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There's a shop near me that I hesitate to call a 'liquor store' or 'bottle shop' as it seems to be so much more than that. They have a beer and wine tasting room as well as regular beer, wine and whisk(e)y tastings. Perhaps the most distinctive thing about them, though, is the fact that the staff will happily spend an hour or more helping you choose a single bottle. I think my wife is in love with their whiskey specialist. Last we were there, she picked up a Murray McDavid bottling of a 18yo Bunnahabhain (distilled 1992, per the label) and an 18yo Elijah Craig Single Barrel (bottled 1990). This was after long discussion and tastes of both. So I guess my question is, what the hell should I call such a place that offers so much more than the corner liquor store? Here's the unimpressive website of the place I am speaking of - no affiliation other than they let me spend money there sometimes: http://www.wadeswines.com/Wades/main.html
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Nov 20, 2011 17:56
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Whisky with my Dad after Thanksgiving dinner this evening: Aberlour A'Bunadh - Sort of a toasty, sugary thing going on here. Nice and rich even with a little water. Kind of overpowering neat (nearly 60% ABV). Balvenie 15 - I liked this a little less than the Aberlour. Kind of harsh to enjoy neat, I thought. With a long dash of water and a few minutes of rest, I found it had kind of a grassy aroma that was pretty pleasant.
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Nov 25, 2011 06:53
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Sealed, bottled liquor changes little, if at all. Once opened, it might oxidize a bit, particularly after the level drops a bit. You're right that aging happens in barrels. Passage of time in glass is just the passage of time.
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Dec 13, 2011 21:36
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Tigren posted:Bulleit Rye is fantastic and made with 95% rye, giving it an amazingly floral, peppery profile. That sounds awesome. Have you tried Anchor's Old Potrero? I believe it is (or was at the time I had it) the only 100% rye whiskey made. http://www.anchordistilling.net/about_us/oldpotrero.htm
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Dec 19, 2011 22:05
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You won't find Old Potrero at the brewery itself, if that's what you're asking (but I love the brewery tour and recommend you call and see if any slots are open for the days you will be around - but take a cab or public transit to and from the brewery as there is very little parking in the area and you won't want to drive afterward). You should be able to find OP at BevMo or a decent bottle shop in the city, though.
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Feb 28, 2012 23:20
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GramCracker posted:On another note, all I really drink is an Old Fashioned. This is more or less what I have been doing: http://oldfashioned101.com/
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Jun 8, 2012 15:37
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Mr. Glass posted:Does enjoying Old Fashioneds made with a proper (Luxardo) maraschino cherry make me a bad persion? No, drink what you like, how you like it. Some purists may give you a hard time about it, but why let other people control what you like? There's nothing you can do to please everyone. You may also want to look at Jeffrey Morgenthaler's excellent Brandy Old Fashioned recipe: http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2012/brandy-old-fashioned/
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Jun 12, 2012 17:49
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Mr. Glass posted:Pretty sure they can't call it bourbon if it's not made in Kentucky. The reason Jack Daniel's is not Bourbon is the charcoal filtering thing they do. Hm, maybe I am wrong. Wiki says that JD meets the legal definition of Bourbon, but that the distillery chooses not to market the whiskey that way. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 07:27 on Jul 29, 2012 |
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Jul 29, 2012 07:02
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biglads posted:Tsk, Sherried Scotch? I held in my hand earlier today a 15 y/o Gordon & MacPhail bottling of Mortlach. I saw at least one more on the shelf. Should I have bought it?
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Aug 14, 2012 05:39
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Midorka posted:I work at a liquor store and we get many of those "I've been drinking Jack for 30 years," types. I once suggested, "well isn't it time to try something new?" That was the first and last time ever. Some people get in a groove and like it; others branch out and experiment. I like Jack fine "When the weather gets rough and it's whiskey in the shade," as Tom Waits says, but I would never lay in a stock and drink that forever. There's too much interesting stuff out there.
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Oct 6, 2012 16:04
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As a general thing, UV light is never good for food or beverages. It may not make a difference, or it may degrade things, but it's never beneficial. Cool, dark places are best, IMO.
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Nov 22, 2012 02:29
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Chivas Regal has to sit all alone in the corner.
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Nov 29, 2012 23:55
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rufius posted:You forgot the part where it sits in its own loving chair. That is a massive bottle. But the Ardbeg over on the other side has friends.
