Rye is the best but not the Kentucky rye bs you put in the op. I’m looking to get a bottle of sagamore cs today but I’ve only been able to find the new stuff. The old cs that was made with mgp distillate was too good.
>>22025716 It’s unpeated so basically nothing like laphroaig, more like a basic entry level 12 year like glenfiddich or glenlivet, but it is islay. More character I find, really I just go for it because it’s actually a decent proof at 50 abv so it’s my go to for any cocktails involving unpeated scotch
>>22024347 holy based >>22025649 I’m drinking a glass of it right now. On vacation and found some for a steal at costco, unfortunate cause I found glengoyne and some other whiskey (forget which) at a subsequent total wine that I can’t get in my flyover but I’m already saddled up. Oh well at least it’s tasty
>>22025625 Apparently so. I tried Monkey Shoulder when I was trying to get into scotch, and I was really underwhelmed by it. If a $30 entry-level bottle is that disappointing, I'll just stick to bourbon.
>>22028978 Bourbon is way more consistent. There are very few awful bottles of bourbon. Scotch is all over the place and there are a bunch of terrible shit out there and it’s all overpriced in the us especially when most of it is 80 proof. I am getting into scotch a little bit but unlike bourbon or rye I will never just roll the dice on the bottle. There are some good scotches but if I haven’t tried it at a bar or something I don’t buy it.
>>22025864 Drinking scotch in cocktails is high level patrician tier, so long as you actually know what you're doing and how to build the drink around the specific scotch you're using to get it to mix well and enhance the flavors.
Dumping a random scotch into a drink like it's a dry gin or something is usually going to turn out terribly or just be a pointless waste, that should be obvious.
>>22031161 I have all this expensive whiskey but unless it’s a special occasion I almost always reach for an affordable bottle like this. I almost don’t even touch my expensive bottles WT 101 rye is one of my favorites
>>22029087 Consistently fucking BORING - I keep trying and even bottles people highly recommend and my only reaction "yea that tastes like fucking bourbon"
>>22031717 It's the same with everything that's strongly regulated. Especially young cognac. The fact that scotch relies so heavily on smoke or wine barrels doesn't speak for it positively though imo. It's basically a cocktail in a bottle.
You fags completely ignore that there is an emerging scene in American whiskey with all manner of mash bills and cask finishes that undeniably mogs the variety of flavors you find in scotch. But the caveat is that due to the antiquated liquor distribution system here, the average store won't have many of those options because they generally come from smaller operations without wide distribution. Fortunately loopholes exist in laws and online ordering is becoming pretty common and I'd estimate that 75% of smaller distilleries/NDPs will ship direct to your door now.
>>22032374 To be honest america is just a better region for aging spirit, unless it’s a wack region like texas (not that all texas spirit is bad it just had limitations due to the heat). There’s a lot more to play with in an American rickhouse (the height of the floor matters far more) than a warehouse in Scotland.
Today is rye day Friday finally off work, warming up with a shot of Kentucky owl wiseman rye. I am trying to kill this bottle.
It’s alright, the first bottle I got was good but this second bottle has a weird herbal bitter note to it that still hasn’t aired out of it, it’s been sitting half full for over a year now because I just don’t think it’s great. It would be a fine mixer.
I had my second pour of the new rift balboa rye today and it was quite good. This time I picked up a lot of lemon in addition to the rye spices, it was like drinking lemongrass. If they ever release this at cask strength I will do anything to get one.
Anyone try the knob creek blenders batch 01? Some people are saying it’s good it’s $45 though for a 10 year limited batch Thinking about trying one bottle
>>22034473 >Diageo ruins yet another once great whisky in Lagavulin >it is now better with Coke to cover up its disgusting flavor than without What is there not to understand? This is not a complicated concept.
I just cracked my Elijah Craig a126 rye and DAMN this is good. This is nothing like any other barely legal rye I've tried, it's thick and herbal with a huge pop of mint and dill that is perfectly balanced with sweet dark brown sugar and oak. The finish is phenomenal with candied orange peel and oak lingering delightfully with dark brown sugar for ages. I highly recommend getting this if you ever see it. In my state it seemed to be highly allocated with stores only getting a few bottles each, but hopefully it is more available outside of flyover shitholes.
Regular Laphroaig sucks compared to the cask strength. I don’t think I’ll buy another bottle of the regular stuff it’s only 25 dollars less than what you pay for cs.
I think a lot whiskey drinkers think scotch sucks because we are used to drinking higher proof whiskey. When you drink something at 80-90 proof it tastes so thin. Cask strength scotch is the only way to go.
>>22035846 usually lower strength isnt bad flavor wise, but the mouth feel is almost always worse, leaving you wanting, with or without increased alcoholic kick.
Inb4 >No, you can't just, enjoy things that are sweet and flavorful and taste good, to be mature you're only allowed to pretend to enjoy things that are disgusting
>>22036564 Bourbon/Rye and Scotch are basically completely different styles of spirits that just happen to fall under the grandfather label of whisk(e)y, but are otherwise almost as different from each other as each are to rum or brandy.
