whiskey

xps,

Not mini-bottles, as such, but Masters of Malt sells whiskey by the 30cl measure which makes sampling rare / old stuff much more affordable.

3cl, rather, 30ml.

wow, do they ever.

STRANDED ... NO WHISKEY ... DESPERATE ...

Snagged a bottle of Pappy 15 today. Mission accomplished.

well done

On Thanksgiving morning Dad produced a bottle of Knappogue Castle, which is an excellent breakfast single malt from Ireland.

Picked up the Lagavullin 16 yr old in Waitrose today. So tempted to get a couple of other bottles while there. The Lagavullin is excellent.

Recommend me an Islay scotch to get for a good friend (and ex)'s 50th birthday? I know he likes Laphroaig. I'd like to get him something that he'd be unlikely to buy for himself. $100 is my limit.

The Lagavulin just mentioned may fit the bill?

Was not paying attention! Good candidate.

lagavulin distiller's edition or ardbeg corryvreckan maybe

but the entry level (16 yr and 10 yr old respectively) versions of those are both excellent and i would always get two of them rather than a single premium whisky

i feel like this recently acquired bottle of rittenhouse has a mustier, more vegetal taste than i am used to.
is this a recent trend among current batches? was my palate misleading me? i'm not complaining, i like it, but it doesn't taste quite like i'm used to.

ian, can you check the back of the label where it says "distilled by kentucky d.s.p." and then there will be a number--let me know what that number is.

backstory: there was a change in where rittenhouse was distilled and i'm curious if you got one of the new bottles.

ardbeg uigeadail is amazing too, my favourite ardbeg I've tried

mine is 354 - is that a good #

354 is the old stuff...i believe the new stuff will be d.s.p. 1

I will never drink from this bottle again

to be clear i don't know if there are d.s.p. 1 bottle out there *or* if they taste different, but it would be mighty interesting if they did.

Q: If Dickel 12 is called a sipping bourbon how come I want to gulp it?

I've never had Dickel before, so I bought a bottle of 12 today. Not bad at all! Not a huge fan of Tennessee whiskey, and I do taste a hint of the charcoal, but for the price this might be one of the better bargains short of Wild Turkey 101.

I need a good bourbon or rye in the UK to make WHISKY SOURS. Any suggestions that aren't (a) majorly expensive or (b) Jack Daniels?

Dickel Sour Mash makes a tasty Whiskey Sour, not as deep as the 12 and it sits nicely with all the other elements.

Its $20 a bottle round here, don't know how much of a mark up you'd be paying in the UK.

it's hard to say w/out knowing much about what you can get in the uk. buffalo trace is available just about everywhere and is good. or pretty much any rye you can get your hands on since rye would be my preference for whiskey sours.

You'll be very lucky to get a bottle of Dickle for under £30 in the UK. Yes, that's $45, chums! This may give you a clue why I think the Van Winkle starting at £60ish over here is interesting. And why I nearly fall over when I go and look at liquor when I'm in the USA.

Difford's Guide uses Maker's Mark in its whiskey sours. I take no position on this (I don't drink sours much) aside from saying he's usually pretty reliable.

knappogue otm

woodford reserve? can you get that?

but i googled and found people talking about wild turkey 101 for £19.99 at waitrose, whatever that means

it's a bottle of 354, c.a.d. sorry that took so long to get back to you. i just fished it outta the recycling.
it did not taste bad just diff to what i wld characterize as the usual rittenhoues taste. a definite musty basement vibe which i don't recall being present in previous bottles.

Ooh, Wild Turkey for £20 should do the trick. Woodford is nice but a bit too smooth -- I prefer 'em a bit more trashy and semi-poisonous.

I find the concept of paying roughly $30 for a bottle of Wild Turkey slightly incomprehensible, that's the whiskey my friends drank when they were 17-19. That and rotgut vodka and gin.

Its the Fleischmanns of whiskey, (please don't tell me they make whiskey).

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gLJopL2jr3A/TJRRb0AdO6I/AAAAAAAAAMA/7uifTrIVyqI/s1600/Fleischmann's+Rye.jpg

Just looking at that makes my head ache.

I think you're thinking of Old Crow or Black Velvet or some other bottom-shelf whiskey

WT 101 is pretty good.

Tangentially related, I went to my local uber-whiskey (and food) joint, Longman & Eagle last weekend, and they did have Ancient Age, but not Ancient x2 Age. I got hopeful at first but was slightly dismayed when I realized it was just the standard stuff. I had a killer Old Fashioned instead.

X-post Nah it was Wild Turkey, drank in great quantities, often mixed with Faygo. And it was much cheaper then.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Turkey_(bourbon)

See the section under "In Popular Culture", maybe it was just the reputation it had in my neck of the Midwest.

it has that baggage here, too! it's actually a good product, people are just dumb and didn't know shit about whiskey. maybe it's changed a lot, but I don't think it has.

seriously though, based on marketing, black velvet at like $10/750ml sells like crazy

Wild Turkey 101 is the real deal, though.

it's a bottle of 354, c.a.d. sorry that took so long to get back to you. i just fished it outta the recycling.
it did not taste bad just diff to what i wld characterize as the usual rittenhoues taste. a definite musty basement vibe which i don't recall being present in previous bottles.

― i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Wednesday, November 28, 2012 12:05 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thanks for checking! no obvious explanation then, but trust your taste imo.

sorry man, I drank your whiskey and replaced it with basement water :(

Oh I really hope I get to Longman and Eagle when I'm in Chicago next month, I love it there and I've never had the opportunity to have a go at their whiskey selection.

wow, there is some stuff there i would love to try

I like the place, been to eat there a few times. Glad I don't live on that block any more though, the parking/tourist/yuppie situation would drive me insane. Their sidewalk seating is bad enough...

Has anyone ever had this?

http://www.whisky-drinker.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Tamdhu-no-agesm.jpg

Top secret L&E tip, go there for lunch, when the lines are not mad and the bartenders can be talked into giving tastes. Granted, not the best time to start on whiskey, but you take the good with the bad.

Big Star in Chicago is another fun whiskey stop.

Yeah the gf and I went with my parents like half an hour before dinner service started to get a little drink on ahead of time and ensure we got a decent table. It worked out well.

(that's pretty much the only way I can envision getting in there w/o hassle on a saturday)

Yeah Big Star is awesome also, though I often find myself looking longingly across the road to the Violet Hour. I understand that marks me out as a ponce, but whatevs, I'm English so everyone thinks that about me anyway.

The joy of being on vacation when we're in Chicago is we can plan our day to get to L&E before the madness kicks in too severely. Or just go eat at Lula over the road which is one of my lovely wife's favourite restaurants in the world.

Violet Hour is great, but not the casual commitment Big Star or L&E are.