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Wadjamaloo posted:Wikipedia implies its illegal to label anything as bourbon that is not aged in new oak barrels. adamarama fucked around with this message at 20:55 on Aug 2, 2014 |
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Aug 2, 2014 20:52
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adamarama posted:Yup. Apparently the coopers union locked this down and no sign of it changing. The US distilleries break them down, with the slats shipped abroad and rebuilt into barrels. It's too expensive to ship the barrels whole. Sherry casks are also generally American oak. French oak is almost exclusively used in wine. According to the Jameson rep running the tasting I was at yesterday, they ship the barrels whole to Jameson.
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Aug 2, 2014 21:05
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good jovi posted:I liked this article and was glad to see the whole thing getting some attention. Not so much the issue of rebottling itself, but the bits about places ignoring TTB regulations and not revealing the distiller. I wish the whisky situation was a bit more like how it works with independent scotch bottlers. They have their own branding and all, but it still says right on the front of the bottle what distillery the juice is from. That's a lot better than some 6pt font on the back mentioning Indiana. Yeah I've known for a while that LDI makes a ton of things that are shipped over to Kentucky or wherever for bottling. I just deal with it and buy what tastes good at tolerable prices and gently caress whether it's pretending to be craft or a big name.
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Aug 2, 2014 22:43
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adamarama posted:Yup. Apparently the coopers union locked this down and no sign of it changing. The US distilleries break them down, with the slats shipped abroad and rebuilt into barrels. It's too expensive to ship the barrels whole. Sherry casks are also generally American oak. French oak is almost exclusively used in wine. How great of an impact does the choice of barrel/wood have on the final taste/color?
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Aug 2, 2014 23:07
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My friend's dad is about to die and I'm looking for a good bottle as a gift. He digs Glenlivet and Pappy van Winkle. I don't know anything other than that, and I'm fine with spending up to $60 on a good bottle. Anyone have any suggestions?
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Aug 3, 2014 00:55
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I'm not sure you're gonna find much similar to those on that budget short of a lucky CostCo trip or something, but go for Bulleit 10 year or something like that. It's in your range and it's drat good.
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Aug 3, 2014 00:58
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Shif posted:How great of an impact does the choice of barrel/wood have on the final taste/color? Compare this to an Oloroso sherry cask, which is European oak. Sherry casks are rarer as they're reused, probably costing ten times as much as a bourbon cask. There's a trend in Scottish whiskey to "finish" a whiskey in Oloroso casks, ie aged in bourbon casks for say 10 years then transferred to Oloroso casks for 6 months - 2 years to finish. This gives the whiskey a sweeter taste and darker colour. Tyrconnell have a range of whiskeys with different finishes: sherry, port, madeira, wine, rum. It's great way to see the effects of the different casks, as the same spirit is used.
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Aug 3, 2014 01:09
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me your dad posted:My friend's dad is about to die and I'm looking for a good bottle as a gift. He digs Glenlivet and Pappy van Winkle. I don't know anything other than that, and I'm fine with spending up to $60 on a good bottle. W.L. Weller 12 uses a similar mashbill to Van Winkle.
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Aug 3, 2014 01:14
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adamarama posted:It definitely has an impact... Tyrconnell have a range of whiskeys with different finishes: sherry, port, madeira, wine, rum. It's great way to see the effects of the different casks, as the same spirit is used. I've always thought about purchasing something like this for my father. How large are these casks? Are they even available for sale? I can't imagine companies would just toss them out.
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Aug 3, 2014 02:11
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Stultus Maximus posted:W.L. Weller 12 uses a similar mashbill to Van Winkle. It's not just a similar mashbill, IIRC it's actually the same juice, just aged and blended differently. It's a real eye-opener to taste Van Winkle bottles side by side with the other Weller brands, because it shows just how good JVW really is as a blender.
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Aug 3, 2014 08:28
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Shif posted:I've always thought about purchasing something like this for my father. How large are these casks? Are they even available for sale? I can't imagine companies would just toss them out.
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Aug 3, 2014 09:30
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adamarama posted:As in, a full whiskey cask? You should be able to buy a used one, especially in the US. There's just so many made every year. People often half them lengthwise for gardening or bars use them as tables. No idea of cost, maybe a couple hundred dollars? Good idea, that would be all too perfect for his pathetic excuse of a man cave.
