Whiskey - It's the water of life!

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Homoerotic Cougar-kun said:
The end result is the same as any other whiskey, but you have fun getting wasted instead of begging the booze to hurry up and strip you of your sense of taste.
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I spent my undergrad years whizzing away chinese made booze that gave me 7 day long hangovers. Everything's an upgrade.

Budweiser just kinda tastes like shitty Perriet to me now tho.
 
Homoerotic Cougar-kun said:
Hard seltzers are just rebranded alcopop. Very girly drink, makes a Cosmo or Appletini look fairly masculine.
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I have since been informed that in America, an 8.0% proof beer is considered high alcohol.
What's up with people being bitches when it comes to alcohol tolerance.
 
Syaoran Li said:
If you're making a homemade Rob Roy or an Old Fashioned, it's far more sensible to just use Clan MacGregor or Early Times than Glenfiddich or Gentleman Jack.
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I'd probably go as cheap as Old Grand-Dad for an Old Fashioned. I still wouldn't use Evan Williams for it, that shit is nasty.
 
When I can spare the cash for it my choice hard liquor tends to be either regular or gentleman jack Daniels. Gentleman is double mellowed so it has a more robust almost charcoal flavor to it similar to Buchanan.

I've been curious about trying Sinatra select. A label they made as an homage to Frank blue eyes Sinatra who was an avid jack drinker in his time. But the only place I've seen it for sale is direct from the company website.


Ironically it's sold as this prestigious label that's sold for top dollar and has Frankie's face on the box it's packed in almost like it's meant more as a gift than something you'd buy to quench thirst and get hammered. Yet in real life Frank himself never really drank expensive or fancy booze. The man took ordinary old no 7 on the rocks with just a bit of water if he was going on stage, so as not to slur his speech while he sang but still had a confidence boost that whisk is said to give a man.
 
Czargon the Red said:
I have since been informed that in America, an 8.0% proof beer is considered high alcohol.
What's up with people being bitches when it comes to alcohol tolerance.
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Idk what the deal is, but I wouldn't be surprised if it somehow involved Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

As for whiskey, I haven't tried a big variety. My go-to drinks are Jim Beam Pre-Prohibition Rye and Tullamore Dew.
 
Return of the Freaker said:
Idk what the deal is, but I wouldn't be surprised if it somehow involved Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

As for whiskey, I haven't tried a big variety. My go-to drinks are Jim Beam Pre-Prohibition Rye and Tullamore Dew.
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I don't drive when I drink. However, I don't like drinking around mothers because 90% of the time, they like to virtue signal or cause some form of annoyance.
 
While borderline sacrilege (considering it's not a super cheapo bottle), I suggest that anyone who enjoys whiskey and coke try making one with Jameson Black Barrel Irish Whiskey. While it's great to sip (and not one of those bottles where every drop feels like pouring a substantial investment down your throat - hello Glenfiddich 25), for some reason, from my experience, it just makes all those cocktails and long drinks where anything more than bottom shelf is usually considered a waste taste just "right" - applies to all the classic whiskey + vermouth drinks brought up on this page as well.
 
Arran Machrie Moor Cask Strength, last edition from Lochranza @56.2% ABV, all natural.

Very pale straw yellow, just a little bit darker than the Glenglassaugh Torfa from the previous page.
The official notes say everything about the nose, but I'd change the order: very smoke-forward with citrus in the background, faint sweetness. Tastes a lot less peaty. Sweet vanilla and brioche first, then a rush of fruits - lemon, pineapple, blackberries, craberries - with grassy notes.
Goes down tasting like smoky coconut, and the finish is pretty much what the site states: citrus, smoke, milk chocolate, vanilla, and coconut.

It's dangerously drinkable even at full strength, and doesn't need any water in my opinion. Great balance.
I'd say it's worth getting.

On a different note, I've treated an acquaintance to some Glen Scotia 16, and it mellowed out greatly since the last (first) time it was opened. The intense engine oil smell and taste turned into leather and tobacco, and the spices too have softened. While I wouldn't invoke this classic, I'm quite sad it lost what made it interesting to me.
 
Pocket_Sand! said:
Another Arran that wasn't on my radar, now I'm going to have to go and bug my local distributor again.
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Get it while it's still available. I have no information about the remaining stock, but with the Lagg distillery in operation, the Lochranza unit ceased making any peated whisky.
The Whisky Exchange still has at least a couple of bottles in stock, but shipping costs an insane amount.
 
Boris Blank's glass eye said:
Get it while it's still available. I have no information about the remaining stock, but with the Lagg distillery in operation, the Lochranza unit ceased making any peated whisky.
The Whisky Exchange still has at least a couple of bottles in stock, but shipping costs an insane amount.
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Ouch, that shipping is more than the bottle. I'll let my local outfit look for it for a bit, then I'll probably go to the Whiskey Exchange. It's not a completely unreasonable amount coming from the UK I suppose.
 
Return of the Freaker said:
Idk what the deal is, but I wouldn't be surprised if it somehow involved Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

As for whiskey, I haven't tried a big variety. My go-to drinks are Jim Beam Pre-Prohibition Rye and Tullamore Dew.
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Have you tried the cider cask aged Tullamore Dew? Has just a bit more sweetness than the regular, like it has a hint of apple brandy/applejack to it.
 
Writers Tears Double Oak, NAS @46% ABV, said to be non-chill filtered, definitely coloured.

Writers_Tears_Double_Oak-590x1024.png

A blend of single pot still and single malt whiskies, supposedly at a 60-40% ratio, matured in ex-bourbon and ex-cognac casks. The bottler Walsh Whiskey's site states it's non-chill filltered, but there's no clarification on either the box or the bottle label, so whatever. Carries no age statement, it might be the same age as the regular Copper Pot. Master of Malt states it's 11 years old.

