A Poll: Do Bourbon Drinkers run to type?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I was pondering this the other day over a glass of Maker’s Mark (ONE ice cube and a splash of filtered water, please), and I realised that most, if not all the people I knew who drank bourbon as their drink of choice tended to be:

Moderately to very intelligent
Fairly well-read and well-educated
Fatalists or pragmatists
well-travelled
connoisseurs of “the finer things” but very at home with, for want of a better metaphor I’ll call “down-home” things
Any other bourbon-drinking Dopers want to share insight here?
Correlations on the type of bourbon one drinks and what type of person you are?

2

You forgot “self-aggrandizing.” :wink:

To answer your question, the two bourbon drinking friends I know aren’t on the higher end of the intellectual food chain. Friend #1 swills Beam & Coke like a fiend; #2 drinks Maker’s directly from the bottle (!). Where I used to bartend (in a college town, so we got all sorts from students to profs to townies), it was usually the more blue-collar crowd ordering bourbon; it has kind of an all-American feel to it.

My experience with the sort of folks you describe has been that many drink Scotch (esp. Johnny Walker) – which traditionally skews a more mature/sophisticated demographic, due to its fuller, smokier flavor (owing to how the hops are malted). Other whiskys commonly ordered by the sort of people you mention would run to Crown Royal (go Canada!) or some single malt Irish (Bushmill’s, anyone?). But rarely bourbon.

On a non-whisky note: Courvoisier and Hennessey apparently used to be in the same category, but have since been appropriated by a younger, hip-hop oriented demographic (Hey Busta, pass the Courvoiser!).

Give me an Irish whiskey any day, preferably Jameson’s on the rocks. If you want a good experiment, line up half-shots of one of each of these: bourbon, Canadian, Scotch, and Irish whiskeys. Add a splash of water to bring out the full flavor (as False_God sagely mentions s/he does already), and sip each in turn. You might surprise your palate by this twist on the Pepsi challenge! (but, of course, there’s enormous variation among whiskys too, so take your time)

3

Wild Turkey 101 fan here (although not by any means to the exclusion of nice tequilas, scotches, or rums)

check :wink:

ummm…better than illiterate and a couple of master’s degrees, is that stretching a point?

nope. definitely of the primary type fuzzyheadedus idealisticus here, although some substrains of practicality and realism are interwoven there, e.g., I believe in the necessity and inevitability of global anarchy, but it can only come about by being more efficient than existing systems at making the trains run on time.

nope. never been to any part of Asia, Africa, South America, or Australia; only been to a tiny portion of Europe once, when I was 13, and equally briefly to Canada and Mexico. never seen a Pacific island.

for this one I think some definitions are in order.

4

I’m a fan of bourbon. Maker’s Mark, Knob Creek, or Evan Williams mainly, neat. Though I normally drink microbrewed ales.

Let’s see here…

Moderately to very intelligent
At the risk of sounding immodest, yes.

Fairly well-read and well-educated
Yes again.

Fatalists or pragmatists
Well…not really. Fairly pragmatic, yes. But I try to maintain an optimistic outlook…sometimes with less-than-perfect success.

well-travelled
Moderately. Been all over the USA, and visited Canada. Spent some time in Europe as a child. I plan to do a lot more travelling in the future. (Especially Costa Rica.)

connoisseurs of “the finer things” but very at home with, for want of a better metaphor I’ll call “down-home” things
I suppose so.

5

Sacrilege. Definitely doesn’t count as a bourbon drinker.

As a former bourbon drinker, I’ll accept the OP’s description. But these days it’s Jameson for me.

Courvosier and Hennessey are being marketed to African-Americans. My experience working in bars confirms that the marketing is working.

6

False_God, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head (or “rem tetigisti acu,” as we literate Bourbon drinkers would say. )

Bourbon is a simple, all-American pleasure for real men. :wink: It’s a drink to share with friends and a fine accompaniment to a good book. It’s not a drink obnoxious yuppie-types order to impress people (like some single malt Scotches seem to be).

Maker’s Mark with a little ice for me too! (or, at the risk of being obnoxious myself, maybe Bookers or single-barrel Evan Williams.)

7

I don’t see “male” on False_God’s list. I suppose I am more of a “real man” than most men out there, despite the fact that I don’t have a penis. Whenever I’m with a guy, the bartender/waitress does tend to assume my drink is for him.

8

Okay, a definition seems to be in order on one of my points.

"connoisseurs of “the finer things” but very at home with, for want of a better metaphor I’ll call “down-home” things "–

Now, by this I meant that we can recognize quality when we see it, but sometimes it’s the time for a nice filet steak with baby vegetables and sauce bernaise and sometimes it’s the time for Frito pie with extra cheese.
An appreciation for both is what I was shooting for. Sometimes I want to listen to a nice Berlioz recording on vinyl and have some cheese and wine, sometimes I want to drink beer from a can and go floating down a river on an innertube, or go frog-gigging. The highbrow and lowbrow together, and a recognition of the time for both.

Bourbon drinkers are by no means male. Many of the women I’ve had in my life have had a fine appreciation for the sacred amber liquid.

Regarding the Great Whiskey/Whisky debate, I have a few thoughts. People who drink whisky/whiskey tend to fall into a few groups. First, we have the Scotch/Bourbon divide. Most people I’ve been around tend to skew tightly to one side or the other. I think I’ve made my feelings known, but I can enjoy and appreciate a fine Talisker, Glenmorangie or Macallan with the best of them. I just prefer bourbon for everyday drinking–it seems smoother, and I find the smoke inherent to a good single-malt makes it a “hotter” drink, sort of like mezcal versus tequila.

