Good whisky/whiskey

[ubkev]

Do Mint Juleps count in a whiskey thread? Cuz I am drinking the hell out of them this afternoon.....

I save them for the first Saturday in May.

[darksabre]

Haven't been feeling great this week. Burning it out with some Pikesville Rye.

[IKnowPhysics]

Going to Scotland for three weeks starting Thursday. Planning on visiting at least nine distilleries:

 

Isle of Arran

Springbank

Laphroaig

Ardbeg

Lagavulin

Oban

Talisker

Highland Park

Macallan

 

I'm also attempting to bring back the legally allowed maximum number of bottles (5 bottles x 2 people).

 

 

 

I am the liquor, Randy.

[MattPie]

Sadly I have a contractor working on remodeling my living room, and when moving all the furniture into the dining room, I made the unfortunate decision to pile all the furniture in front of the liquor cabinet. :(

 

Spring porch drinking can't come soon enough...

 

You don't have some emergency stash in the toilet tank or under the bed?

[darksabre]

Going to Scotland for three weeks starting Thursday. Planning on visiting at least nine distilleries:

 

Isle of Arran

Springbank

Laphroaig

Ardbeg

Lagavulin

Oban

Talisker

Highland Park

Macallan

 

I'm also attempting to bring back the legally allowed maximum number of bottles (5 bottles x 2 people).

 

 

 

I am the liquor, Randy.

Yaaaassss Highland Park. I'm very jealous.

[Weave]

Going to Scotland for three weeks starting Thursday. Planning on visiting at least nine distilleries:

 

Isle of Arran

Springbank

Laphroaig

Ardbeg

Lagavulin

Oban

Talisker

Highland Park

Macallan

 

I'm also attempting to bring back the legally allowed maximum number of bottles (5 bottles x 2 people).

 

 

 

I am the liquor, Randy.

By any chance are you taking orders?

[biodork]

Going to Scotland for three weeks starting Thursday. Planning on visiting at least nine distilleries:

 

Isle of Arran

Springbank

Laphroaig

Ardbeg

Lagavulin

Oban

Talisker

Highland Park

Macallan

 

I'm also attempting to bring back the legally allowed maximum number of bottles (5 bottles x 2 people).

 

 

 

I am the liquor, Randy.

JEALOUS.  Safe travels and have an excellent time!

[drnkirishone]

anyone try redbreast lustau edition?

[IKnowPhysics]

So, uh, that completely kicked ass.

 

Ended up visiting, in order:

Arran (tour and tasting)

Springbank (tour and tasting)

Laphroaig (educational tasting)

Ardbeg (tour and tasting)

Lagavulin (educational tasting)

Oban (tasting)

Talisker (tasting)

Highland Park (tour and tasting)

Macallan (tasting)

Glenfiddich (tour and tasting)

 

10 distilleries, 1 whisky festival, 68 different whiskys tasted, oldest whisky was 48 years, 10.5L of alcohol brought back (one bottle for every distillery visited, plus some extra), 0 bottle breakage.

 

More importantly, I've learned and experienced.

