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Kenning posted:Fine. It's got a rich, pot-barrel texture reminiscent warm gelatin. I was just ribbing you, I got your meaning but you have to admit the olive oil thing was a little funny.
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# ? Mar 2, 2014 02:25 |
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# ? Mar 29, 2024 14:09 |
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Next week is my booze buying week for the month and I need help in two areas. 1: Drinking America day. I plan to drink a lot of bourbon and be so American that a bald eagle lands on my penis. All bourbons must be under 30 dollars for 750ml. I'm thinking WT101, OGD 100, and Buffalo Trace. 2: A friend is organizing a scotch tasting. I need to bring two scotches. One will be Caol Ila 12 or Talisker 10. Then I need one that is sweet but with a smoke note that is detectable but not dominant. Advice?
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# ? Mar 2, 2014 10:38 |
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rxcowboy posted:Next week is my booze buying week for the month and I need help in two areas. I'd suggest Glen Ord but turns out it's no longer bottled. Highland Park then.
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# ? Mar 2, 2014 11:06 |
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Seconding the recommendation for Highland Park. Old Grand Dad 114 is less than $30 here and is so American that it will certainly cause at least one eagle to land on your penis. Please don't ask me how I know.
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# ? Mar 2, 2014 11:23 |
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Dalwhinnie has whisps of smoke, but it's grassy and less sweet. A fairly light whisky overall. Springbank and even Hazelburn have a bit of smoke as well. I still see independent bottlings of Glen Ord around from Signatory, but they're really basic refill hogshead affairs. Not terribly spectacular, but the distillate is very good.
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# ? Mar 2, 2014 12:49 |
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kidsafe posted:I still see independent bottlings of Glen Ord around from Signatory, but they're really basic refill hogshead affairs. Not terribly spectacular, but the distillate is very good. Yeah I had the square bottle OB a number of years ago and I enjoyed it. Turns out they stopped bottling it in '08. drat shame.
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# ? Mar 2, 2014 13:30 |
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IIRC, Glen Ord is bottled under the Singleton namesake for Asian markets. Something to look out for when traveling I guess...
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# ? Mar 2, 2014 17:00 |
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wormil posted:You need to work on your similes
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# ? Mar 3, 2014 01:15 |
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Picked up a bottle of Compass Box Great Kings Street Artists Blend today. The good news is that it's the best blend I've ever had. The bad news is that the price in Maryland at least means I will never but it again. I paid 35 for a bottle. I paid 39 for Highland Park 12. It's good but just not priced to compete. Nose: Grain forward. Sweet. Some light fruits and baking spices. Palate: Thin body. A bit of an astringent alcohol tingle. Sweet entry, not much evolution in the mouth. Vanilla, sugar, cereal grains. And....that's all folks. Finish: Sweet, a little oak, some sugar cookie type spices and gone in about 30 seconds. It's a good blend, it's smooth and easy drinking. It would be a great first scotch for people that don't like scotch. The problem is IMHO blends exist to deliver a palatable product at a competitive price point. It fails on that, HP12 is five dollars more Glenlivet 12 is two dollars less. There is really no point to have this in my collection. It's nice but I can get single malts for the same price.
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# ? Mar 3, 2014 02:54 |
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Above Our Own posted:Scotch taste notes are the worst offenders. In this thread I've seen various scotches described as tasting like burnt rubber, swampy, or decaying vegetable matter. But when it comes to Islay scotches, those are actual notes...
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# ? Mar 3, 2014 02:59 |
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Sweaty is my personal favourite absurd yet astoundingly accurate description. The courier finally came by. I opened Hedonism immediately and am now enjoying its vanilla creme, popcorn kettle and bordello perfume riot nose.
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# ? Mar 3, 2014 17:52 |
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Please review Hedonism ASAP, it's on sale for 65 US right now so I'm debating pulling the trigger. Had something odd happen today. Went in to get a bottle if Talisker 10. While there I noticed the price of Laphroig 10 jumped seven dollars since last month and HP 12 and Glenlivet 12 both went up 2 dollars. Anyone else see price jumps lately?
