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Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
Recipes I'm seeing suggest using evaporated milk because it handles heat better, so you might want to give that a shot.

Also, smoky fudge sounds pretty great.

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Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

Missing Name posted:

I picked up a bottle of Redemption Rye to experiment with. I have decided that Manhattans (or rather… anything vermouth ) is not my thing.

What vermouth were you using, and how long had it been open? A different vermouth might change your mind.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
A nice single barrel from that year still sounds like a good gift.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

HatfulOfHollow posted:

What's the best rye I can get at most bars? I usually default to Old Overholt because a) most bars have it and b) it's cheap. But am I missing out on some other generally available rye? I'm not too knowledgeable about american whiskey in general but I understand this is a pretty broad and probably dumb question.

I'm not qualified to talk about best, but Rittenhouse is solid and widely available.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

chitoryu12 posted:

If it's rice, wouldn't that make it shochu?

It's made, in part, from malted rice, which apparently disqualifies it from being labeled shochu. At least, that seems to be the case if it's multiply distilled; the rules for singly distilled shochu are different, and I'm not sure if malted grains are allowed there.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

PT6A posted:

Anything that is distilled from fermented fruit is an eau-de-vie. It must be aged to be a brandy.

What about pisco?

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
Am I correct in thinking that Canada doesn't make a legal distinction between blended and straight whisky, at least in the context of how Canadian whisky is labeled?

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

Lowness 72 posted:

Do we have a tequila/mezcal/agave-type spirits thread? Is it kosher to discuss here?

Maybe it's time to make this a more general spirits thread? The rum thread petered out earlier this year, and I don't know that an agave thread would fare much better. Incorporating the cocktail thread would be tougher, given this thread's focus on sipping neat, but people definitely do that with nicer tequilas.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
Speaking of aging things in other things' barrels, I just saw an ad for this:



Anyone tried it? Apparently it's given 30 days in Tabasco barrels that still contain some sauce residue, then blended with a Tabasco sauce distillate. Seems gimmicky as hell, and I have trouble believing it's any good, but maybe I'm just not keeping an open mind.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
I found a scan of the label, and whisky is in there, but not very prominently at all. The only mention of age I've seen so far is how long the sauce and then the spirit sit in the Tabasco barrel (three years and 30 days, respectively), so I assume it's a pretty young whisky.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
So, digging into some Wikipedia articles on American whiskey regulations, it sounds like the low proof is the only thing keeping it from being called a blended whiskey. The label specifies that it's made with Tennessee whiskey, and if I understand correctly, that implies straight bourbon. Straight bourbon has to be aged at least four years to skip the age statement, but I don't know whether that's true of something made with straight bourbon.

Well, that clears things up :psyduck:

Edit: the blend consisting of more than 80% Tabasco distillate would also disqualify it from being called a blended whiskey. I guess that's possible, depending on how much neutral spirit is added on that side of things.

Toast Museum fucked around with this message at 11:45 on May 20, 2018

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

Weltlich posted:

You are correct. Basically they can claim "made with whiskey" but the combination of the low proof and the use of a non-grain mash (in this case, Tobasco) as a flavoring agent means it can't even be called "Flavored Whiskey." A few years ago I was working on a whiskey-like mash bill that used maple syrup as an adjunct to the grain. Not much - just enough to let some of the aromatics come through in the distillate. But the TTB flatly told me it could never be called whiskey, and they wouldn't even let me call it flavored whiskey because the maple went in the mash instead of the finished whiskey as a flavoring agent. So that project is shelved.

Would the Tabasco be considered part of the mash bill? I assume the residue in the Tabasco barrel wouldn't count, since that's not part of the distillation process. Does the source material for the non-straight-whiskey spirit (Tabasco sauce distillate, in this case) count as part of the mash bill?

Either way, I assumed that the "flavorings" bit in "un-aged grain distillates, grain neutral spirits, flavorings, and colorings" would encompass Tabasco sauce distillate, but I guess not.

Related, do these various terms carry all the same meaning and baggage when they are used in the context of made with? e.g. if a product says that it's "made with straight rye whiskey", and there's no mention of age, does that imply that the product is made with straight rye that is at least four years old, as it would for a bottle that was just straight rye?

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

Lowness 72 posted:

You guys seem excited but I've gotta say Tabasco whiskey sounds disgusting. Try putting a few drops of tabasco in your next dram. How can this be good?

Honestly, I find the whiskey regulation chat more interesting than the product. I am curious, though, because you're right, it sounds gross, and I'd love to know if it somehow works after all. The liquor store near me only carries 750mL bottles, though, and I'm not $21 curious.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
I've got a friend who's pretty into hot sauce and was curious enough to split a bottle of that Tabasco barrel Dickel from the last page. $10 was the right amount to spend on satisfying my curiosity. There's more sweetness than heat to it, and I got little to nothing in the way of identifiable pepper notes. Not very pleasant neat, and I don't know what it would do for a cocktail that Ancho Reyes wouldn't do better.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

Nth Doctor posted:

My daughter's preschool teacher was married to our pharmacist. The first year she was in school we were constantly sick and I had to stop and ask the guy how he and his wife both weren't dead. His answer was that zinc blocks the channels that cold viruses use to get into the cells, so take a zinc supplement during cold season.