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Aug 3, 2014 22:46
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Whisky Cask stuff http://www.darachgifts.co.uk/
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Aug 4, 2014 12:51
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Managed to find OGD BiB in a 1.75L 
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Aug 4, 2014 17:20
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Not a whisk(e)y but I've picked up a bottle of Ron Millonario reserva especial XO after tasting it this Saturday at my local It may be the best alcoholic drink I've ever tasted, it is EPICLY good. Normally I wouldn't buy an 80€ bottle but I couldn't help myself it's so good. http://therumhowlerblog.wordpress.com/rum-reviews/dark-rums/ron-millonario-xo-reserva-especial-rum/
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Aug 4, 2014 18:29
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Anyone ever gone on the Bourbon Trail and visited all of the distilleries? Are they all worth touring / seeing. I'd like to get my stamps and t-shirt for visiting them all. My wife and I are going in October. We'll be staying in Louisville and driving out each day. We aren't sure what we're doing other than the distillery tours. Anything we should see/do while we're in the area?
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Aug 4, 2014 20:01
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door Door door posted:Managed to find OGD BiB in a 1.75L As it stands, I came back with bottles of Woodford Reserve Double Oaked, Four Roses Single Batch, and Baker's bourbons, all on sale and all new to me. Quite looking forward to a tasting.
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Aug 5, 2014 18:16
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S.W.O.R.D. Agent posted:Anyone ever gone on the Bourbon Trail and visited all of the distilleries? Are they all worth touring / seeing. I'd like to get my stamps and t-shirt for visiting them all. I visited all last year but the Lexington Brewery-Distillery, I wasn't doing the t-shirt stamp thing though. Each was unique and worth visiting, you can hit like 3-4 in a day easy since they are often located close to each other (Makers Mark is kinda out there though). Since I've been down Wild Turkey has a much bigger visitor center, Evan Williams Experience opened in Louisville and Barton is distilling year round (no distilling, only bottling when we went).
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Aug 6, 2014 14:06
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Radio Nowhere posted:I visited all last year but the Lexington Brewery-Distillery, I wasn't doing the t-shirt stamp thing though. Each was unique and worth visiting, you can hit like 3-4 in a day easy since they are often located close to each other (Makers Mark is kinda out there though). Since I've been down Wild Turkey has a much bigger visitor center, Evan Williams Experience opened in Louisville and Barton is distilling year round (no distilling, only bottling when we went). Thanks for the info. Nice to hear that they're all unique. I was a little worried they would all be kind of samey.
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Aug 6, 2014 20:46
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I've been to Buffalo Trace, Wild Turkey, and Woodford; all unique and interesting. WT was my favorite, you could smell the bourbon from 1/4 mile away. BT let us taste the white spirit. Woodford let us taste straight from the barrel. Got to meet Jim Russell and his son at WT. edit: Also got to meet Jim Rutledge from Four Roses at a tasting.
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Aug 6, 2014 22:18
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Kenny Logins posted:Woodford Reserve Double Oaked This is easily a favorite of mine in the price range. Apparently I should be able to try the 06.1 Octomore within the next few weeks.
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Aug 7, 2014 19:15
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Some notes on stuff I've found in different bars of late. Ardbeg Auriverdes I tried this with Laphro 10 (the bar had no other Ardbegs) and later on at another place next to a Corryvreckan. First time I took an active dislike to it but the second time rounded up my opinion a bit. Essentially this is what happens when you pour vanilla essence into an Alligator bottle. It's got char and soot smells but the nose is deceptive in that this stuff is pretty easy drinking and honestly I don't think it's worth the €100 price since for example the Corry next to it gave me much more 'Ardbeg' of an experience. Glenmorangie 25 'quarter century' This is not at all bad, in fact a pleasure to drink, but seeing that it costs more than the Highland Park 25 and delivers noticeably less I can't see getting one for myself. Very fruity, surprisingly fresh for a 25, and very Glenmo in that the profile was a clean highland whisky profile, honeyed and citruslike, not at all salty, bitter or peaty. Suffers from modern Talisker syndrome: aftertaste is vague and in total should have more complexity. Beautiful bottle but no sale. Brora 1982 (Gordon & Macphail map label) 40% As an 80s Brora it's the cleaner, fresher style closer to modern Clynelish rather than the farmy peatiness. Tried it because I found it in a very well stocked bar but this one's a curiosity, not a keeper. Very good fatty, gingery and malty profile but especially at the bottling ABV it just can't match the distillery's legendary reputation. These G&M Broras go for ridiculous prices these days and aren't worth buying, only trying. Mannochmore 