Vox Nihili posted:Rye has a super unique flavor profile relative to other whiskeys, which sometimes taste... basically mildy sweet plus whatever flavor the barrel(s) impart. The classic rye notes are herbaceous, minty, and garlicky. Typically this is covered up and sweetened to some extent by the large amount of corn also present in most rye whiskeys (if it doesn't say 90%, 95%, or 100% rye on the label, its probably a 51% rye mashbill, so around half corn). To me, rye whiskey has almost a dill flavor.
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# ? Sep 13, 2018 13:10 |
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# ? Apr 20, 2024 16:57 |
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chitoryu12 posted:To me, rye whiskey has almost a dill flavor. I’ve only heard Whiskey Vault dudes describe anise / fennel / dill notes in rye and I feel like that’s only because they associate the word rye with dill rye bread. I do not get dill from rye whiskey in general, and maaaaybe there is a faint hint of it in Bulleit Rye and other MGP stuff. TobinHatesYou fucked around with this message at 13:46 on Sep 13, 2018 |
# ? Sep 13, 2018 13:41 |
TobinHatesYou posted:I’ve only heard Whiskey Vault dudes describe anise / fennel / dill notes in rye and I feel like that’s only because they associate the word rye with dill rye bread. I do not get dill from rye whiskey in general, and maaaaybe there is a faint hint of it in Bulleit Rye and other MGP stuff. I've gotten it in any rye that wasn't in a cocktail, from Bulleit to WhistlePig 10 year.
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# ? Sep 13, 2018 17:05 |
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General Emergency posted:Bulleit Rye is 95% rye too and that is easy to find (at least here). The same recipe is made by the MGP distillery for a ton of whiskeys. For some reason I found it pretty tame but comparing it to the Bulleit Bourbon might be interesting since that also has a pretty high rye content (28%). Yeah, Bulleit Rye is a decent 4-year MGP rye, especially when accounting for price and availability. Probably the best way to try it.
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# ? Sep 13, 2018 17:10 |
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chitoryu12 posted:I've gotten it in any rye that wasn't in a cocktail, from Bulleit to WhistlePig 10 year. I've noticed a mellow dill/fennel (not anise though) thing in the few ryes I've tried too, so it's not just you.
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# ? Sep 13, 2018 18:20 |
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Anyone tried a NEAT glass? Recently replaced a broken glencairn and noticed this thing exists.
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# ? Sep 13, 2018 18:21 |
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Where do you guys get good glencairn glasses on a budget?
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# ? Sep 13, 2018 19:39 |
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sadus posted:Anyone tried a NEAT glass? Recently replaced a broken glencairn and noticed this thing exists. I'm pretty sure there are bunch of videos of people spilling their drink while trying to drink out of those glasses. I believe they are also supposed to be quite fragile.
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# ? Sep 13, 2018 19:43 |
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Mandalay posted:Where do you guys get good glencairn glasses on a budget? I got mine from Amazon. I got a set of 4 for $30, but there are lots of different set available.
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# ? Sep 13, 2018 19:48 |
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Mandalay posted:Where do you guys get good glencairn glasses on a budget? Steal them from bars
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# ? Sep 13, 2018 22:58 |
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sadus posted:Anyone tried a NEAT glass? Recently replaced a broken glencairn and noticed this thing exists. The "waterfalls onto palate" feature sounds extremely bad.
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# ? Sep 13, 2018 23:11 |
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I got mine from a random liquor store manager who was sharing his Macallan No 3 on a street corner at night.
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# ? Sep 13, 2018 23:35 |
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Mandalay posted:Where do you guys get good glencairn glasses on a budget? Sometimes the little gift sets have a decent scotch at the regular bottled price plus two glencairn glasses. I got some branded ones that way. But I bought a half dozen plain and a pitcher forever ago.
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# ? Sep 14, 2018 01:47 |
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Vox Nihili posted:The "waterfalls onto palate" feature sounds extremely bad. I love being drowned by my whiskey.
