f13.net

So I've been drinking Patron for about three years since a ten year boycott of tequila due to a horrid experience with Cuervo in college.

Couple weeks ago I tried Milagro which amazed me. It has a strong front end taste and then a totally smooth finish.

I've been trying more traditional margaritas lately (3 parts tequila 2 parts orange liquor 1 part lime juice.) Figured someone else here probably was a fan of the stuff and maybe I'm missing something stellar.

Can't stand the stuff.  Got talked into doing a shitload of tequila shooters with a friend once.  All I remember is throwing up in front of my girlfriend's house, and then waking up in the car at 5 am in a Taco Bell parking lot with the engine running.  Haven't touched the stuff since.

Only brands I've ever heard anything about are Cuervo, and Patron.  Most of the stores around here don't carry anything of better quality than that.

Start exploring the different kinds: Silver, Reposado and Anejo.  Make sure it is always 100% Agave (this is the problem most people end up with tequila as they drink some 49% corn syrup shit like Cuervo Gold and get terrible hangovers).  Heradura is one of my favorite brands that is readily available in all three types and I really love their Hacienda Del Cristero if you can find it (it's a silver but double distilled and is delicious even straight which many silvers aren't).

I only drink Tequila on ice, or strained through ice to give it a chill.  Patrone is good stuff.  I also like Don Julio, but when I'm traveling on business and it's on the company AMEX, Patrone on ice is the way to go.

At home, it's Cuervo gold, or I go with the Crown Royal on ice.

Abagadro is pretty much on the mark, but I find that 100% agave tequilas can taste a bit oily and often upset my stomach easily - YMMV.

Sauza is the brand I tend to go with - their Commerativo Reposado and Anejo are quite nice, as are their 100% agaves (with the above caveat).

I hate the shit especially that clear shit Patron they try to pass off as quality in bars so probably not a good idea to listen to me but I've found that if you are spending good money on tequila it can become something better than the nastiest alcohol that exists. I only enjoy the Anejo or a very good Reposado because they are insanely smooth and aren't guaranteed to give me a hangover which is not true of any clear/blanco/young tequila.

Also it better be 100% agave or I'm not touching it just to be safe.

All that assumes that we're drinking it straight as if it were a real drink not making it into a slushy or buying dumb sounding shots.

The taste of tequila and the vomit have close associations in my neural pathways due to long periods of cause/effect correlation.  It's generally best if I avoid the stuff.

Worm or GTFO.  It gets you to the spirit world.  Just kidding, of course.  Tequila with worm is shitty tequila.  It still gets you to the spirit world, though. 

I didn't get to go, but the last time my wife was in Seattle they went to a tequila bar, I think The Matador?  They had a lot of fun, but pricey. 

Here's a pic of their menu: 

(http://db.tt/JRmJeWT)

I was eyeing up some tequila in a bottle shaped like a rifle the other day, because it looked like fun.

It's crap. Trust me on that.

Surprisingly - the tequila bar in Disneyworld isn't that horrible. They have a nice wide selection and the chasers they have are amazing.

I stopped at "tequila bar in Disneyworld".

Really?

They cater to ALL their customers. I am fairly surprised they do not have an opium lounge, but I blame the federal regulations concerning smoking opium for that.

I wonder, do they serve the tequila shots in "toothpick holders" at Disneyworld?   :awesome_for_real:

Tequila doesn't have a worm.

The stuff with the worm is Mescal.

to all you hating on tequila because of a bad experience with cuervo, that is like saying you hate beer because of a bad experience with natural lite Ice.

Expect to pay a decent amount of money for a nice sipping tequila.  I prefer Corralejo's anejo for sipping and their Reposado if I am adding lime juice and some agave necter.  Those are decent tequila's that aren't that hard to find that don't require you to break the piggy bank open to buy them.

I hated tequila until I was in my early 30s when a co-worker pulled my head out of my ass and explained to me the difference between the shit you drank in college, and what is really out there.

Yeah, I figured. There is something about spirits in novelty bottles that is quite compelling though  :grin:

There certainly is...
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zqFoq3qej2c/SOjzp0ScsLI/AAAAAAAAdwo/F1x9RvOFtLg/s400/Picture+41.png)

El Agave in San Diego's old town district is like that.  Amazing selection of tequilas.

I stand corrected.  My bad, good sir.

This.
I'll be honest though. I dont "sip" any hard liquor. I drink beer and wine.
All liquor tastes like rubbing alcohol to me unless I mix it up in a ginger/pineapple mixed drink or some kind of slushy.
Oh or vodka with red bull.

Most likely because you are drinking stuff from the bottom shelf.  I made an amazing discovery after college, if you spend more on premium booze, sometimes it tastes better and you don't get sick.

The Milagro I mentioned is triple-distilled and for the Reposado, aged for 6 months (4 more than needed to be called a Reposado) in oak barrels.  I feel bad using it in a margarita, it's so tasty.

the difference between top shelf and rot gut can be night and day tastewise, I wouldn't dismiss out of hand all hard liquor, it could just be you haven't found your poison yet.

If all liquor tastes like rubbing alcohol to you, either you're only drinking the cheap stuff or your tastebuds are broken.  (The latter is certainly possible -- you might be hypersensitive to the taste of alcohol and unable to taste anything else when it's present above a certain concentration.  Sucks to be you if that's true.)

I miss liquor.  Damn reflux.

Possibly so. But when people talk about the hints of peat (scotch) or caramel (bourbon) or whatever crazy thing they claim they taste in distilled spirits all I taste is "HOLY SHIT MY THROAT AND MOUTH ARE ON FIRE!"

In my defense nearly everyone I know IRL who drinks straight liquor tells me they had to build up a tolerance to it. My questions is always (same from beer thread) why do I want to drink something I have to build a tolerance to?

Maybe Im broken.

Nah, not broken. Just a sissy.  :awesome_for_real:

Most of us didn't get started drinking straight scotch, man.  It's not so much tolerance, but start with beers and work your way up.  Get into some Belgians and red wines, that will get your taste buds both used to the alcohol and stimulation.  From there move on up to mixed drinks and cocktails.  By then you'll be ready for a try at a glass.  Also, not all this in one night, mind you.  The fiery burning is all part of the taste now for me.

Or you can do like I did and have a "night of the 7/7s", "night of the $5 Jack&Coke" and "night of the Jager" (Of which the deer on the front of the bottle possessed me).  Deer possession = insta-tolerance.  For me.

When I was drinking, I preferred scotch on the rocks, splash of water. Did I start on that? Absolutely, but I was in the UK, 18, and stupid.

