Whiskey anyone?

Just finished up my bottle of Hakushu a very nice Japanese scotch. Ridiculous expensive in the states but was super reasonable in the Tokyo Narita Duty Free Shop ($43).

johnnie wrote: Big fan of Old Grand Dad bottled in bond. Cheap? Heck yeah!

I'm a cheap bastard also but I went from Old Grand Dad to Tom Sims 6 year after the guy at the liquor store turned me on to it. Best cheap whiskey out there.

For a reasonably priced quality Scotch I really enjoy McCallum, the older, the better.

Man you guys are fancy, i just swig jack daniels from the bottle.

It all tastes like paint thinner to me.

My long term go to is Blanton's reserve. Love it. My first was Eagle Rare, which got me going.

But anymore, I will always have a bottle of Blanton's on hand.

Other than that, we've transitioned to finding good local spirits. I really like Two James in Detroit, and a few other Detroit distilleries. In Ann Arbor, we now have Ann Arbor Distillery- which is really cool. It's going to take a while for them to be really awesome, but their start is quite good and promising.

Tom_Spangler wrote: It all tastes like paint thinner to me.

And how did you make that comparison ?

+1 for Rye whiskey over corn whiskey.

toad9977 wrote: I've currently have a bottle Bulleit Bourbon and Bulleit Rye . My un-refined taste tells me I like it a lot. I'm sure there are much better bottles out there, but i enjoy it and my wallet doesn't hate me too much either when I buy a bottle.

The rye is pretty good for the the price.

I'm kind of surprised how many scotch and bourbon drinkers there are. I find that the really good stuff is really expensive, and the cheaper stuff is terrible. Give me a fine Canadian whiskey or Irish whiskey any day. The Stanahans intrigues me, I'll have to see if I can find it.

I bounce between Bourbon and scotch, mostly due to price. For bourbon I like Woodford reserve and for scotch it is usually Macallans 12. There are others but due to price I don't get them very often.

Edit: I did by a bottle of Canadian Club rye and I thought it was good, especially considering the price.

iceracer wrote:

Tom_Spangler wrote: It all tastes like paint thinner to me.

And how did you make that comparison ?

Whoa, whoa! Look at Mr. Fancy here who claims he's never drank paint thinner!

I just mean I'm not a big hard liquor guy to start with, and especially not whisky. But plenty of people are, so I will now bow out of your thread. Enjoy!

Compass Box Great King Street Glasgow Blend at $42 is my current favorite. It has just enough smoke, oak and sherry. There are some other single malt Islays below $60 that I enjoy, but nanomachines in Wild Turkey 101 have erased my memories. I find most bourbon too sweet, but WT 101 has a nice rye kick. The low price, $18, has bad side effect of increasing consumption. Oh yeah, Bunnahabhain 12 around $56 is another favorite.

I love whiskey. I went to Whiskeyfest this year in San Francisco. Got to try some crazy expensive stuff like the 3k a bottle Pappy Van Winkle 23 year Family Reserve.

The Nikka distillery in Japan is doing the coffee stuff to prepare for their whiskeys to have time to be perfected. The master distiller spent a lot of time in Scotland learning the trade.

There was also a darn decent whiskey from India there. Being a newcomer and really the first out of India, they are priced a little high starting at 50 something a bottle, but it was good.

My go to is Laphroaig 10 and Ardbeg if I am feeling fancy. I also do Bulleit and Gentleman Jack when it suits me.

johnnie wrote: Big fan of Old Grand Dad bottled in bond. Cheap? Heck yeah!

It used to be cheap, like 3 years ago it was something like $19/750, now it's $28. Or at least those are the MI prices. Evan Williams BiB has stayed cheap though and it's almost as good.

D2W wrote: As my buddy and I were enjoying a sip of Redbreast today I began to wonder what else out there I have been missing. I'm not talking about run of the mill crap, but truly enjoyable fine whisky, or whiskey depending on where it originated from.

Redbreast is lovely stuff. I'm glad to see single-pot still whiskeys get their due. The first whiskey I ever tried is Green Spot and it is still one of my favorites. Its older brother Yellow Spot 12-year is great too, but I don't think it's worth the +$50 premium.

EvanR wrote: +1 for Rye whiskey over corn whiskey.

Hell yeah! I received a bottle of WhistlePig 10-year as a gift- what a great rye.

I don't like super-peaty scotch. I had some Laphroag 10-year once. It tastes like liquefied rubber band-aids with a Chloroseptic aftertaste. Talisker is as peaty as I will go.

My tastes have changed over the years. The old go-to was Henry McKenna or BiB Very Old Barton. I find them a tad sweet now. Staying modest, Four Roses or Wild Turkey 80 are de-lish, but the Turkey is priced a little too close to the 101, It really should be more than a buck less. Bulleit is great, moving up a notch in price. Evan Williams Single Barrel is a bargain compared to some of the small-batch stuff it equals in quality, and as many have said, Elijah Craig is very good. Generally, I avoid the Beam family of products (anything that has Frankfort KY on the label) because I find them too oak-y and harsh. I gravitate toward the Bardstown and Austin Nichols products. I got nothing for Scotch, not a fan of the peat overtones.

One of my personal favorites.

so since i considered Maker's Mark decent and was kind of my go to, apparently I'm off the mark per the rest of you, but i'm hardly a connoisseur.

What would one suggest at a similar price point of Maker's Mark (or cheaper, ha) that is better?

In reply to xflowgolf: FWIW, I think Makers's Mark is good too. Which, to me, means- try Eagle Rare next time. It's not too expensive, and really tasty.

I drink it neat, some add a table spoon of water, others add a very clean block of ice.

Bullet bourbon is closish to Makers and a fair bit cheaper. No need for expensive stuff as there is lots out there in the up to $45/bottle range.

Stampie wrote:

johnnie wrote: Big fan of Old Grand Dad bottled in bond. Cheap? Heck yeah!

I'm a cheap bastard also but I went from Old Grand Dad to Tom Sims 6 year after the guy at the liquor store turned me on to it. Best cheap whiskey out there.

Thanks for the reco, Stampie. I'll look for this one. I'm far from a purist, I like bourbon over ice or in a Manhattan with Carpano.

The Scots stuff I like neat, it's been years since I've truly sampled, though. Worked in a tavern that had 3 dozen-plus single malts in the mid 90s. In those days, I favored Lagavulin 16, Highland Park 15, Laphroaig, and who knows what else. I hear there's a Lagavulin 8 year on the market now, anybody tried it?

HunterBenz wrote: There was also a darn decent whiskey from India there. Being a newcomer and really the first out of India, they are priced a little high starting at 50 something a bottle, but it was good.p

I read something about couple years back about the market for Whisky in India. Apparently Scotch is huge there, but so is the import tax. This article posited that if the tariffs were lifted, the distilleries could (and likely would) send almost everything they produced to India and just forget about the rest of the world. Fortunately for us, taxes remain high and they've gotten good at making a quality facsimile.

I been up and down the Scotch trend and decided the Emperor got's no clothes. Gone back to rum.

NOHOME wrote: I been up and down the Scotch trend and decided the Emperor got's no clothes. Gone back to rum.

Risk jacking a thread here, but what's a good sipping rum? PM or break out a new thread, 'cause I know precisely berkall about rum and I might be missing out.