whiskey

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.

I stand corrected, it's on that price list I linked upthread, so it's somewhere

looks like it's more expensive so I'll have to go to the nicer store

Its v much in the lineage of the other notable Jamesons, rly. Just very very good and not bad value compared to a redbreast or obv midleton

irish whiskey very drinkable, fun to drink imo

As a country we would certainly seem to agree

I note that green spot now seems to be the same price of redbreast locally....is there a big difference btwn them over there? Might plump for latter all things being equal.

green spot is really wonderful stuff

I usually drink the normal Jim Beam when mixing with ginger ale (because there's no point in getting a good/expensive booze when it will be masked by mixer). Maker's for a step up from Beam when not mixing, Woodford Reserve for two steps up. I don't think I've had a bourbon fancier then Knob Creek or Bulleit - and for those, I think the fanciness is lost on my palate, so it's a matter of diminishing returns to spend more than $30ish. It's all pee and lost memories in a day or so anyway.

That said, I am so glad there are people out there taking it seriously and cultivating a connoisseurship of fine distinctions. Truly, rock on, whiskeyheads.

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

i like the Nikka Grain i think it might be a little overpriced tho

I got a 500ml bottle of Nikka Coffey Grain 12-year (normal is a blend w/ no age statement) at Nikka's Yoichi distillery last year and it's lovely.

I also heard a bartender in LA say the Coffey Grain was "made with coffee" and almost broke my glass.

I think the fanciness is lost on my palate

I think if you go BIB or barrel proof you usually do OK. The former (albeit a shrinking category) is full of bargains, and while the latter stuff can be hard on the palate - nuance tends to go out the window after your first sip of something high-proof - it promises at least a certain degree of value/quality. Though imo the magic proof is somewhere between 95 and 105. These 135 or whatever proof monsters like Stagg Jr. just kill my tongue, as much as I enjoy sipping them.

splash of water

the thing about high-proof stuff that can't be replicated is the super-viscous mouthfeel. sometimes i really crave that.

pop it in the freezer for a while, has that effect. makes it taste terrible though... better to use aquavit.

just got a bottle of Port Charlotte Islay Barley, very excited to try it out this evening

Wow. I'm not super knowledgeable about Scotch, but this is unlike anything I've ever had, truly a transformational experience. Like drinking an ultra smooth bonfire, absolutely remarkable. I think I've found a new favorite.

Stagg Jr.

(thumbs up)