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Nov 30, 2012 01:00
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I have not seen it nor tried it, but if it's going for the $150 I am seeing quoted around the web, it seems like a bad bargain to me unless you have a shrine to Blue Eyes in your house or something. Apparently, it's made by aging JD in barrels with grooved staves, so it has more wood contact and gets a deeper color. This is then mingled with regular old JD No. 7. It's bottled at 90 proof, and it's a liter instead of a 750. I think (again, not having tried it) that there's better whiskey to be had for a C and a half.
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Feb 17, 2013 04:52
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Any word on what is in their Trader Joe's-branded 18 year old Speyside? It seems a steal to me at $25/fifth.
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Feb 24, 2013 16:14
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rxcowboy posted:The bottle I just tried was Bushmill's Irish Honey. Their website calls this a "honey infused spirit drink," which sounds to me like it's sweetened - and if it's sweetened, it's probably not based on their better whiskey.
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Jun 7, 2013 20:49
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Reasonably good rye or bourbon. No need to break the bank, but I wouldn't use the cheap stuff either. oldfashioned101.com
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Jul 14, 2013 23:27
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Are there a pair of whiskies someone could recommend that would really help me pick out the rye character? I don't have a great palate, so I'd kind of like to have two things I could taste as A/B - very similar except for the rye quality.
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Oct 26, 2013 02:45
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kidsafe posted:In addition they aren't sourced from the same distillers. Bulleit Bourbon comes out of Four Roses while the Bulleit Rye is an LDI product. Completely different yeasts and maybe even sources of grain are going to result in vastly different product. I've had 100% ryes (Jefferson's Straight Rye and Whistlepig) that are smoother than low-rye bourbons. A lot of the spice people mistake for rye spice comes from the wood/barrels. And that's exactly why I asked for two whiskies as much alike as possible except for the rye character. I mean, if I had the resources to do it, I could distill (legally, of course!) two whiskies - one with rye and one without - and let them age in neighboring ricks, and report back in a few years. Barring that, if I could find a pair of whiskies that were from the same producer and differed only (or at least primarily) in their grists, that would be ideal.
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Oct 28, 2013 00:35
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Everyone has different preferences, and Lagavulin definitely has some strong flavors that are not high on everyone's list. I wouldn't say it smells or tastes like rubbing alcohol though. I'd use words like salty, iodine, seashore, smoke, earth, peat, and so on. I think it's great stuff, and I'd encourage you to try it at least once more, but you should always drink what you enjoy; if Lagavulin's not for you, that just means that you have other preferences.
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Jan 2, 2015 18:59
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Devoz posted:For those with larger whiskey/whisky collections, how do you pick what bottle to get next? As my collection grows, deciding what areas to expand on grows more difficult. My wife has a crush on the whisk(e)y expert at the local bottle shop. Every time we go over there, we end up bringing home something good. This is in no way a complaint.
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Mar 30, 2015 01:35
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Herr Tog posted:I wondering if there are any good Whiskeys made in I'm aware of Breaker Bourbon, from Buellton: http://www.drinkhacker.com/2014/01/05/review-breaker-bourbon/
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Apr 9, 2015 15:45
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Laphroaig, Lagavulin, and Ardbeg are Islay whiskys, which means they can have strong smoke and peat flavors. I love that kind of thing, but it's hardly a universal love, so you'll want to approach these things with that in mind. It's like cilantro in that some people love it and others think it tastes like death. I have a Scottish friend who won't get near an open bottle of my budget favorite, Finlaggan, much less drink any.
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Jul 3, 2015 00:18
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22 Eargesplitten posted:I was pretty sure up meant in a cocktail glass. Wikipedia posted:In bartending, the term "straight up" (or "up") refers to an alcoholic drink that is shaken or stirred with ice and then strained and served without ice in a stemmed glass.[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartending_terminology
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Jul 30, 2015 01:13
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If you read down a bit in that Wikipedia article, it points out that there's substantial inconsistency in usage. EDIT to add: The phrase "straight whiskey" has a legal definition relating to the lack of additional ingredients other than the water for cutting down to bottling proof. "Whiskey, straight" is a different thing, and would be well understood to mean neat whiskey when given as an order at the bar. But when placing that same order, "straight whiskey" could be problematic, and you might not get what you expected (although I think the chances of real confusion are pretty low). Semantics are so much fun. And I'm not being sarcastic, either. I honestly love these kinds of language quibbles. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Jul 30, 2015 |
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Jul 30, 2015 02:37
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Jesus, wrong thread, sorry.
Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 23:25 on Jul 31, 2015 |
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Jul 31, 2015 23:17
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I wandered into a liquor store a few days ago and saw Pappy 23 for sale with a price of $1700 on it.
