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revmoo posted:I just want to say I really enjoy the occasional bourbon and coke and I don't see anything wrong with it. Usually the best I'll use is Maker's, but I've been known to mix some Knob Creek Single Barrel with coke. gently caress the haters. I'd just like to say, I don't agree with your use of those fine bourbons, but I will defend your right to defile them for your own enjoyment.
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Apr 15, 2012 20:03
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NightConqueror posted:Cracking this baby open tonight. Heard some good stuff about it, and for the price ($28), you really can't go wrong. If anything I love bourbon because quality stuff is so much more accessible for a cheaper price than Scotch. Definitely my favorite every day drinking bourbon. Cheaper than most single barrel bourbons and just as tasty.
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Apr 27, 2012 05:16
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Jo3sh posted:Chivas Regal has to sit all alone in the corner. You forgot the part where it sits in its own loving chair. That is a massive bottle.
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Nov 30, 2012 00:00
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Senf posted:So I'm thinking about picking up a new Islay as a Christmas gift for a friend of mine and I'm looking for something similar to Ardbeg Uigeadail. Dude loves his peat and isn't into overly sweet whiskys (but appreciate some), so any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm trying to be a little more original than Ardbeg 10, though I may just grab a bottle of that and call it a day. Might enjoy the Lagavulin 12 year (cask strength) but like others said the Distiller's Edition may be a little fancier.
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Dec 5, 2012 15:28
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BirdOfPlay posted:Hope I'm not breaking up the Scotch talk with some plebeian, American whiskey discussion. White whiskies usually don't... taste a huge amount like their aged brethren in my opinion. You can tell that it has similar flavors, but a good portion of the time, white whiskies (esp white rye) remind me of blanco tequila and sometimes reposado tequila. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I just want to be clear that they are distinct. Son of Bourye from High West is a good example of this. Like others said, get him a nice aged rye. If you can find it Pappy 13yr rye is good as well as "Vintage Rye". If neither of those abound, Willet 6yr or 8yr, Michter's Rye, or Thomas H Handy Sazerac Rye (one of my favorites). White whiskies seem to be a fad of late simply because so many small distilleries are popping up that don't have aged product to throw on shelves and they need to make some monies. rufius fucked around with this message at 15:41 on Dec 5, 2012 |
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Dec 5, 2012 15:31
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two_beer_bishes posted:I'm going to Scotland in July with my wife to attend a wedding in Aberdeen but we'll be driving to Edinburgh and Glasgow with her dad to do some sightseeing. I love scotch and my wife enjoys it too so we're looking at some distilleries to visit. Unless you can make it out to Islay or Isle of Skye you won't be able to do as much of the peaty/smoky stuff. There's supposed to be a bar in Edinburgh with absurd offerings of scotch that date back pretty far. Name escapes me but I bet you could find it with like "famous scotch bar edinburgh <blah blah>". Maybe try to get out to Orkney to the Highland Park distillery? Their stuff is closer to the flavor profile you're talking about if memory serves.
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Dec 5, 2012 18:38
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kidsafe posted:Lagavulin 16yr is honestly a better whisky than either of those varieties. The 12yr Cask Strength tastes like it's been vatted from absolutely nothing but bourbon matured whisky. The PX finish on the DE is the elephant in the room. You get flavors of the standard Lagavulin 16 and then the PX afterward rather than a marriage of the two. I like the 12yr better than the DE but not better than the 16yr. Most of the scotch I drink anymore is Lagavulin but it is what it is. Regarding Orkney, I am an idiot. Dumb American, poor geography knowledge of that region. For some reason I had it in my head as being not ridiculously northwest of Edinburgh. Turns out what I was thinking of was Oban. Dammit.
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Dec 6, 2012 02:44
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Chuck Biscuits posted:I bought my first bottle of Laphroaig 10 yesterday and it's incredible. This is my first experience with a peaty single malt and I'm kind of afraid that I've opened a door that can never be closed. The first sip was kind of shocking but pretty soon I started noticing all sorts of other flavors besides the smoke. Ive always been more of a bourbon and rye drinker but this may be a game changer. If you like that, you should get yourself some Lagavulin 16. It is, by far, my favorite whisk(e)y. It's got a cognac/armagnac richness to it that I love. If I could marry it, I probably would though my fiance probably wouldn't like that...
