The Whiskey/Bourbon/Rye/Scotch Thread

Not sure if I ever shared this before. Pretty succinct reference sheet for bourbon.

If you are a GoT fan AND a scotch drinker this may be for you!

http://whiskyadvocate.com/game-thrones-scotch/

While I am looking forward to the final season, I won’t be pairing scotch and episodes....

Bourbon bonus today!  Chatham Light Liquors had 4 bottles of Weller Special Reserve sitting on the shelf, $36.99 each.  Seeing as the one liquor store in my home town that has it in stock is selling it for $149 (I’ve seen it online for as much as $199, Caskers has it for $106.99)....I cleaned them out!

It’s a fine bourbon, no doubt.  A wheated offering from Buffalo Trace, sharing a mashbill with the Van Winkles....it was something I enjoyed from my local liquor store over a year ago at a $36.99 price point.  Gold medal at the 2019 SF World Spirits competition etion.  By the time I tried to buy it again it was hard to find and out of my price range.  Well worth the $36, and I’m happy to squirrel away a few bottles future use, but the idea that people would pay over $100 for a bottle boggles the mind......

That’s a seriously good find, jtg. Also I agree entirely about the prices. Great buy for under $40 but stupid at $100

Awhile ago people in the booze business started making a big deal about these special spherical ice cube molds

Doesn’t make a difference to me

Who's had Whistlepig?

Harvey wrote

Who's had Whistlepig?

I have
Big surprise

Is it awesome?

It should be illegal to add ice to quality brown liquor.

Harvey wrote

It should be illegal to add ice to quality brown liquor.

Ignorant statement
A little bit of water opens up the flavor in a lot of whiskies, suppresses peat and iodine, softens alcohol burn. A single ice cube lets the process play out as you sip your drink and the ice cube slowly melts ... every whisky master blender and/or whisky ambassador I’ve ever met (including Jimmy Russell and Fred Noe) have said, word for word, “the best way to drink my whiskey is how you like to drink it.” A couple years back, one of these guys told me the biggest single malt brand in Spain at the time was Balvenie. Most of it was being consumed on premise in BALVENIE & COKES. I would never mix a Balvenie & coke but I think Jameson and ginger is delicious

What water do you use for your ice?

Harvey wrote

What water do you use for your ice?

I usually add a few drops of Dihydrogen monoxide - a very rare mixer so you have to use it sparingly

Harvey wrote

Is it awesome?

It’s pretty good

Chemistry

Good for you PeeTex

Harvey wrote

What water do you use for your ice?

Just tap water. I’m not a snob

PeeTex wrote

Harvey wrote

What water do you use for your ice?

I usually add a few drops of Dihydrogen monoxide - a very rare mixer so you have to use it sparingly

be careful with that shit!
https://www.lockhaven.edu/~dsimanek/dhmo.htm

So you are putting... what in your expensive brown liquor? Chlorine?

If I liked water in bourbon, I'd use our cabin water, really tasty.  No additives, I think.

Harvey wrote

So you are putting... what in your expensive brown liquor? Chlorine?

If I liked water in bourbon, I'd use our cabin water, really tasty.  No additives, I think.

Chlorine- yum

For me the neat vs. not question is not one size fits all.  I have some whiskies that I think are best neat, while others need some amount of ice/water for me to enjoy to the fullest, for the reasons Brownski listed.

I prefer filtered water rather than tap, but I don’t bother with bottled/spring water.  Maybe I should.  I don’t like ice that sits in the freezer too long, takes on an unwanted flavor.  I need a better ice ball maker, the silicone one I have has started to impart an undesirable flavor to the ice.

True story.  Was in Fine & Rare (9 E 37th, New York, NY), one of the best bourbon bars in the Northeast US (and a cool jazz club, to boot).  Kind of place where people keep their own personal bottles in-store.  Dude walks up to the bar, looking for his usual bartender, who wasn’t there.  Asks the bartender who was on if he had a dropper, which he didn’t.  Apparently this guy liked exactly two drops of water in whatever whiskey he was having.  I thought it a bit pretentious at the time, but maybe it wasn’t.

Whistle Pig is very good, but I never buy it.  Not worth the price they charge, given how many really good ryes/bourbons are out there for cheaper.

Harvey wrote

So you are putting... what in your expensive brown liquor? Chlorine?

If I liked water in bourbon, I'd use our cabin water, really tasty.  No additives, I think.

No way you well water has additives unless you put them in there.