whiskey

liquor store closest to my house that usually only stocks old overholt and beam as far as rye just got in some new stuff -- redemption rye and bulleit rye. bought the redemption. trying it out .... now. *sips*

I have recently been drinking bourbon and soda. Nice warm-weather drink.

a shot of maker's mark in a pint glass filled with ice and then topped up with soda water is delicious on a hot afternoon.

make it two shots and i'm in.

hah or one in a tumbler?

TWO SHOTS.

Two shots makes it too much like a whiskey and soda. It's a drinkable summer beverage, and it's important to get a wonderful golden color that deepens towards the bottom of the pint glass. Don't worry... the sun doesn't set until 9:30pm, so you have plenty of time to get smashed.

ok, ok.
xpost

i have to miss bottling workshop tomorrow because of being sick :(
bf suggests bourbon will help! hah. i don't think it will, but i really appreciate the thought!

yeah but things that taste diluted are not fun for me

Also, here in Austin we call it a "Gay Perry."

xp hot toddy for you!!!

After sunset, you can switch to a double, neat.

re: my new bottle of rare breed, which i am just loving, i gotta lift this quote from the bourbon forum i've been reading. it's in relation to the fact that all of wild turkey's best bottlings are 101-proof or higher:

"if i'm drinking with the turkey, i expect to be pecked."

There goes the rest of my Glenfiddich.

Apparently it's only for amateurs anyway.

But now I'm on Asda Value French Brandy.

I got half a bottle of Macallan & a quarter bottle of Talisker for free via Twitter yesterday - hurrah!

how so?

debating whether to bring the standard stuff or something a bit nicer on this camping excursion. 'a bit nicer' is only the jura tbh

Jura? Hmm. I'm not a fan of the Jura stuff. Bit bland for me.

I've been on Bruich Laddich Rocks (unpeated Islay malt) and Caol Ila (peated Islay malt) recently. Love them both.

yeah i'm thinking the jura is a nice compromise btwn bringing a decent drink for the lads and wasting something i'm actually fond of.

after about 5/6ths of a bottle of deliberation, i've decided i dislike caol ila

you may tweet me the last 1/6th

been enjoying rye lately. started w/ a bottle of Michter's. it's fantastic but almost $50. so got a bottle of bulleit rye to try. half the price but i'm only liking it about half as much. Michter's goes down like buttah

Last weekend, I went to a new cocktail-centric bar in my town, and had, among other things, a serving of the Pappy Van Winkle 20 year old. OH MY BOURBONOUS GOD! So amazing.

So much so, that when I went back there on Thursday, the bartender remembered and asked "How'd you like that PVW 20 year old?"

I love good bourbon.

I got a bottle of that for a going-away present once. So great. Also probably my favorite liquor label. I've probably posted it in the thread before.

http://www.sexcigarsbooze.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/e20yr904_pl-286x300.jpg

that stuff rolls around on your tongue like oil.

That is ironic. I tried posting about the Pappy but kept getting an error. Anyway, the 15-year Pappy is so well-regarded there's practically a local run on it, especially factoring in rumors that this may be the last of the original run.

left the jura at home, someone brought glenfiddich 12, 15 &18 yr for sampling.

12 the best imo

awww dmr you lucky fucker. my local store actually did a lottery for the right to buy their spring allocation of pappy. funds prevented me from going in for more than one bottle of the 12, and i found out on friday that i won it.

should have tried to buy 15 instead and am having regrets tbh.

http://www.whisky-drinker.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/redbreast.jpg

Lovin' this stuff lately.

oops

http://www.whisky-drinker.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/redbreast.jpg

that stuff is pretty much my favorite whiskey. I had some 15-year at a bar a few months ago, and it was probably the most enjoyable glass of whiskey I have had. which is good, because iirc they charged me $12 for it.

redbreast is really good, yeah

The free whisky came from an acquaintance who is moving abroad & has been giving away unwanted items via twitter.