27 '82-2010 (W. M. Cadenhead) 58,4% This was one of the whiskys a friend put on the table in a tasting we organized between the two of us. The whole set, featuring a Rosebank 1990 (20yo), a Littlemill 1988 (25), a Bladnoch '90 (20), a Balvenie 15, this Mannochmore, a Caol Ila 1984 (29) and Port Ellen 7th release (28) was a real journey through Scotland and the staggering variety of whisky the place produces. Take the Rosebank for instance, a thin and slightly flawed liquid offered to me as a curiosity rather than a delicacy. Given enough time and water you can find mostly rosewater and marzipan there and not that much else, which probably isn't the kind of aroma combo you'd think when someone says whisky, and neither is this Mannochmore. It smells like slightly diluted Ardbeg after someone carefully removed all the traces of peaty harshness and smoke from it. Swimming pools, salmiak taffy, cough syrup, leather and a bit of musty wood. Strong in the mouth but a bit hollow, continuing the themes set by the nose: salmiak and slight greasiness. Good despite its weirdness, a four star thing but definitely only for hobbyists. Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban I didn't remember what this was made of when I tasted it so my notes are full of wondering why this thing that I remembered to be some kind of a sherry or red wine cask finish smells so much of new wood vanilla and port wine. Later on a quick check at the Whiskybase cleared up the mystery: 10 years in new wood and then some in port. This reminds me of the newest A'bunadh batches which have a definite kiss of new oak to them, but the A'bunadh has balls and some depth thanks in no small part to its bottling strength, while the Quinta Ruban doesn't seem to offer much beyond what the woods utilized bring to the table. Even a bit of water breaks the structure down badly. A Gordon & Macphail Lochside ('91-2011, 43% probably refill bourbon cask) I had before it at the same place was a much more impressive highlander without any need of finishing. I've bought more than a few bottles in the last two months but only one of them has really, really stood out: A 29yo Caol Ila bottled by Signatory for The Whisky Exchange in 2013. Seriously I have no idea what the TWE Caol Ila cask stash is like or how they get theirs if there's no stash, but these guys keep on putting out absolutely great stuff from CI that plain shits on what the distillery releases as OBs. Not all of their releases are super (a pedestrian 18yo Single Malts of Scotland branded one and the not very interesting Elements of Islay Cl4 come to mind), but I've already found several gems there that I've raved about here as well, and in fact so far the best CI I've had came from them: a Port Askaig-branded 25yo bottling. No further info available on the contents of that bottle, but it was obviously an ex-bourbon cask based on being clean golden in color, and the taste was lemony, seasidey and woodsmoked Caol Ila tempered slightly but not too much with age, just the kind of thing that's a big step up from the distillery's own 12yo while retaining the same profile. But this 29yo... this is an entirely different game. First off this one is casked in refill sherry, and based on it and a few other whiskys in the same category at over 20 years of age I'm starting to think if maybe refill sherry is my favorite cask type for older single cask whisky. What's in this bottle is no standard Caol Ila. Instead what it is smoked, wooded saltwater with vaguely sherryish characteristics and ridiculous amount of power and depth. This is a step beyond Caol Ila as I knew it before, and anyone who loves Uigeadail would easily fall head over heels for this one. In the tasting I mentioned above we both felt this one has a definite upper hand to the Port Ellen 7th Release, which itself is some of the best stuff made on Islay. I paid about €220 euros for the bottle, and feel like I got a return for every drat penny and then some. In fact I rushed to buy a second bottle for my archive as soon as I'd popped open the first one and realized what it was. I think I'll stop daydreaming about old Ardbegs and Ellens and start actively hunting '80s sherried Caol Ilas because there is hope there are other casks like this. I also regard this as a supreme achievement in whisky as craft since here we have a single cask bottling that's good enough to best some of the industry's best vattings, both age-stated and NAS.
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Aug 8, 2014 20:57
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Double post but I wanted a divider between this one and whiskysperging: For a very contemporary suggestion of great value vs. price, I would advise anyone who is into lighter, unpeated style of whisky to look into Littlemill bottlings different independents have put out in the last few years and are putting out right now. I've sampled several, and apart from an unfortunate bottle that veered too much into glue aromas, the stuff I've found between years 1988-1992 (the last 5 of the distillery) has been absolutely great. Clean, sometimes surprisingly complex lowlanders with no off notes and very reasonable prices (€100-120 for 25yo). A check on the ratings of recent independent bottlings at Whiskybase seems to confirm my impression: here's a bandwagon for those who missed St. Magdalene/Linlithgow.
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Aug 8, 2014 21:06
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I've heard so many good things Caol Ila but have never tried any of their stuff. Are there any of their younger (and less expensive) releases that are particularly good?