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Feb 6, 2013 21:55
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rxcowboy posted:Is this thread appropriate to discuss bourbon? I hope so. My experience with bourbon has been pretty limited, before I did shots of JB when I was younger and drank Makers in soda, never straight though. Other good options for this include:
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Jun 17, 2013 00:40
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Inspector 34 posted:Is Bulleit Rye a good indication of what I can expect from the genre? I can't say I dislike it exactly, but I'm definitely not craving a 2nd glass the majority of the time. I expected a bit of spice but I'm mostly just picking up a whole lot of sweetness. I'm terrible at picking up on the nuances of the whiskeys I like, I just know I love all the smoky, peaty goodness I can get, and I prefer sweeter notes to be much more subdued. Briefly put, no Bulleit Rye is not a good representation of the genre. Bulleit is unique in that they use a lot more Rye in their mash bill than most (>90% IIRC). This is what will bring out that spiciness that you have compared to Fireball. Most of my experience with introducing people to Bulleit seems to be a 70/30 split where 70% love it and 30% couldn't care less about it. The Rye whiskies that I believe is probably most representative would be:
Ryes are only recently coming back into popularity (like last 10 years recent). For a long time, the only widely available product was Old Overholt Rye. It's not a bad Rye, but it doesn't really taste like Rye to me. Apparently after Jim Beam took over the product some 40-50 years ago (pulling numbers out of my rear end), they changed the mash bill in some meaningful way and it is now no longer as delicious as it used to be.
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Jun 17, 2013 15:38
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kidsafe posted:It's really hard to outright say a rye whiskey will be spicy based solely on its mashbill. Templeton Rye, like Bulleit Rye uses the same 95% rye recipe from LDI, but it is quite mild compared to most. Jefferson Straight Rye, which is 100% rye, is less spicy than most typical bourbons. I *think* but am not sure that Jefferson's gets its rye distillate from Alberta Distillers...likely the same as Whistlepig. I didn't realize that about Templeton. I find it to be a drinkable but unremarkable Rye personally... I haven't had Jefferson yet mostly because bartender friends keep steering me away from it. Regarding mashbill content, I should have stated that my observations are anecdotal, not necessarily factual.
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Jun 17, 2013 20:34
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Politicalrancor posted:I've really enjoyed Thomas Handy and Masterson Rye. It's interesting you group those since Handy is a very distinct American Rye and Masterson is a good Canadian Rye. Both are delicious.
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Jun 18, 2013 03:20
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Huxley posted:On a budget note, before I knew anything about anything, I somehow got into my head that Old Grand-dad was "drunk under a bridge" hobo whiskey and refused to try it. But since trying more and learning more, I picked up a bottle last night. I would say it compares favorably to 101, which isn't something I'll say about a lot of stuff (because I really like 101). Eh it wasn't a Beam product always. And unlike Old Overholt, Beam has largely left the OGD production alone.
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Jun 21, 2013 22:18
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rxcowboy posted:
You might look into Buffalo Trace Bourbon for something sweeter. Look into Old Granddad "Bottled in Bond" (100 proof) for some with some spice and a unique flavor for bourbon. Both are good value bourbons with great flavor.
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Jun 22, 2013 19:28
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Keyser S0ze posted:I'm nursing my bottle of Lag 16 and was bummed to see it now costs $74 (as well as Laphroaig 10 CS) at the Total Wine near me (Northern California). I need to just go in there, buy 5 different bottles of stuff I like, and not look at the total cost. Better than where I'm at (WA), bottles go for $100 here. I just order poo poo from NY now.
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Jun 28, 2013 23:13
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Cpt.Wacky posted:
I think this is where I got it last time. I can't seem to find the email from the order: http://www.brooklyncellars.com/
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Jun 29, 2013 07:31
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Glottis posted:It's available in many Northern CA Costcos for $55 right now Guess I need to ask one of my Groomsmen to bring up a bottle when he goes down there in a couple weeks. drat son.