Well, color me corrected.   :awesome_for_real:

I drink a fair amount of tequila, my wife's family is Mexican and makes it, mostly just for Mexican market tho they sell some $200 bottles of super premium stuff up here in english north america, I wouldn't buy it tho, you are mostly paying for a fancy crystal bottle and leatherbound case. They used to be the supplier of Cabo Wabo but were dropped when Campari bought it and then changed to a crappier/cheaper supplier so avoid Cabo Wabo.

I wonder where Patron is getting all their money? Cuz they have been advertising like crazy the past year or two. According to some superficial searches I did they are independent, but man are they spending some serious cash in US promotions. Couldn't find who their US distributor is.

1800 is same company as Cuevro and is their real tequila brand and it is pretty good. You should also be able to find Don Julio all over (owned by Diageo) and mostof their stuff is solid. Milagro is good too, all over Mexico.

Anyways as others have said, dont drink silver (blanco) tequila straight up it's not that tasty like most pure, clear liquor, but "reposada" is getting better and "anejo" is delicious.

yeah patron is becoming the Absolute vodka (marketing wise) of the 2000s.  I know a trader joes that stopped selling it because they had so much problems with theft, while they still carried Don Julio /boggle cause nobody was stealing it.

I think Patron's anejo is decent, but you can find better in that price range.

I once poured a coworker a dram of my favorite 18-year-old scotch, and watched in horror as he took it all in one shot and then made a face.  After I finished sobbing uncontrollably I poured him another and asked him for FUCK'S SAKE to try sipping it instead of gulping it this time.  

He was shocked to find that good whisky tastes better when you, you know, take the time to taste it.

Fine then, just leaves more of the good stuff for me.

I poured my friend a 12 year scotch that was relatively expensive because he wanted to try some. When I noticed him later on holding the drink, he had mixed it with Coke.  :ye_gods:

Well you and I ever hang out, I will follow your lead. Just not sure I am willing to go buying bottles of random stuff (other than to use for normal home bar, mixed drinks for company), hoping I will find something I like to sip. Although as we use up bottles at home during the holidays or from company coming over I guess I could replace them with better grades of liquor and try those. Not that I buy shit mind you, usually grey goose, meyer's rum, etc.

Until then I will stick to my craft beers and good wines and be happy.

I recommend going to a tasting.  That's how I discovered scotch, anyway, and it didn't require any sort of "acquired taste" thing where I had to work my way up to it.  Much more cost-efficient than buying whole bottles or even whole drinks if your aim is to discover what you like.

If you're happy with your beer and wine why bother adding a new and expensive vice on top of that?  Unless you feel like you're missing something or you're embarrassed about being the only guy at the sports bar drinking a slushy with a miniature umbrella out of a ceramic coconut.  :awesome_for_real:

Seriously though. Being able to appreciate good wine and beer is as good as being a scotch aficionado any day.

Do want

I've had similar experiences with sake. I spent a season in a brewery in Aomori making and drinking some incredible stuff. When I met the missus's brother for the first time, he took us to his favorite sushi place and complained about how he didn't like sake but was willing to try it. Then he ordered a bottle of some low quality crap that had been heated to within an inch of its life. After we were kicked out of that establishment because I pointed at the bottle and screamed like I was in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, I gently explained to him that anything heated was generally shit. Whisky, tequila and vodka are similar. Get crap, you'll hate it.

As for the crystal head, it's actually not bad. And the bottle is the the hotness.

On the whole wine is a pretty overrated beverage IMO, chicks like it because it resembles juice. I find it's more difficult to get into a nice zone with wine, it's hard to pace properly with it, and you get meaner hangovers.

hard liquor goes does real smooth after a meal, as a digestif and it's lower volume easier to handle when you are full.

I find it's harder to pace hard liquor myself, unless it's straight up.  Especially mixed drinks with top shelf liquors, as you don't realize how much you've had to drink until the room starts to spin a bit and you go "oh fuck."

Most wines off the shelf (white ones especially) hardly resemble juice to me, but many of the ones I make do.  Pacing beer is trivial, pacing wine requires you actually set the glass down for a few minutes at a time.  But there are few things to compare to a mead hangover, I'd agree.

I make almost all of my what drunk do I need in this situation decisions based on women. How many women are around. What are they drinking. How bad would it be if I was rude and insulting towards them. Do I want to sleep with any of them. Am I sleeping with any of them.

Stuff like that. Its a fairly solid system.

Using it there is essentially never a time for wine unless its a rare time spent with girl you are sleeping with and her family and its not inappropriate to pass out and that might even be a good thing because its you know, someone else's family. In that case I'm going for a red asap.

Pacing shouldn't enter the equation you can poor pace anything usually because you want to or you are nervous. I worried about pacing when I was still occasionally throwing up from drinking too much which hasn't happened since I was 20 or 22 thereabouts its been a long fucking time.

Well pacing for me enters the equation when it's a longass day and I want to be coherent still after some hours (like if it's a wedding, family type function, or say beach + dinner + bar/club later). Mixed drinks work well for me since I like my hard liquor neat (or with vermouth), so in one of those pacing situations, caesars or G&Ts work nicely.

I don't drink enough anymore to require pacing myself.   Wife and I split a bottle of pinot noir or prosecco with pizza, depending on mood.  Either of those wines fit pizza perfectly.  Actually, that sounds good for dinner tonight.  Hmmm.

Back in the tailgating days, pacing myself usually involved switching to beer.

Yeah.  "Pacing" now involves going to bed after my second glass of wine. 

I got lucky, just picked a bottle of Laphroaig pretty much at random and I love the stuff. Well, kind of lucky, taint cheap. My football buddy who hardly ever comes around anymore (thanks walmart computerized scheduling) is one of the 'slam shot' types. To be honest, it's my fault, as he met me when I was a slam shotter, between a course of a six pack each. Last game he came over for, I tried to introduce him to sipping whisky. He tasted some of the Laphroaig and decided he liked the 10yr Bushmills (that he had bought for shots previously) better. After finding my favorite flavor, the Bushmills tastes decent, but just very alcoholy, where as the Laphroaig is nice and smooth, full of flavor. When I run low on the Laphroaig I'll have a glass of the Bushmills and it's not even close to hitting the spot.

And I got to have my highbrow moment at the library's annual dinner, with local 'society', our board and major benefactors. I hit the bar with a bunch of guys in four-figure suits, they were drinking bud with one cabernet and I had to grill the poor bartender (who should've known better imo) on their scotch offerings. I just wanted to try another Islay, they had none. I sighed and told her that at least it's a chance to have some Speyside without buying a bottle. I turned to the other guys and they're all like "who the hell is this guy?" (of course, they remember me with long hair and a beard, and I'm all clean cut in a three piece suit, heh)

Pacing - I finished the glass of whisky with my dessert over an hour later. Used to be in a band, nobody could drink more than me and stay coherent, I've earned my stripes. Haven't done heavy drinking in a good thirteen years or so and don't miss it a bit. Nice to just savor a tasty beverage and have full use of my faculties for the evening.