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Aug 9, 2014 18:03
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I suggest you start with the basic distillery's own 12yo. It's very reasonably priced almost anywhere, and gives a good idea of the distillery's profile (bonfires, fresh citrus, peat, seashore). It's by no means a mind blowing experience but tends to give folks a positive impression. I would suggest skipping the distillery's own more experimental bottlings like Moch and Unpeated. They're ok but usually the price is kinda salty seeing that peated Caol Ila is where it's at. Their 18yo is nice but somehow I never buy a bottle. Maybe if it had more sherry or they put it out in cask str, but it's a bit too expensive for what's in there. The distillery produces quite a lot of spirit so there's many, many independent releases out there and the prices are usually reasonable. The better independent bottles tend to be from the more heavily peated make, and unlike Laphroaig (just my opinion here), Caol Ila make can retain its punk rear end attitude even at over 20 years of age. Here you can find strong, sometimes almost angry maritime Islay whisky with oily, sooty mouthfeel, a fresh taste that various tasters describe as mineral or rocky, a lemon tang in the gums of your front teeth, sometimes smells you'd associate with a coal mine and a long aftertaste. And the age isn't always what makes them great either - one of the independents I remember with special fondness is a 11yo Adelphi release that was distilled in 2001. Deleuzionist fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Aug 9, 2014 |
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Aug 9, 2014 20:03
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Picked up Laphroaig 10 at Costco for $60 which is quite cheap for Washington. I haven't done a side-by-side yet but I think I prefer the QC a bit more. The price is right though considering the QC at the local independent store ends up about $98 after tax.
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Aug 18, 2014 18:42
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Confirmed, WA still sucks after dereg...
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Aug 19, 2014 01:56
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Seriously, QC is half that here in Texas.
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Aug 19, 2014 02:11
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kidsafe posted:Confirmed, WA still sucks after dereg... Sucks worse - at least you could count on the state stores for a certain stock and certain price even if they weren't open on Sunday.
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Aug 19, 2014 06:19
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Anyone have suggestions for an Android app for keeping record of Whiskey/notes? Iphone has a few good ones but every one i've tried on android has been lackluster.
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Sep 5, 2014 03:18
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Wolfgang Muthspiel posted:Anyone have suggestions for an Android app for keeping record of Whiskey/notes? Iphone has a few good ones but every one i've tried on android has been lackluster. Distiller has an Android version. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.distiller.distiller&hl=en_GB
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Sep 5, 2014 09:31
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For whatever it's worth, since my last post (exactly one month ago, wow) I've finished off my bottles of Woodford Reserve Double Oaked, Four Roses Single Batch and Baker's. Out of the three, all were certainly worth the price (on sale) but only the Baker's was I particularly impressed with. That's some real nice stuff. drat.
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Sep 5, 2014 13:35
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Bakers is delicious.
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Sep 5, 2014 17:04
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If you like the Macallan, time to get it is now. Sounds like they are moving to blends because they can't keep up with demand from China.
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Sep 5, 2014 18:03
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I drank so many ryes last night. Let me tell you of the ryes! 1. Bulleit (This feels like it was designed for cocktails - 95% rye mash is a little too intense for me to drink neat) 2. Sazerac (Quite smooth but basically tastes like bourbon - I was not surprised this was a 51%-So-Technically-a-Rye) 3. Rittenhouse (Must get over my anti-screwcap bias, but this was quite good) 4. High West Double (blend of 16 and TWO YEAR old ryes, interesting... and from Utah?!) 5. EH Taylor (The best thing ever - Felt like I was coating my tongue in rye-syrup that evaporated into my throat) More rye, please. What's your favorite rye cocktail? I'd like to be rid of the Bulleit as soon as possible and I'll be needing some other ingredients to get it down.
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Sep 5, 2014 18:21
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:I drank so many ryes last night. Let me tell you of the ryes! Manhattans. Drink lots of manhattans. Unless you have peychaud bitters and absinthe, in which case drink lots of sazeracs because they are the best.
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Sep 5, 2014 18:39
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I really like that high west double and I've been drinking the hell out of Sazerac's made with it. I make them really dry though with just a tiny pinch of sugar.
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Sep 5, 2014 19:04
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I do indeed have Peychaud's and absinthe. Sazeracs it is. How do you make your sazerac? The recipes seem to have a lot of... flourish?
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Sep 5, 2014 19:05
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BrandorKP posted:If you like the Macallan, time to get it is now. Sounds like they are moving to blends because they can't keep up with demand from China. Sounds like rumor-mongering to me. Edrington would sooner raise prices near-term and expand Macallan's facilities long-term. They already own Famous Grouse and Cutty Sark, so there's no reason for them dilute the Macallan brand name at all. e: Looks like Edrington is already in the middle of a Macallan expansion. TobinHatesYou fucked around with this message at 00:11 on Sep 6, 2014 |
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Sep 5, 2014 21:17
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I was just at the liquor store and saw one I hadn't heard of before. Henry McKenna Bottled in Bond. The internet says it's from Heaven Hill. It's about at the same price point as my go-to Evan Williams Single Barrel. Anyone had this stuff before?
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Sep 6, 2014 00:49
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