Recommend me a "hard" alcohol(that's widely available)

Cafe Society
1

I’m in the States right now and have some extra Christmas money coming my way. I’m a beer/wine drinker mostly, but have considered trying some of the harder alcohol. I consider something over 15% to be hard.

I’m looking for:

  1. Something quite common. I don’t want to have to find a specialty store. My local Meijer has a huge selection of alcohol.

  2. Something reasonably priced. I don’t have that much money.

  3. I already know I don’t like brandy. I haven’t tried Whisky, Rum, Gin, Tequila, etc.

The last hard alcohol I had was 78%(not proof) Bai Zhou in China. Bad experience.

2

“Widely available?” I’m not sure I understand. Hard liquor is widely available just about everywhere, aside from the few areas, mostly in the Southeast, that are ‘dry’ or otherwise severely restrict alcohol sales. Oh yeah, also some towns in Alaska have dry laws.

ASsuming you’re not in those places, how do you see yourself drinking this? Do you want mixed drinks, or something you can drink straight? Since you say you don’t like brandy, I’ll go out on a limb and guess that you probably won’t much care for any of the “brown” liquors. You might try gin or vodka and see how it goes. Vodka with a splash of water and lemon makes a nice, easygoing drink, though I don’t care for vodka myself.

3

Jaggermeister is the only reasonably ‘good’ tasting hard alcohol I’ve had. Most hard alcohols are not good. Buy a few of those small bottles (the ones that are about 1-4oz) and try several hard alcohols. I don’t know if Meijer carries those though.

On another note you may want to try purifying your alcohol. I have tried this on whiskey and Wild Irish rose and it does make a difference. Not a major one though, but you can tell the difference as they don’t burn as much or have as much of an aftertaste.

http://www.ohmygoditburns.com/

4

I came in here to recommend Jaegermeister.

It’s kinda like Nyquil in taste, I feel.

5

Jagermeister is Satan’s snot.

Try bourbon. Maker’s Mark is a nice beginner’s tipple. Or rum. Stay away from tequila, unless you want to return home tattooed. :smiley:

6

Any good vodka is a good place to start. I mean not Absolut, certainly not Smirnoff. Find a decent vendor and spend decent money. Buy small glasses, and put them in the deep freeze, along with the vodka. At the -20c of a typical freezer, vodka will be viscous but not quite solid. Having the small glasses equally cold helps keep things close to that temperature. Drink at leisure.

If you want to drink whisky, that’s a whole other thread(s).

7

I don’t know what you can get in the states but try one of those Irish coffee cream things. There is one available in Australia Kilkenny Cream, available in coffee or butterscotch(?). A bottle is about $10 and contains 10 drinks so it must be about 18% alcohol. Keep it in the fridge and drink shots.

Maybe flavoured Schnapps too. They are pretty tasty and not like hard drinking.

8

I like Absolut and Sky (may be spelled differently) vodka.

9

Amen, brother. Jager was the architect of the worst drinking night of my life. Or, actually, I was the architect, but Jager was my general contractor.

Spectre asked a good question: how do you want to drink this? I tend to drink most things mixed with something (a gimlet, for example, or with tonic). Some of the sweeter drinks I’ll drink by themselves (Bailey’s, Kahlua). So my recommendation for non-sweet drinks is vodka with tonic water and a slice of lime; and for sweet drinks, a black russian (vodka and Kahlua).

10

A simple mixer is rum and Coke or Jack and Coke. My particular rum of choice, because it’s cheap and tastes well enough for a mixer is Captain Morgan. Jack of course is Jack Daniels. If you get the rum and want a simple mixer, try it with Vanilla Pepsi or Lime Pepsi (or Coke).

11

It’s either Satan’s snot, or angostura bitters in a different bottle.

don’t ask Irish cream liquers hardly qualify as hard liquor. They’re not much stronger than wine.

12

Uh, why on earth would you buy a bottle of liquor if you’ve never had a sip of it before?

