General Booze thread

[croaker69]

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

[Sand]

Did you get it over ice, or straight?

Ice.

Sorry about your vagina.

Thank you!    lolz

[Goumindong]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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)

[JWIV]

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.

[Goumindong]

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).   

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!).

[Teleku]

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.  

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.

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.

[ghost]

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

[Ingmar]

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

The why, I don't know.

[Sand]

Giant big long list of stuff and,
Jameson/Bushmills: The 12 years are good, pretty standard fare. Similar to the Glenlevit with less flavor.

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.

[Samwise]

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).

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

[Goumindong]

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).

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

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.

[apocrypha]

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

Quoting you twice in one day. 

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 :)

[Surlyboi]

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.

[satael]

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.

[CmdrSlack]

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.

[Sky]

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.

[Abagadro]

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

[01101010]

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

[JWIV]

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.

[Surlyboi]

I need to stop following wine with whisky.

[Khaldun]

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.

[Evildrider]

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

[Surlyboi]

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

[Numtini]

I need to stop following wine with whisky.

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

[JWIV]

I need to stop following wine with whisky.

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

Nope. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

[apocrypha]

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 

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

[Surlyboi]

Bison grass vodka, saint germaine and blood orange juice.

[CmdrSlack]

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.

[Sky]

Slack, I'm making a road trip.

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

[rattran]

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

Yum.

[CmdrSlack]

Slack, I'm making a road trip.

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

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.

[apocrypha]

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.

[rattran]

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

[Paelos]

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.

[Merusk]

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