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# ? Mar 3, 2014 21:55 |
rxcowboy posted:Next week is my booze buying week for the month and I need help in two areas. Seconding the upgrade to OGD 114.
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# ? Mar 4, 2014 02:35 |
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Kenning posted:Seconding the upgrade to OGD 114. Getting a bottle on Fri, found it for 21 bucks.
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# ? Mar 4, 2014 04:22 |
No loving way. If you're not mistaken (are you sure it's the 114?) then that is an incredible bargain.
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# ? Mar 4, 2014 08:24 |
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Kenning posted:No loving way. If you're not mistaken (are you sure it's the 114?) then that is an incredible bargain. Yep. 21.49, OGD 114, 750ml. I get some pretty good loving deals on booze. Had the bottle in hand but couldn't afford that and the Talisker today so I'm going back on Friday
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# ? Mar 4, 2014 08:30 |
You are truly blessed. Where do you live with prices like that?
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# ? Mar 4, 2014 09:45 |
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Kenning posted:You are truly blessed. Where do you live with prices like that? Essex, Maryland. Right outside of Baltimore. The liquor prices are truly the only highlight here.
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# ? Mar 4, 2014 10:36 |
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rxcowboy posted:Please review Hedonism ASAP, it's on sale for 65 US right now so I'm debating pulling the trigger. Vanilla. Creamy vanilla by the pound. Then some grainish popcorn oil hint (stays oily, doesn't tend into that fresh popcorn + butter smell I've found in older grains), and a bouquet of perfume notes so present they probably turn off anyone who dislikes perfume notes in whisky. Neapolitan wafers. Canned peach juice. Roasted peanut? The alcohol note smells like taking a whiff from an eau de toilette bottle, heavily tempered with a floral note. Not one bit of smoke. I remembered this smelling grainier and less perfumed when I tried it at the local annual whisky fair, but maybe the nose develops after being open for a time? On the tongue much like on the nose with a bit of blackpepper burn as a bonus. The juice aroma is in the mouth a shade lighter than the peach nose promised, either diluted or tending towards pear. In the aftertaste a nectarine tail, surprisingly light, sweet and airy compared to what the heavy vanilla would suggest. At a first glance I'm of two minds about this: I do like it although I'm not as impressed as I was at the fair, and that unless the grain note I thought I found there previously starts to develop I will not be purchasing a second bottle. Not because it's bad though, that would be the wrong conclusion, but instead because I was in the market for something more... inside-a-once-used-popcorn-kettle type of aroma I've found in many Scotch grains, and Hedonism as I have it now is apparently not in that niche. As a final touch I find the blackpepper note in the nose too, at the meeting point of the corn smell and the perfume. Hedonism in total is well put together. No issues with the mouthfeel or general structure, doesn't betray its age, has a bouquet of aromas that fit each other and form a consistent whole, but it could maybe use a bit more oomph somewhere else than in the vanilla register. It's apparently first-fill american oak so that's where most of this comes from. It does suit a grain better than it would suit some malt with heavier character, I think, but some more spiciness or wineyness or something to liven it up wouldn't have done it wrong. A teaspoon of water seems to crack the vanilla/perfume dominance, making it a bit more woody and as such better. Repeats confirm this impression. Neat gives some tinned peach backwash in the aftertaste. Whether you think this is a solid buy for $65 depends on what else $65 can get you wherever you're located. Deleuzionist fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Mar 4, 2014 |
# ? Mar 4, 2014 13:09 |
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Kenning posted:You are truly blessed. Where do you live with prices like that? It floats between $22 and $25 at the Burke Center store in NoVA. It's so good but the sweetness gives me a headache. The wife got me some Booker's for my birthday. drat that's good stuff.
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# ? Mar 5, 2014 03:09 |
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So I've been getting into Scotch and so far have gotten through a bottle of Laphroaig 10 (love it), Ardbeg 10 (like it a lot, not as much as L10), and Laphroaig QC (favorite). I wanted to branch out into non-Islay scotches so I picked up a bottle of Highland Park 12. I love the nutty raisiny vanilla nose and spicy peppery smokey woody finish but the middle has this strong kind of sour quality to it that really turns me off. It's almost like vomit and it kind of turns my stomach. I didn't get it immediately on my first sip but after two or three it was impossible to ignore. Am I the only one experiencing this? Is it something that I ate beforehand that just clashes with it (I had chicken apple sausage, winter squash, noodles, and cole slaw)? Based on the nose and the finish I really want to love it and I'm kind of disappointed that I bought a whole bottle. Is what I'm experiencing typical of a certain kind of Scotch?