I bounce between Lagavulin and Balvenie, with the 10-yr Bushmills for mixing with Diet Coke (and a bottle of 21-yr for sipping straight).

I also keep a bottle of gin, but the martini is more for soaking blue-cheese stuffed olives in than it is for drinking.  Unless it's a Godiva chocolate martini, then it's for soaking raspberries.

Dammit, make a bourbon/scotch/whiskey post - I drink Tequila and I'm unsatisfied with what I have been drinking and I'm hoping that f13 solves my problems... so, you know, I don't have to do research.

Ok! so I'm lazy, still doesn't mean you aren't off-topic!

Nah, I hate bourbon.

I don't hate (good) tequila, but I avoid it.  It attracts women, who drink it all and then get crazy and mean and scary.  I don't know why.

Here are my this isn't total shit and you can probably find it without too much hassle (USofA) tequila options coming from someone who doesn't drink nearly enough tequila to give you useful information and if you do try any of these or have tried them you better report back because its been quite some time since I've had most of this stuff:

-Gran Centenario
-Partida
-I also once knew someone who swore Cuervo Traditional wasn't complete ass. Who knows don't remember ever taking him up on it.

Ya, I forgot about this one and was actually coming to post it as an article I read today sparked my memory that it is good and not outrageously expensive.

Low to high on my preference/price list.

Aberlour 10-year. Averaging 35-40 bucks a bottle. Peaty, complex, passable.

Bruichladdich 12-year second edition. Matured in Kentucky bourbon casks. Solid. about 50 bucks.

Oban 14-year. Rich, peaty, with a hint of orange. 65-70 bucks.

Lagavulin 16-year. Smoky as fuck. I'll chase a good meal of barbecue with this. About $80.00. Also good for throwing into a smoky martini. (Substitute the whisky for vermouth in a vodka martini. serve with a twist. Insanely good.)

Murray Mcdavid Bunnahabhain 1997 12-year. aged in bourbon casks before a finish in Premier Cru Sauternes casks from Château d'Yquem. Bottled at the Bruichladdich distillery in 2009 and taken down to bottling strength using Islay spring water. A release of 480 bottles. I just finished one of the three I bought last night, so get one if you can. About $120.00

Bruichladdich Black Art 1989. An absolutely fucking bizarre concoction. Apparently every bottle is different, but the two I've had have been possibly the most complex, well-balanced whiskys I've ever had. About $160 a bottle.

And now, the the stuff that comes from somewhere other than Scotland...

(ri)1 Canadian rye. Smooth and fruity start with a dry finish. Not bad straight, but better in old fashioneds and sazeracs.

High West 12-year rye. Apparently, they rescued this rye from some distillery in Kentucky that was going to blend it with something else. It's a good thing they did, because this is a nice sip.

Suntory Yamazaki 18-year. As time goes on, Japanese whisky gets better and better. This is some good shit.

That's a start. This is by far not a complete list. Everyone else pile on. And just as a side note, those of you in the Bay Area should swing by Nihon in the Mission if you're into the golden drams. They've got a stellar selection there.

I only recently started on scotch, and I don't like peat.  Macallan, Clynelish and Balvenie for me.  Went through a couple bottles of Balvenie Founder's Reserve which I really enjoyed for its incredible smoothness.  I drank some Laphroaig once and I thought my face was going to prolapse.  Some people swear by it, though.

Love this stuff (drinking some right now). If you can find their Bourye it is really good too, a combo of bourbon and rye.  Their 12-year blend is indeed great (I prefer it to the more expensive 16 and 21 year blends they do) and I can't wait for their own home-distilled stuff which should be ready in about 5 years or so.

They are also now making a "Silver" whiskey which is basically moonshine but they are trying out different grains and it is fun to mess with (good for mixed drinks). Not sure how much of this stuff is getting outside of Utah (Rendezvous obviously is though, which is good). The guys who make it are super cool. If you are ever in Park City the place is very fun to visit and they have a killer restaurant attached to it in a historic building they have restored.

Yeah, hit the restaurant at Sundance a couple of years back, really cool place. Also grabbed a couple of bottles of their vodka too. Not a bad sip from those guys yet. I just saw the bourye for the first time on their website yesterday. Had my local guys order some, should get it by next week.

Oh hey, post #4000. Of course, it's about booze.

I really need to work on getting one of these high paying jobs here in the bay area.  :awesome_for_real:

I keep wanting to go out to Nihon whiskey lounge, but dear god its going to blow a giant hole in my wallet.

I like my scotch on the less peaty side.

Scotchs that I perceive as being nice and smooth with a soft peaty open and a sweet finish are:
Macallan 12 Year Sherry Cask aged. The 18 year can be quite good too. I also have a soft spot for Macallan Sherry Oak Cask Strength(guaranteed 12 year old, though I am currently aging 4 bottles)
Balvenie 15 Year
Glenrothes 19 Year
Glenlivet Malt Archive 21 Year

Those are my favorites. I find though, a lot of people disagree with me on their quality. For our anniversary though my wife bought me a 350 dollar bottle of Glenfiddich 30 Year that is the most amazing thing i have ever sipped on. I cry a little every time i pour myself an ounce or two to sip on. I break out the good heavy crystal snifter for that one.

Edit: I have also been considering experimenting with some blends that just became available at my local liquor outlet.

:Love_Letters:

Nice to have a list of stuff to work toward as I look at my secret xmas present to myself standing at one glass left... Especially the el-cheapo, I need something affordable so I can get my saturday night sip on. Interesting take on the smoky martini, I used to dig vodka in a younger life, and when we'd go x-country skiing, we'd mouth-mix martinis  :grin:

I mentioned in the illegal immigrants of booze thread that I'm all about Laphroaig, how do you rate that among the many you've experienced? My bottle collection is mostly stuff left over from my apartment, bought by the guy I mentioned who likes to do a shot between beers, mostly because pre-Laphroaig I was a cheap bastard and didn't buy any booze. So I've got a pretty awful list that I don't touch (Bushmills, Bushmills 10yr, Cuervo, E&J XO, Ouzo, Patron silver, Yukon Jack). The two whiskies and the XO are the only things younger than probably 5 years and I can't really see cracking anything but them. Yukon Jack, ye gods we used to polish a bottle of that warming up for a show, nasty stuff (we'd cut with lime juice, ech). Scotch is so much nicer.

Now that I think of it, I did get into some brandy a few years ago for sipping. Got a bottle of Courvoisier XO on a deal and got totally spoiled (that E&J XO was a gift and not hitting the spot).

(http://www.blogcdn.com/www.luxist.com/media/2007/07/ardbeg.jpg)

Ardbeg 10 year is heaven.  To be honest, I have a hard time drinking any other reasonably priced scotch (<$60) after being corrupted by this peaty beast.  Every time I finish a semester I go straight to the liqour store and buy myself one (or two) to reward myself.