• I've broken away from "neat all the time."  The 80 proof of most scotches is an artificial lower limit imposed by the legal definition of scotch- most scotches are watered down to this limit before bottling.  The higher proof scotches are pretty much designed by the distillers to have water added to them by the drinker (although not imposed- drink how you will), and it really really does change the face of some whiskys.  One example is Ardbeg Supernova: it is, by design, a complete smokeshow and bottled at 54.3%.  But add a little water to get it closer to 40%, and this overpowered one trick pony opens right up into a completely different, superbly complex, and even-more-delicious dram.  Good whisky is good whisky; drink it how you like, experiment with how you taste.
• The impact of casking is incredible.  Cask materials, previous cask liquors, and how many times the casks have been reused for whisky have an enormous impact on flavors.  From bourbon to madeira vs pedro ximenez  sherries to port, each can impact the flavor.  Complexity can be added by finishing maturation in different varieties.  For instance, many will use bourbon oak barrels for the majority of maturation, and then if they want a particular flavor added, they'll finish it in a fresh sherry cask.  Finishing in a quarter cask exposes the whisky to more surface area -and more cask flavor- than a normal cask.  I'd say the casking has as big or bigger impact on flavor than maturation.  It was for this reason that almost all of the distilleries in Campbeltown, once the distillery capital of Scotland, failed.  When sherry and port barrels became hard to come by, they used the barrels they had: fish barrels.  It was known as stinky whisky and drinking that obviously went out of style.
• Mature whisky is expensive not because it's necessarily better, but because it is rare.  Mature whisky is not rare because they don't make a lot of barrels of it- they cask lots of barrels intended for long maturation. Instead, mature whisky is rare because so much is lost from each cask during maturation due to evaporation (angel's share).  A 50 year old whisky barrel starting with 195 liters of new make spirit might only have 2-3 liters left in it when it's uncasked, depending on environmental factors.  Entire distilleries that have long since been non-operational and mothballed have been purchased for millions of dollars for their warehouses full of old maturing whisky that hadn't been uncasked or bottled yet.  Port Ellen Distillery on Islay is one of these.  It was shuttered in 1983 and then bought by conglomerate Diageo, who slowly bottles and releases their leftover stock.  Port Ellen, depending on vintage, sells for $1000-$6000 per bottle.
• Every distillery believes they do things the best way: with heritage and craftsmanship.  It's marketing.  They all still meet the legal definitions of scotch (like using pot stills, oak casks, maturing min 3 years, bottling min 40%, etc), but most change at least a few, if not all, things about their process from the olden times.  External malting factories instead of large malting floors, importing peat from other regions of Scotland, modernized and automated process controls, enormous wash and mash tuns, millions of gallons per year capacity, liquor conglomerate ownership and distribution, etc have all come about for some distilleries- and those distilleries still love to tell you about old timey methods and show you some video of some old guy in overalls running his hands through barley, etc.  And this stuff drives the actual small, actual family-owned, actual old timey method distilleries bananas.  Example: Springbank does almost everything old school with their own malting floors, century old mill equipment, peat furnaces, wood wash and mash tuns, manual cuts, original family owned operation and the like.  And they take a serious this-is-the-way-we've-done-it-for-two-hundred-years-and-we're-gonna-keep-doing-it-this-way--all-the-haters attitude with a side of -those-big-guys-and-their-chemical-engineering-degrees and a sprinkle of -their-magazine-ads-with-pictures-of-horses.  They're not wrong, but they also don't make my favorite whisky.  Ignore the marketing.  Remember that good whisky is good whisky.

[Wyldnwoody44]

Green spot, chateau cask

 

May be my new favorite

 

Although the teeling factory had some unique cask finishes that are top notch

[Weave]

Found a bottle of Redemption bourbon at my local watering hole.

 

Cooked brown sugar and oak on the nose. A little thin, sugar at first, fading to some heat and spice. Nice, long peppery finish.

 

A pretty decent pour. It's not overly complicated, but it is well made. All the barrel notes are on the nose. It is a fairly smooth pour. I'd label it a nice after dinner pour.

 

Probably not assertive enough to stand up to a cigar.

 

The price is right. $5 for a double in a proper glass.

Edited September 8, 2017 by We've

[The Dominator]

Girlfriend got me a bottle of Jameson Crested on her 10 day venture in Ireland. Anyone have any experiences with this one? I'm excited to try it

[MattPie]

I don't post here much because while I like whiskey here and there, it's never the first thing I go to (beer, and recently wine have become my preference before any liquor). That being said, the only alcohol I have in the house right now is a sample of Belvedere Vodka and 1/4 of a 750 of Bulleit Rye. I'm trying to decide how I want to use the rye; one cube, seltzer, or something more fancy. I do have some rock sugar, maybe I could make a small batch of Rock and Rye.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Rock-and-Rye

 

Thoughts?

[darksabre]

I tend to just use ice and club soda if I'm looking to water my rye down a little. 

[Weave]

I don't post here much because while I like whiskey here and there, it's never the first thing I go to (beer, and recently wine have become my preference before any liquor). That being said, the only alcohol I have in the house right now is a sample of Belvedere Vodka and 1/4 of a 750 of Bulleit Rye. I'm trying to decide how I want to use the rye; one cube, seltzer, or something more fancy. I do have some rock sugar, maybe I could make a small batch of Rock and Rye.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Rock-and-Rye

Thoughts?

If you have the stuff, an old fashioned id hard to beat.

 

If you have just what you mentioned, Id try the rye simply on the rocks, if the heat and spice isnt your thing, add a touch of that rock salt and a splash of somrthing bubbly like club soda. But just a splash. Add a mint leaf and you are basically making a julip, which is always a good choice.

