In this era of Whiskey, some bottles have become rather unattainable. About 10 years ago you used to be able to walk into a liquor store and grab a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle off the shelf.
More than a few of my friends did just this. As this bottle became more and more unattainable people started to look for creative ways to mimic the profile of this special Whiskey. What did they do to accomplish this? They looked for a similar whiskey profile and then blended their bourbons together. This recipe is known as Poor Man's Pappy.
What you do is you mix roughly 60% of the Weller 12 with 40% of the Weller Antique 107. Some people will slightly temper this with water but personally I do not feel that this is necessary. With this said this recipe is supposed to be a Poor Man's Pappy drink, and sadly Weller is no longer attainable or reasonably priced.
So lets talk about another option that make a similar mash bill and similar proof. Makers Mark is known as a wheated Whiskey as is Pappy Van Winkle. So this second recipe will utilize some bottles that are more attainable and much easier on the wallet. This recipe has been called a few different names such as "Poorer Man's Pappy, Very Poor Man's Pappy, and Broke Grandad (my favorite).
My take on this combination is its enjoyable, but it does lack a complexity. To fix this issue I like to put my blend together and add some toasted White oak cubes or chips to the blend and age it for a week or longer. Be careful to not add to much wood because a little can go a long way. The recipe is 65% Makers Mark Cask Strength and 35% Larceny.
These tend to be some fun experiments that help people to figure out what specifically they enjoy about their drinks. Where I tend to blend my Whiskeys is when I find a bottle that does not particularly hit my pallet the way I was expecting, I may take that bottle and blend it with something else that will complement its profile. I do believe that there is not bad whiskey, it may just not be my taste preference.
Have you tried blending Whiskey? What are some recipes that you may suggest?