Four Bourbon, Three Watch, and One Cheer
The Original Bourbon Club of New Orleans (TOBC), French Quarter Chapter, hosted its quarterly blind tasting inside the Canal Place Shopping Center at the foot of Canal Street.
TOBC chapter President Ed Shedlock assisted by serving four top-shelf wheated bourbons at the gathering. Guests placed poker chips in the buckets in front of their favorite numbered whiskeys to determine a winner.
The labels shrouded in numeric secrecy being poured were Larceny 1870 Small Batch, Weller Antique 107, Castle & Key Small Batch, and Backyard Bourbon—a popular local bourbon distilled at The Backyard Restaurant in New Orleans' Lakeview neighborhood. The tasting was designed to have guests unaware of the brands and to see which of the brown spirits would take home the bacon. Each were poured from the same bottle style with only numbers to identify which of the bourbons would prevail.
The event was hosted in Canal Place's Grand Seiko watch store, along with its two adjoining retail spaces belonging to Tag and Breitling watches. Beyond the tasting choices, Tag also offered complimentary bourbon pours, including the nationally elusive Dark Arts Whiskey House, which kept participants flowing through the luxury watch displays in the three connected spaces.