My man, get thee to a bar. Any bar. You probably want to stay away from bars with bikers in them, or bars with topless women in them… until you know what you’re doing.

Belly up to the bar and start ordering drinks. The basic ones you’ll want to try are, in no particular order:

  1. Gin and tonic
  2. Vodka and orange juice (a screwdriver)
  3. Whiskey and coke, or whiskey and 7-Up, or whiskey and ginger ale, or whskey and water. (Whiskeys include bourbon, rye, Canadian, scotch, and others. They taste different, but as a novice, the finer points will probably be lost on you for a while. I recommend sticking with bourbon for the first few rounds.)
  4. Tequilla. You get a shot of it, a slice of lime, and some salt. Techniques vary, but try sprinkling some salt the top of your hand, then taking a sip of the shot (it’s traditional to drink the whole thing, but hey – let’s not be too ambitious), lick the salt, and suck on the lime.
  5. Rum and coke.

You’ll be good and drunk by this time. These are all really basic drinks that will give you a rough sense of what you might like. There are literally thousands of mixed drinks out there, just way too many recommendations to list.

Once you get a sense of what drinks you like – you can even ask the bartender for drink recommendations – then buy a bottle of liquor, some mixers, and enjoy them at home. It will cost a little more to get drinks in a bar, but it makes a hell of a lot more sense of buying a bottle of gin only to discover that, like me, you might hate the stuff.

13

Vodka is just alcohol and water. It doesn’t get more basic than that. The more expensive vodkas tend to be smoother but you don’t have to go overboard on price. There is only so much you can do with alcohol and water.

Gin is basically vodka flavored with juniper berries. It has a citris-y sort of. You would probably like a Gin and Tonic with lime. You can make it as weak as you want.

Other flavored vodkas like the lemon and berry ones by Absolut are pretty good and versatile.

Stay away from Jagermeister. I am a recovering alcoholic and out of all the shit that I did, a night with 8 shots of Jagermeister after hard drinking is among my least favorite memories. My mouth starts salivating like I am about to throw up if I even see any of their stuff.

Stay away from Tequila. Plenty of people get torn apart by that dog.

Whisky - it has a distinctive taste and certainly qualifies as hard liquor. You may love it or you may hate it.

Scotch - usually nasty whisky for the old or pretentious. Too risky.

14

Becherovka.

It makes you crazy, but it’s so good.

15

Not sure what you consider a “reasonable” price, but IMHO if you have 20 bucks you will have a great instant party with a bottle of Stoli vodka, a bag of ice and a few cups.

16

I knew about the juniper berries, but I have never heard that gin is flavored vodka. Do you have a cite?

17

As suggested by someone else, it’d be worth trying it in a bar. He’ll either like it or he won’t. I was introduced to Scotch by someone who told be it was an acquired taste. Took me about 15 seconds to acquire it.

One thing, Mahaloth, if you do try Scotch, make sure it’s a good one. There is nothing worse than cheap Scotch. Nothing. Try Glenfyddich for a single malt, or Johnny Walker Black Label for a blend.

18

And now, having had my say, I’m disposing of this thread.

Moved from IMHO to CS.

19

Heh, you just haven’t had the right Scotches, Shag.

I second the advice to try a bar rather than buy a bottle; sure, you’re paying about twice as much for the same amount of alcohol, but you’re getting to try it by the drink. You can also try to find the little “airline” bottles–many liquor stores carry them now–but you’re only going to find very basic popular liquors in those. A lot of people like mixers–say, rum and Coke, 7&7 (Seven Up and Seagram’s Seven), Jack (Daniels) and Coke, et cetera–but so far as I can tell the purpose of mixers is to conceal the flavor of cheap booze. I’ll admit to enjoying a Tanquery & Tonic on a hot day, or a Margarita on the Rocks, or a Vodka Gimlet, and simple cocktails like a Martini (gin or vodka with just a few drops of vermouth), Manhattan (bourdon), or Rob Roy (Scotch), (and don’t tell anyone, but on rare occasions I’ll have a desert foofy drink like a Dreamcicle or a Grasshopper) but if you’re a liquor newbie and you’re interested in the taste, as opposed to show or getting hammered, I’d recommend trying different liquors neat or on the rocks rather than mixed.