I have also enjoyed Oban and Lagavulin, but Ardbeg takes the cake for me.

How have I not gone here?  I've had the high west rye, and their 'normal' whiskey, which were both quite good.  But I had no idea about their restaurant.  Something to put on the to-do list.

Ya, wait until the off season and then head up there. It is small plates stuff and quite good.

Although it is not a classic label, and is new, Singleton was formulated as a smooth single malt, entry-level scotch. What it lacks in character, it returns in accessibility. I like it, but once you start branching out, you'll probably not go back to it. I've yet to find the one that gets me whipped.

I'm not ashamed to say my friends and I get a bottle (the big, plastic one) of Clan Macgregor for poker nights haha. It's the opposite of everything listed so far.

I read an interview about Warren Buffett's daughter who is a big so-and-so in the scotch world, I guess, and she said her favorite was actually a third shelf blended 12. You never know where you'll find the one that keeps you coming back.

This is true... we have an acquaintance that spent 10yrs as a sommelier for a few top end NY restaurants.  He said that he'd tried $200/bottle wines and he always kept coming back to his favorite 3 reds, all of which were $5-7/bottle.  Funny stuff, but it just goes to show that everyone's tastes are different and sometimes taste doesn't account for everything. 

Talisker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talisker) is from the Isle of Skye, and while its not a beginner's Scotch, its very peaty and smoky and I loves it.  Highly recommended if you want to know you're drinking a Scotch.

Since this has now morphed into a general booze thread... I have recently discovered chilli sherry. Buy a bottle of sherry, pour a little bit out, pop in 5-10 birds-eye chillies and 5-10 whole peppercorns. Leave for at least a week, preferably two.

Works great with either dry or sweet sherry and the effect is markedly different. Personally I've found I prefer the dry ones. Cheap sherry is fine too! Don't drink more than a glass or two at a time or else the day after can be a bit... painful.

I have a 28 year old Port Ellen 7th release which is currently my favourite whisky. It has the smokiness of an West Coast malt but is super-smooth. It isn't cheap though as the distillery closed 30 years ago and only a limited amount is bottled every year.

Needless to say, I enjoy Oban immensely.  If you want to try something special, the thirty-two year old Oban is as close as Scotch can be to the nectar of the gods (which is a nineteen sixty-seven Yquem sauterne).

Other fun things:

Gin (Hendrick's) and tonics garnished with cucumbers

Havana Club (seven year old) mojitos

Innis & Gunn oak aged beer

 :heart: !  Thanks!  I will report back with my findings.

Just because it hasn't gotten a lot of notice here - I love Craggenmore.  It's a nice and reasonably priced Speyside.  Definitely more on the light and sweet side as opposed to the dark and peaty.

Mohitos.  Ugh.  When I bartended (and when I still occasionally help a buddy out at his pub he's trying to get going), if somebody ordered a mohito there were two things that were going to happen: 
It's going to take you forever to get it
It's going to taste as much like ass as possible.

Hate making those things.  Trendy fucking hipsters at my bar?  Fuck that.  Get your patchouli stench outta here.

Anyway, never have had any love for scotch.  I've tried the high end, the low end, and everything in between.  Tastes like (what I imagine to be) turpentine.  I generally just stick to beer, merlot, and maybe a decent bourbon every now and then during football season.  My hardcore, puke-and-rally drinking days are far far behind me.

Anyone who orders a mojito at a pub deserves to be punched in the face.

If made with: real mint, decent rum, and IMO honey or agave necter it is a great great summer drink.

My good friend had an even which we later dubbed "Bad Thursday" after we went out on a wednesday night drinking rum drinks, freshly made mojitos weighed in pretty heavily.  Don't spend enough time in bars anymore to know what the cool kids are drinking, but a well made mojito is a classic hot summertime drink in my book.

As for Scotch, I haven't been able to find it anywhere here in NM, but back in Cali I loved this stuff:  Glenmorangie Burgundy Cask (10 year scotch aged last two years in burgundy barrels).  I am not a true Scotchead, but I find this stuff simply amazing.

http://www.singlemalt.com.au/malts/glenmorangie_burgundy_cask.php

hmm looks liike they may no longer make it :(

Hipsters don't smell like patchouli. That's hippies. That said, as former owner of a bar, I agree with you wholeheartedly. You want a mojito? Get the fuck out.

I'll substitute a mat shot for the rum if I get a chance.  Barring that, shortpouring the rum and overloading the bitters works well

"Isn't this supposed to be kinda clear?  And it doesn't taste like a mohito"
"Nah, those floaty things are just the smashed up mint.  It's probably the cigarette smoke messing with your tastebuds"

Fixed.

Never tried it, but proper Rye usually burns a little on the way down.

Want some Rye?

Is it a trap?

EDIT: Since I should add something to this thread.  This (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akvavit) is some sort of Danish take on Gin, it's actually rather tasty.

I don't know what it is, I have made every effort to develop a taste for whiskey of some sort, but it will not happen. I enjoy the taste of a good tequila or rum, but every form of whiskey I have tried, from Crown or JD, up to an aged Glenfiditch - just makes me wretch. I have yet to find anything that I find tastes more repelant than the aftertaste of a sip of whiskey.

Yeah, friend of mine just married a Norwegian girl.  They are all about that shit (its the national drink of Norway apparently, and every year there is a contest to see which city makes the best). 

It taste like black licorice.  Just like every other hard alcohol that comes from Scandinavia.  Personally can't stand it, but I know people who love Sambuca and shit, so, there you go.

And yeah, (ri)1 is Jim Beans new higher end brand, not Canadian (lucky for it.  :-P).

I've tried a few more Bourbons lately.  I'd recommend Elijah Craig 12 year (I haven't tried the 18 year, so can't vouch, but I'm sure its great).  Its smooth, has a nice Carmel after taste, and is amazingly priced.  Hard to find a 12 year Bourbon for this cheap.

Knob Creek is also good, but has a bit more of a kick (which some people prefer).

course ya do!

:drill:

If you want Bourbon start with Cabin Still, it is $13 for a liter and superior to most $2X and many options up to $3X for a 750ml bottle. You'll only find Cabin Still at places like BevMo or other specialty stores.

Through the $2X range you will find the stuff you can find everywhere. Of all of it Bullit is very sweet if that's your thing. You should probably find out if you hate Maker's Mark as many do so you never get it by mistake in a bar. There is also Wild Turkey 101 proof which I have a sweet spot for but is nothing special. Knob Creek & Woodford Reserve are the two best at under $35 bourbons you can find everywhere. Once you get up to $3X+ you should be buying stuff you will not find at your local grocery store.