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# ? Mar 5, 2014 03:57 |
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Wojcigitty posted:So I've been getting into Scotch and so far have gotten through a bottle of Laphroaig 10 (love it), Ardbeg 10 (like it a lot, not as much as L10), and Laphroaig QC (favorite). I can offer no further insight other than vomit (or baby sick as Richard Paterson calls it) is a real scotch note, and both my wife and I picked it up on Highland Park 12. I happened to like HP 12, but my wife hated it, specifically due to the vomit note.
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# ? Mar 5, 2014 13:25 |
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Deleuzionist posted:Compass Box Hedonism, impressions on the first 8cl. Sounds amazing, sadly it is $99 locally.
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# ? Mar 5, 2014 16:42 |
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S.W.O.R.D. Agent posted:I can offer no further insight other than vomit (or baby sick as Richard Paterson calls it) is a real scotch note, and both my wife and I picked it up on Highland Park 12. I happened to like HP 12, but my wife hated it, specifically due to the vomit note.
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# ? Mar 5, 2014 16:55 |
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S.W.O.R.D. Agent posted:I can offer no further insight other than vomit (or baby sick as Richard Paterson calls it) is a real scotch note, and both my wife and I picked it up on Highland Park 12. I happened to like HP 12, but my wife hated it, specifically due to the vomit note. Deleuzionist posted:I'll confirm this as well. I haven't picked it up in HP12 but I remember the otherwise nice Bruichladdich Laddie Ten having this bile-like aroma that popped out every now and then to ruin my fun, and I've found a few other tasting notes (a small minority) that describe that same smell in that product. I assume some noses are more astute in picking up that note and consider it offensive whereas others pass it by or detect it as something less offensive. Thanks for letting me know that I'm not taking crazy pills here. I'll see if it mellows out at all after sitting open for a little while, or maybe I'll acquire the taste for it. When I was getting into beer I had previously had a few bad nights with cheap beer () and it really turned me off, so that the only stuff I liked was IPA's or stouts because the hops/roasted malt completely dominated the yeast. After a while getting into Belgians and heffe's I lost the aversion to that yeast flavor and it doesn't bother me at all any more. So maybe I'll come around to this. If not then I'll probably give this away and stick with my Islay's unless I can taste before I buy. It's very frustrating because I can find no reviews/tasting notes that really indicate this unless I go out of my way and google "Highland Park 12 tasting notes vomit" or something. And when they do pick it up, it's just in passing. For me it's like 30% of what I taste. i own every Bionicle fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Mar 5, 2014 |
# ? Mar 5, 2014 16:57 |
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Balvenie 12 Single Barrel 47,8% Pretty nice Balvenie although it's got vanilla and pear that aren't so unique. It's saved by the popcorn oil/hand lotion tones that give it a bit of personality. Otherwise good for the price but there's a bit of a booze note hitting you at the tail end even when cut with quite a bit of water. Sweetness, not exactly banana but some tropical fruit rather than honey, sugar or citrus. Wonderful taste for a 12yo, fresh yet having some fattiness in the body as well - not slicky tasteless oiliness but rather an impression of running butter hiding somewhere within it. The smell of a yet-unused microwave popcorn pack. The vanilla here is woodier and fattier than the creamy, perfume vanilla of the Hedonism I just wrote about. There's a bit of mustard here as well. Balvenie 15 Single Barrel 47,8% Compared side to side with the 12 the first impression is that the 12 is more buttery. Both of these smell wonderfully full. I find it hard to describe how the butteriness of the 12 matures but I guess something close to the smell of gingerbread dough mixed with spiced red wine could do. Also cardboard, tandoori, cocoa powder, cloves. On the tongue a body that has integrated all of its components astoundingly well for what is supposed to be a single barrel. Some pepperiness but mostly just rich wine and berry gum notes without sherry sweetness, and some breadiness in the aftertaste. Delicious. Balvenie 21 Portwood 40% I've had this one a couple of times already but let's see how it is like at home. I swear this is a case where what the finishing adds in the taste, it takes away in the nose which is positively neutral compared to the single barrels next to it. At 40% I