whiskey

Just read a book by some woman food blogger who goes to Europe to learn about whiskey (it ends with what I felt was a cursory take on bourbon). Anyway, I was surprised to learn that the Scotch and Irish whiskey was just as corporate and incestuous as the American whiskey industry, owned by the usual multi-nationals and rarely owned by a company of the same nationality (ie French company owning Irish whisky company, etc.). As always, there are exceptions. But still, for example, Laphroaig was for a long time owned by Pernod Ricard. Now it's owned by Beam, Inc.

yeah pernod ricard still owns a couple of brands i think?

http://www.pernod-ricard.com/en/pages/282/pernod/Brands/Whiskies.html

Just read a book by some woman food blogger who goes to Europe to learn about whiskey (it ends with what I felt was a cursory take on bourbon). Anyway, I was surprised to learn that the Scotch and Irish whiskey was just as corporate and incestuous as the American whiskey industry, owned by the usual multi-nationals and rarely owned by a company of the same nationality (ie French company owning Irish whisky company, etc.). As always, there are exceptions. But still, for example, Laphroaig was for a long time owned by Pernod Ricard. Now it's owned by Beam, Inc.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, March 7, 2012 8:12 AM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

99 drams of whiskey, right? i read this, it was ok. she def did not do justice to bourbon. but she also got most of her facts right which is hard to do in this industry.

Yeah, that book. Was OK. Better is "And a Bottle of Rum," which I'm reading now. Very informative and entertaining.

To access the Brands section of Pernod Ricard website, you must be over the legal drinking age and legally permitted to view these pages in the country that you are in.

bump for cad, he seems grumpy tonight

I am digging this weller 107, it feels like I need to cut it w/ water but I am always too lazy to so maybe I am missing out on some flavor

thx buddy :)

i have an unopened barrel selection weller 107 that i'm v. excited about! i will probably end up cutting it a tiny bit but nbd.

i've been wanting to try some of the common, yet random, midshelf bourbons so i bought some 1792 ridgemont. it's pretty good! kind of a crowd pleaser in re: its sweetness level but i get a lot of grain character from it, in a good way.

ha. i'm always tempted by low-end whiskeys i've never tried before. that's how i ended up with this bottle of rebel reserve. it's not a bad bottle, i guess, but i'm not connoisseur. i always thought i didn't like wheated bourbons much, but this is alright.

I always appreciate when ILX tells me "whiskey has new answers", because yes it does.

Has anyone tried fighting cock bourbon? the name puts me off (animal fighting is wrong.) but it's aged 6 yrs and 103 proof and pretty cheap.

minor googling suggests that fighting cock has a high rye content & good reviews = i will try this.

try it! i had a glass in a bar once and thought it was pretty good.

i think at the proof + age + price it's a total winner.

i've had fighting cock! not bad for price.

ok, i'm legit curious here, hopefully i won't get zinged into oblivion... why american whiskey over scotch? i love me some scotch but don't have much experience with quality bourbon or rye. is it a taste thing, or are there cultural aspects as well? or is this literally the whiskEy thread, as opposed to whisky? /noob

ok, in anticipation of March 17, any recommendations on "high-end" and/or noteworthy irish whiskies beyond the usual suspects. i see that my local trader joe's recently started selling a house brand single malt irish but i am skeptical

xp I just don't dig on the peatyness of scotch as much as I do on the charcoalness of bourbon, I think

and I always thought the spelling of the thread was coincidence as much as anything, have seen plenty of ppl discuss scotch here

there's much more to scotch than peatyness, i find bourbon more one-dimensional (ie too sweet)

i kinda hate scotch, sorry, but i like bourbon

what harbl said. Most scotch tastes like plastic to me.

Don't know where you all are from, but in general American spirit tastes tend toward the sweet. Hence our national distrust of bitters, which abound in Europe (there's a good chapter on this in Jason Wilson's "Boozehound"). Not that scotch is bitter, but our tastebuds I think gravitate toward the caramel sweetness of bourbon. Also, made in America, USA USA USA!