[CallawaySabres]

If you have the stuff, an old fashioned id hard to beat.

 

If you have just what you mentioned, Id try the rye simply on the rocks, if the heat and spice isnt your thing, add a touch of that rock salt and a splash of somrthing bubbly like club soda. But just a splash. Add a mint leaf and you are basically making a julip, which is always a good choice.

 

I love the Old Fashioned - what is your favorite recipe for that (and type of whiskey)

[korab rules]

I drink two bourbons pretty religiously - Blanton's when I can get it, and Jack Daniels Single Barrel when I can't.  If you haven't tried JDSB, you are doing yourself a big disservice.  I tried to not like it for years, as I can't stand to be in the same room with old #7, but I eventually gave in.  Its really, really good, and always available.  

[IKnowPhysics]

I drink two bourbons pretty religiously - Blanton's when I can get it, and Jack Daniels Single Barrel when I can't.  If you haven't tried JDSB, you are doing yourself a big disservice.  I tried to not like it for years, as I can't stand to be in the same room with old #7, but I eventually gave in.  Its really, really good, and always available.  

 

I take it that you like Single Barrel better than Gentleman.  How's it compare?  I haven't had the SB yet, but Gentleman was my "fancy" whisky when I was poor in grad school.

[korab rules]

Gentleman jack is barely drinkable.  It needs a strong mixer like coke.  Now that you are out of grad school and making the big bucks, get yourself hooked on the good stuff.  Once you do, there is no going back.  It's more expensive than heroin, but you don't have to inject it directly into your veins to have a good time.  

[IKnowPhysics]

Gentleman jack is barely drinkable.  It needs a strong mixer like coke.  Now that you are out of grad school and making the big bucks, get yourself hooked on the good stuff.  Once you do, there is no going back.  It's more expensive than heroin, but you don't have to inject it directly into your veins to have a good time.  

 

Oh, I've been out of grad school for years.  And it might be fair to say that if I wasn't hooked on the good stuff before going to Scotland this year (I was), I definitely am now.  I was just curious how you'd rank the three, regular Jack of course being at the bottom, but I got it from context: SB >> GJ > Jack.

 

 

I love the Old Fashioned - what is your favorite recipe for that (and type of whiskey)

 

I support this thread broadening into recommended whisky mixed recipes.

[korab rules]

Oh, I've been out of grad school for years. And it might be fair to say that if I wasn't hooked on the good stuff before going to Scotland this year (I was), I definitely am now. I was just curious how you'd rank the three, regular Jack of course being at the bottom, but I got it from context: SB >> GJ > Jack.

 

 

 

I support this thread broadening into recommended whisky mixed recipes.

SB>>>>>>>GJ>>#7

 

Scotland? I'm peanut butter and jelly!

[Wyldnwoody44]

I make a maple old fashioned I make at home, I like buliet bourbon, with maple (with or in lieu of simple syrup) A little water, and a few drops of fresh squeezed orange juice with an orange zest twisted in for a little essence. It is magnificent!

[Weave]

Gentleman jack is barely drinkable. It needs a strong mixer like coke. Now that you are out of grad school and making the big bucks, get yourself hooked on the good stuff. Once you do, there is no going back. It's more expensive than heroin, but you don't have to inject it directly into your veins to have a good time.

Holy ! Welcome home!

[biodork]

I make a maple old fashioned I make at home, I like buliet bourbon, with maple (with or in lieu of simple syrup) A little water, and a few drops of fresh squeezed orange juice with an orange zest twisted in for a little essence. It is magnificent!

YES, this is amazing... I've made it before and loved it, but I tend to forget.  Perfect season for this, though!  A spicier rye goes so well with the maple flavor.

[josie]

I support this thread broadening into recommended whisky mixed recipes.

mhm. I like a good Sazerac. I'm open to suggestions.

 

My greatest shame is that when we were all in New Orleans at the Commander's Palace for an incredible dinner, they started us off with their classic Sazerac. I'd been looking forward to this for a long time. The night before, however, I had an allergic reaction to a pilsner and spent the evening hurling and missed a plantation tour and most of the next day. By the time we got to dinner, I was still really shaky.

 

I sipped that whole damn Saz out of principle, but I didn't enjoy a drop. Every sip was a battle to keep everything together. The entire dinner was amazing, and I could barely face it.

 

So... I need to go back. And do it right.