I think I'm allergic to Rye whiskey.

New experiment results. 

First last night as I was going to bed I had a runny nose.  Enough to blow but not like OMG the snot won't end.  If a reaction I would say very mild.  For the record that was the rum mentioned above.

Tonight I just finished the second drink of the same rum.  Again I sneezed and needed to blow my nose.  I'd say slightly more than last night but again very mild.

Maybe I'm allergic to alcohol? 

I will continue the experiment.

Brought home some Don Q 7 year rum. No reaction for me. 

clutchsmoke said:

Brought home some Don Q 7 year rum. No reaction for me. 

If you can get Don Q, get the Gran Anjeo.  One of the best out there.

But do be aware, I'm pretty darned biased- this is made in SHMBO's home town.  Still, it's pretty amazing.

Tonight I tried Kirkland ice cream flavored ice cream,  about the same reaction as Bells two hearted, just a little stuffy.  Must be the dairy.

In reply to thatsnowinnebago :

There is a nice liquor/wine store 1/4 mile down my bike path.  I’ll go check their selection.

Beer Baron said:

In reply to Stampie :

Experimentation is actually a good idea.

If you've got an all-corn whiskey (Mellow Corn) that could be an interesting variable. Weller and Makers are wheated bourbons and shouldn't have rye. Then malt whiskies. Irish whisky shouldn't have rye in it.

The other day I tried the Seagrams VO again.  Snot attack hit me.  Today I said you know Beer Baron seems like a smart guy let's try that Irish whisky thing.  Been enjoying my Friday evening with some Jameson and no hit of a reaction at all.  To be continued.

Can't say I relate to that for bourbon but I'm legit allergic to sulfites pretty bad and have broken out in hives/hard to breath from red wine a few times.

Worst was in Nawlan's back in early early 20s before I'd completely identified that connection. Went out hard for an afternoon in the french quarter. Had reservations at a nice place off bourbon st at like 6 pm. That went well until I just started dieing. Because of the meal we thought it was shellfish at the time. Girlfriend (now wife) too me back and put me to bed after popping some Benadryl.

I awake at like 1 am to my brother and a buddy making it rain $20 bills. It turned out that they hit big in a casino after dinner and he owed me like $2k for buying a Miata the week before. They then stop as I'm completely red faced/snotty/broken out and throw me in a cold shower and pop more benadryl but stop short of running to ER or eppie pen.

Stampie said:

Beer Baron said:

In reply to Stampie :

Experimentation is actually a good idea.

If you've got an all-corn whiskey (Mellow Corn) that could be an interesting variable. Weller and Makers are wheated bourbons and shouldn't have rye. Then malt whiskies. Irish whisky shouldn't have rye in it.

The other day I tried the Seagrams VO again.  Snot attack hit me.  Today I said you know Beer Baron seems like a smart guy let's try that Irish whisky thing.  Been enjoying my Friday evening with some Jameson and no hit of a reaction at all.  To be continued.

Interesting. Trying to think of what would be unique about Irish whiskey that wouldn't apply to Canadian whiskey or rum.

Seagrams V.O. flavor description mentions "spicy" several times, so it may include some rye.

I was going to say maybe something with corn - which would explain American and Canadian whiskies, but not rum.

Please note that I seriously don't know what's up, and I'm just throwing out hypotheses. It could be pesticides or fungicides or such used in agriculture in North America, but not in Europe. Possible that distillation concentrates these compounds to a threshold that it affects you. It could also be enzymes, yeast nutrient, or particular yeast strains used in the production of these products.

It could be that you're fine with Irish and Scottish whiskies because they're using primarily malt and sourcing it from Europe.

In reply to Beer Baron :

Could it be the barrels being used? Tannins in the wood at whatnot? I'm a little rusty on my barreling processes so I'm not sure where Jameson would be different from rye, but there's gotta be one. Maybe I'll check my whiskey selection just to add another control. I do my best thinking then. 

Didn't read the whole thread.  For that I apologize.

How frequently do you drink?  For how long have you regularly consumed alcohol?

Mndsm said:

In reply to Beer Baron :

Could it be the barrels being used? Tannins in the wood at whatnot? I'm a little rusty on my barreling processes so I'm not sure where Jameson would be different from rye, but there's gotta be one. Maybe I'll check my whiskey selection just to add another control. I do my best thinking then. 

There could be, but the rum throws me for a loop.

U.S. bourbon and rye will have to use new charred oak barrels. I don't know the regulations in Canada with new vs. used.

Irish and Scottish whiskey will overwhelmingly use castoff oak barrels since they lack oak natively. Predominantly, those will be used U.S. bourbon/whiskey barrels since that's the largest supply of used barrels.

The rum is what shoots a hole in that hypothesis. They will be using those same used barrels (or none at all), and will generally use them up even more severely before discarding them than the Irish/Scottish distillers do.

Radical view: Are you storing the bottles in different places, and does one have more dust than the other? Are you doing different activities when you're drinking the different drinks?
Mold on the glass?

