Yes. The 101 proof stuff, though, not the inferior 89 or whatever-it-is version.
Their 101 is a very very nice bourbon. Despite being mainstream and popular and extremely well-established, Austin Nichols Wild Turkey is a spectacularly nice sipping whiskey.
And the downside would be…? 
The wife and I save a bundle every time we essay to “fine dine” because it will probably be in Vegas and we will definitely will have been drinking all day and our palates will be shot. I respect vintners too much to try to appreciate their wares with whisk(e)y on my breath. So away with the over-priced, rapacious wine list, garcon, and bring me another rye Manhattan to go with my still-mooing beef.
I love bourbon Manhattans although I haven’t had one in ages. It’s usually just beer these days.
As an aside, I definitely don’t get the appeal of bourbon on the rocks. I like it room temperature. Chill, it seems to me to lose some of its flavor–and why water it down? If I want less flavor, I’ll take tinier sips. Does the ice make it easier to drink quickly, or something?
Ah, as a stone Francophile it would break my heart to be physically escorted away from *le plus beau pays du Monde. *. Just bring me a Pernod or a Campari or a chilled vermouth while I peruse la carte.
In one of the pub tales in James Joyce’s Dubliners, the protagonists take a little water to put into their strong malt whiskey. Why would I question the Irish, of all people, on how to take my drink?
When I’m in England/Scotland/Wales/Ireland, the barkeep notes my American accent and wants to put ice in my whiskey. I turn him down and ask for a little water, with which I temper the booze, or take as a chaser, depending on the mood. He’s usually gratified that I prefer to follow the local custom.
Hell yes I’d question them how to take my drink. They’re not the ones gonna drink it :).
Also, when I drink bourbon, I stretch a glass out over an hour. Yer Joycian Dubliners may have different drinking goals.
Being almost exclusively a wine drinker, with a occasional mixed drink cocktail, I was also surprised how the bourbon was easy to stretch about an hour. Tiny sips. I will be trying your recommendation the next time I order a bourbon (assuming my bar has it).
I mostly stick to wine and beer meself these days; it’s a “getting old” thing.
I’m gleaning through my hundreds of cookbooks, food books, and drink books lately, trying to get rid of the dreck. But I’m holding onto the James Villas 1970s book of essays where he lauds the Manhattan, calling it a softer and more subtle cocktail than the Martini, which is still my favorite.
Years ago when I was still an Imporatnt Book Editor, I was on a business trip to Miami…I remember toasting with my big gay Texan publicist buddy in a fahhhhbulous South Beach hotel bar filled with fahhhhbulous beautiful people, me holding an enormous cocktail glass of chilled Martini, him with the same of Manhattan.
In Ireland I can nibble at a pint of Guinness for an hour. But I can’t hold back when there’s an ounce or two of Paddy’s or Powers or Jamieson’s on the bar in front of me.
Excellent! Slugged bourbon is fine, I guess, but it seems to me a little like demanding your hour-long massage be a single five-second jackhammer.
If you’re looking for other bourbon’s to try, I highly recommend Angel’s Envy. Tried at my favorite restaurant recently and found it to be the smoothest bourbon I’ve ever had. Better than Woodford, Maker’s, Jim Beam, Bullet, etc etc.
Just for the record, I like my bourbon with a small amount of ice. It melts a little and does indeed “open” the bourbons flavor, and I just prefer it will a bit of a chill.
I don’t really get the idea of using ice; some of the stronger ones will take a splash of water to pull them into less harshly powerful territory, but then I use…well, water! Chilling any drink will mask some of the flavours. It’s a bit like putting Rioja on ice as far as I’m concerned: it may well be drinkable, but it won’t be at its best. If you like it chilled, drink it chilled - it’s your drink - but you will taste more of the complexities if you leave out the ice.
Heaven Hill is my regular tipple: easy going, soft, creamy vanilla sweetness (once it’s had a chance to breathe a bit at room temperature). Elijah Craig and Noah’s Mill are the ones that really make me sit up and take notice though. Big, stunning, rich flavours that completely envelope the palate; absolutely glorious bourbons.
Even Booker Noe took his bourbon with a splash. The added bit of water opens the nose and lets you enjoy the aromas more.
What does “opens the nose” actually mean? My experience is that I enjoy the aromas less when it’s chilled/diluted.
The splash of water, in my understanding, frees up some of the aroma factors and allows easier flavor detection and appreciation. It always works that way for me.
I’m sorry, not trying to be a dick, but what does “frees up some of the aroma factors” mean? I guess I’m trying to figure out what happens chemically. I’ve rarely drunk bourbon with ice or water (full disclosure, though, one of those times was at the Woodford Reserve distillery, figuring if anyone could make me appreciate it it’d be them), and every time I have, it’s tasted watery and unhappy, compared to drinking it full-strength and room-temperature.
At room temperature, it seems to me that the volatiles are going to evaporate faster and lead to increased aroma; my understanding is that this is true for all flavors, and I can’t understand chemically why it’d be different for bourbon.
I’ve spent the last several minutes reading various articles about the science of ice in spirits. As near as I can tell, chilling the alcohol can lessen the alcohol’s burn, allowing some folks to taste other flavors more clearly, which, okay, that makes some sense. And it definitely dilutes the bourbon, which also removes unpleasant burn for some folks. The effect lessens once you hold it in your mouth, since the bourbon warms back up; one of its bigger effects is to dampen the volatiles (and evaporating alcohol) in the glass.
Since, like I said, I like to drink bourbon super slowly, measuring sips almost by the droplet, the alcohol burn stays at a reasonable level to me. And I love the intense aromatic hit I get from sticking my nose into the snifter and, well, sniffing. So I see why other folks like water/ice in their bourbon, but I’m clearer now on why I don’t :).
This whiskey is aged only in the finest radial tire carcasses, and probably peed in by some opossum.
You ain’t seen your baby since night before last?
The phenolics, esters, aldehydes, and lactones are what gives aged whiskeys their aromas and flavors, and regardless of the distillation process, the barrel aging is provides these compounds. (There are some slight flavors that can some through incomplete distillation but that is not generally desirable.) Adding water, either with a ‘splash’ or by melting ice, allows these aromatic compounds to vaporize (more readily with warm water than ice, naturally). I personally like to rinse the glass with filtered tap water and then pour the whiskey over the residue that clings to the glass, which seems to give the perfect amount and distribution, and otherwise keep it neat, but to each their own; just please don’t use top shelf bourbon in an Old Fashioned or other drink with simple syrup. If you pour the drink in a snifter or globe glass, once you are done drinking you can smell it every few minutes and see how the aroma changes as difference layers of aromatics ‘peel off’. A good whiskey will have at least four or five distinct aromas before it completely evaporates. Some cursory information about the chemistry of whiskey.
Buffalo Trace is quite good, Blanton’s is excellent if a little sweeter than I care for, but Four Roses Small Batch is my go to, and it comes in an elegant bottle with an easy-to-grasp cork as well. You know, just in case your dexterity starts to degrade as the evening goes along.
Stranger
The articles deal with Scotch, but the principle is the same:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2017/08/17/scotch-splash-of-water/
