In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) :
A good friend of mine spends a lot of time at Glenns Creek and knows the guys there pretty well. I got a chance to crawl all over the old facility down there and it's a pretty neat place. It's not bad juice, but the batches are pretty inconsistent. The best one they make is the "Premium" where they blend together the left overs of the various barrels.
Oh jeez. Here we go.
St augustine distilleries the saint. Finished in their old-fashioned barrels, after the old fashioned is finished in a whiskey barrel. Easily the most expensive bottle.
Bear gully distillery- another local. Great standard bourbon. Always on my shelf.
Four roses single barrel.
Old forester 100. My standard mixing. I keep this around like some do wild turkey.
Old forester 1920- a better version of the 100, from a pre prohibition recipe.
There's probably others....and that's just the bourbon.
Aww was going to join in. Why not!
Redwood Empire Pipe Dream and Devils Tower Rye
Wild Turkey 12 yr 101, also the 8 year 101.
Eagle Rare
Blantons Takara Red
Four Roses Super Premium
got some other stuff too- daily would be Redwood Empire and Buffalo Trace basic.
A few years ago while I was working in NH (NH State Stores are something to see...), I decided to expand into the whiskey realm. I normally drink beer or wine.
Started with Islay Scotches, and still prefer them - the peatier the better.
There's a distillery a couple of miles from me - 1675 in Bensalem, PA - that makes some I like.
I've tried some of the big brand US makes, but haven't been impressed.
I tried Buffalo Trace at a friend's house a few months ago and definitely like it - hard to get, tho... I asked at one store and the guy literally laughed at me, "Sells out the day we get it..."
I'm in the early planning stages of putting together a Kentucky Bourbon Trail driving tour with some of my Triumph club guys.
Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:I'm in the early planning stages of putting together a Kentucky Bourbon Trail driving tour with some of my Triumph club guys.
Make a stop in Westport Whiskey and Wine. It looks like any other liquor store, but in the back is the best tasting room in all of Kentucky. What do you want to try? They have it.
They basically take the original retail price of a bottle (not scalp market) price it down to the ounce, double it and round up, and that's what you pay. That bottle of Pappy?...
Went down to Louisville for a Whiskey class. One of my classmates bought a bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle for $1,000 at a shop. The next day, I went into Westport, they had it on the shelf in the tasting room. That's an $80 retail bottle, so an ounce pour was probably $7/oz.
Although... I ended up drinking for free because I've got an industry connection, so he was just like, "What do you want?" and started pulling stuff out. We discussed how we both prefer malt over bourbon.
He turned me on to what are now two of my favorite whiskeys: Paul John Classic, and Rampur Double Cask (he poured the "Select", but that's been discontinued and replaced by the Double Cask).
The Paul John... out Pappy'd Pappy. It had everything the Van Winkle did, plus extra complexity. The Rampur... had the most distinctive Orange Candy flavor. It smelled almost like curacao.
Also thanks to this board for adding Aberlour A'Bunadh to my list of favorite whiskeys I keep regularly.
In reply to Beer Baron :
Thanks. Is there a hotel within walking distance? Sounds like we may need that. (checks Googlemaps...) No... but I see there are restaurants in the vicinity, so could be a good last stop before dinner.
That A'bunadh sounds good. I'll have to find some.
Part of my house remodel will need to include space for a proper whiskey bar...
Thankfully I'm not a whiskey person. I had some of this Macklowe at $1500 per, didn't care for it. Actually I cared for it as much as any kerosene intake.
In reply to 914Driver :
The point of a $1,500 whiskey is to say you spent $1,5000, not for it to be good.
I can tell just by looking at it that it's not going to be good. (I can point to the specific things I notice.)
I looked up the company... Their verbiage is all b.s. marketing hype that reads to me like a "turbo encabulator". The founder is a businesswoman with zero distillation experience. She made her money in skincare products. This is a person who loves money, not whiskey.
Don't judge whiskey based on that kind of b.s. Get recommendations from people who actually love whiskey.
If you want a good starting point: Green Spot. Another of my favorites. Everyone loves it. If I'm starting a tasting for someone who is curious about good whiskey, this is what I will pour first.
My Dad got me a bottle of Bonded Rye from Tom's Foolery last Christmas and man is it good.
I still don't have a palette for whiskey or bourbon, but I'm starting to develop a taste for cognac. My fave entry-level bottle so far is Claude Chatelier VS, which can be found for under $30.
I've been drifting towards the hard stuff as part of getting my gut in check versus beer. These two are my current favorites:
Whiskey: Monkey Shoulder
Mezcal: Siete Misterios
My liquor cabinet currently has:
Evan Williams Bottled in Bond white label and Sailor Jerry for mixers
Colonel EH Taylor and Weller 12 year for special occasions
Green River Wheated Bourbon is my most recent favorite sipper. Super smooth wheated bourbon for $30 a 750 that I can actually find on the shelf.