>>22034144 I think it’s good, but also overrated. It’s a cool release because I think they did accomplish what they set out to do. It’s like basic knob creek but sweeter. Honestly if you’re used to the 25-45 price range it’s probably pretty dang good, but I don’t think it’s like $100 tier
>>22036564 Scotch is overpriced in the uk too. Ironically Germany and the Dutch seem to get the best scotch prices Scotch is just generally over priced desu, they have convinced a few retards that it’s an “investment”
>>22036942 Not yet no. Rye tends to get a short age time and it helps to impart a richer sweeter character to dryer tasting rye grain in a shorter amount of time. Rye just doesn’t last 14 years like it should
>>22037327 Rye has so much character I am glad we are starting to see a rye revival in the us. I think if distilleries gave rye the scotch treatment with some “American” twists it could really be great.
>>22037480 I've only ordered from New Holland and Onyx&Amber, both which I'd recommend. But I keep tabs on way more in case they drop something good online (almost never). The downside of ordering direct from distillers is that shipping booze is expensive, especially if you're ordering just one bottle from a distiller/ndp you've never tried before. Most of my online orders are through stores such as HiProof because they have a great selection and occasionally drop some bangers at or below msrp.
>>22035846 Do hobbyists outside Americas even get that much into bourbon and other american whiskey? Over here all the bars with a whiskey selection are like 95% scotch.
>>22038569 I’m not sure I meant Americans with that comment. Good bourbon and rye over 100 proof can be had cheap so most people I know don’t bother with scotch. Usually it’s older guys who are a little up their own ass or fedora lord that you see drinking scotch here.
>>22038569 Yeah, I have met scotish people that love bourbon and have like a bourbon club in Edinburgh though they special order most of their stuff online bulk buy for the club for the best deals.
I have met Swiss people who do the same and the Swiss go crazy for bourbon
The Germans love bourbon
The Japanese love bourbon
Canadians used to love bourbon before this political culture war shit recently they probably still do it’s just not readily available at the moment
>>22038593 >Malted Bourbon I’ve seen corn+rye and rye+barley, but never corn+barley (in significant ratios). I’ve had a peated bourbon but idk if that was the corn that was peated or more likely they just added a touch of peated barley. Someone must marry these two grains and end the brother wars
>>22038623 actually i did have a 60/30/10 corn/barley/rye from a local distillery it worked well I’d say. Barley sweetness complimented the corn sweetness
In case you need it, here's a reminder that OGD114 never disappoints.
>>22038415 Are you a man enough to drink PEATED whiskey? Kek I hope all the bearded sois take up peated whiskey as the next performative masculinity consumer item.
>>22040035 What’s a good sherry bomb to try? I just started trying some different scotches so far I’ve had ardbeg, laphroaig, oban 14 and macallan 12. The only one I’ve liked is the frog.
>>22040274 >>22040275 Thanks anon I’ll check it out. I did take a look just now and it seems like their proof is quite low. I recently bought the cask strength version of frog after liking the regular version and remembered how much low proof whiskey sucks. Not sure if I’m willing to spend 70 dollars for 80 proof.
>>22040420 Glendronach 12 is extremely flavorful for a lower proof whisky. You won't find anything with more dark dried fruit flavor at that price. A'bunadh is cask strength. It's very intense.
Has anyone else picked up the Evan Williams 250th single barrel release? I opened mine the other day and it's great, basically the same flavor profile of the EW Single Barrel I already have but amped up considerably. I've always liked the flavor profile from my EW SiB but don't often pour it because, at 86 proof, the watery mouthfeel and more muted flavors aren't appealing. But this special edition SiB comes in at 117.76 proof and it is exactly what I was hoping for: huge baked apple and toasty caramel notes with a punch of cinnamon. It goes a touch sour on the finish but that's all I can complain about.
If any of you guys are looking for something to experiment with, I recently tried barely shochu for the first time and it was actually really good. Sort of felt like an unpeated scotch had a baby with some sake (might be a yeast cultivar thing?) Goes great while eating rather than after eating in my opinion.
>>22038569 While it's mostly Jim Beam and Jack Daniels there some better bottles imported as well. Though sadly the by far best american spirit rye is seldom seen here in Sweden and you won't find it on the shelf but have to order it in advance when you're in the mood for it. Though I've seen several nordic distilleries experimenting with making their own rye as well.
>>22042714 Not him but I tried it at a whiskey bar like 1-2 years ago and remember liking it. From what I remember though it was like most other American single malts. Idk how to describe it but they’re just sweeter and “maltier” than a scotch equivalent. Tastes more like the mash itself (beer wort). And it’s not the barrels because I’ve had charred virgin oaked scotch. It’s not necessarily the age either because I’ve had young scotches. Maybe it’s simply the temperature of the ferment or that they’re using bourbon yeasts idk. It’s not my style but I’m glad it’s catching on. They’re probably also using column stills but I don’t think that’s the issue either
What is your cheap whiskey of choice? I like jack daniels as cheap stuff. I also used to drink label 5 in college. Tried johnny walker red and it was utter garbage. Famous grouse was meh.