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Jun 29, 2013 19:54
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NightConqueror posted:Japanese whisky is really cool stuff, and I'm happy to see it beginning to grow (albeit slowly) in the US. However, the price of even 12 year old spirit is sky high. Around me Nikka 12 Pure Malt runs for about $70 and Hibiki 12 is roughly the same. For that price I'm still tempted to lean toward comparably priced Scotches. At first, I was tempted to classify Japanese whiskies in the same boat as Scotch Whisky. Having had more time to drink more of both, I now find that I think of Japanese Whisky as a very distinct beast (versus Scotch Whisky). Mainly, the fact that the Japanese have focused on a sort of floral/fruitiness with malt flavors and I don't find as many Scotches focusing on that. The Japanese Whiskies are generally immediately obvious to me. The primary distinguishing characteristic is the "clean-ness" of the spirit. The Japanese are nothing if they aren't perfectionists. In that regard, they've made a spirit that for me is most distinctly characterized by being clean. The flavors are clear, no muddying, etc. If I were to equate it to one of the four classic elements, I'd compare it to water (think cold mountain spring water). Scotch Whisky on the other hand is complex and rich, but I find I tend to think of it less as a clean spirit and more of a fiery, rich spirit. If I were to equate it to one of the four classic elements, I'd compare it to fire (think camp fire). I've rambled a bit, but you get the point. I think it is a mistake to classify the two together. They each bring something to the table, never mind the very distinct variants withing Scotch itself (e.g. Islay, Skye, Highland, Speyside, etc.).
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Jul 3, 2013 18:09
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GunganRevenge posted:I don't really have a lot of money to blow on booze, but when I do try to pick up scotches, I try to pick up something at least okayish. Monkey Shoulder makes a good, decently priced scotch blend as well.
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Sep 22, 2013 02:50
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JewKiller 3000 posted:Good corn whiskey is labeled bourbon. Bad corn whiskey is labeled corn whiskey. While the sentiment may be true, the details leave something to be desired. Corn whiskey, by regulation, is a whiskey whose mashbill is at least 80% corn. It can be delicious but is most often not and is usually sold as "White Lightning" or moonshine. Bourbon, by regulation, is a whiskey whose mashbill is at least 51% corn. It can be delicious (see Pappy Van Winkle) or rubbish (see modern Old Crow).
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Oct 1, 2013 07:05
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rxcowboy posted:This is going to fly in the face of pretty much every review I've read of it, but I think Four Roses Single Barrel is very, very over rated. Completely agree. I can't drink the Four Roses products beyond Yellow Label because they mostly taste like a glass full of perfume to me. It's just not for me. My whiskey drinking friend loving loves the stuff but I just don't get it.
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Oct 1, 2013 18:02
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kidsafe posted:My friend insists Amrut smells perfumey as well, but it just seems to me like expectation rather than reality. He expects Amrut to smell like an attar stand in Bangalore and then he starts believing it does. Could it be your brain trying to make a correlation between the brand name and the scent of roses? Four Roses Single Barrel to me is dried orange peels and rye spice. It's possible (as anything is). I do a lot of beer/spirits tasting as a judge so I like to think I have a pretty decent palate... But everyone's taste buds are different so  To be clear, Four Roses makes a good product, I just don't enjoy drinking it. When weighing its flavours and so on, it ranks well from an objective stand point. It just gets low marks for enjoyability for me. That said, I tend toward darker, smokier, spicier flavours anyway so I'm probably what one might consider as hyper sensitive to the sorts of flavours in Bourbons on the whole. If I drink American whiskey, I'm almost always reaching for a bottle of Rittenhouse 99 times out of 100. My usual drink is more like Lagavulin 16 or Suntory's Yamazaki 18.
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Oct 3, 2013 18:08
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Was in Shot Bar Zoetrope (Shinjuku, Tokyo) the other night, probably the best Japanese Whisky bar in the world. Got to try the Suntory Yamazaki Mizunara cask (both 2011 & 2012). It's quite amazing and worth trying if you happen upon a place that has it. Note: you probably won't find it. Highly recommend this bar if you find yourself in Tokyo. You won't regret it.
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Oct 29, 2013 11:11
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So I'm just now at the Narita airport in Tokyo, waiting to go back to the US. It was my wife's and my honeymoon. We both love Japanese whisky. Here's the damage list with rough USD prices:
My wife is a good woman. The Nikka and Hakushu was her idea. EDIT: Engrish rufius fucked around with this message at 09:05 on Oct 31, 2013 |
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Oct 31, 2013 09:02
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Marshall Louis posted:Nice collection you have there. Please let me know what you think of the Hakushu 18yr when you open it! So I own about 30 bottles of whisky now. I've had the Hakushi 18yr before. It is my all time favourite whisky. Call it my desert island whisky. It's drat near impossible to find where I live in the US. It's got the balance of peat, leather, and fruit that keeps me exceptionally happy every time. That Memories of Karuizawa is also pretty boss. I had it at a bar. It's aged entirely in sherry casks and will never exist again. Karuizawa stopped distilling in 1999.