Aficionados of Irish have my respect. I’ve drunk my share of Jamesons and Bushmills, but they seem a little light compared to bourbon, at least to me.

People who drink Canadian tend to mix it, as do people who drink the lower-end of the bourbon food chain. Jack and Coke? Sure, sometimes, like if I’m fishing or at a party. I don’t really consider that a “bourbon drink” though.

Rye is its own animal. The only way to make a true Manhattan, which Ukulele Ike will back me up on, it’s been gaining popularity.

Most bourbon drinkers, and those of Tennessee whiskey, aren’t drinking it to impress, like those of the “yuppie” single-malts.
I drink it because it tastes good, it’s an honest American spirit, and because my dad and his father before him drank it and I associate the smell of bourbon with family and good times.

9

{jerking thumb at preceding post} I’m backing him up.

I like your second post better than your first one, FG, especially the last line. Bourbon is my first choice drink, too…and one of the reasons I like it is that it IS unpretentious. And my regular brand, Heaven Hill, is about as unpretentious as you can get. And I like to Buy American when I can.

Incidentally, MY old man was a Scotch drinker, so maybe another reason I drink bourbon just to set myself apart from him.
PS: Try a Bushmill’s Malt Whiskey if you think Irish is too light for you.

10

I mostly concur with the conclusions of False_God however, I would just as soon have a scotch and I am not very fond of Makers Mark (to each his own). I’ll take just about any brand with a splash of water and a twist of lemon.

:eek: I see it is time to go bend an elbow.

11

Mea maxima cupa! ,Chula, What I meant to say was “real i.e., * [unpretentious] * people.” My mother liked Bourbon (though her drink of choice was Bushmills neat).

12

What I really meant to say was "mea maxima culpa. My Latin spell-checker’s not working.

13

Or, for something Irish that’ll put even more hair on your chest, Paddy’s or Royal Irish. Paddy’s especially, gets branded an “old man” whiskey for its kick.

And re: False_God’s panegyric on the unpretentiousness of bourbon: I agree, lots of guys drink bourbon because they think it’s a “manly” drink (coincidentally, scotch drinkers often have the same attitude toward their libation). That, in my book, is a pretention to be an Everyman. Pabst Blue Ribbon might be a manlier beer than Hoegaarden in most people’s books, but I’ll go with what tastes better over what drinking it makes me any day. Which is why I don’t buy the whole “what type do drinkers of such and such run” question…just drink what you like.

14

Man, the more I hang out in threads with Uke, the more I think I need to make it up to New York before I ship out, if just to share a drink with him.

peepthis, it’s not hops that are smoked in scotch, it’s the malts, or individual sprouts of barley. There should be no hops in scotch. In beer, certainly.

I’ve had Bushmill’s Malt and Paddy when I lived in Eire, and while it’s still whisky, there’s a sweetness that corn and rye give the mash that I think’s lacking.

There’s definitely a skew between bourbon drinkers of those who drink Jack or Beam and Coke and those who drink the straight stuff. I must say that I drank Jim and Jack exclusively through high school and college, then when I could afford the good stuff, went over to Knob Creek and Maker’s Mark (still my house brand), then decided to try Evan Williams for kicks. It isn’t bad, but now that I’ve tried Elijah Craig and Blanton’s, I can’t go back.

Still, though, bourbon touches a chord in me. I’ve had shine and poitin, corn whiskey and some stuff that I swear that was kerosene, but I’ll come back to bourbon every time. I drink beer and wine, can appreciate the amber and the clear, but for choice I’ll have me some sour mash.

(Incidentally, for anyone who was wondering, I’m Native American/Mexican, went to a private school here in DC, and will be entering the US Foreign Service in May. Make of that what you will.)

15

Reformed bourbon drinker checking in here. Nowadays I stick to the clear spirits and beer - the good, locally-brewed stuff for the most part - but bourbon was once my drink of choice.

Problem is, when I drank bourbon I was between the ages of 17 and 19. (Even now, the mere smell of Maker’s or JB takes me back to the early days of university. Ahh… memories!) So to address the OP…

[Edna Krabappel]

Ha!

[/Edna Krabappel]

16

Aarrrgh…you are, of course, correct. Must’ve had beer on the brain when I posted, to have written hops (!) instead of barley. And to think, I just returned a week of whiskey swilling in Dublin!

17

“…just returned from a week of whiskey swilling in Dublin.”

Effects obviously haven’t worn off yet!:o

18

I’ve heard that Paddy’s is not available for sale in North America…not sure if that’s true of not…I may have to hit some fancier liquor stores.

I noticed that the standard brand of local firewater in most pubs in Ireland was Powers. THAT is on the shelf at my local boozery; should I invest in a litre?

19

Well I’m not sure how I rate with the OP’s hypothesis:
I do read a fair amount, but mainly for work these days.

Finishing a Ph.D in Forestry (defense date has been set for May 17th–10:00 am.!!)

I’ve been around most of the US and most western Europe.

Count me as one of those idealists too.
In the end though, I couldn’t let this thread go by without offering my choice for bourbon.

I’ve got the following brands on my shelf: Maker’s Mark, Knob Creek, Labrot & Graham’s Woodford Reserve (the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby), Elijah Craig, and Bookers. All are special in their own way, but I’ll reach for the Bookers every time if I’m looking for a nice sippin’ drink while sitting in my overstuffed chair. “Ah civilization!”

20

It’d be worth your while. Powers, IMHO, isn’t as smooth as Jameson’s, but not as throat-sweltering as Paddy’s. It’s a great in-between whiskey.