There are lots of good things to be found in Bourbon at $3X-6X a bottle but it really depends on what you like.

Blanton's is my top high end bourbon and has been for a while. Runs about 50 bucks but you get a cool little metal horsie.

Yeah, I keep meaning to try that one.  Heard good things.

And yeah, Woodford Reserve is also quite good.

Elijah Craig 12 year old is really nice. The 18 is also good but just a tiny bit too sweet, it seems to lack the complexity of the 12 so unless you really love smoothness above all else I'd say you're better off with the 12. I do want to try Woodford Reserve, especially since it's so much easier to get hold of.

Presently working on an Aberlour A'bunadh and a Balvenie 14 Cuban both of which are really nice. Need to restock on my Talisker and Redbreast though and also want to try a bottle of Green Spot that's apparently a small batch Irish whiskey the internet is all excited about. Possibly it's really nice and possibly they're just raving because it's relatively hard to get hold of but it's certainly caught my interest.

How hard is it for you to get Bourbon in the UK NowhereMan?  Actually, what caused you to try it?  I've had fun introducing Euro friends to Bourbon since many have never tried it, and they all seem to love it (the bottle of Woodford went over very well in Norway, they all thought it was better than Congac, which is what they normally drink after meals).  So I'm always curious to hear how others got it into.

I did the Maker's Mark distillery tour. At the end there is a tasting. They gave us some aged and some unaged (white) stuff and said "see how you can taste the mellowing in the aging process and the hints of vanilla and caramel?"

I was calling 911 on my cell phone while screaming "I cant feel my face! I cant feel my face!"


Edit: How not who.

The taste of Maker's Mark reminds me of the smell of a filthy aquarium.

It's pretty easy to get most bourbons, Elijah Craig seems to be stupid hard to get hold of though. Oddbins seem to be the only highstreet retailer that sells it and then only the 12 year old (and even then they've hardly ever got it in). Makers Mark and Woodford are pretty common, Four Roses I've seen more and more as well. Really I started drinking it because I like whisk(e)y and at university our Whisky society had an 'international' tasting that included Jim Beam. The consensus was that we could see how this could be a nice style of drink but that the bottle we had was horrible and it left me curious to try some decent stuff. My next project is to develop a taste for rum :grin:

Does anyone have any advice regarding Tokaji Aszu, or any makers they would recommend?

As far as Bourbon, if you can get a bottle of Knob Creek, Bakers or Bookers you will be a very happy person.

stilll perplexed at the over the top mojito hatred.

Found a bourbon I had never seen before,  Rip Van Winkle, 107 proof, was ~$33.  Was told it is a small label that just doesn't produce much.  Pretty good stuff, I would take this over most bourbons any day.

Heh, interesting.  They have an interesting back story if their website is to be believed:
http://www.oldripvanwinkle.com/newbs/vw/website3.nsf/PagesByName/Heritage?opendocument&t=Heritage

The Pappy Van Winkle 20 year they claim is suppose to be one of the highest rated whiskeys ever, and reviews on the internet seem to be very good.  I may have to see if I can find a bar where I can try it at.

I've heard of Rip Van Winkle, mostly good things but I've never seen a bottle over in the UK. fakeedit: Yeah, all internet feedback I've heard has been very good. Kind of wish it would show up on a random shop shelf sometime now.

Sadly while I've tried Tokaji I can't remember which maker it was and don't know enough to make any recommendations outside of other dessert wines.

Apparently I'm getting to go to Dublin next week to help with some presentations. My plans firmly include sneaking off to buy some Green Spot whiskey that's produced primarily for one Dublin wine merchant.

Went out after work with a buddy this week who is a bourbon drinker. He told me he likes Knob Creek because its "sweet" and a great sipping bourbon.

So I ordered a shot. I tried it, I really tried to sip and like it.
It still tasted like paint remover.
To make him feel better I told him it tasted like "sweet" paint remover.

Did you get it over ice, or straight?

Sorry about your vagina.

Some people won't ever get the taste for bourbon or scotch. Not really their fault, any more than being lactose intolerant is anyone's fault.

Knob creek is not the smoothest bourbon out there by a long shot. It sounds like straight whiskey ain't your thing but if you're a glutton for punishment and want to try again I'd go with Woodford Reserve for bourbon, or Tomintoul 18 for scotch. If you don't like Tomintoul, whiskey isn't for you.

I disagree. I think we should blame them for their failing and punch them in the dick.

Especially the women.

So suddenly I've come to like Unicum...weird.

Knob Creek is a very good "reachable" bourbon, meaning you don't have to get a second mortgage on your house to walk out of the liquor store with it.  There are certainly better bourbons, but at its price point there isn't much better.  I'm not a huge Woodford Reserve fan, but will drink it when pressed  :awesome_for_real:.  Baker's and Booker's are both top notch and would recommend them to anyone that hasn't tried them yet. 

I'm more a Scotch (Laphroaig 10 yr) than a bourbon guy but of all those I've tried both neat and mixed the best ever was Eagle Rare 10-year.  It's great in an Old Fashioned and not too pricey either.

http://www.greatbourbon.com/eagleraresb.aspx (http://www.greatbourbon.com/eagleraresb.aspx)

Ice.




Thank you!  :drillf:  lolz

Not sure about similarity to the one you mentioned. But Don Juilo Anejo is a great sipping tequila and so is El Tesoro De Don Felipe.

Buy silver/Reposado for mixed drinks, so long as its 100% agave the brand probably doesn't matter as the mix will wash out most of the flavor.


The wines you're drinking are too sweet for you then. Look for dry and high acid content wines. You can usually find great stuff for very cheap.


Not all scotch have peat flavors in them, and not all bourbons have caramel.

Anyway, as an experienced whiskey/tequila/gin drinker let me give you a way to get into whiskeys(imo, the easiest of the hard liquors to start drinking)

1. Get an expert to get you a particular flavor profile. Stay away from most Bourbons, Sazerac, and Glenfiddich. Bourbons tend to be sweet, pungent, and painful. Sazerac is a rye, and quite smooth, but its got anise in it and that can make it more rough than most people are willing to go for. Glenfiddich is a pretty common scotch and its terrible, lots of pepper, no taste besides that.

2. No ice. You want your whiskey room temperature. The colder your drink the less you can taste it and so while it might seem a bit more smooth on your throat; its not, and you won't be able to pick up as many of the notes

3. Start by adding water. Whiskey neat is something you work too, a Whiskey and water is not a pussy drink.

____

Then again, i started with cheap rum and cheap rum makes anything else seem like heaven.

____

OK. So for a starting whiskey almost any scotch will do, blended or no. So long as its properly aged. Blended scotches are cheaper because its easier to get a uniform taste, also because snobs exist who won't drink anything but single malt (which just means it comes from different barrels from the same distillery rather than different barrels from different disilleries).

