Favorite drink recipes. Booze!

Knurled wrote:

mndsm wrote: Make my special egg nog. Pour 2oz bourbon into a low ball. Add ice cubes. Drink til happy.

That sounds like Fry's dad's eggnog! After reading thread further, no don't mix it! I'm not you, but if I were, I'd get some other, cheaper bourbon (I do recommend Knob Creek as it's smooth. Same with Maker's Mark) to train your palette. Don't worry about rushing into things - as others have said, cheap spirits are for mixers, good spirits are for enjoying neat. Gawd, I sound like the old farts who like Scotch.

Funny I think I got the recipe from futurama.

Knurled wrote:

Conquest351 wrote: I got a badass bottle of Burbon from someone and I'd love to enjoy it, but I'm not manly enough to drink it straight. Anyone care to share a good burbon cocktail recipe with me that won't kill the taste of this stuff?

My favorite recipe for Knob Creek is this: Take one glass of water, pour in an amount of bourbon, and drink it. OTOH, stomach issues meant that for the longest time, I couldn't have anything other than mixed drinks - anything over about 10%ABV would make my stomach not churn, but go numb and stop doing anything. Then it would just sit in there until I hurled. After years of careful training, I can drink straight bourbon and sometimes vodka. But not rum.

Why you no like rum?

EvanB wrote: Why you no like rum?

Rum doesn't like me. It's a guaranteed regurgitation event, unless it's a rum and Coke, in which case it's so nasty that I don't drink it at all.

Rummybummys.

I prefer to mix the most expensive, fine tasting cigar I can find with my Booker's & Knob Creek.

You add anything more than ice to that type of bourbon and you are wasting it.

People always say add ice, or water. I disagree- If you are trying to enjoy the flavor, go straight, room temperature, sip it with air...like slurping hot soup. Absorb it. Inhale it, almost. Tiny amounts. If you are drinking it to get gunned, buy some Jack Daniels and mix it with cola.

Water ruins good whiskey.

I made an error with my original post - I meant "get a water glass" not a "glass of water". BIG difference.

I am told that watering whiskey "opens up the flavours" so your palette can access some of the more subtle hues, or somesuch. But this was related to me by aforementioned old farts talking about Scotch. I prefer my bourbon straight, to the point where no ice should be involved. The cold kills the flavors as well as dilutes it as the ice melts.

Cold cuts down the "burn" some, but don't use ice.

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Mixed drink wise I always go for a whiskey sour when I'm out and not looking to get hammered (which I never am)(well not anymore).

In reply to Knurled:

I sometimes do water with bourbon, ice only with Irish whiskey or scotch

Booker's is pretty high proof. Usually high 60s% ABV, so a little splash of water will help temper the burn and open it up a bit.

I never thought I'd like whiskey on the rocks. Then my buddy offered me some Makers Mark on the rocks. I added a little water at the time to tame it. Then I tried some Jameson on only the rocks with my dad. Now, whiskey is one of my favorites for sitting around the house.

I found that in the beginning, it helps to let the whiskey get nice and cold from the ice and just start to melt. Then the whiskey turns into a smooth, non-burning, golden nectar from the gods.

Of course if you need to make a drink: Manhattans are good. And because people outside the Midwest sometimes get the Old Fashion wrong here is the recipe: Take a slice of orange, maraschino cherry and a spoon full of sugar and muddle them in the bottom of a ...Old Fashion glass! Then fill with ice and fill with whiskey (brandy or Southern Comfort) and some soda ("sweet" would be 7up or similar, and "sour" would be a grapefruit soda like 50/50). A couple of dashes of Angostura bitters. I order my old fashions as a Brandy Sour.

As others have said, good bourbon needs small sips. Keep it in your mouth (not the 'going down a bumpy road' joke), and enjoy the flavors that it has, as your mouth waters it will dilute the bourbon and give it less burn as you drink it. I hated bourbon and whiskey for the longest time because I would try to drink it like a shot and it burned like hell. It wasn't until a friend suggested the method above that I really enjoyed the stuff.

Biookers is good stuff, one of my faves, but it is HIGH proof. If you haven't been sipping whiskey straight, it will be a helluva hard one to start with.

Years ago I developed a simple recipe that still lets you savor the bourbon flavor but softens it on the palette. And keeps you from getting blisteringly drunk quite so quickly. I call it:

The Southern Gentleman:

1 part bourbon
1 part sweet tea

adjust ratio to taste, use a large rocks glass.

Now, the critical thing here is how you make the sweet tea. You can't use any old rusty water bullE36 M3 for this. Buy Tetley's family sized tea bags. Put a good sized pot on the stove top with about 6 cups of cold water in it. Throw 4 tea bags in the water. Turn on the flame and bring it to a ROLLING BOIL. I mean, boil the E36 M3 out of it. Once it's rolling anf foaming good, take the pan off the heat and steep for 10 minutes. Add 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups sugar to a one gallon pitcher and pour in the hot tea. Wring out the tea bags slightly to extract all their bitter character. stir till sugar dissolves while adding cold water to fill the 1 gal pitcher. Refrigerate until cold.

Now, several people here have mentioned drinking whiskey cold to cut the burn, but if you do that you lose a lot of the subtle flavors. If I'm making Southern Gentlemen I always start with room temp whiskey and cold tea and use no ice. It's great this way. You'll be amazed how well the tea works with bourbon. Of course, ya gotta like tea...

Also good over ice with some fresh mint in the summer, it's like an easy cheater julep.

I haven't used the famous whiskey ball yet. how is it?

Anyone got a glassware primer? I know most of the basics, but I'm looking to expand my drinking prowess, and knowing some new glasses might be neat.

