whiskey

Old Crow?!? Blecch

Old Crow is, probably literally, Jim Beam they wasn't aging right so they pulled the barrels early

I have the good fortune of having several good to great liquor stores in my immediate area. But yeah, the generally available stuff is pretty consistently average.

That being said, I have a lot of love for the Beam high proof bottles - Bookers and Bakers. I can always find them, even if I don't want to spend the $55 - $65 to buy them. I have also really come to appreciate Bulleit 10 yr. It really opens up, and has some really great spice. They have it at Trader Joe's all the time.

Really? I've had Bulleit 10 year and kind of found it overpriced and not really remarkable. I bought it at Target when it went on clearance for some reason for $28. It was a good deal at that price.

I got a bottle of Belle Meade Sherry Cask finished bourbon over the weekend and it is absolutely delicious. I really like sherry-finished whiskeys! Although I guess I've only tried two of them, this and Glenmorangie Lasanta. Still. Yum.

In other news, a week or two ago Elijah Craig 12 finally dropped the age statement. RIP, EJ12.

Best cheap whiskey is no-doubt Evan Williams BIB (white label). Bulleit, it's cheap, alright, but part of the sketchy rip-off problem, often courtesy Diageo, which has been pushing fake fancy juice on unsuspecting consumers for years now.

Still say Four Roses almost across the board produces the best, most consistent everyday product.

xpost Angel's Envy is port finished, isn't it? Same sort of idea.

fwiw Bulleit Rye, Dickel Rye, Templeton Rye, and possibly a few others are pretty much the same whiskey processed differently. there's a difference in taste profile but you can swap them for each other pretty easily.

Yeah the port-finished ones are also good! although I've only had the Glenmorangie one.

Need a scotch thread

whiskey thread! My go-to is Bulleit, formerly Makers Mark. When I'm feeling fancy, I'll splurge for Knob Creek. When regular Bulleit isn't avail, I'll go for Buffalo Trace, which is surprisingly similar. Maybe it's another for the list upright mammal?

Bulliet 10 yr is decent but yeah overpriced. It's a lot like the four roses single barrel (which is also easy to find), if you're into that type of bourbon.

Cask strength Maker's Mark is a pretty good bourbon.

Anyone try the jefferson's "ocean aged" bourbon? I have a bottle that I've been planning to give away but if it's really good maybe I should keep it.

Speaking of Jefferson's, if you ever see the "presidential select" you should grab it. Truly outstanding.

Jefferson's is another one guilty of some truly inspired levels of bullshit.

I bought knob creek smoked maple variation recently.
It's kind of gross and I'm not really sure why I did that.

What are people's go-to affordable whiskeys? I usually get Buffalo Trace ($35 here) but feel kind of in a rut.

$35 and under is what I think of as affordable.

imo there are a handful of duds between $20 and $35 but the vast majority is drinkable

Jim Beam Black, when on sale, is worth picking up imo

yeah that one, the OGD BIB100 as noted, and Four Roses are my go-to bottles

good choices

Weller also falls in that range and I've enjoyed it

I have had both the At Sea and Presidential Select versions of Jefferson's, thankfully they were gifts bc I don't think I could ever muster the will to pay $$$ for something like that. They were good, for sure! I think I posted about each of them way back itt.

imo there are a handful of duds between $20 and $35 but the vast majority is drinkable

― μpright mammal (mh), Thursday, February 4, 2016 1:49 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

definitely, its higher up in the price ranges that you can get burned ime. bourbon obviously an easy target for new wave "artisanal craft" bullshit w/ cool labels and bottles filled with garbage warehouse whiskey

good affordable (less than $40) bourbons imo:

woodford reserve, perhaps the best affordable bourbon
knob
elmer t lee (is this still around? i seem to recall they are not)
makers
dickel

bakers and bookers are also both good over $40 bourbons (both beam brand iirc)

this is useful to me. in the past I've done knob creek, dickel (#8 and #12... which are good but can be a bit much eventually?), evan williams single barrel, and some others. I usually have a bottle or two of old granddad or heaven hill or some other mixing bourbon.

maybe I haven't hit many of the unrecognizable duds because I tend to cap spending at $40

I've also enjoyed eagle rare but can't remember how much it costs.

yeah I like that as well

$30 or so iirc

Eagle Rare is what I get – $22 or so iirc
xp

makers is good but kind of expensive? it's the go to "i would like a good bourbon" but it doesn't really have anything distinctive. it also doesn't have any negatives! just smooth, drinkable, not too weak or burning

ETL shows up very occasionally, maybe like once a year

ah ok

yikes I think eagle rare is more like $40 here? dickel is also generally at least $35 and I feel like I see people talking about it being cheaper than that a lot.

yea there is a pretty wide variance in pricing i've noticed, even within the same town. i usually see dickel (#12 i think is the one i know) for $19-$21. knob for ~$30 or so, woodford for ~$30, been a while since i've bought whiskey though, i received bourbons as gifts for a number of years and now have maybe 12 bottles or so in my cabinet that are all around 1/3 or 1/2 full

iirc dickel is supposed to be in the low end of the $25 range, it used to be kind of the non-jack daniel's tennessee whiskey and was priced around the same or lower, but I think it's now seen as a better (and less watered down) product

whiskey party at marcos's house!

yeah ok, so these are just new york prices I'm experiencing then. never seen any variety of dickel for less than $35. knob creek $35-40. buffalo trace consistently $35.

haha xp

i also think maybe dickel has gotten more expensive over the years? when i first started drinking bourbon it was definitely on the cheaper end

it has!

the nice part about living in iowa is the state liquor distribution system publishes the wholesale prices of everything they distribute, so you can get an idea of what the markup is

Dickel No. 12 wholesales for $20.25
http://iowaabd.com/alcohol/products/pricing

Benchmark is basically Buffalo Trace that didn't make the cut from what I understand.

Dickel and Beam have both gone up about $5-6 a bottle in the past few years.

almost everything has!

been mostly drinking Green Spot lately, that is some insanely great shit.

got a bottle of Angel's Envy Rye Whiskey, which is aged in the rum casks.

you guys familiar with this one and if so, y/n?

https://media2.caskers.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/thumbnail/1000x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/n/i/nikka-coffey-grain-whisky-1.jpg

Green spot otm

i went to a divey class old bar in downtown L.A. with my dad and he wanted a tullamore dew, which they didn't have, and the server said "let me give you a taste of this other irish whiskey we have, you may like it." and it's become the family go-to whiskey ever since.

I don't think we have green spot here? I'll be on the lookout for it

where you at? it's recently become more widely available.