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Aug 4, 2015 22:44
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rekamso posted:Asked a guy at BevMo if they'd stock it again and he told me it's discontinued. Which is nonsense... right?? Speaking as a former retail-grocery guy, there are different flavors of discontinued. D/C from the manufacturer means they don't make it anymore. D/C from inventory means that it's been marked as unavailable from ordering in the store's/chain's systems, and probably that any remaining stock has been marked down to clear. There's only so much shelf space, and even a big shop like a BevMo or a Total Wine can't carry everything; I'd guess that BevMo has just decided not to carry that item anymore to make room for other items that will bring them more revenue.
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Aug 15, 2015 21:10
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Jon Von Anchovi posted:This terrible pun deserved more love OK, fine. It rocked. Happy now?
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Sep 2, 2015 15:49
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The best way is to buy the bottles from a vendor that will ship them for you. But even that may not work, depending on where you and the recipients live, because laws about shipping liquor are kind of hosed up. Second best is to buy bottle shipper boxes and send them without mentioning what is in them. If quizzed, say that they contain salad dressing or something.
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Nov 29, 2015 17:43
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USPS won't knowingly let private parties ship alcohol at all, and it's technically illegal. UPS and FedEx have a policy against it but it's not actually illegal so far as I know unless you're doing it to avoid age restrictions. Realistically, none of them will know unless the bottle breaks. The bottle shippers with the styrofoam insert are pretty bulletproof. I'd use UPS or FedEx, and then apologize if it ever comes up, feigning ignorance of the policy. But it won't come up.
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Nov 29, 2015 18:30
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Seems to me like you're already at about the number of samples that will be meaningful. In no particular order, I'd think you'd want at least a Highland and an Islay Scotch just to show the breadth of the styles. Add a wheater bourbon and a rye to contrast with that, then possibly an Irish, and you're well down the road to a tired palate - or at least I would be. I might do those four or five as a survey course, then think about doing return sessions with deeper dives into smaller areas as demand indicates.
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Jan 8, 2016 16:59
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ChickenWing posted:I tried Laphroaig once and thought it tasted like disinfectant. Yes, it does. God, it's good. Admittedly, not to everyone's preference, though.
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Jan 14, 2016 20:27
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Graduation gift from my parents:
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May 18, 2016 18:04
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Vox Nihili posted:Let me know what you think! I was just considering picking up a sherried scotch. I'll try to post something about it when I open it, but I have a cold right now so I am not in best tasting condition. Might be a while.
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May 18, 2016 21:31
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A'Bunadh trip report: This bottle is batch number 52, bottled straight off the cask at 60.5% I know it's unfiltered, and I think it's uncolored as well. I definitely see where this comment comes from: Jon Von Anchovi posted:It tastes exactly like Christmas fruit cake to me. It has a ton of things going on in the nose. Because of all the heavy fruit notes and the wine from the cask, it does indeed come across a lot like fruitcake made by that one aunt who likes a tipple. There's so much alcohol vapor that a bright citrusy thing pops through all the dark fruit and wine. Taken neat, it's really overwhelming. It really fills the mouth and takes forever to fade. I spent minutes just letting the mouth of the glass get near my nose while my palate was busy. I added a bit of water - more than a drop, because there's about a bottle and a half of whisky in the bottle - and that broke up the heavy body a bit. Even cut, though, it's a big noser. I've been working on this for the better part of an hour, and now I am getting some spice to go with the orange.
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May 28, 2016 06:18
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kidsafe posted:California Costcos also sell booze. And in California, the law says that you can't be required to buy a membership to a store to buy booze, so you can buy booze at Costco even if you don't have a membership. Tell the door checker that you're just shopping for alcohol, and in you go.
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Jun 4, 2016 23:27
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Have you tried Finlaggan? My understanding is that it's bottled from second-quality casks of one of the Islay distilleries, maybe Ardbeg (although I have heard Laphroaig as well). It could even just be whatever Islay whisky they can get that week. For $25 or so at Trader Joe's, it's a steal.
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Sep 7, 2016 20:49
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They don't always have it, at least not at the TJ's by me, so don't have your heart completely set on it. I'd personally just keep my eye out for it next time I was there, rather than making a special trip. I may have to pick up a bottle myself even though I am in no way low on Scotch.
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Sep 7, 2016 21:07
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I just got home from TJ's - they had the Finlaggan OR for $19. I ended up not buying any, though - as I said, I already have
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Sep 9, 2016 00:19
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