A few good ones that you may want to try

The cheapest

Old Overholt Rye: As smooth as most 40 dollar scotches for half the price. Semi-peppery.

Famous Grouse: Blended Scotch, light notes of peat. High quality blend

Canadian Club (10 or 12): Blended Whiskey, mainly ryes and bourbons, sweeter than most scotch will be, not nearly like a bourbon.

Ballentines: Another decent cheap blended scotch. No one knows about it.

Johnny Walker Red: And the last blended scotch. The cheapest of the Walkers, imo better than black, not as good as green or gold or blue.

The more expensive:

Jameson/Bushmills: The 12 years are good, pretty standard fare. Similar to the Glenlevit with less flavor.

Glenlevit 12yr: The scotch to start with. Its light and flowery. It is still one of my favorite after many years. Aged in Sherry iirc. Their 15 year is a bit harsher and I haven't had the chance to try anything higher (well, the chance, but the prices at the Whiskey Bar near my house make 18-21 year single malts a real treat)

Bowmore 12yr: A heavy peaty scotch. Smooth(more so than any wiskey listed so far), smells like a campfire, tastes like a campfire. Both this and the Lagavulin are much more peaty than the Talisker and Oban's listed by others. Also note that this bottle is relatively cheap ($45 or so) compared to what I expect to pay for an Oban or Talisker.

Lagavulin 16yr: Supposedly you can find this relatively cheap in some places (50 dollars/750ml!) Unfortunately, not where I am. Likely to be the peatiest scotch you will ever drink. If bowmore smells and tastes like a campfire this will make you smell like a campfire. Incredibly easy to drink.

MaCallan Cask Strength: Make sure to water this down your first time. Its 55% ABV. Even then, it is one of the best by value tastes in scotches.

Most Expensive:

Johnny Walker Gold: Really amazingly smooth, light, and flowery. Probably one of the best examples of blended scotches on the planet.

Anything really: Once you're spending this much it pretty much has to be good, but i can't recommend tastes anymore since I haven't had the chance to taste much in this category.

PRICING

I am in Virginia, so this is my price list (http://www.abc.virginia.gov/Pricelist/SCOTCH_WHISKY.html) for scotches. 19 bucks for the Overholt, 18 bucks for Eagle Rare
____

You mentioned that you had makers on their distillery tour. Makers is very rough compared to the whiskeys i've listed. And while its a pretty standard go-to bourbon, i don't go to bourbon very often.

I have yet to try, but hear good things about Eagle Rare (as in, things like "its the best bourbon i have had under 40 dollars" good)

Pretty solid list put together by Goumindong.  Though I'll rage against his listing an Irish Whiskey in with the Scotches.  Irish Whiskey tends to be a bit smoother, predominately because unlike Scotch which uses a peat fire, Irish Whiskey uses an oven (with no peat).   


Macallan Cask Strength is good, though Aberlour A'Bunadh is a better if you can find it.    That's my usual take on most Macallan's  - theyr'e good, but overrated to an extent, and are usually way overpriced.

Nope. Only some Scotches are peated(traditionally its the Islay scotches, though there is really nothing that prevents anyone else from doing it), and that has nothing to do with how smooth it is, which is mainly a function of the aging and the secondary distillates[I.E. the spices and other flavors added to the mash] (the wood mellows out the harshness). If you don't believe me, line up a dram of 12yr Bowmore(peated) next to 12 yr Jameson or Bushmills. If you think that the Irish whiskeys are more smooth after that then...

The Irish say that because they triple distill (and the Scotch only double distill) that theirs is more smooth, but it really has no bearing on the end product. Whiskey is distilled way past the point of drinkability. After which water is added to even out the content and its added to barrels (typically around 55-60% alcohol at that point). After which its mixed and diluted again until its just right.

The only thing to know about Irish whiskey is that there is a much smaller selection compared to Scotch, due to the smaller number of distilleries. And scotch has a "naming premium" which tends to make many of them overpriced compared to their quality(which is great for Jameson as they get compared to poorer quality blends)

I bundled by relative price, not by any other measure of the drink. Its just that i tend to like the flavor of Rye and Barley spirits over Corn spirits. And expensive Rye is both hard to find and still probably not as good as Old Overholt(which is surprisingly only a 4 year rye!).

Different strokes and all that I guess.  I do enjoy Scotch, but since I've started getting into drinking Whiskey, I've found again and again I tend to prefer good Bourbons over good Scotch in general.  
Going to have to disagree with you on this one Hoax.  I got a bottle of it on your suggestion, and thought it was pretty bad.  Tasted more like Jim Beam to me (actually, I happened to have a bottle of Jim Beam black around that a random relative got me for Christmas, and I compared them.  Thought the Jim Beam black was a bit better...).

Still, it is pretty damn cheep for the amount you get, and isn't totally bottom barrel, so not a bad well Bourbon I guess.

Why is it Scotch and not Scotts or Scottish?  Is it how you pronounce Scottish after about 4-5 shots of it?

Scots - people (noun)
Scottish - adjective for other things
Scotch - drink or tape

The why, I don't know.

While I sincerely appreciate the effort you put into the list (and wanted to thank you for it) I think I have simply given up and will embrace my non-hard liquor drinkingness.

As for the Irish, I grew up drinking both from about 12 on. Full Irish family, half protestant and half catholic 100% alcoholics.
So uncles and male family members on both sides were pouring me drinks from about 12 on. I did drink it with water as you recommend I should try now.

You seem to be forgetting that there's a "single cask" level of snobbery.   :awesome_for_real:

True, but its hard to have a favorite with single barrel whiskeys since they are going to vary in taste so much. And frankly while I have met single malt snobs(both informed and uninformed) I have not met someone who would turn down a high quality single malt.

Quoting you twice in one day.  :awesome_for_real:

Canadian Club had money off when I was doing the weekly food shop yesterday and I remembered you recommending it in this thread, so I bought a bottle.

Neat is too much for me still - I find it overwhelms my taste buds. Mixed with water though it's really nice. As you say, quite sweet, with a surprisingly complex mix of tastes. Treacle and aniseed are what I get most strongly. Thanks for the recommendation :)

Necro!

The wife and I have been making our own infused vodkas of late, the results of which have been mixed. The worst have been good for a couple of mixed drinks after people were halfway shitfaced. The best, a wasabi vodka has inspired a drink at one of NYCs newest exclusive eateries. Granted, a friend of mine owns the place, but it's still pretty cool and infusing your own vodkas isn't hard to do. Get yourself a bottle of vodka, something you think would go well with it, throw 'em into a mason jar and let them sit for a week or two.

I do that with cloudberries sometimes when I get them (add some sugar too and let it sit for about a month and then sieve it) though the end result is more a liqueur than a vodka but still very tasty when chilled and in small quantities.