Some alcohol doesn't agree with me at all, Red Wine gives me godawful migraines and in general cheaper whiskey gives me headaches and stomach aches from the first sip. Pretty much any whiskey that has that weird acrid dieselly taste( pretty much every cheap flavored whiskey has it, Screwball,Sheepdog, Seagrams 7) kills me, not sure why.

I don't see that you've tried a good Islay scotch. I'm not sure if it'll help your allergies but I think everyone should have a good Islay sometimes

In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :

Yeah. Fusel alcohols. They don't agree with *anyone* just some people notice them sooner.

Yeast produces higher concentrations of them during fermentation, generally if it's stressed or fermenting on the warm side. They're very common in red wine, especially cheaper stuff.

You tend to produce a lot of them when fermenting the mash or wash for spirits. They're easily removed and set aside during the distillation process with proper cuts (what distillate you collect and what you discard). But for cheaper whiskey, they're not going to worry as much, and are going to run the still hotter and make more liberal cuts, and not worry if they're getting a bit more fusel alcohols.

Similarly, I think most hard seltzers (White Claw especially) taste like a hangover, because they're obviously using a turbo yeast to produce alcohol as quickly as possible.

If looking for the nicest Scotch whisky at the most reasonable price point to see how that agrees, I would recommend Monkey Shoulder.

A local small distiller that I know will have the ability to run single grain white whiskey here soon.  I'm hoping that'll let me experiment further.

In reply to Beer Baron :

What's your thoughts on Kviek yeast?  I know they do better at higher temps but are they still stressed at those higher temps?

In reply to Beer Baron :

"If looking for the nicest Scotch whisky at the most reasonable price point to see how that agrees, I would recommend Monkey Shoulder"
 

x2 on this. Reasonable price, very good taste. 

Admittedly I am not a fan of Monkey Shoulder at all

Stampie said:

In reply to Beer Baron :

What's your thoughts on Kviek yeast?  I know they do better at higher temps but are they still stressed at those higher temps?

I haven't used it yet personally or read detailed technical articles to really know. My understanding is that it behaves quite well. I'm not sure I buy that doing a Kveik lager tastes like a true lager yeast... but that's another matter...

"Higher temp" is very relative. It's all about what temp ranges the yeast strain in question is most comfortable at. Sort of like how a husky and a basenji will have very different ideas of what "too hot" is. A lager will get stressed cooler than an American ale will get stressed cooler than the Saison DuPont strain.

Sometimes faster fermenting strains that like more heat produce *less* fusel alcohols even at higher ABV. I made an 11.5% imperial Belgian Brut IPA hybrid thing that drink like a 6-7% beer, because it's so darned clean.

But when people are trying to make just the maximum amount of alcohol as quickly and cheaply as possible, they're going to push things to the limit and not worry about fusels.

Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:

Admittedly I am not a fan of Monkey Shoulder at all

::Shrug:: And some people aren't fans of heavy peated Islays. I'm guessing that someone into rums, bourbon, and Seagrams VO will like Monkey Shoulder more than Laphroig.

Personally, I prefer Lagavulin over Monkey Shoulder over Laphroig.

Beer Baron said:

Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:

Admittedly I am not a fan of Monkey Shoulder at all

::Shrug:: And some people aren't fans of heavy peated Islays. I'm guessing that someone into rums, bourbon, and Seagrams VO will like Monkey Shoulder more than Laphroig.

Personally, I prefer Lagavulin over Monkey Shoulder over Laphroig.

True. Many like Monkey Shoulder too, I just find it to be meh.

Lagavulin 16 is probably my favorite Islay with the 11 just behind it. Laphroaig makes the best godfathers though

In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :

The answer is not always Islay ye peaty bestid! 

I like Octamore and heavy peats as well... I think Monkey Shoulder is a good value "daily driver".   Different tastes for different days I guess. I never got on the IPA bus fully either. Sometimes a nice Laeger or Ale is my ticket. I'm also not a connoisseur of much of anything!   

11GTCS said:

In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :

The answer is not always Islay ye peaty bestid! 

Yes it is!

In reply to Stampie :

I have a new hypothesis based on the fusel alcohol comments.

Maybe you're reacting to dirtier distillations - ones that leave in more compounds that would typically be left behind in the cuts.

This would explain reacting to a wide variety of alcohols. It would explain why you're more likely to notice it in cheaper alcohols like Seagrams and Jaeger. It makes sense that you'd notice the reaction more readily in rye, where the distiller is probably leaving in a bit more of the tails to accentuate the spicy profile.

On the other side, it also makes sense that you would *not* have the same reaction with an Irish Whiskey. They are traditionally run through a pot still 3 times, as opposed to the usual 2 for American or Scottish whiskies, leaving a cleaner, more pure, but less flavor-positive product.

You would also expect to have less reaction to very pure grain neutral spirits produced from a column still - good vodkas and gins.