I got an excellent bottle of BenRiach Curiositas 10 Year Old Peated for my birthday the other week - it is really something!

yay i am going to bottling day next weekend (to make up for being sick last time). i will force myself to be unsick and report back on the awesome.

hooray! whiskey bottling was fun!

the distillery is very small. they're certified organic and kosher, locally owned, and they basically do it all themselves (a former computer scientist who got tired of the grind and his chemical engineer wife). they're great people. they gave us an overview of how they make the whiskey, and we got to go into the fermentation tent and see batches bubbling away.

they waste nothing - the heads of each batch are reused as cleaning solution, the tails are steeped with a 'tea bag' and redistilled to become gin, and they give the unused mash (basically all the grain, etc.) to a local cow farmer.

to bottle: whiskey is pumped through the whiskey cow 4 bottles at a time, then corked, sealed, labeled, packed. my job was putting the seals on over the tops (you know that shrink wrapped plastic part?). it was a lot of fun and we did 65 cases in about an hour!

yay!
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/248495_10150209692789076_98590104075_6886555_7189632_n.jpg

in other news, my abc now has bulleit rye! i tried some last night but i think my throat is still a bit raw/off from being sick so i don't know if i was really appreciating it :(

I'm really not enjoying my bottle of Bulleit rye tbh. Has a great taste, but it burns like cheap whiskey. Would absolutely fuck up a 12 or 16 year version.

i grew to quite like the bulleit, but i can no longer afford it

A new whisky-centric spirits shop has opened in town, with a very nice selection. I'm particularly interested in their American whiskeys right now...

Old Fitzgerald 12 y/o
Elijah Craig 12 y/o & 18 y/o
Bernheim Original
Heaven Hill
J W Dant Special Reserve
Johnny Drum Green Label
Evan Williams Single Barrel 2000
Old Rip Van Winkle 10 y/o

Pikesville Supreme Rye
Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13 y/o

Any thoughts from those?

grab that van winkle rye if you can swing it--it's a v. scarce whiskey.

I picked up some of that new Jim Beam Devil's Cut stuff. Pretty decent! It's a lot sweeter than I expected.

everything on that list other than the van winkles and johnny drum (which might well be heaven hill stock) is from the heaven hill distillery, which has a multitude of brands and agings. evan williams sb is always worth a look, and i'd be real interested to try the fitzgerald too.

xp i just saw devil's cut in a store for the first time--definitely planning to check it out.

Thanks!

The Van Winkle Rye is most likely out of my price range at £67! I do see a lot of very good things being said about it though.

There are a few that are more within my price bracket and it would be good to try something totally new to me. Thus far I have tried & liked Knob Creek, Buffalo Trace, Jim Beam Black & Woodford Reserve on the American front. I'd really like to try a rye whiskey, so may give the Pikesville a punt, while lusting after the Van Winkle. Anyone got opinions on Pikesville rye?

haven't had it, but i think i can say i am not a fan of the bulleit rye. i've tried it plain and mixed in bevs. it was ok in a manhattan, but i like redemption a lot more.

I wish that transatlantic posting of booze were more doable - I'd love to do whisky/whiskey swappage with U.S. folks.

i'd def check the pikesville--same maker and mashbill as my beloved rittenhouse. i'm pretty sure i've had it in bars once or twice but it's not generally available in retail around here.

I like the Devil's Cut and it seems like a good summer whiskey - I infused half the bottle with tea - but I'm not sure I can see spending that much on a Beam-branded product again. At my liquor store, it's priced about the same as Maker's Mark, Bulleit, etc., which is just nuts.

Still have not tried the Bulleit Rye, even though it's carried here and I love both Bulleit and rye. Stubbornly resisting. Will probably give in sometime this summer.

i think i saw it at about 28 bucks? but that was the expensive store.

It's a few bucks less than that here - probably about $24, cause I got that, Aperol, and Q Tonic at the same time and it came to 50-something. So that's the same price as the Bulleit rye or Eagle Rare, a couple bucks more than Maker's Mark, a couple bucks less than Knob Creek. It's not as bad as the ridiculously high price point of ri(1), but it seems off.