don't dare give it a drop of water to wake it up lest it become not-whisky before first sip. Austere winey sweetness in the nose. No gummi candy like in dry sherry whiskies but just this even tone of diluted damp red wine. Nail polish remover, but just a hint. The finishing aroma is very prominent on top of everything else and the end product smells more sour than either of the single barrels next to it. Surprisingly present alcohol note at first which then bends into dry wine taste. It isn't bad at all but somehow seems mostly concentrated on one note as if the port cask is the one carrying the load here. I'll try adding a bit of water to see if that would break up the monotony. Coming back to it after trying the 12 and the 15 again I'm greeted with a heavy port wine smell. With water there's wood in the mouthfeel and taste. A slighlty stale, vinegarish alcohol note comes in but bows out just as it begins to annoy. The aftertaste dances first around with the cask wood taste but then bends back into the even portness that it was neat, but maybe a bit more tannic and persistent. I like this more now than on the previous times I've tried it but still feel that the 15yo single barrel gives much more bang for the buck being half the price of this one. With regards to this I feel a bit like I feel about Highland Park's current 21: appreciably different from their younger whiskies but not memorable enough to justify the price. Highland Park 25 45,8% The colour here is a little lighter than the comparatively darker 2006 edition, but quite beautiful still, a light copper or deep gold with reddish tint. Heather & other flora. Christmas cake smell left behind in empty glass. First time I would call a whisky 'gamey': something slightly salted-meats-like about it but not distinctive meatiness like I've found in Mortlach and Benriach. Wisp of smoke. A rich nose, sweet but not in a sodalike or honeyed way, more like a rich mead. A wood tone that hangs curiously just short from that slightly sour note that can appear in well aged whisky. This I think is quite a bit more sherried in character than the 2006 but a wonderful thing all told. I swear I'm not imagining things: this HP, the Ardbeg 1975 and the Port Askaig 25 all share this slightly sour woody note that I never found in younger whisky. It's remarkably similar slightly swampy damp wood in all three. Must confirm this by lining them up for a horizontal sometime. Cranberry, white chocolate, parmesan?, and that wonderful old wine cask wood again. Almond oil? The nose seems in total more dominated by sherrylike smells than heathery, peaty or smoky ones but they're all to be found there anyway. Now, I might have liked the 2006 25yo even more (at least I remember it besting a Port Ellen 6th that was in a glass next to it), but I have no complaints here, apart from the unlikelyness of being able to afford another bottle as HP seems intent on raising prices. (The 18yo is already a staggering £95 in their own webshop.) Even neat this taste works terrifically. It does rake the tongue a bit but the flowers (more like berry flowers or little wildflowers than something like roses or tulips or other usual perfume essences), the balanced juicy sherriness and the oily woody mouthfeel just take me away. The aftertaste is a bit hollow here though so a teaspoon or two of water may be in order. One spoonful later the raking on the tongue has abated almost completely, making way to a beautiful tannic feeling in the gums with a bit of peat burn tickle to it. It digs in everywhere now and stays. Despite being under 46% this benefits definitely from some water as a second spoonful confirms, the stuff being now peaty, barky velvet, a joyous juicy burst in the mouth, and a thoroughly satisfying experience. Considering this is what you can (or at least could) get for paltry £20 more than the 15-16yo hat rack editions (Thor, Loki, Freya), I see no point in investing in hat racks. This is what I wrote about the 2006 version when I tried a glass last year. Turns out the mention about dates and raisins not being prominent or much present at all despite the colour hinting to a sherry maturation is a bit off, as the reason for the sherry not being dominant in the nose or the taste or even the mouthfeel but very visible in the hue is not due to age but to the edition being a sherry/bourbon cask vatting. Indolent Bastard posted:Sounds amazing, sadly it is $99 locally. Deleuzionist fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Mar 8, 2014 |
# ? Mar 8, 2014 22:19 |
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Call me whatever you'd like, but is there anything similar to the taste of Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey? Not a fan of anything sweet, but I find JD to be delicious. Also, is there really that much of a difference from the Johnny Walker Red to the Black? I'm a pretty big fan of the Red already.
