Hard Drinkers, Lets Drink Hard (Spirits, Liquors and Cocktails)
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I agree Bulleit is a great value. There's tons of really great bourbon out there not named "Pappy" that's less than $50 a bottle. My local liquor bought their own barrel of Eagle Rare 10yr bourbon and is selling it for $34.99 a bottle can't beat that. If you come across any of the Smooth Ambler Old Scout bourbons or ryes they're fantastic.
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Prefer Woodford Reserve personally.
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Prefer Woodford Reserve personally.
That's my "nice restaurant" drink since most places tend to have it, also a very solid bourbon, as is eagle rare (I like many of the things from the Buffalo Trace distillery).
Old Forester is a good knockaround bottle, and their Birthday Bourbon offering sells out very quickly. I randomly lucked into one of those a few years back and it was phenomenal.
FEW is a good one as well, but a tad overpriced in my opinion.
(I drink lots of bourbon…)
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Like Woodford Reserve as well. Getting a bourbon barrel stout aged in Woodford barrels. I've gotten a few of the Birthday Bourbons as well,but they've become increasingly hard to come by. Tried Few and it didn't do anything for me. Love Makers especially the cask strength. My brother recently brought me 2 bottles of the euro Blantons(the gold top and the straight from the barrel) really great stuff. Seems like drinking a lot of bourbon is something we have in common.
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Sipping some Johnny Walker Green tonight.
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My favorite bourbon was Elijah Craig 18 yo. Is that one still available in the us? Bookers and bakers are also great whiskies.
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@Max:
My favorite bourbon was Elijah Craig 18 yo. Is that one still available in the us? Bookers and bakers are also great whiskies.
. They release it once a year and most liquor stores only get 6 bottles which they rarely put on the shelves. So you have to be a real good customer to get some. I got a bottle in 2015 for $130 which is a real good price as most boost the price as much as they think they can get. Really great bourbon. Save it for specials occasions.
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@Max:
My favorite bourbon was Elijah Craig 18 yo. Is that one still available in the us? Bookers and bakers are also great whiskies.
. They release it once a year and most liquor stores only get 6 bottles which they rarely put on the shelves. So you have to be a real good customer to get some. I got a bottle in 2015 for $130 which is a real good price as most boost the price as much as they think they can get. Really great bourbon. Save it for specials occasions.
Damn, I got it for 40€ a few years ago. Pricing for Whisky tops everything These days.
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It's their Basic / core product but a very good and highly reputed peated Malt. 50€ is ok, 70 way too much. You should be able to get it around 40-45€ online if you're lucky.
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@Max:
Damn, I got it for 40€ a few years ago. Pricing for Whisky tops everything These days.
It sure does. Bourbon pricing used to cap out at like $80, even for the high end stuff that was commonly available, with the vast majority of it being in the $30-50 range. I'm not sure what it is exactly. Probably a combination of things.
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@Max:
Damn, I got it for 40€ a few years ago. Pricing for Whisky tops everything These days.
It sure does. Bourbon pricing used to cap out at like $80, even for the high end stuff that was commonly available, with the vast majority of it being in the $30-50 range. I'm not sure what it is exactly. Probably a combination of things. Last time I bought Pappy Van Winkle 20yr I paid $70 off the shelf in 2006 These days when I see it in a store it's between $1100 and $1800 a bottle. The old supply and demand combined with a big dose of hype.
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Is Ardbeg 10yo a good Scotch?.. I'm assuming it's their basic product… I'm just confused cause it costs 50€ here in my local supermarket, and 70 in a local beerstore (where 10yo Talisker also costs 10€ more so...).
Unless you're talking Ardbeg's Uigeadail I always recommend the Laphroaig equivalent, but if Laphroaig isn't available Ardbeg will not disappoint.
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The 10yr old Laiphroaig used to be better than the 10yr old Ardbeg but they broke it a few years ago. Started chill-filtering and colouring with caramel. Idiots.
Seriously? I'm no scotch drinker but I thought the whole thing was purity/locality/tradition of the spirit.
I recently read about "the man who saved bourbon from itself." He lobbied heavily for standards regarding what could be called "straight bourbon" and "bottled in bond" when a large number of cheaper producers were operating (and doing things like adding color). He also invented the distillery tour, as he felt transparency was important in a society that had just read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Of course, I forget his name at the moment, but I'll look it up later.
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Seriously. They started doing it around 10-12 years ago. Only the standard 10 yr old mind.
Their argument was that it had become a globally recognised product and they felt they had to standardise it as there were variations in colour and taste caused by the different oak barrels amongst other things. As I said earlier, idiots.
That strategy assumes the customer expects exactly the same product each time they buy it. In the case of Johnny Walker or Jack Daniels that is fine. When it comes to single malt, that is severely underestimating the consumer. I get that they see it as entry level whisky, but do IH skimp on their values and traditions when making 14oz denim? I think not.
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Yea, I'd agree. Obviously these things swing back and forth, but I think there's been a trend towards buying fewer well-made/hand-made as opposed to a ton of mass produced junk. Obviously everyone here values quality. In the realm of alcohol, in the US there was an explosion of craft breweries and now there is another explosion of craft distilleries.
It was E.H. Taylor Jr., btw. Appropriately, his namesake whiskey is indeed "bottled in bond," which is nice to see in an industry rife with lip-service, faux tradition, and marketing gimmick.
I'm getting my info from a quirky book called "Dead Distillers" which briefly catalogs the life, death, and final resting place of some of alcohols interesting characters in the US.
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Any whisky sold at less than 46% ABV will be chill filtered, no matter the cost age or 'quality' if it wasn't the whisky would be cloudy in the bottle and unsalable to 99% of consumers. Colouring is a different matter on the other hand and should not happen, but unfortunately it does now more than ever. Whisky drinkers, particularly in Scotch Whiskys biggest export markets, like whisky to be dark in colour. :o
laphroaig 10 is great whisky and I would recommend it to anyone, but Ardbeg 10 is better, truly one of the whisky greats.