However, these negatives don't matter jack shit when the whiskey is this good.
Fragrant, perfumy nose of vanilla, cinnamon, plum, ripe apples, pears, and sweet white grapes.
The taste is a wonderful twist on the Copper Pot's spicey-oaky-pears and apples-butterscotch-with a chocolate finish: citrus, a mix of lemon and mandarine, oak, white grape must, pears. Finishes with lingering spices and the pear separating into sweet apple and dark chocolate, and almonds.

A dash of water shifts the balance towards the oak spices and the grapes.

It's listed at €55 at Celtic Whiskey Shop, €5 below Redbreast 12 and Green Spot, and I like it better than either. Master of Malt lists it at €52,77, exactly the same price as Redbreast 12 and €8.26 above Green Spot.
Too bad shipping costs a damn fucking lot in the case of CWS and Master of Malt stopped shipping to a damn lot of countries last year. The Whisky Exchange doesn't have it in stock. A USA-based store, Blackwell's lists it at $60, Redbreast 12 at $58 and Green Spot at $56.
I'd say get it if you want a great twist on the classical Irish style without changing it too radically. My one and only gripe is the screw cap.

I'm also having a hard time deciding my next order, so I'd welcome some opinion on the following whiskeys:
  • AnCnoc Peatheart and Rascan
  • Ardbeg An Oa
  • Auchentoshan Three Wood
  • Aultmore 12yro
  • Benriach Peated Cask Strength Batch 1
  • Benromach 10yro
  • Port Charlotte Scottish Barley
  • Caol Ila Moch
  • Glenfiddich 15yro
  • Glenlivet Nadurra First Fill and Oloroso
  • Hazelburn 10yro
  • Kavalan Single Malt and Concertmaster Port Cask
  • Kilchoman Machir Bay and Sanaig
  • Ledaig 10yro
  • Linkwood 12yro
  • Longmorn 16yro
  • Talisker Port Ruighe and 57° North
Douglas Laing and Hunter Laing in general. More specifically, my go-to store recently acquired a Hepburn's Choice Tamdhu 10 and a Hepburn's Choice Caol Ila 8 and I'm wondering if the single cask experience is worth the premium: the Tamdhu costs about €10 more than the basic one, but the Caol Ila commands a hefty 50% over a regular 12yro.
 
I remember the times i drank a full cups worth of fireball whiskey mixed with coffee (as in, it'd fill a normal sized cup, then i mixed it in a large mug of coffee) and honestly out of all the things I've drank since i've been allowed, that's been able to make me legitimately drunk.
I honestly intend to try more kinds of whiskey, since I like the taste of most of them.

Though sometimes the sting of the alcohol itself makes me flinch a bit, wish i could remove that response from me since that's the only downside if you don't include potential hangovers and nausea (the later only being if i'm stupid enough to not keeping myself hydrated).
 
So I recently ran across a bottle in my local distributor that I'd never seen before. It's from Koval, a distillery in Chicago, and it's an oat whiskey https://www.koval-distillery.com/newsite/whiskey/oat . I love trying weird and new things, and this stuff certainly fit that bill.

In the bottle, it's unremarkable, somewhat lighter in color than your average single malt, but who cares what color it is right? What's it like?

Well, on the nose (to me anyway) it's VERY menthol, and I mean borderline overpowering because it's just completely unexpected, and honestly you don't get much else, just... menthol. I wasn't thrilled by the nose and was kind of figuring I'd just wasted $45, but upon a taste, I was very pleasantly surprised. It's very smooth, with vanilla and coconut being dominant at first then giving way to milk chocolate and cashews with just a hint of baking spice at the end. It has a very creamy palate and finish, reminiscent of Glenlivet 14 Cognac Cask in that regard, and that alone was enough to put this stuff on my repeat buy list. It's a very straight forward sipping whiskey, what I'd define as a great summer dram for enjoying on the porch in the evening, it's very good.

If you like trying something new, I'd give this stuff a go, it's absolutely worth it's asking price (here in the US anyway) and is a nice taste of my home state of Illinois.

Edit; @Boris Blank's glass eye I just saw your list, and of them I've only had the Auchentoshan Three Wood, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It's very complex with honey and vanilla on the nose, with a bit of orange citrus in there. On the palate, it's smooth, but lacks the creamy feel, which doesn't detract from it at all. Dark chocolate leads the way, with orange zest coming in after followed by vanilla and thick honey. It's sweet, but not overpowering, and the honey continues on into the finish with strong oak and baking spice to finish it off. In the US it's around $85, up quite a bit from the $50-$60 price point it was in 2018. People are figuring out that it's a good one like all Auchentoshan bottles, and it is getting a bit harder to find here. Lowland Scotches in general seem to be on the uptick here, and people are gobbling them up. I'm thinking of becoming a whiskey broker, like an Illinois farmboy Gordon and MacPhail, ah what could be with a few million to play with.
 
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Pocket_Sand! said:
It's very complex with honey and vanilla on the nose, with a bit of orange citrus in there. On the palate, it's smooth, but lacks the creamy feel, which doesn't detract from it at all. Dark chocolate leads the way, with orange zest coming in after followed by vanilla and thick honey. It's sweet, but not overpowering, and the honey continues on into the finish with strong oak and baking spice to finish it off.
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Thanks for the recommendation. As of now, my plan for september is Benriach Peated CS and a bottle of Arran 10.
If some motherfucker happens to take the last Benriach my go-to store has the Auchentoshan in stock for €50, which sounds is a fair price then. I might make October a double Triple feature with Auchentoshan TW and Laphroaig TW.
 
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