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# ? Sep 14, 2018 03:03 |
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My recent go to has been McKenna Henry — drat tasty stuff at 100 proof, aged 10 years, at the $30 price point. I don’t think I’ve found a better deal yet
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# ? Sep 14, 2018 06:02 |
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Internet Explorer posted:I love being drowned by my whiskey. Is it still technically waterboarding, if the whisky is above 50% ABV?
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# ? Sep 14, 2018 11:47 |
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GlobalMegaCorp posted:My recent go to has been McKenna Henry — drat tasty stuff at 100 proof, aged 10 years, at the $30 price point. I don’t think I’ve found a better deal yet It's fantastic and a real steal. Except it won some award and now I can't find it anywhere. I was also into the Knob Creek Single Barrel for a while, then suddenly the price went up almost 20% overnight. Enigma fucked around with this message at 13:15 on Sep 14, 2018 |
# ? Sep 14, 2018 13:13 |
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GlobalMegaCorp posted:My recent go to has been McKenna Henry — drat tasty stuff at 100 proof, aged 10 years, at the $30 price point. I don’t think I’ve found a better deal yet Yeah it's a good deal even with the price bumps and slide in availability. Theres a decent amount of variance, too, I had one bottle of McKenna with a very unique dry cedar flavor.
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# ? Sep 14, 2018 23:33 |
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Finally found a bottle of Mellow Corn, had some over a large cube. Calling it "viscous" would be going slightly too far, but wow that has some mouthfeel.
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# ? Sep 15, 2018 06:28 |
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sadus posted:Anyone tried a NEAT glass? Recently replaced a broken glencairn and noticed this thing exists. Looks like a spittoon.
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# ? Sep 16, 2018 23:27 |
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I think they peed into those on Deadwood
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# ? Sep 16, 2018 23:33 |
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Y'all said I could talk about sherry here, so I'm going to do: Valdespino Don Gonzalo VOS Oloroso tastes like magic and happiness and everyone owes it to themselves to try some.
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# ? Sep 17, 2018 03:40 |
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PT6A posted:Y'all said I could talk about sherry here, so I'm going to do: Where is that on the dry - sweet | light - dark | rest of the flavour spectrum? I like a good sherry once in a while, but I don't know much about 'em. I think I've mostly had manzanillas and amontillados, and I liked the drier or more acidic ones with nutty or apricoty notes.
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# ? Sep 17, 2018 04:39 |
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Oloroso is dry and nutty iirc.
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# ? Sep 17, 2018 07:04 |
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I had a Hakushu Rye whisky last week. Tasted like beetroot.
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# ? Sep 17, 2018 12:00 |
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Hauki posted:Where is that on the dry - sweet | light - dark | rest of the flavour spectrum? Good questions! It was dry, quite dark, and the flavour profile was solidly in the nutty/earthy end of the spectrum, although there were hints of preserved fruit, spices and vanilla. Let's talk about the main categories of sherry: fino/manzanilla, amontillado, oloroso and palo cortado. By the laws of the regulator, these are all dry sherries with less than 5g of residual sugar per litre, and they differ in how they are aged. These sherries all start as wine produced from a grape variety called Palomino, which is a very neutral-tasting grape of very little interest beyond sherry production. The base wines are fermented to full dryness, meaning there's either no sugar, or very little sugar, left. Fino sherries are the most lightly fortified, typically up to around 15%. This allows a protective layer of yeast, called flor, to develop in the barrels, protecting the wine from oxidation to a significant degree. Thus, finos are the lightest in colour, highest in acidity, and typically have flavours that tend more toward the fruitier/floral end of the spectrum. Manzanilla is a subcategory that is aged in Sanlucar de Barrameda instead of Jerez. These wines are typically quite high in acid. Amontillado sherry starts out in the same way, but after a certain amount of time either the protective layer of yeast dies off, or it's intentionally killed by additional fortification, so the