I'd say you'd want to get down to around 40% ABV for drinking. Personally, I tend to favor using high alcohol whiskeys for Manhattans - the alcohol content helps to temper the sweetness of the vermouth (good bitters help as well). Shaken well, you should get down into the correct range.

Whiskey on the rocks just seems wrong to me - a tiny drop of water is useful to open up some whiskeys, but that's as far as I'll go - but to each their own.

If you want to complicate things, you can try barrel-aging your cocktails. I've been doing this for a while now with very good results. The process will soften and combine the flavors really nicely.

Glassware is dependent on how you prepare the drink and how traditional you want to be. Being quite traditional myself, it's cocktail glasses if shaking and serving up, Old Fashioned glasses if serving neat or on the rocks. One thing worth noting: keep the glasses relatively small. The current fashion for giant oversized glassware - especially cocktail glasses - just leads to warm drinks.

In reply to mndsm:

The un-resized: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HMnh7HtjEn8/TuNr75495HI/AAAAAAAAB1c/ykWNd3ArliA/s1600/glass.jpg

I loves me a good whiskey. My favorite recipe, although a simple one: 1.) Get a glass.
B.) Pour whiskey into glass. II.) Savor.
Although I have been known to skip the first two steps.

RossD wrote: I never thought I'd like whiskey on the rocks. Then my buddy offered me some Makers Mark on the rocks. I added a little water at the time to tame it. Then I tried some Jameson on only the rocks with my dad. Now, whiskey is one of my favorites for sitting around the house. I found that in the beginning, it helps to let the whiskey get nice and cold from the ice and just start to melt. Then the whiskey turns into a smooth, non-burning, golden nectar from the gods. Of course if you need to make a drink: Manhattans are good. And because people outside the Midwest sometimes get the Old Fashion wrong here is the recipe: Take a slice of orange, maraschino cherry and a spoon full of sugar and muddle them in the bottom of a ...Old Fashion glass! Then fill with ice and fill with whiskey (brandy or Southern Comfort) and some soda ("sweet" would be 7up or similar, and "sour" would be a grapefruit soda like 50/50). A couple of dashes of Angostura bitters. I order my old fashions as a Brandy Sour.

Your recipe is incorrect, you should not be using pop in an old fashioned. Seltzer water is acceptable, but I (and the IBA) prefer just a splash of regular water.

The only muddling happening is when you take a sugar cube, soak in Angostura and muddle. Fruit is not muddled in a "proper" Old Fashioned, it's used as a garnish.

Also, I disagree with the vast majority of you on using cheap spirits in cocktails, especially in "blind" drinks like a Manhattan. The cocktail will only be as good as the crummiest ingredient.

glass of that and a cigar. That's how you mix it.

ultraclyde wrote: Years ago I developed a simple recipe that still lets you savor the bourbon flavor but softens it on the palette. And keeps you from getting blisteringly drunk quite so quickly. I call it: The Southern Gentleman: 1 part bourbon 1 part sweet tea adjust ratio to taste, use a large rocks glass.

That sounds like my recipe for "teaquila".

ultraclyde wrote: Biookers is good stuff, one of my faves, but it is HIGH proof. If you haven't been sipping whiskey straight, it will be a helluva hard one to start with. Years ago I developed a simple recipe that still lets you savor the bourbon flavor but softens it on the palette. And keeps you from getting blisteringly drunk quite so quickly. I call it: The Southern Gentleman: 1 part bourbon 1 part sweet tea adjust ratio to taste, use a large rocks glass. Now, the critical thing here is how you make the sweet tea. You can't use any old rusty water bullE36 M3 for this. Buy Tetley's family sized tea bags. Put a good sized pot on the stove top with about 6 cups of cold water in it. Throw 4 tea bags in the water. Turn on the flame and bring it to a ROLLING BOIL. I mean, boil the E36 M3 out of it. Once it's rolling anf foaming good, take the pan off the heat and steep for 10 minutes. Add 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups sugar to a one gallon pitcher and pour in the hot tea. Wring out the tea bags slightly to extract all their bitter character. stir till sugar dissolves while adding cold water to fill the 1 gal pitcher. Refrigerate until cold. Now, several people here have mentioned drinking whiskey cold to cut the burn, but if you do that you lose a lot of the subtle flavors. If I'm making Southern Gentlemen I always start with room temp whiskey and cold tea and use no ice. It's great this way. You'll be amazed how well the tea works with bourbon. Of course, ya gotta like tea... Also good over ice with some fresh mint in the summer, it's like an easy cheater julep.

I WILL try this. Being from Alabama, I have drank sweet tea for 33 of my 35 years of life. I have perfected my sweet tea recipe and adding a bit of mint and some of this bourbon may be the key. I'll try it out tonight if there's still sweet tea in the fridge...

In reply to RossD:

Good find! We use the single malt scotch glass for about everything but cognac and it does make it taste more. From good rum to all bourbons.

The water does a few things one of which dillutes the alcohol so that more of your tongue and nose can taste the flavor. I'm not a big fan of ice, as it cuts down on what I can taste.

But that is just me, all of this is very personal, so if you don't like drinking is neat or with a little water, so be it. That is why there are so many choices out there for alcohol.

I really like aged rum, which is a little odd. Don Q gran anjeo is pretty amazing.

I also have a bottle of Brandy and Courvossier VSOP too. Any ideas on what to do with them? LOL I've tried each by itself and not a huge fan. I fell in love with some Courvossier Gold and drank it neat at room temp and loved it. I like sweet drinks because I guess I'm a noob or whatever. LOL

Taste for alcohol is a very personal thing, and I think a lot of it has to do with our individual body chemistry. I think if you tend to have a sweet tooth, you will prefer a sweeter alcohol, and if you prefer salty over sweet you may tolerate or even prefer a more bitter note.