Bourbon on the Rock: Buffalo Trace Meets Styx 'Paradise Theater'

Welcome to Bourbon on the Rock, where I'll feature a solid bourbon paired with a classic rock album. As always, I'll start with the bourbon. I never want to get to a place where I'm featuring impossible to get or rare bourbons but rather ones that are readily available in this area. I dream of the day I can feature a Pappy Van Winkle here but yeah...I'm not holding my breath on ever owning a bottle.

So here we go with Buffalo Trace. One of the finest "starter bourbons" I've ever had. It's a great bourbon for the price ($29). This is as fine as you'll ever find in this price range and the history is glorious going back over 200 years.

Bourbon on the Rock: Bib & Tucker Meets Led Zeppelin II

At 90 proof it surprisingly smooth on the front and the back. The nose will give you an immediate vanilla hit, a beautiful rye/caramel blend, with a woody hint.

Swirl the first taste around in your mouth for a moment and enjoy the aforementioned vanilla and wood. Can you detect the mint and peppercorn finish? The thing I like about Buffalo Trace is that I can find a different front spice every time I have a glass. And make it neat. Hold your glass up to the light and enjoy the deep copper color.

Now, put on the Styx album, Paradise Theater, and enjoy the tracks from side A to side B. I chose this album on Bourbon on the Rock because it was 40 years ago this week (January 19, 1981) that Styx released this masterpiece. You'll know the four songs that were released as singles, but don't gloss over the others. The songwriting duo of Dennis De Young and Tommy Shaw is too hard to pass up. They had such a feel for the orchestral that Paradise Theater was their fourth consecutive triple-platinum release.

Too Much Time on My Hands, The Best of Times, Rockin' the Paradise, Snowblind, and A.D. 1928 will leave you longing for the early 80s again.

On a very cool side note, Styx was on tour to support Paradise Theater when they held a concert at the Sioux Falls Arena on June 16, 1981.

Raise that Buffalo Trace and enjoy Styx on vinyl. Until next time, Cheers.