I have been doing this with regional white whiskey/rye. Since Illinois is so close to moonshine/bourbon country, we get quite an assortment of bourbon, whiskey, and rye. There are a few distilleries that sell their barrel-aged stuff in unnamed format as well. One even calls it its trybox series.

I have mostly used berry fruits so far...wasabi sounds interesting.

Got a bottle of Jameson gold reserve for xmas, pretty smooth. Probably my second favorite whiskey after Laphroaig, actually.

My friend keeps buying me irish whiskey even though I switched to scotch years ago. I call it english guilt.

For unfathomable reasons I started mixing Baileys and bourbon last night. I am not a happy camper today.

I have started to switch from tequila as my preferred straight drink of choice to Mezcal. I foresee only bad things ahead....

I've discovered Pikesville Rye which lives at a terribly dangerous price to value ratio (I'd compare it to around Powers/Tullamore Dew quality for about half the price).  It's fairly smooth with a nice bit of spice to it.  Shorter finish than I'd like, but otherwise no real complaints.

I need to stop following wine with whisky.

I need to try and recreate a drink I had in LA last year that had tequila, a bit of chipotle pepper & tomato, and something else, not sure what. Was pretty amazing.

Also the "Government Mule" cocktail at Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore was pretty damn good: very good quality vodka, spicy ginger beer, and lime-ginger sugar syrup.

I had about 6 Grateful Dead's in about an an hour last night.  I do not feel well today.

Had some bacon infused bourbon with caramelized sugar and garnished with a fried pig's ear at Umamicatessen in LA last month. Ridiculously good.

I wasn't the only one to do that yesterday?

Nope. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

I've run out of whiskey so today I'm following beer (Theakston's Old Peculiar) with wine (some random Shiraz). I'm guessing it'll have a similar effect  :oh_i_see:

Annoyingly our grocery delivery this week included a broken bottle of said Old Peculiar, so half our food smells faintly of beer.

Bison grass vodka, saint germaine and blood orange juice.

Bought three whiskies today.

Larceny Bourbon (750 ml costs the same as Knob, but is much tastier. Also, why are there so many bourbons named after legal stuff? Larceny, Filibuster, Breaking & Entering)

Redemption Rye (not as good as Templeton's, which is made in Iowa)

Dry Fly Straight Triticale Whiskey (Triticale is a rye-wheat hybrid grain)

Then, I get home, and Caskers.com is trying to sell me a vodka made from hops that Anchor Distilling makes. Fuckers. It's a special order at my local liquor store. I really don't want to ship booze to my office (Muslim boss) and the shipping cost is ridiculous anyway.

Slack, I'm making a road trip.

Just kidding, I'd have one glass and be snoring on your sofa  :awesome_for_real:

I scored a 750ml of Pierre Ferrand ambre today at Woodmans for $23.99

Yum.

You're welcome to come whenever. I'll snag the New Holland Beer Barrel Bourbon, which is aged in barrels that were used to age their Dragon's Milk Stout. Kentucky booze with a Michigan twist!

Fake edit -- all you have to do is show the girl some better finger discipline on the bass -- she is already observing my bad habits.

Anyone a fan of gin?

We got a bottle of London Geranium Gin this Christmas and it was lovely. Particularly nice with a few blueberries floating in in.

Gin tastes like christmas trees smell. And not in a good way.

Back when I was drinking, this was a positive for me. The state has a distillery that opened up in Americus, GA called 13th colony. It does a Southern Gin that's quite good. It won a gold medal at the 2010 SIP awards.

Gin & Tonic is one of my favorite cocktails. Yum.  Good stuff.

Gin is wonderful stuff.  Nice dirty martini, gimlets, aviations - all sorts of wonderful things to do with it.

We are big martini drinkers. Gin is one of the few things I drink where I absolutely can't stomach anything except a few relatively expensive brands, mainly Sapphire and Tanquery. If it has that minty Christmas tree taste, I just can't hack it at all. I'll drink a manhattan made with the worst $11 plastic jug whiskey (on Cape Cod that's Kennedy's  :awesome_for_real:), but cheap gin, or even an expensive gin with the wrong flavor, and I'd rather pour it down the sink and drink a soda.

Bombay Sapphire is a nice one, not partial to Tanqueray myself but maybe I've just not found the right flavour to accompany it. Hendricks is one of my favourites - works really well with cucumber, in fact I made some cucumber cubes (whizz up a few peeled cucumbers in a blender then squeeze them through muslin and freeze in ice-cube trays) once just to go with it.

One of the best gins I've had in a long time was Death's Door gin. It's made in Wisconsin, and (IIRC) is made partially from wheat or potatoes grown on Washington Island. The island has a tiny community and was once heavily farmed. Death's Door distillery and Capital Brewing in Madison have been trying to help restore the farming community by purchasing their brewing and distilling grains from there.

Here's the story (http://deathsdoorspirits.com/pages/story/story.php). It's pretty damn cool. Death's Door makes a tasty vodka and white whiskey as well. If you can get your hands on it, please support some craft brewers/distillers and an island community. /PSA

That does sound nice, and it's similarly priced here to things like the geranium gin and Hendricks (i.e. £40/bottle), I'll give it a go next gin order :)

Anyone recommend a good bourbon to start with? I've not really tried any and would like something reasonably priced but interesting. I've been mostly sipping whiskey as my non-Christmas spirit of choice the last couple of years and I'd like to broaden my taste a bit.

Knob Creek is my go-to for price and widespread availability. I just recently discovered one called Larceny which is my new favorite. The handle bottle costs as much as a 750 of most other quality whiskey brands. It is also quite awesome flavor-wise.

Cool, thanks, that's readily available here in the UK too.

I'm starting to foresee an expensive booze order in my immediate future ;)

Makers Mark is probably my favorite starter bourbon before you delve into the single barrel stuff.

I've quit drinking cold turkey, so if I'm a bit grumpy this week you will know why.

Just drinking turkey with a dash of water now?

The missus found a bottle of Salerno blood orange liqueur. Mixed with a little St. Germain vodka and actual blood orange juice, came out really well.

That distillery is right down the road from me. Some day I'll have to make the trip.

Well, looks like the bottle of Jameson Gold Reserve was a lucky shot for my buddy. Yesterday he brought over a fairly vile bottle of Jack Daniels 'honey liquor', basically syrupy bourbon. The honey syrup just overpowered the bourbon, sticky and nasty. He loved it.

As is my usual rule, he will now be drinking that while I have something decent.

Woodford Reserve is another good starter Bourbon I feel.  Good flavor, pretty smooth for a Bourbon, and not to pricy.

