whiskey

I think it's helping. At the very least I'm not wanting to go to bed and instead am wishing the night were longer, to give more time for enjoying such fine whisky! Maybe that's not a good thing though.

i have no whisky tonight and i would suggest your quality of life is better than mine upon discovering that even the shitawful supermarket brandy is all gone too

next whisky im gonna get is cask strength tho, probably an islay

got a bottle of some family produced stuff from a castle in clare, its good, v irish but soft with it.

buffalo trace is a fantastic bargain for the money imo

finished off my ardbeg airigh nam beist two nights ago. it was cool but i only felt like drinking it once every six months.

keep wanting to buy another bottle of Bakers

i'm having jameson with my müsli, it's not bad

Warning! Warning! Rye shortage is imminent!

They're predicting a two year (relative) drought, followed by a market flood, so stock up now.

source?

I thought we were already in a (relative) drought?

*calculates the likely cost of a case of Rittenhouse 100, based on last price seen*

rye popularity was somewhat anticipated but I think demand's outstripping supply. they have to spot possible trends so many years out, when it comes to aging liquors...

i just wrote some stuff about whisky wanna read it

http://sanfrancisco.grubstreet.com/2010/11/nations_bartenders_battle_for.html

Also, rye (the grain) is apparently selling at an all-time high, around 50% higher than last year and about 125% higher than 5 years ago. And I've noticed the price of Rittenhouse creeping up.

yes, slocki, I do

http://ca.askmen.com/fine_living/wine_dine_archive/whisky.html
http://ca.askmen.com/fine_living/wine_dine_archive/whisky-part-2.html

i shot the video too (but didnt edit it or add the music)

I can't get to said site from work. Is askmen.com a "men's blog?"

ehhh apologies to a couple bartenders in san francisco but that article is not actually based in fact at all;

- it's well known that michter's 10-year rye was a limited supply of mysterious aged stock that was unlikely to be replaced (and was a lot older than 10 years).

- no one has been able to get van winkle rye for like 5 years, the allocations are miniscule

- wild turkey 101 is basically going away but they're releasing an 81 proof rye that is getting a big marketing push

- rittenhouse still drops about twice a year and heaven hill has been increasing rittenhouse production steadily for a while now

- willet has released a ton of 3-5 year rye to the market in the last year and it's great for mixing

- jim beam has been rolling out knob creek rye for a couple months now, which is a 100-proof rye that is going to have pretty stable stocks because that's what beam does

- no mention at all of sazerac which fluctuates in availability but isn't actually going anywhere

around here at least, unless youre a huge fan of wild turkey 101 rye, things are considerably better than they were 2 years ago.

bulleit rye, although I have no strong opinions about it, is a newer product and seems to be available most of the time, too

yup. i mean a lot of people will be in trouble if the ldi/indiana rye dries up (bulleit, willet, redemption, high west, 4 or 5 other weirdo brands) but i haven't seen any indication of that happening.

- no one has been able to get van winkle rye for like 5 years, the allocations are miniscule

?? really? thats weird they had some at my liquor store in london

my understanding is that there's a ton of van winkle all over europe (relatively speaking). but in the usa there has been a runaway freight train of van winkle hype and it disappears as soon as it's dropped.

yeah that must be it. theyve even had it behind the bar at a few pubs ive been to recently

I can't remember if it applies to all Van Winkle products, but I read that the current family member basically walks around the distillery sampling barrels and picks select ones to blend to make their product. Used to be Stitzel-Weller, now it's Buffalo Trace.

yeah booze blogger i read was in glasgow recently drinking big pours of pappy 20 for like 8 pounds which is completely ludicrous to any american who pays attention to this stuff

mh there is debate about the extent to which the van winkles are actually involved in blending but otherwise yup that's correct for the bourbon.

the rye is a mingling of two aged stocks from distilleries that no longer exist. it's been sitting in a steel tank for like 10 years. supposedly they're going to start topping that tank up with buffalo trace rye over the next couple years.

Bars have no real prob getting Pappy.

well bars stand a lot better chance of getting it than consumers, that's true

ca.askmen

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f0oA56OE5Po/T4IQBRFowpI/AAAAAAAABD8/hxsZVuyENXs/s640/Amathus3.jpg

ca.askmen

― am0n, Thursday, June 21, 2012 2:05 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's a living

xp and ever it shall be unless britishers discover a taste for bourbon en masse

it's a living

― funny-skrillex-bee_132455836669.gif (s1ocki), Thursday, June 21, 2012 2:07 PM

: ) cask, man

need to try that 2:1 ratio pro-tip, i've only done the few drops of water

cask rules everything around me

tbh i don't usually do the full 2:1 but i have been adding more than i used to and its good

makes sense tastewise, also makes the bottle last that much longer. win/win

Cripes, is that a fresh shelf shot from the UK of all the Van Winkles? What are the prices?

- wild turkey 101 is basically going away

WHAT

well....if you see it grab it. no more is shipping in 2012. depending on where you live it may come back in future years but my sense is that they're going to push the 81 and focus on keeping the supply of 81 up.

Also going away: Elijah Craig 18, to be permanently replaced by Elijah Craig 20, which costs three times as much.

yup

ec18 was underpriced for years, i wasn't a fan but the glory days are over for people who liked drinking tree bark

Cripes, is that a fresh shelf shot from the UK of all the Van Winkles? What are the prices?

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, June 21, 2012 9:13 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i got that pic from this blog - http://bkarmstrong.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/amathus-drinks-in-soho-london.html

ec18 was underpriced for years, i wasn't a fan but the glory days are over for people who liked drinking tree bark

I've heard tell of a lot of variation from bottle to bottle. Besides, Scotch fans are guilty of tasting for worse than tree bark!

xpost And yet, if you go to the Amathus site, they only show three variants of Van Winkle, and one is out of stock. The 23 is 275 GBP!

yeah josh i've heard that too re: variation

ive only had the Van Winkle with the guy lighting up the cigar on it. Worth the hype

15, 20, or 23? they all have the guy.