I had a somewhat productive day today. I was going to help my buddy move a couch and he called me up telling me the liquor store we were meeting at had 3 bottles of the Woodford Masters Pinot Noir finish. He bought one. I sprinted up there and they were sold out. I stopped at the 2 other stores locally with them and they had sold. Apparently the local Woodford rep ran around and bought every bottle he could. That is some fucking bullshit... Fortunately my good friend snagged a bottle. I also grabbed up 2 of the current gift packs, noted as the "Master Taster Collection". My wife broke both of my Woodford rock glasses I got 2 years ago on promotion. This year they offer some killer rock snifters, which are fucking perfect for my big fucking head. If you look behind the glass that is front and center, you will see a rather difficult to find "Agave in the raw" that I found after my 3rd stop... thanks to Sean, primarily, and I think Matt backed him up on this. Indeed, it is far simpler and does not alter the flavor of the base bourbon at all. It is definitely the method I will be using for my Old Fashioneds from here on out. To the far left front of the image you will see the Agnostura Orange Bitters that I use for this mix. I do find that I will be using slightly less Agave as it is already dissolved and the sugar is not. I will say we are closer to a .8/1 than a 1/1 sweetener/bitters as it were, to 2.5 Oz of 90+ bourbon. I am very happy right here, as we have the real base of the drink at the forefront with a slight hint of easy to deal with on the back of the tongue, thanks to the orange bitters and agave. Please, please, please bear in mind that I love a good whiskey on the rocks, with bourbon making my palate sing the most of the whiskeys. This is not a drink that kills the whiskey taste, rather a drink that adds a slight hint of an orange presence to it, with the sweetener neutralizing the bitterness the bitters introduces. My buddy who grabbed the Pinot Noir today (yes, I promise to do a review) has become, under my tutelage, a whiskey connoisseur. He started as an all sour drinker, but learned to enjoy the complexities of a good whiskey/rocks drink by playing with better aged, more complex whiskeys. His taste in whiskey has broadened tremendously, and his palate is better attuned then mine, as he has not polluted it with years of various "powerful" and complex drinks/smokes/foods. Since I told him about wanting to play with old fashioneds he has turned his nose up at the prospect.... I grabbed 2 of the Woodford gift packs today and we spent the day enjoying various Old Fashioned blends I have tried (the nearly empty bottle on the right was purchased on the way to his house, and as you can see there is 1/8 of the bottle left, at best) and I absorbed his opinion on them. We started with straight sugar in the raw and orange bitters, and went to the Agave in the raw/orange bitters fairly quickly. I left him with a bottle of the bitters and the Agave to enjoy his straight, less expensive bourbons with it. He is now a huge fan of the Old Fashioned... it is really a fantastic drink for a whiskey purist, IMO My favorite is slightly different than his. While it is all the same ingredients, it is slightly different in their proportions. Whiskey: Woodford Reserve, Agnostura Orange Bitters, and agave in the raw. Muddle (OK, mix) .8 tsp Agave in the Raw/ 1tsp orange Bitters. Drop in 3 medium ice cubes, and add 2.5Ozs of Woodford. Stir. Let sit for 5 minutes to allow for cooling and water distribution, and serve in small whiskey snifters. A rock glass is nice, but the Woodford Whiskey Snifters align the rim with my nose, allowing me to inhale the beautiful bouquet of a fairly complex bourbon. Breathe in though the nose while you intake the beverage to get the entire flavor profile on the bourbon. Next drink to play with is a bourbon Manhattan. I am not sure it will suit my palate as it does add outside influence to the drink, but I will try it. I do llike Old Fashioneds with brown sugar, so a Manhattan might suit me.