Taste is funny stuff.  I reread this whole thread and found lots of hate for Makers Mark and love for Woodford Reserve.  I tried a bottle of the Woodford Reserve once, seeing as I live a couple miles from the distillery it seemed mandatory, and I found it not much better than Heaven Hill (ie turpentine).  They seem to put a lot more effort into marketing and snobbery than quality, IMNSHO.  But I find Makers to be pretty nice, if not as complex as it used to be.  Makers has barely recovered from being "discovered" a decade or so ago, going global, and growing faster than their ability to maintain quality, but they've put a lot of effort into refocusing on quality. Woodford Reserve is trying their best to copy that, without the refocus on quality.  Four Roses is another example of marketing snobbery over quality.

Buffalo Trace is a bit better than Makers, and a bit cheaper.  I also like the Old Weller Antique that Buffalo Trace makes, very nice for the price, but avoid the bottom tier of that label if you have any respect for your taste buds.  I used to like Ancient Ancient Age (AAA) but it started getting a too silty finish for my tastes a few years ago and I haven't tried it since.

Bookers and Bakers are the best bourbons I've found so far, but a good deal pricier.  I'm too poor (or maybe cheap) to try anything much beyond that.

I'll have to see how spendy Eagle Rare is and maybe splurge on it.  Though based on all the raves here I'll probably hate it!  :why_so_serious:

Just for calibration, I'm a sipper when I get my hands on the better stuff, sometimes with and sometimes without a splash of water or maybe a single ice cube in the summer if I absolutely must have something cooler than room temp. And I'm not a smoker but love the taste of smokey liquor in my mouth but hate it in my throat.  I'm not so fond of the peaty scotches, but love the smokey ones.  And what the difference is I cannot describe.  I didn't find a single classic Islay that I liked the aftertaste of, though some of them were pretty nice at the start.  Balvenie Doublewood was my favorite scotch back when I could afford it.

Corsair triple smoke whiskey. Cherrywood, beechwood, and peat smoked grains. Stuff is amazing

If making a martini, the mistake most people make is basing it on a London style gin (ie most of them). What you want is Plymouth gin. It's much smoother than London gins, you'll probably get on with it well if you like the style of sapphire.

Hrm, I guess so.  Makers is OK, but it taste pretty cheep and low grade to me.  I wont say its bad by any means, but I've never really understood the love it gets.  Woodford on the other hand, taste pretty damn nice to me.  My go to bourbon lately has been the Elijah Craig 12 year, which I think is the best bang for buck around in Bourbon.  I just didn't mention it because it tends to be a lot harder to find than something like Woodford or Makers.

Someone needs to start making A. H. Hirsch 16 year old Bourbon (http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=630016) (and the 20 as well) again, I bought a bottle 15 years ago before the prices went insane and it is still the best American hard alcohol I have ever tasted.

edit - Note that the price on the page I linked at $399 is out of stock, current price is over $1000, I think I paid 75ish back in the day.

Yeah, I'm hoping that with the boom in Bourbon, we'll start seen more aged varieties as the years go on.  There has been big expansion in the industry, but of course its takes decades for the aged stuff to start flooding the market.

I don't know why you would age a bourbon. Since the barrels are fresh you're not really getting anything out of it past a few years. If you're going to spend the time to age a whiskey it might as well be Rye or Barley, both of which have better profiles when aging (because they're not so sweet you don't lose as much of the wood you're aging it to in the sugar)

Ya, bourbon isn't really "aged' but it is "matured" and can be kept in the barrels longer to pick up more of the carmelized sugar and char, but if you leave it in too long it just turns woody. 

I'm anxiously awaiting High West Whiskey's actual first batch of in-house made Rye as it should be getting close to finally being done.

Since the beer thread got a bump i'll give the boozers a bump too, why does it get to live in general discussion while we are stuck in serious business?

Anyhoo, my wife bought me a bottle of 120 proof 9 year old reserve Knobb Creek Bourbon for fathers day and in my opinion this is the best bourbon to mix with coke (or if you are like me diet coke).  Not sweet and fairly smooth with just the right amount of a vapory bite at the finish.  My only complaint is probably the plastic screw top cap (buried under wax) but in a way that also makes me feel like less of a dork for mixing decent booze with diet coke.

edit: to qualify my best bourbon with coke, I enjoyed this "Jack & Coke" better than Old #7, Gentleman Jack, Gold Medal Jack, Single Barrel Jack, Woodford Reserve, Hirsch, Basil Haydens, Knobb Creek, Knobb Creek Rye, Bookers, Bakers and Makers + Coke (and probably quite a few more I have forgotten).

Makers Mark is piss, really.  Knob Creek is a nice bourbon in that price range.  I seem to have lost my taste for bourbon lately, however.

My parents got some Tequila in Mexico from some guy's garage. Every time I sip a shot of it, I cry a little knowing the bottle will be gone at some point.

I nursed a bottle of Herradura Tequila Hacienda Del Cristero for 10 years and then my wife dumped the last ounce and half into some juice to drink.  :cry:

You mean ex-wife, right?

Yeah.  Where did you bury her body, Ab?

She's a giant tequila worm now.

One of my local bartenders just introduced me to some amazing gin. Comb 9 (http://combvodka.com/the-spirits/). Threw the gin in with some bootlegger 21 vodka (http://www.prohibitiondistillery.com/) and a little lillet for a killer Vesper.

Hendrick's gin is the nectar of the gods.   :oh_i_see:

Ransom Old Tom Gin (http://www.ransomspirits.com/spirits.php) was my standby for a long time.

Been trying to ween myself off diet soda with iced tea. Brewed up a pitcher of a black tea with cranberry and some mint in it. Poured a glass and then just threw in some blackberry infused Junior Johnson moonshine. Let's just say: it's good.

I've got a bumper crop of blackberries in my backyard and have been thinking about doing some sort of booze infusion with them.  The safe choice would be vodka since it's mostly flavorless, but I think it'd be more fun to pair them with something that has a complementary flavor.  Just not sure what.  Suggestions?

I've had a blackberry mojito before that was pretty good.  I'm sure you could probably do an infusion with a light rum maybe?

I believe my mother used to infuse them in to Brandy. Really yummy over ice cream.

I'd suggest cognac.

I was also thinking in the general direction of brandy, but I like the rum idea.  Maybe I'll try both.   :grin:

By the power of booze skull, rise from the grave!

I somehow got into hard liquor lately, despite thinking I hated the stuff.  Got a bottle of Maker's Mark and Ron Zacapa Centenario 23. I like them both, especially the latter. I'd like to try some Hennessy VSOP but I fear the local liquor store will think I'm a drunk buying all this shit.

  

I despise the taste of gin, so I had about a half gallon sitting around and I threw a shredded clump of ginger into it. I might actually like gin now.

I am not a bourbon guy but I recently tried Jack Daniels Honey Bourbon and I could easily drink it straight, on the rocks.