I’m an Irish whiskey enthusiast, and aside from Powers there’s hardly a bad one to be found along the entire price range, but as far as basic Irish whiskey blends I favor Jameson. If you want to edge up a bit in price, I find Black Bush to be as good as any blends (and actually superior to Bushnell’s 10 and 12 year premium blends). Jameson 1780 is slightly smoother, Knappogue is lighter, and Middleton Very Rare is…astonishing. (But also very, very pricey). Sometimes adding just a drop or two of water expands the taste and flavor–ditto for other whiskeys as well.

Scotchs are a different animal–there is an astonishing amount and variety of them to choose from, and as Shagnasty says, bad Scotch can put you off your stride faster than planter’s warts. Johnny Walker Black Label seems to be about the best reasonably-priced blended Scotch; J&B, Dewer’s White Label, et cetera just aren’t drinkable without being concealed by cola. I favor the various types of Glenmorangie as being very flavorful without being harsh, and lives up to the often unwarranted hype about single malt Scotch whiskeys, but it’s also a premium brand with price to match.

I can’t stomach Jack Daniels in any form, although I’m told that their Reserve Cask, if you can find it, is quite a step up from stock Tennessee whiskey. Bourbons come in quite a variety; the aforementioned Maker’s Mark is quite paletable, though I prefer Knob Creek. Wild Turkey is probably the most popular, but I’m hard pressed to see why–to me it tastes like it was matured with tire tread lining the cask.

Vodkas…too many to count, but unless you have a very refined palette, you probably won’t be able to taste the difference between them. Most high priced vodka is more marketing than flavor. Gins are a bit different, and for martinis I tend to favor the Bombay Sapphire, but for a Gimlet or Vodka&Tonic Tanqueray or Beefeater is fine. You generally want to stay away from the crap in plastic bottles–Gibley’s and the like–but with the clear liquors you’re not getting a great correspondence between price and quality.

I have one word of advice regarding Jagermeister–don’t. silenus and Campion aren’t kidding when they warn of the effects of that particular effluent of evil. It has probably been responsible for more wicked hangovers than all other liquors combined. And avoid something called Sloe Gin as well; not only does it look and smell like cough syrup, but it also tastes like it.

While we’re talking about hangovers, a few words of advice; try not to mix different types of liquor in one session; stick with whiskeys, or gins, or vodkas, or whatnot, and don’t mix with wine or beer in great quantity. Stay hydrated, and set a limit for yourself; the whiskey that goes down so smoothly may not stay down when in the party of half a dozen compatriots. And, of course, drink safely; if you’re having more than a couple while out and about, make sure you have alternate transport home.

The ideal is to have a well-stocked enthusiast’s bar nearby–Og I miss my Eastside Milwaukee apartment that was three blocks down from Paddy’s–and indulge with the guidence and assistance of someone knowledgable about the product. You know, kind of like going to your local [del]pot dealer[/del]wine seller. (Okay, I don’t actually smoke pot…I just did that for comic effect. No need to thank me, it’s all part of the show.)

Or just swing by the liquor store and pick up a bottle of Jameson. The Irish, they’re a crazy bunch of potato-eaters and they sure do like to fight, but damned if they can’t make some fine liquor.

Stranger

20

Myself, I really can’t drink the brown and orange colored things. The colorless things are good, though, and I can drink them like water. If you can find a vodka made with potato I find they have an interesting taste or mouth feel or something. I like gins a great deal. If you want to try something like an interesting taste that you don’t need much of a mixer for aside from water try ouzo-- it’s flavored of something like anise. Sambuca is similar.