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Oct 31, 2013 09:10
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Marshall Louis posted:Do you mean they stopped distilling entirely, or just that specific offering? Stopped distilling entirely. A few private entities bought up their barrels and are releasing it over time. It's hard to find in Japan, which is where it's most abundant.
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Oct 31, 2013 18:43
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Cellophane S posted:I only recently tried Lagavulin 16 for the first time and I don't see how I can ever get a new favourite whisky after that. Just scrumptious, amazing flavour and aroma. If you do "find a new favourite", just know that you're wrong. Lagavulin 16 will still be there when you come to your senses. On a serious note, it's loving delicious and it is my favorite.
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Nov 28, 2013 17:17
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Cellophane S posted:Appropriate avatar! If I have to pick a second favourite, I will drink the poo poo out of Talisker.
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Nov 28, 2013 23:54
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Devoz posted:Any suggestions for anything I should add to my collection? I have my eye on a few Japanese whisky bottles. As a lover of Japanese whisky, I say get yourself a bottle of Yamazaki 12, Hakushu 12, or Nikka Taketsuru 17. These, when found, usually range around $50-$70 depending on how bad your state tries to gently caress you (if US).
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Nov 30, 2013 21:31
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rxcowboy posted:Where underneath, exactly? I'm having another glass and I'm just not getting it. Maybe I just have a lovely palate but compared to HP it's so boring. Do you add water? I'll try it with no water next. Adding water to Balvenie seems to detract more than aid in its flavour. It's a very delicate whisky. I generally never add water to Speysides unless they're cask proof. Remember that Balvenie is one of the most popular single malts for a reason. I think it has character, but it is a crowd pleaser. Islays are not, necessarily.
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Dec 9, 2013 17:24
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Furious Lobster posted:Any recommendations on good, peaty Japanese single malts? I'm always interested in trying different versions of scotch and after buying my year's supply of Lagavulin 16, I realized that I've been drinking the same thing for a while now. I'm a big fan of Islay with usual go-to's being the aforementioned Lagavulin and Laphroaig 1/4 Cask. The Japanese Whiskies tend to be more balanced than scotches on average. That isn't meant as a jab at either style, you just tend not to see extremes with the Japanese Whiskies. The only exception to "few extremes" is that they loving love to put whisky in Sherry casks. Not finish them in Sherry casks, they will put it in only Sherry casks for 14 years (e.g. Memories of Karuizawa 14/16). That said, I think Hakushu 12 and 18 both have a nice amount of peat with grassiness and a pleasant sweetness. The 18 yr and Lagavulin 16 are my two favourite Whiskies. The Hakushu 18 will be hard to find in the US for less than $200 (it sells duty free in JP for ~$150). The 12 yr can often be had for $60-$80.
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Dec 19, 2013 14:38
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Schpyder posted:Forty Creek is pretty good, yeah. There's also the fact that Canadian whisky, to my recollection, has no requirement about not adding GNS (Grain Neutral Spirit, aka vodka) to it. You make your flavouring whiskey then dumptank that with vodka and some coloring, barrel it, and you've got yourself some Canadian Whisky. Source Basically, my problem with Canadian whisky is that its requirements are "looks, tastes, and smells like Canadian whisky" to be called as such. Also it's a boring rear end product with nothing to offer to my "refined palate".
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Dec 22, 2013 14:24
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mojo1701a posted:I'm as patriotic as the next Canadian (not very), and I really have to admit that most of our whiskies are not good ones. We really do use them mostly for mixing in coke. Having said that, Forty Creek is decent, as is in my opinion Canadian Club Sherry Cask (probably because it's different than most of the stuff that we have). Someone, a few posts up mentioned Whistlepig which is Canadiaish made and that's a pretty delicious product. I have no quarrel with Canada, just the brown stuff they call whisky  . I will pick up a bottle of Forty Creek next time I'm in the store though since it's been mentioned a few times. I've heard good things about Masterson's. Isn't that Canadiaish?
