Best whisk(e)y

I seldom drink any alcohol*, so for me, Laphroiag is not extravagant. The best value, then, is to drink what whisky I like best when I drink whisky.

However, Jack Daniels has its place as a medicinal drink. After spending all day skiing, I’ll have a good slug of JD when I get back to the car. It takes off the chill. A second slug will soothe tired muscles. More would not be recommended, as driving might become impared.

  • “seldom” = a beer every couple of weeks. It’s good after flying. Aside from that, I’ll only drink when other people are around.

Turkey Rare Breed, or Basil Hayden for those special times, and Jameson til I see double with one eye closed on St. Patty’s Day!
later, Tom

Try Knob Creek bourbon. At $20 it is the on the less expensive end of the specialty bourbons and has a terrific taste to sip. I presently have 4 bottles of Scotch in the house from JW Black to Talisker 18 (Sherry Cask, only available in England - Thank god for good frinds) but the best “everyday value” I have found is MacAllan 12 yo. The 18 yo is good, but not worth the price difference IMHO. They sell it at COSTCO now! What a country.

People tell me that we Canadians make really good whiskey but I have never aquired a taste for our domestic product. My favourite is Pinch (scotch), it is exceedingling hard to find here and quite expensive but worth it. I usually settle for GlenMorangie. Blame my Scottish grandmother for my preferences I guess.

Old Crow. The older the better. I don’t trust the dates on the labels. Give me a dusty bottle for authenticity any day.

Of course, I’m a tightwad. And my sig seems appropriate here.

Do their ads say, “Taste the Knob”? :smiley:

I’m partial to Maker’s Mark myself but that relates to a little game we play while passing the bottle.

MAKE YOUR MARK!

Kind of self explanatory and it can get ugly. Keeps things moving on a slow day of ice fishing though!

I for one must try this special breed. My brother in-law lives in Kentucky. Do you know in what city the distillery is? Stand back, this is a job for a professional.

I picked up a bottle of this stuff upon seeing it recommended on another thread.

Damned good sippin’ bourbon. All the whiskey drinkers at the party agreed that it would be criminal to mix Maker’s Mark with anything.

My roommate recently received the The Glenlivet video in the mail. What a hoot!

A Scottish guy in Scottish garb appears on the screen.

“Good day, how are you, now give me a whisky!”

That’s how it starts. I swear to god.

This video is free, and can be gotten from the website. Order it now.

But the point of this is this:

When you are trying out whiskys, you should always pour a little water into the shot. For some reason it opens up the bouquet and flavor of the whisky. It does not water it down. Try it. It really is amazing the difference it makes.

Glen Morangie
Isle of Jura

Okay, picked up a bottle of Laphroaig 10 yr. today. I’m trying to save it until Sunday, but I’m not sure I can hold out that long.

The Japanese seem to have decided that Harper’s is as good as I know it is. And they’re willing to pay a lot more per bottle than I ever did.
So they get it!
And I get a memory.


I for one must try this special breed. My brother in-law lives in Kentucky. Do you know in what city the distillery is? Stand back, this is a job for a professional.
–Sn-man
–“Premium” Bourbon as we know it today didn’t exist before the 1980’s, and I.W.Harper went back to 1856. The name came from the distiller (I.W.) who at least wanted to get his initials onto a product customers were reordering using his salesman’s name.
Harper’s was about as premium as bourbon got when I started sipping it in the late 60’s. If you’re over 40 you might even remember the ads that featured the silhouette of a formally dressed gentleman in top hat, tails and walking stick over the phrase “It’s Always A Pleasure.”
Long story short, I.W.Harper was the only bourbon I liked neat.
Then two things happened: 1)The Japanese took an interest in things American. One of those things was bourbon, and in short order I.W.Harper became the most popular of the bunch (maybe the Japanese and I share tastes) and 2) Sometime around the late 80’s Japan dropped a liquor tax that had run as high as 220% on imported stuff.
At that point the distillery in Louisville discovered they could make a lot more money sending their product over the Pacific than selling it to U.S. buyers like me.
I. W. Harper is still around. Search for their web page and be prepared to read Japanese!

I have to agree that Knob Creek is probably the best value in good bourbon. It’s half the price of similar quality bourbons, and makes Maker’s Mark taste like JD.

Whoa, Marker’s Mark is like fiery ambrosia! I must sample this Knob Creek.

I like Old Crow too. But once whiskey is bottled it doesn’t age anymore. No matter how old it gets, the taste of whiskey in a sealed bottle should not change. A brand new bottle of Crow should taste the same as a 20 year old bottle. The flavor & aging are completed once it’s bottled.

For everday, and I mean Everyday, drinking I favour
Famous Grouse, a fine blend.

Btw, would someone please shoot Connor… water indeed !

“Around here we drink whisky the way it was intended to be drunk. Neat” drinks directly from the bottle
–Roger Moore in ffolkes

For single malts, MacAllan 25 year is the best! Some people say they can’t tell the difference between the 18 and the 25, but it seems obvious to me.

For blended I drink Johnny Walker blue label. I do have a harder time discerning the difference between the blue label and gold label then I do with the MacAllan 25 and 18. I chalk this up to the high quality that go into the blended whiskies. If pressed though, I can nail down the blue as the better whisky.

For single batch bourbons, I’ll have to pick Bookers. The stuff is uncut from the barrel and is not blended with other bourbons. The bottle I have here is 126.5 proof and 7 years 4 months old. Now that’s sippin bourbon.

I’m not one for the blended Canadian whisky’s, but if I had to choose one I’d go with Crown Royal. It’s one of the better I’ve tasted.

As you can tell I have expensive taste, but in my line of work, I guess you can call it a perk.

It’s Sunday and the sun’s up over the yardarm, so… ? :slight_smile: