may eventually sell the entire bell section, but it will be a good horn to blow for a while as I re-work my dual thayer Bach.

Cheers,
Andy

George T. Stagg 2014

Huge, big nose.  Can't contain itself to the glass.  For the high proof, surprisingly little alcohol.  I find I have to be careful with most whiskies not to just blow my nose away with the alcohol and sneak up to get the hidden vapors.  Not this guy, smells like there is a big ball of caramel taffy sitting on top of the liquid. Caramel, taffy, cotton candy, vanilla, honey... Name your sugar and it is sitting right there.  I'm not a huge nose guy, but just sniffing this stuff is almost enough to leave you happy.  On drinking, all those big sugar flavors take a full frontal assault on your tongue.  Straight over the front and top it engages everything.  And it is hot.  Tingly through the whole mouth, even with the tiniest of sip.  Here is the odd part for me... I experience zero burn from it.  All that heat does not translate into a burn.  Just a rich peppery-ness to pair with the abundance of sweet richness in all of those caramel and vanilla flavors.  Either by itself would be way too much and would make you want to gag. But together, man they are locked arm in arm and taking full command of your mouth.  You will have no other tastes before them.  Nor after them.  The finish is long.  Like get your stopwatch out and amuse yourself for just how long it lasts. It is truly ridiculous.

How I'm drinking: tiny pours, savoring every last drop. Heck, I'll be licking my glass now.

Value? Ha. Yeah right.  Would I buy it again? Yup. Bought the first and only bottle I was offered at my local haunt.  I've purchased BTAC from them before, but usually the Handy.  I like the Handy, it is tasty.  But this is in another world, man. I'm on the in now with my local place.  I hope to stay there.  This is probably the best bottle I've ever purchased. Over the Van Winkles that I used to get before the crazy increase, above the Handy or Sazerac.  My all-time favorite is probably either the PHC promise of Hope or a W.L. Weller from a few years back. I've had some Stagg before during a sampling and at a WhiskyFest, but this is my first bottle.  Granted, I don't hunt.  I didn't even ask for this when it was offered.  I was however, buying another bottle of the PHC wheat, mainly because they still had it and it is darned good, but you might already know that.

Parker's Heritage Collection 2014 Wheat Whiskey

Nose: burnt sugars, a little cough syrup, fresh baked bread. Even though this is a wheat whisky, I find the fresh bread to be really interesting.

Taste: spicy and warm, with lots of interesting spices.  Some peppers, but not a normal ground black pepper.  Maybe more of a Chinese type ground white pepper.  Some slight anise and cardamom. I don't notice any cloves and cinnamon notes are way to the back.  While very similar to most whisky profiles, it feels like an inverse look at all the spice flavors with everything shown like a photographic negative.  Extremely recognizable, but still foreign.  Interestingly, I feel like this (along with last year's release) really benefits from breathing a little bit.  The nose gets a nicer, softer feel to it. The heat becomes more fierce, more intense.  The sweets become more luscious and candy like, forming a nice thick rope of toffee and caramel, still rolled in that interesting spice drop mixture. To me this seems to change more than a lot of others.  Most often, I'll pour a glass of something and sip on it over more than an hour.  After a half hour of air time, I don't notice a lot of change in most drinks.  This is about the time the window seems to open for the PHC for me.

Back to my normal rattling on, the finish is the nice long finish you would expect at this price point.  Gently balanced with a pleasant oakiness that lasts for as long as you are willing to pay attention to it.

Overall, I was very surprised by this.  I don't like Bernheim Wheat.  Kinda hate it, to be honest.  I've kept trying it at tastings over the last 6-8 years, but it has never been interesting to me.  I always think, 'that would be a great mixer.'  This extra age has immensely helped.  As always, a nice bit of work by the Heaven Hill gang.  My initial thought on this one was that it was clearly a high quality product with a lot of interesting flavors.. I just wasn't sure if I liked it.  After about a third of the bottle down, I'm in love with the stuff.  There is far less left now.  Great flavors, great balance, delivered with just enough subtlety and fire.