The Whisk(e)y Thread

I'm not a big fan of Basil Hayden. I don't think it's bad but it's just kind of there and its mild taste makes me wish there was more something to it. I try not to disparage the Jim Beam whiskeys, mostly because I genuinely like Bookers. But Basil and Bakers are just so middle of the road to me, and Knob Creek is mediocre whiskey with faux-thentic branding and mid-tier pricing. I don't think they're bad drinks necessarily, just that if I got to choose 10 brands, there wouldn't be a Beam in there.

I like to shoot Basil Hayden's with a nice miller high life on the side.  ;D

hi walky.

And just for the hell of it, I'm going to list the 10 bourbons I've liked the most over the past couple years. I only list whiskeys that I've owned and drank full bottles of, so no Pappy or Stagg or really old Willett.

1. Wild Turkey Forgiven
2. Four Roses Single Barrel Cask Strength
3. Willett Reserve 9 Yr
4. Old Forester Birthday Bourbon
5. Jeffersons Presidential Select 21 Yr
6. Blanton's Single Barrel
7. Russell's Reserve Small Batch
8. Noah's Mill
9. Angel's Envy
10. Elijah Craig Barrel Strength

Honorable Mentions:

Eagle Rare 10 Yr
High West Prairie Reserve
Old Medley 12 Yr
Rowan's Creek
Widow Jane

Relaxer wrote:
I'm not a big fan of Basil Hayden. I don't think it's bad but it's just kind of there and its mild taste makes me wish there was more something to it. I try not to disparage the Jim Beam whiskeys, mostly because I genuinely like Bookers. But Basil and Bakers are just so middle of the road to me, and Knob Creek is mediocre whiskey with faux-thentic branding and mid-tier pricing. I don't think they're bad drinks necessarily, just that if I got to choose 10 brands, there wouldn't be a Beam in there.

Knob Creek tastes like water to me.

Ahh ye olde whisk(e) thread, I hardly knew ye.

The past few months, I have been on a major Irish whiskey kick. In fact, I had some bourbon the other day and was surprised at how sweet it was.

Inspiration for returning to this thread is the bottle of Midleton Very Rare I bought online.



Better than Red Breast, better than Green Spot, better than even the toppest of the line Bushmills, this is the greatest Irish whiskey imaginable. In fact it is among the greatest liquors I've ever had. I can't imagine anything I would take over this. The big blower is that it's expensive but it's worth the splurge. It can be had by ordering it from Cappy's Wine and Liquors.

And as K8tbug has written, Red Breast is the 'can't go wrong' Irish whiskey. Even its bottom of the line 12 year offering (which still runs around 450) is just fantastic.

Also, our family took a cruise a few weeks ago and Jameson's was a part of the all-you-can-drink package and I may have actually drank it all. For a cheap-ish whiskey, it is remarkably good.

its great isn't it!

My most recent big purchase, the Bruichladdich Octomore (I bought the 6.1, but the 4.2 is pictured). I'm a huge fan of peaty, salty islay scotches and this might be the best I've ever had. I'm a huge, huge Bruichladdich fan and this is the best thing they've ever done by far.

brennser wrote:
its great isn't it!

Which one, the Jamesons or the Midleton?

Hell, they're both great. But one is nice bowl of ice cream great and the other is winning-the-lottery great.

Or maybe you're talking about Irish whiskey in general, to which I completely agree.

Also, while I don't like scotch myself, I always love hearing people like Julian describe it. I wish I liked it, I really do. But I don't.

Relaxer wrote:

brennser wrote:
its great isn't it!

Which one, the Jamesons or the Midleton?

Hell, they're both great. But one is nice bowl of ice cream great and the other is winning-the-lottery great.

Or maybe you're talking about Irish whiskey in general, to which I completely agree.

Midleton! I had it for the first time as an 18 year old and it blew me away

http://www.copperfox.biz/index/

anybody been here?  this is in my neck of the nowhere.  i hear from my local chef friend, that it is good.  i don't know, because i hate liquor.

I haven't, but I'm going to Old Rag on Wednesday and just might make a stop in Sperryville. I'm always a little suspicious of purveyors of "American whiskey" because it often means they just didn't feel like following the rules for bourbon. But I like local stuff so will try and get it and the rye.

At least the labels are still artisinal.

I read that article yesterday. It's true that some of these new labels are just buying whiskey and slapping a label on it (Whistlepig does this, and then marks it waaaay up) but a some of the brands they talk about actually do put a unique spin on it by blending different barrels and whiskies together. High West and Corsair are two newer whiskey companies and they've earned their good reputation by achieving really excellent blends and bringing in new flavors.

There's also something to what Noah's Mill does, which is sample barrel after barrel (there's a job for you) and then pick the ones that fit their flavor profile.

Finally, not all barrels at a distillery are made equally. There are a hundred different variables that new and old labels are aware of and leverage.

Relaxer wrote:
I read that article yesterday. It's true that some of these new labels are just buying whiskey and slapping a label on it (Whistlepig does this, and then marks it waaaay up) but a some of the brands they talk about actually do put a unique spin on it by blending different barrels and whiskies together. High West and Corsair are two newer whiskey companies and they've earned their good reputation by achieving really excellent blends and bringing in new flavors.

There's also something to what Noah's Mill does, which is sample barrel after barrel (there's a job for you) and then pick the ones that fit their flavor profile.

Finally, not all barrels at a distillery are made equally. There are a hundred different variables that new and old labels are aware of and leverage.

Yeah, I agree with this. I'm not a huge American whiskey/bourbon guy (its probably my least favorite style of whisky), but I have had several of these products. High West and Corsair couldn't be more different, despite their shared provenance. I think its a good thing for people to understand where their liquor comes from – hooray for informed and knowledgeable consumers – and there are some people who are just slapping a label on a $15 bottle of whisky and charging $40, sure, but everything that comes out of that place is not the same by a long shot.

I think a "Richmond" liquor comes from that place too. Belle Isle Moonshine purports to be made out of the James River, but is actually from one of these whisky-mills.

Here's a post I made the other night on another board. I was drunk.

sitting at my kitchen table reading irish whiskey reviews and pouring an ounce or so of whatever I'm reading about

it began when I cracked a bottle of jamesons black barrel, a 12 yr old blend of pot still and something else I don't remember. I really liked this and at ~$30 a bottle, its much cheaper than red breast, which is twice as expensive. rb is better but this is a good economical drink and I will see you later frequently, jameson black barrel

then read all this praise for bushmill 16 yr single malt so I pulled that down and poured an ounce before remembering I just don't much care for this one. its got that sour burnt edge that scotch has and I don't like scotch so there you go

then read a praise to green spot and I smiled smugly and knowingly as I dumped a bunch into the glass because its like reading a puff piece on 'new day rising' because I know its great, I'm just standing in buzzy affirmation with my tribe

continuing along the preaching to the choir path, I said 'fuck suspense' to no one in particular and pulled down the cask strength red breast and embraced all the cliches and sat and stared while enjoying this best drink

all that said, I really was impressed snd touched by that jameson black barrel, which seems like a million weeks ago

birthday present from my folks

Holy shit. That's the damn motherlode right there.