biologic aging ends and oxidative aging begins. In any event, additional fortification, usually to around 17-18% must occur in order to protect the wine, since now it's exposed to oxygen. Because you have the two separate aging processes, you can end up getting a really complex wine that's balanced between oxidative flavours (leather, nuts, earth, spice, coffee) and typical biological flavours (floral, fruity). This also means it ends up getting darker than a fino. It tends to be less acidic than fino, but still noticeably acidic. Oloroso is initially fortified to a much higher level right off -- usually around 20% -- and is aged purely oxidatively, so you get a richer sherry that's more like a traditional aged spirit in terms of flavour profile, and they tend to be quite dark. The acidity is less pronounced than any of the other categories, and it has a rich mouthfeel. Palo cortado is a weird bastard child of sherry and if you ask three people what it is, you'll probably get four answers. From what I've heard from multiple sources, I would explain it like this: sometimes, historically, a fino-destined sherry cask would undergo spontaneous flor-death due to variations in the wine, variations in the climate, etc. at which point it would be fortified to oloroso-levels and aged oxidatively. If this sounds very similar to amontillado, you're not crazy, but I believe the distinctions are: a higher level of fortification, and a shorter amount of time aged under flor. Typically, these are richer than amontillados but still have some of the aromas associated with finos. Although these wines used to occur by accident, apparently most sherry bodegas have identified the factors that will cause them to occur. Now let's talk about sweet sherry: sweet sherries are produced from two other grapes: Pedro Ximenez and Moscatel. These grapes are typically dried out in the sun to concentrate the sugars, and then fermented directly. These wines have between 200-500g of sugar per litre, so fermentation is slow as balls and there's no way that the sugars will ever be fully fermented. They are incredibly sweet, basically like syrup. Age can bring out complexity, but it's definitely always a dessert wine, and not for the faint of heart. So what about medium-dry, cream and all those categories? Well, those are typically a blend of an oloroso sherry with a sweet sherry to cut the syrup-like nature of the sweet sherry. In cheaper versions, the oloroso will be sweetened directly with grape must. Some are definitely higher quality than others, usually reflecting the quality of the base wines and the time spent aging after the addition of the sweet wine (to allow better integration of the flavours) but all in all, they are not my cup of tea so I don't have much experience with them. One property of note is that these wines are different from port wines, in which the sugars exist in the wine because fermentation is stopped with fortification before the sugars have fully fermented. What does this mean for the whisky drinker? Well, if you want to start drinking sherry, and you already enjoy drinking whisky, I would start with oloroso, since it will have the most similar flavour profile. If you're trying to introduce sherry to someone who loves wine, I would typically start them with a manzanilla or fino -- indeed, if you hide the bottle, you can often fool people into thinking it's a normal white wine, especially now that high-alcohol wines are popular and common. It also means that you should pay attention to what kind of sherry casks your whisky was aged in -- a whisky aged in PX casks is going to have a much more pronounced sweetness than one aged in oloroso casks, for example. Hopefully I haven't got too much incorrect here and I haven't bored you all to death! PT6A fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Sep 17, 2018 |
# ? Sep 17, 2018 15:15 |
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Awesome round up! Thank you, my sherry knowledge is sorely lacking and that has surely helped
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# ? Sep 19, 2018 11:22 |
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drat did I have a nice time in Dublin with anything whiskey related. The whiskey museum is especially nice, given that it has a more, shall we say "non-partisan" attitude towards the tastings. Our tour guide also asked us to give them a five-star rating and mention her name (and if we couldn't, just say "the one that looks like Maisie Williams") Teeling and Jameson weren't bad, either. I took the €60 tour at Jameson, and it was just a small tasting and mixing class which ended with drinking a glass pulled straight from the barrel. Not sure if I recommend it for the price, but I don't regret it.
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# ? Sep 20, 2018 14:00 |
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What was your favorite??? I was a big fan of powers. From the bottom tier gold all the way up to the John Lane and 3 swallows releases.