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Dec 24, 2013 18:24
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biglads posted:Anyone having a nice dram this Christmas Eve? At the in-laws but I keep a bottle of Bulleit Rye here as a backup. Right now, having a beer but later I'll probably pour a couple fingers of the rye.
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Dec 25, 2013 00:14
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Marshall Louis posted:My wife ordered me to use up the last of our Taiwan dollars at the duty free shop before we came home. Picked up a bottle of Lagavulin 16 (~$75) and Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban (~$38) after trying a couple of small sips at 8:30 am. I am not sure if I made out on the prices, but scotch selection in Okinawa is fairly limited so... If you saw Kavalan, you would have been in for a treat. It's a Taiwanese whisky and quite delicious. The style is in the same vein as Japanese Whiskies. That said, that's not a bad price for Lagavulin 16. It's a little high but if you can get it for under $80, you're not getting completely screwed.
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Dec 25, 2013 14:47
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:I got a bottle of Stagg Jr for Christmas. Has anyone tried it? Yes. It is delicious. I want to get a bottle for home.
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Dec 28, 2013 14:26
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Kenny Logins posted:Visited a liquor store I usually don't have the opportunity to frequent and they have a bunch of bourbons we usually don't get as a result of there having been a whiskey festival in the area recently. Overwhelmed with choice I took down some names to help draft up a shopping list. Personally, I would drop the Jack Daniels Single Barrel unless you really like Jack. I don't think it's worth the cost. Evan Williams Single Barrel and Basil Hayden's should be run between $28 and $40, with Basil Hayden being the more expensive of the two. Baker's should also run at about $35-$40. Booker's is pricier, usually $60-$70 if memory serves correctly. If any of these bottles are above the prices quoted, think twice before buying as they're fairly common expressions of bourbon. Assuming all of these are fairly priced, here's a little break down of my thoughts on each bourbon:
Hopefully that helps. In summary, buy the EV Single Barrel, Baker's, and Booker's but do price check against what I quoted you. The prices I've quoted should be on the higher end so if this place charges more than that, be sure you think it's worth it in terms of effort to finding cheaper prices. EDIT: Word choice.
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Jan 9, 2014 20:09
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Ran across this blog post while looking over some machine learning blogs: http://blog.revolutionanalytics.com/2013/12/k-means-clustering-86-single-malt-scotch-whiskies.html While the content is pretty heavy unless you're familiar with AI/Machine Learning/Computer Science/Statistics, the most interesting portion of the post is actually this image:  Each of those colored dots represents a distillery. Each of the colors represents a particular "cluster" of flavours. For our purposes, we can consider those 'flavours' to be a style of Scotch (e.g. Speyside, Highland, Islay). Mostly what's interesting is if we say the Speyside whiskies are the red dots, then we'd expect them to all be in/around the Speyside region. Similarly, we'd expect all the purple dots to be near Islay. No real point to this so much as I found the data interesting.
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Jan 9, 2014 20:25
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Kenny Logins posted:
I think your assessment is correct. EV Single Barrel is excellent but I wouldn't pay $60 for it. Looks like NH Liquor Stores sell it for $25 which is considerably cheaper than what you have available to you. Though it also looks like NH liquor store sells Booker's for $48. So that might be worth waiting on too.
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Jan 9, 2014 22:19
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Kenny Logins posted:Yes, I have been thinking about it and maybe it's something that can wait. Thanks for the link(s) to the NH liquor site, bookmarked. Between my wife and I, every time we go down for a trip we can bring back 3 750ml (i.e. 26 oz.) bottles of hard liquor between us so I always plan carefully. Like I said it usually winds up defaulting to Woodford Reserve but I want to round out my liquor cabinet in 2014. Thanks again for your advice. While I'm sure many will disagree with me, I just don't find Woodford Reserve to be that interesting of a product. Especially some of their more recent experiments like Double Oaked which I thought was just loving awful. That said, here's some other options that are available at the NH Liquor Stores and are quite tasty:
Of the above, if I had to choose one, it'd be the Stagg Jr. After that Blanton's and Beam signature craft. The other two are more just solid products that I would buy if I hadn't already tried them (or in OGD's case, own them).
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Jan 9, 2014 22:57
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