Not that it's likely to hurt anything besides your wallet, but the last time I looked, the evidence for zinc for cold treatment/prevention was pretty slim.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
Oh, poo poo. Scratch what I said about it only being a waste of money, in that case.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

Trabant posted:

Hello whiskey lovers. I don't drink so I'm utterly clueless and could use some advice:

I'll be in Dublin for a few days and thought about bringing back some whiskey-related gifts to my friends who enjoy it. I'll try to tease out exactly what they like -- I do know it's not as simple as saying "whiskey" -- but in the meantime I'm soliciting suggestions for whiskies that would be tough to find outside of Ireland. Or maybe just tough to find in the US.

(I know that the internet makes nearly all things globally available, but thought I'd check in case booze was somehow different)

In other words: if someone were to bring you a drinkable souvenir from Ireland, what would you most like to get? And because I know things in any hobby get nuts, let's make it a thing you'd actually drink, not some $3,000-per-bottle investment.

Thank you!

I'm not qualified to answer, but what's your general price point?

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
I'm sure a connoisseur can taste the difference every time, but for loving around at home, are charred oak sticks/spirals any good for infusions, or is there no point?

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

Weltlich posted:

They have their merits, just don't expect them to replicate a barrel. They can add some character to a spirit that is otherwise bland and/or uninteresting, but they won't turn white dog into fine whiskey. They can sort of give a preview of what you might expect a barrel to do to a white spirit, and I have my cooper supply me with 1" cubes of the same oak he uses to build the barrels with a #3 char on them. When I've got a new white spirit that I'm curious to see what sort of maturation trajectory it might take, I'll toss it into a pint jar and put a couple of those cubes in it, then put it in the lab closet for a couple of months. It'll give me a fair idea of where the spirit will go in the barrel, but I can't stress enough that there is no substitute for time in the cask.

Edit: If you're going to fool around at home, find some non-oak woods to play with. Toasted Ash, Maple, Black Birch, Cherry, Pecan, Hickory, etc. These will get you some really interesting flavors that you really aren't going to be able to get on the liquor store shelf.

My interest is less about DIY whiskey and more about aging cocktails or adding depth to infusions, so this seems like a reasonable option that won't kill my wallet.

Is it just regulatory issues keeping those other woods out of commercial products, or is there more to it? Either way, any tips about the characteristics of those woods and what they're suited to?

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

2DCAT posted:

First time trying since the change, but... The new black maple hill is so drat bad lol

I've never had it either way, but what was the change?

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

spankmeister posted:

Not really, care to give the abridged version?

Here's what I got from a quick skim:

  • It's a little company that barrel-ages other companies' white whiskey.
  • Some good reviews, plus the rarity that comes with a local boutique suddenly having national demand, caused resale prices to skyrocket.
  • Whoops: they incorrectly labeled some products as straight blended whiskey, a term they didn't meet the legal definition of.
  • Unclear: I saw some mention of awful unsanitary production processes, but I didn't keep digging.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

Halloween Jack posted:

The only Scotch cocktail that comes to mind is the Blood and Sand, and a lot of people hate it. (I say it's good with a small amount of fresh squeezed blood orange juice.)

Laphroiag is one of those things I'd only use a spoonful of. It's like absinthe or chartreuse.

Penicillin and variants are pretty popular.

When it comes to Blood & Sand, I'm with you on the fresh juice, though I think it's actually better with mezcal than with scotch.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

Rock My Socks! posted:

Any good blended scotch in the $30 range other than JW Black and Monkey Shoulder? Looking for something with a bit of peat and smoke.

I haven't tried it, but Famous Grouse Smoky Black is supposed to be good at that price point, I think.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

Quiet Feet posted:

Recently tried Laphroaig for the first time and I'm not going to say I disliked it but it is not something I would drink straight. It's like drinking liquid smoke. A little mixed in with something else is fine but, yeah, think its going to be a while before I finish this.

I just picked up my first bottle recently. I don't tend to drink unmixed liquor (I've been making Penicillins), but I can at least say that I found it distinctive and compelling. I'm pretty sure it's the first single malt scotch I've tried, and it definitely increased my interest in trying others.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

Quiet Feet posted:

What would you do with a half a bottle of scotch that you realized you're just not into? I got some Glenmorangie 18 a year or more ago and it's by far the most expensive bottle I've bought since I got into whiskey a few years ago, so I've only brought it out on special occasions. But, eh, there's way cheaper bottles that I like a lot more. I'd feel stupid using it in mixed drinks though.

Its not awful, just kinda meh.

Give it to a friend who likes it better?

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
Speaking of Johnnie Walker, a friend was just talking up the Explorers' Club varieties, which are apparently sold mostly in duty-free shops. Has anyone here tried 'em?

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
Single-malt beginner question: if I enjoy Laphroaig 10, what's a good next step at a similar price point?

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef

Nice piece of fish posted:

I hate gin, so that's a very useful warning, thank you very much.

It's different enough from London dry gins that it's worth trying at least once. Also look for St. George Rye Reposado, which I think even advertises as gin for whiskey drinkers.

Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
All I've received from my representative so far is an automated acknowledgement with a promise to reply, but he kicked off his term by promoting craft beer in the House, so for once I'm not too worried about how he'll vote. As for my senators, I wouldn't count on poo poo unless you've got kompromat.

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Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
A single-malt usually shouldn't be the base of a cocktail, but they can make great modifiers. A Penicillin, for instance, has a blended scotch base but calls for a quarter-ounce float of Islay single-malt. Laphroaig 10 works well, so no need to reach for your fanciest bottle, but that quarter-ounce transforms the drink.

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