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# ? Sep 20, 2018 22:24 |
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For 60 euros it better have been amazing
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# ? Sep 20, 2018 23:11 |
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I loved the museum tour when I took it in the spring, and hanging out at the bar there. The guide we had has great (and legit told me I was a fool for liking the Glendalouch Double Barrel more than Powers Special Reserve, but that he didn't "particularly like any of the tour whiskies"). The bar before and after was the best part though. Being the only 2 people that brought a drink along for the tour, and the only 2 that had drinks after the tour was kinda weird, but most of the tour patrons were from Germany, where fun is banned. The bartender that day was REALLLLLLY jazzed about recent and upcoming releases. We had a great chat about some barrel finishes and he gave me some recommendations on stuff to try and a few "upgraded samples" on the flights we ordered(I think I forgot to post here about my whopping 48 hours in Dublin in May ). They had like 45 different bottles available for tasting and do flights with FULL loving POURS. I got the feeling that they get a lot of people that think all Irish whiskey is a whisky for shots and mixed drinks only. If you're in Dublin, hit the museum.
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# ? Sep 21, 2018 09:55 |
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I did the blending experience. It was p cool. I think we were ready to go eat after though so didn't get to hit the bar . Also yes John Lane Powers was super awesome and I got it duty free which made it cheaper than I've ever seen it. I had forgotten how much I like Irish whiskey until I went to Ireland. Prices are always higher than bourbon so I fell out of love for a while.
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# ? Sep 21, 2018 13:23 |
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Finally found a bottle of Blantons at the local store. Excited to see if it lives up to my friends high praise.
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# ? Sep 26, 2018 05:43 |
I picked up a bottle of Town Branch bourbon on impulse at a store in Miami over the weekend. It didn't have a price tag, but I just threw it in because I'd never heard of it. Turned out to be $44. The taste reminded me of when I was reading later that day about 19th century whiskey wholesalers and how they cheated customers out of quality bourbon by mixing neutral grain spirit with flavorings, acid, and lanolin. This bourbon was so disgusting that I didn't bother finishing the glass and I've saved the rest of the bottle to give to people as a joke.
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# ? Sep 26, 2018 13:48 |
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chitoryu12 posted:I picked up a bottle of Town Branch bourbon on impulse at a store in Miami over the weekend. It didn't have a price tag, but I just threw it in because I'd never heard of it. Turned out to be $44. Totally agreed. Just awful stuff. The guy at my usual store recommended it to my wife as a present for me and I’m still salty about it.
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# ? Sep 26, 2018 14:10 |
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Skar posted:Finally found a bottle of Blantons at the local store. Excited to see if it lives up to my friends high praise. I've always found Blantons to be better after it's about half empty and oxidized for a bit. So if you're not too impressed give it some time after you've had a few glasses.
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# ? Sep 26, 2018 18:27 |
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chitoryu12 posted:I picked up a bottle of Town Branch bourbon on impulse at a store in Miami over the weekend. It didn't have a price tag, but I just threw it in because I'd never heard of it. Turned out to be $44. Welcome to the craft bourbon experience, where you too can pay $40 for a fancy-looking bottle of $9 bourbon.
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# ? Sep 26, 2018 18:44 |
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Vox Nihili posted:Welcome to the craft bourbon experience, where you too can pay $40 for a fancy-looking bottle of $9 bourbon. see also: craft beer and really any other ‘craft’ spirit, I’ve had some awfulass gins that were $50/bottle fake edit: I’m just inherently skeptical of any new distilleries because time and experience are invaluable for that sort of thing
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# ? Sep 26, 2018 19:26 |
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S.W.O.R.D. Agent posted:I've always found Blantons to be better after it's about half empty and oxidized for a bit. So if you're not too impressed give it some time after you've had a few glasses. Will do, thanks!
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# ? Sep 26, 2018 19:58 |
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# ? Apr 20, 2024 16:57 |
Vox Nihili posted:Welcome to the craft bourbon experience, where you too can pay $40 for a fancy-looking bottle of $9 bourbon. This wasn’t even $9 bourbon. Old Crow, Evan Williams, and Jack Daniels are all worlds ahead. This was the first bourbon that was actively gross and tasted like it had gone bad in the bottle.
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# ? Sep 26, 2018 20:04 |