whiskey

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)

Staff Jr varies from batch to batch, but the last couple have been pretty strong (in every sense).

Stagg, duh.

My wife got me a bottle of Bib & Tucker bourbon, my yearly $$$ bottle for my birthday. It's... different. Not bad, but not much like any other bourbon I've had recently. A more earthy flavor, almost reminiscent of Dickel?

http://fb.onlykosherwine.com/Image.asp?src=05164.jpg&altSrc=ImageNotAvailable.gif&folder=CDV&imgPath=%2FImageLibrary&width=276&height=300

this stuff is baaaaad

do they sell this outside of williamsburg? apparently it's distilled in minnesota. my suspicion is that in different cities it's sold under different brands?

Old Silverlake, Old Deep Ellum, Old Wicker Park, Old Capitol Hill...

yep yep

old fishtown

the worst part about this whiskey -- besides the whiskey itself -- is that the label shows the brooklyn bridge rather than the williamsburg bridge.

are you sure that's not a bottle of motor oil?

reminds me of the dude at a bar trying to tell the bartender that Old Crow has a noble lineage

i only spent $9 for it. i think i'll mix it with coke or something in the future, idk. it's a truly bad whiskey. worse than old crow. worse than old granddad. not as bad as that fireball cinammon whiskey people get sometimes.

old granddad is decent!

i probably posted this about six times, but old crow is, as far as expert whiskey writers have determined, just jim beam that wasn't aging right that they pulled and bottled early

i won't sit by and listen to this slander about old granddad, treesh

otm

YOU TAKE THAT BACK ABOUT OLD GRANDAD

old granddad was the whiskey my parents kept (but never drank) in our liquor cabinet growing up and i have very specific memories of doing shots and shots and shots of old granddad as a teenager and getting really sick, just drinking way too much, having friends of mine come over and seeing them get sick too. we obv didn't know how to drink then, we were like 14-15, but because of those experiences i cannot really see that orange bottle without getting a little bit nauseous. tbh i think the very same bottle is still in my parents' liquor cabinet almost 20 years later

My family are all scotch drinkers for some reason

inexplicably we had a bottle of black velvet

bluuuurgh

We usually had sambuca for some unholy reason. Evil stuff, sambuca

would love to be in a house that just had a bottle of ouzo

oh i love sambuca & ouzo

noooooooo

that stuff is very bad

i live within walking distance of the local greek orthodox church that has a greek food fair every year. they have shots of ouzo! no whiskey, though.

too lazy and don't trust google but how long does whisky last?

it's taking me forever to finish this yamazaki single malt

Doesn't go bad. Likewise, doesn't age.

so my don draper routine was without purpose afterall

Thinking about cracking this open for some post-Finals/pre-work R'n'R
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/64q5safnspp2fmf/20160619_225943-1.jpg?dl=0

who should say no to such a winsome thought?

apparently not me, good stuff!

The Uigeadail was running low, so I picked up a bottle of Laphroaig 10 year today. It's much lighter and smoother than I expected after the intensity of the Ardbeg. A glass of scotch and Moodymann on the stereo are just the right combo at the moment.

this years writers tears (no age statement but very decent cheap pot still) is the irishman.

How do you mean darraghmac? The same company make The Irishman and Writers Tears brands, don't they? I've never tried any of The Irishman line, is it good as well?

I had Writers Tears a year or two ago and really liked it. I keep meaning to pick it up again. I see there's a variant called Writers Tears Red Head which is matured in Oloroso sherry butts, which sounds very intriguing indeed. Marks & Spencer used to stock the standard version here.

what do people think of the app distiller?

beer has been taking up most of my time when drinking but these last two weeks i've switched to whisky and was curious to check some of the distilleries on an untappd-like app

XP sorry Krakow missed that til now

Seems that every year now there's a good no-age statement whiskey launched to get a brand off the ground, presumably worldwide demand is the driver.

I'd been of the habit of avoiding anything that looked gimmicky along these lines until my local whiskey shop - which btw is the best shop of any type anywhere in the world imo- recommended the writers tears as a very worthy cut-price green spot alternative and yep pleasant surprise.

Course, a year later and it's seventy quid a bottle.

This year, so, get on Irishman. Founders reserve is setting me back thirty odd euro and it's worth twice that in the current market.

there's some cheaper "irish whiskey" brand called "2 gingers" that is palatable I've bought on sale. local store must have bought it as an incentive or has leftover stock from the holiday. not bad at $16/bottle

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/dining/jack-daniels-whiskey-slave-nearest-green.html

Just tried glenfiddichs india pale ale single malt scotch

Anyone have opinions on this?

my opinion is that you ought to share it.

(waggles empty glass)

Cheers aimless 🥃

I’m game for experiments, kind of pricey forays usually