Most any of the Islay single malts are my favoritest...But Lagavulin 16 is my go-to.
Beer Baron said:In reply to 914Driver :
If you want a good starting point: Green Spot.
Thanks but I have enough vices started .... 
I just enjoyed a bottle of Nikka Coffey Grain with some friends during the super bowl.
Prior to that I was sipping on some Buffalo Trace.
I had a small pour with a friend of some Redwood Empire from California, not my fav, def one you mix with.
Also have a bottle of Stranahans that's aged in tequila barrels - that is some good sheet.
I've got a regular bottle of Nikka in the bar cabinent too that I haven't cracked open yet.
Also have some Mezcal and Respado for sipping and Tito's for mules and russians.
Am I the only guy into Mezcal? In my experience the good varieties are smokier and more complex than Tequila and sometimes even have a whisky-ish vibe. The Mysterios I mentioned above has got a kick that not everyone is into, but increasingly, I'm choosing Mexico over Scotland.
Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:Am I the only guy into Mezcal?
I definitely enjoy a good Mezcal. My trouble is being confident in what I'm getting. I don't want to spend $40-$60 for it to be "meh" and just sit in my cabinet. There isn't as much good information or opportunities to taste and try different things with mezcal as with whiskey.
I enjoy a bit of smoke, but I want it balanced with more rounded complexity. I am not a "the smokier the better" kind of person.
E.g. for Islay malts, I really like Lagavulin but not Laphroaig.
Oh E36 M3!
When I was visiting family in San Diego, I grabbed what I assumed was a bottle of Rampur Double Cask (which I can't get in Ohio), but turned out to be Rampur Select, which I've been looking for for years, and thought was discontinued!
I am rather happy with this discovery. I can get Double Cask in Virginia whenever I go out to visit my brother!
In reply to Beer Baron :
A more rustic version of wine tours in France, or Whisky tours in Scotland are Mezcal tours in Oaxaca. Now it's a "thing", but 20 years ago it was bouncing through the mountains and stopping wherever you saw an Agave field. The makers wouldn't have any sort of bottling facilities, so you'd have to bring your own, and if you forgot or ran out, you'd find yourself with samples in old Coke bottles and such. Great fun. Some of the indiginistas didn't even speak Spanish, but that was okay because my Spanish sucked as it was.
lalefi said:Whiskey: Monkey Shoulder is very good
I know a lot like it but man.....I hated it.
Very diesely, Seagrams 7 is smoother somehow and that's not a favorite of mine either. I don't know why it gets the love it does
Jay_W said:Most any of the Islay single malts are my favoritest...But Lagavulin 16 is my go-to.
Mine too, I've actually been drinking the Laphroaig Select a lot recently because it makes great Godfather's.
And if all goes according to plan, this time next year I'll be in Scotland on Islay and staying near Lagavulin
In reply to Antihero :
Monkey Shoulder is a very different animal from Seagrams 7.
Seagrams 7 is a Canadian Blended Whiskey. That means that much of the liquid is grain alcohol - basically vodka. So it will be very "smooth" but not complex. Solid for mixing or shooting, but not a sipping whiskey.
Monkey Shoulder is a Scottish Blended Malt Whiskey. It is all malt whiskey, just sourced from different distilleries. No minimum age. So you get the complexity of a Scottish Malt whiskey, but you're saving money because you're not paying for as much time in barrel, and they're almost certainly taking second or third -pick barrels from those distilleries.
All that means, it's really inexpensive for what it is. It's a sippable malt whisky for ~$30. That's great! It also has a very approachable flavor profile with lots of caramel and cream. That makes it my choice for what I'd tell someone to get if they wanted to dip a toe into Scotch. For me, it remains a great mixing whisky.
We've been exploring tequila lately, and mezcal as an extension. Since whiskey is still stupid hard to get because of the hype train- I needed bottles that were a little easier to chase. I honestly don't drink a ton right now, but i've found I'm still deep into aged stuff. No real names because i'm still learning.
In reply to Beer Baron :
All of this is right, I just don't get it. I'm more Islay or nothing too though I do like Glennfiddich.
Bulleit Rye is my goldilocks whisky; cheap enough to mix but decent enough to drink neat
Angel's Envy Rye is one of my favorites (I know, I know, it's a rebranded something or other from a globocorp distiller)
Mellow corn is...well, it's not good, but pre-pandemic it was $8.99 and was a surprisingly decent mixer
You'll need to log in to post.