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# ? Mar 9, 2014 02:13 |
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Shif posted:Call me whatever you'd like, but is there anything similar to the taste of Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey? Not a fan of anything sweet, but I find JD to be delicious. Also, is there really that much of a difference from the Johnny Walker Red to the Black? I'm a pretty big fan of the Red already. I am from TN and we buy JD all the time. To give away. ;-)
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# ? Mar 9, 2014 02:58 |
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Makers of JD sure did get the formula right. Is it the ingredients or the process from beginning to end product that makes it so delicious?
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# ? Mar 9, 2014 03:09 |
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Wat?
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# ? Mar 9, 2014 07:42 |
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Shif posted:Call me whatever you'd like, but is there anything similar to the taste of Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey? Not a fan of anything sweet, but I find JD to be delicious. Also, is there really that much of a difference from the Johnny Walker Red to the Black? I'm a pretty big fan of the Red already. Shif posted:Makers of JD sure did get the formula right. Is it the ingredients or the process from beginning to end product that makes it so delicious? Nice troll.
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# ? Mar 9, 2014 08:56 |
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What are you getting at exactly?
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# ? Mar 9, 2014 09:15 |
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Shif posted:What are you getting at exactly? Might I interest you in some Old Crow or perhaps Cluny?
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# ? Mar 9, 2014 16:17 |
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Stultus Maximus posted:Might I interest you in some Old Crow or perhaps Cluny? Thank you, I'll have to check those out. Hope the px carries them, what can I expect out of them?
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# ? Mar 9, 2014 18:26 |
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If you want something that's similar whiskey to Jack you could try George Dickel, another Tennessee Whiskey that many say is better and goes through the same Lincoln County Process.
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# ? Mar 9, 2014 20:21 |
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I remember JD not being so bad as of the early 90's (I'm 45 - old and near death in goon years) but I tried it again a few months ago and it didn't taste anything like what I remember and seemed overly cloy and fake tasting. I think Jim Beam and especially Wild Turkey are leagues better than JD now and ^^ yeah Dickel for Tennessee whiskey. Still liking Elmer T. Lee and Four Roses Small Batch at around $30 as stand alone go-to's and Buelleit or Rittenhouse for mixing.
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# ? Mar 9, 2014 20:42 |
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How do you all prefer your drinks? I prepare mine straight and chilled (is there a term for that?). I've tried the stainless steel ice cubes but I wasn't a fan, maybe others have different opinions.
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# ? Mar 9, 2014 20:56 |
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Radio Nowhere posted:If you want something that's similar whiskey to Jack you could try George Dickel, another Tennessee Whiskey that many say is better and goes through the same Lincoln County Process. This, this, a thousand times this. Cheaper, more flavor, higher proof, better flavor development and no hysterical over branding.
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# ? Mar 9, 2014 20:57 |
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Shif posted:How do you all prefer your drinks? I prepare mine straight and chilled (is there a term for that?). I've tried the stainless steel ice cubes but I wasn't a fan, maybe others have different opinions. To be blunt you like the stuff you are drinking chilled is the chill minimizes the cheap alcohol burn and masks some of the harsh or unpleasant tastes associated with bad whisky/whiskey. If you like JD and Res, that's fine but they are consistently rated as bad for a reason. The good news is for the same money and maybe less you can get way better poo poo. Look for Wild Turkey, Old Grandad 100 proof, Buffalo Trace or Evan Williams Black Label. They are all cheap, common and easy to drink near at room temp. Don't be afraid to add a little water if you need to, it helps the flavors bloom.
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# ? Mar 9, 2014 21:07 |
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# ? Mar 29, 2024 14:09 |
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In the summer I'll freeze or ice bath a few small tumblers for whiskey or use the tiniest ice cube. I do the same thing when I sip an anejo tequila like 7 Leguas. Room and booze temps in the 80's just too hot for me.
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# ? Mar 9, 2014 21:17 |