Maybe I've been drinking the wrong bourbons but I always get sour, not sweet. Scotch 4 life.

Sour? Really?

xps,

It doesn't necessarily pay to be sceptical of house-brand Irish whiskeys. There are only three working distilleries in the country, as far as i recall, so the cheap stuff is going to be made by the same people who do the higher end bottling. The Sainsbury's supermarket own-brand Irish malt in the UK is made by Cooley and is pretty great. It's probably just one of their regular lines (most likely Tyrconnell) with a different label.

More generally, Redbreast 12 y.o is good, iirc.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2255/2348846991_ba64ef1aab.jpg

scotch is good tbh. so is bourbon. and irish too! getting drunk is amazing!!

oh my god xp

well it's prob more complex that 'sour' but definitely something far away from sweet that doesn't sit well with me.

xxp, There has to be about £7 of tax on a 700ml bottle of 40% whisky, doesn't there? Might draw a line at Tesco own-brand scotch.

ok, in anticipation of March 17, any recommendations on "high-end" and/or noteworthy irish whiskies beyond the usual suspects. i see that my local trader joe's recently started selling a house brand single malt irish but i am skeptical

― utopian dipshit (buzza), Wednesday, March 14, 2012 12:54 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the big thing of the moment in irish whiskey is redbreast cask strength

ok, i'm legit curious here, hopefully i won't get zinged into oblivion... why american whiskey over scotch? i love me some scotch but don't have much experience with quality bourbon or rye. is it a taste thing, or are there cultural aspects as well? or is this literally the whiskEy thread, as opposed to whisky? /noob

― how did we get here how? (ytth), Wednesday, March 14, 2012 12:46 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is tricky because i don't *dislike* scotch but in general it's been harder for me to find scotches i really like than bourbons. peaty/smokey scotches are a very, very occasional pour for me, i have no idea how ppl drink those every day. the other issues i have with scotch are the sweet/honeyed thing you get from bottlings that have spent time in sherry casks (which gets really fatiguing imo), and the fact that so little scotch is bottled at cask strength, or even at 90-100 proof.

when ppl say they find bourbon as a category "too sweet" i really want to know what they've been drinking because while that is a pitfall i don't think it's that hard to avoid.

oh also duh the price point of bourbon vs. scotch in usa is a huge thing

That's for sure. Also, bourbon is marketed a lot better over here; there's a class component at play.

For me bourbon doesn't have as much complexity, and isn't quite as "dry" as scotch, both of which might be functions of the same underlying thing, I dunno

i find myself really drawn to peaty scotches I think in part bc I love bourbon so much -- I see a bottle of brown stuff and my brane expects a certain flavor profile and the mellower scotches just seem like 'bourbon gone bad,' for lack of a better term. I want the difference between the two to be distinct.

xpost We've already re-established that you left the country. You've turned your back on bourbon!

I've become a posh-o, just ask Lamp

I love the hell out of scotch

i dunno if it's any indication but i wouldn't think twice before dumping some bourbon into a coke but i wouldn't ever put a nice single malt with a mixer (except a dash of water)

maybe it's an indication that i haven't bought any expensive bourbon

Mixing anything with coke - some might say mixing any spirit, period - has its historic roots in making otherwise horrible swill palatable. Though frankly, while I have no problem mixing bourbon, there really aren't that many great bourbon cocktails. And there are even far, far fewer scotch cocktails. I think it has less to do with its quality than it does its taste.

and that's why god gave us rye

I had a couple Wild Turkey + ginger beer drinks last night

I am a horrible savage for mixing

no way! that sounds delicious.

It is my guilty vice, the whiskey + ginger beer combo. Ginger beer is pretty much the most sugary thing ever and so, so gingery

jameson mixes well if you want to go that route. highballs are fun!

a local bar/pizza place has a cocktail that involves jameson, ginger, cherry, and maybe pineapple?

went to one of those free jameson film nights they do around here, the cocktails they gave us were pretty disgusting (but free!! so who cares)

quite like an old fashioned though