whiskey

xp i think basil hayden drives me crazier--do a nice 8-year aging, then water it down to 80 proof, stick it in a bottle with a weird label, and charge a premium price.

xp Both good, Aberlour 10 a personal preference.

And what else sets Basil Hayden apart? It's Beam's high-rye bourbon! See, as soon as rye gets involved they just fuck everything up.

But you're right, the price on that one is way out of proportion, given that the same company offers the cheaper Knob Creek and the better/higher-proof Booker's. It's one thing when a company's products are all overpriced, but Beam has such weird inconsistency in relative prices.

Booker's is definitely my favorite offering of those.

I want to try Old Potrero, but the one store that carries it around here keeps selling the couple bottles they get in stock before I get there.

And what else sets Basil Hayden apart? It's Beam's high-rye bourbon! See, as soon as rye gets involved they just fuck everything up.

yes! i knew there was something else that bothered me--hayden is actually extra-aged old grand-dad--how good would that be at 100 proof?

Probably a lot better!

They have a little booklet attached to Knob Creek/Basil Hayden's/Booker's bottles that have serving ideas. I think they recommend soda water for BH's and a splash of water for Booker's?

yeah i like basil hayden but i have never understood the pricing!!

yeah it seems like bh has a following as a soda/ginger mixer and as a hot-weather bourbon. i would be 100% down w/this if it was 10-15 bucks cheaper.

I want some Booker's right now, after having mentioned it again!

The worst is when you see Basil Hayden on a whiskey list somewhere where you'll be paying $10 for a shot of it. It's just not that kind of whiskey.

I mean, even ri(1) might be reasonable as a mixer - if it had a less ridiculous name and came at $18 a bottle, I might have a totally different opinion of it! But there are expectations that come with Criterion Collection prices.

sometimes i see it at the same price or $1 more than makers, knob, etc. and that's what gets me - why is a bottle so much more expensive than a bottle of makers?

makers is pretty much the gold standard for what whiskey snobs think is boring and overpriced, but is consistent in quality and gives you enough neutral bourbon flavor that isn't bland that it sells like hotcakes

i don't think anyone's dissing makers. i think we're confused about bh.

I'm somewhat dissing makers!

bh is indeed confusing

lol i thought you were defending it

No I like it quite a bit but I feel it's more of a commodity than a hot commodity, if you get my drift

definitely a safe bet, makers

One of the great things about Makers is that it's a good baseline bourbon - it's going to work in any cocktail recipe you find, whether you dredged it up from the Savoy or made a special trip to buy kalamansi and rau ram for a recipe from Rogue/Beta. If it doesn't work with Makers, the cocktail's no good.

absolutely, makers is very utilitarian.

i find the same for bulleit. (not the rye)

I love Bulleit in anything, but I've never been sure how objective I am about its versatility - probably one of my five favorite spirits. Well. Five favorite I can afford. The Charbay hopped whiskeys are mindblowing and I would drink them every day, but I'm never going to be able to afford to replace my review samples.

the sainsburys irish single malt is srsly good for £15

Yep, it's excellent. One of the best things Cooley is making at the moment.

There's been a great sale on there recently - a third off a lot of malts (Cardhu, Dalwhinnie, etc).

Very impressed with the Macallan Fine Oak 10 y/o that I just finished off.

I like to keep my old bottles after I finish the whisk(e)y, for display & memory purposes, but should I definitely be washing the bottles out or can I leave them?

I've been washing them thus far, but was wondering if I could leave them in order to maintain the slight smell of the whisk(e)y... Would this be a bad idea?

Won't hurt to leave them unwashed.

went to the store today, one bottle on the shelf, i thought all this stuff had been distributed:

http://www.astorwines.com/images/itemimages/hr/24889_hr.jpg

My mum is heading to Chicago & Vancouver & environs in a few weeks & I am going to push her to try and pick me up some american whiskey once again...

I'd love George T Stagg or something relatively high-end in the bourbon or rye department that's a hell of a lot cheaper in the states if possible (from my understanding such things are roughly half the UK price if you can find them). I will have to get the low-down on her itinerary...

Aiding & abetting in this endeavour welcome!

I'm used to spending £20-£30 for my single malts & ALL american whiskey is £20+ here, so I'd be willing to spend up to $60 or so (and possibly more for something worth it), to give you a price ballpark for ideas. Thanks!

Have you tried any of the higher-end Buffalo Trace bourbons? From my limited experience, they're superb. I don't think they're all that expensive either.

she'll be in chicago? that means she'll be near binny's. here's their spirits search page:

http://www.binnys.com/spirits/search

that e.h. taylor i just posted about is 75--it's a one of a kind bottling from an experimental batch they did. they also have the jefferson's 17/18 year which are 80 and one of your last chances to get some stitzel-weller bourbon.

for rye they have rendezvous for 55 and it's a good one.

binny's is otm

If their downtown Chicago stores are good then that could be fantastic, thank you! I think I might be able to persuade her to give up a couple of hours to visit a specific shop within the city centre in Chicago if I gave directions, instructions on what to look or ask for & some money beforehand...

Exciting!

ShariVari, I've only tried the standard Buffalo Trace, which I very much enjoy, so would certainly be interested in looking at their higher-end offerings.

My particular favourite Bourbon thus far is Knob Creek, so I've been wondering about their new Single Barrel version...

Thanks for the suggestions call all destroyer - the Binny's listings have me very excited; I will keep browsing...

i tried some of the knob single barrel - it was great.

i picked up a bottle that is stashed for 4th of july weekend

This comparison of the usual Knob Creek and the new single barrel really makes keen to try it... http://sourmashmanifesto.com/category/reviewsratings/knob-creek-reviewsratings/

*makes me keen

Seconding the support for the Knob Creek single barrel - concentrated but so-subtle sweetness with a hell of a kick behind it.

macallan otm krakow

Am stuck tryin to finish a bottle of jura atm, not great but not gonna splash out again until it's done

Knob Creek is great also often on sale at TJs

ugh every time someone reminds me that cali tjs sell spirits i get so sad.

yeah the single barrell is WARM in your mouth but it doesn't burn. very clever.

alcohol is a grocery!

at Trader Joe's in California you can buy a bottle of Laphroaig (the 10-year) for $28. Incredible. Here on the East Coast it's like $60. If I lived there I'd drink Laphroaig all the time

We have hard liquor in all kinds of stores here but TJ doesn't sell it! I would assume their distribution chain does go this far.

*does = doesn't

at Trader Joe's in California you can buy a bottle of Laphroaig (the 10-year) for $28. Incredible. Here on the East Coast it's like $60. If I lived there I'd drink Laphroaig all the time

ok wtf -- it's super expensive in Chicago too! $28 is truly incredible!! so jealous.

that's a fair bit cheaper than laphroaig is here

even on discount it's usually above £20

yeah--the weird thing is, single malt scotch is cheaper in California than it is in Scotland, where it's made

i know it's heavily taxed in Scotland, but the economics of scotch don't make any sense to me