Would you spend $600 for a 24 year old bourbon? I've seen NBC dropping these pretty frequently and they always sell out super fast. I'd love to know who is buying these because this shit has to be ridiculously over oaked.
>>22042770 >Tried johnny walker red and it was utter garbage. It just tastes like a cheap blended scotch with a mild peat note. There's nothing particularly bad about it and it makes a decent highball.
>>22043065 I don't see how. I actually tried a number of cheaper blends at around the same time a while back, that being one of them, and I it held up well against other bottles a similar price point. On a related matter, I recall buying Famous Grouse back when I first got into scotch, and I thought it was vile, even the smell of it was disgusting. After drinking scotch for a few years I tried it again, and I liked it. It's a decent cheap sherried bottle.
>>22043075 >I don't see how. By tasting bad. >I actually tried a number of cheaper blends at around the same time a while back, that being one of them, and I it held up well against other bottles a similar price point. I'm sorry your tastebuds are defective and your taste is shit.
>>22043077 My actual opinion is that if you can't enjoy a cheap blend like on some level then you probably don't like scotch very much in general, because you're tastes are being offended by something that's just normal. I feel the same way about cheap bourbons like Jim Beam white. It all feels very performative to me. The online discourse about whiskey is like that overall for whatever reason.
>>22042991 This is a great mgp rye. For all the shit mgp gets their rye is on point. This, penelope toasted rye and the old sagamore stuff is all great.
>>22043246 I had a feeling this stupid accusation was coming. To clarify, I've bought one (1) bottle of JW Red, which I solely bought to see how terrible it supposedly was (it wasn't). If I had to actually recommend a cheaper blend, though, I would recommend Dewar's 12.
>>22043841 What do you consider cheap? Single malts are going to set you back a bit unless you live in an area with good prices. There are a few cheaper peated blends that are available.
>>22043860 >what about the blends? Johnnie Walker Black Famous Grouse Smokey Black Teacher's Highland Cream >for single malts, I can get Ardbeg Wee Beastie, but that's still not particularly cheap If you're willing to pay for that then go ahead and get it. See what Laphroaig 10 costs in your area as well. Prices on that vary a lot (it's expensive where I live) but that's a standard peated bottle that you might be able to get for cheaper than the Ardbeg.
>>22043860 >what about the blends? No cheap blends are anything more then very, very slightly smoky. I'm talking super subtle here. They will leave you disappointed if you're seeking something smoky specifically. If you actually want to experience a significantly peated whisky you need to at least step up to Laphroaig 10 or Ardbeg Wee Beastie. If you have a nearby Costco that sells booze you may find a $37 Laphroaig there.
>>22044169 Lephroaig is the scotch that got me into scotch from drinking mostly Evan Williams it’s a good suggestion
These days I absolutely require more proof than the standard lephroaig 10 bottling so that’s why I suggested port charlotte 10 because that scratches the lephroaig itch for me and delivers a better presentation.
Lephroaig back when I fist drank it had a lot more flavor and character, these modern bottlings are thin versions of what we used to have 12 years ago
We didn’t used to rush to drink high proof whiskey because there was decent flavor before now part of the high proof trend is that the low proof stuff abandoned their principles and effort
>>22044244 Actually let me modify that statement. I've never had a Highland Park 10 but I've had the 12 and it was good. It was a while ago and I didn't even know they had a 10.
>>22043860 >>22044169 Honestly Wee Beastie is not at all what I'd recommend as an intro to smoke. It will give you tons of smoke, and that's the problem, it's fine at what it does, but Ardbeg/Laphroaig in 10 year old form will be much sweeter and mote balanced, and you should be able to taste what peat adds to a good whisky. Wee Beastie is just going to be too focused on the smoke to let you easily see how much depth peat allows a whisky to have, and it might turn you off the style early as it's deliberately and atypically smoke focused.
What’s the deal with redwood empire. Everyone talks up there stuff but I tried the regular emerald giant and it was crap. I don’t see why you would pay 35 for this at 90 proof when you can pay 28 for high west double rye. Is there anything of theirs worth drinking? I was thinking about one of their cask strength bottles but at 85 dollars I can’t see myself gambling on it being good.
>>22046276 >>22046428 It was quite good when they were bottling aged mgp juice but the oldest mgp dried up and redwood started bottling their own juice the last couple years and this is where quality took a nosedive, I expect that they are going to improve as time goes by and they have some time to work on it
>>22046276 The haystack needle bottles are pretty good, though I think they're a bit overpriced considering it's only aged 8 years. They should be $90-100 max, but maybe worth the premium as mine has strawberry notes that I haven't found in anything else. And I like the emerald giant rye at cask strength for the herbal punchy flavors, but I like willett rye better for that flavor profile, and it's cheaper.
Just tried EHT SmB for the first time and holy shit this is shit. Maybe it's because I'm following a pour of a cigar blend but it just tastes bland with a watery mouthfeel and peppery bitter finish. It's so bad I wonder if this bottle is corked.
>>22048010 Buffalo trace is dropping bottles you could never find before all over the place as the bourbon market dries up. Their whole scam was to use artificial scarcity to drive up demand and leverage that on liquor stores so they would be forced to sell large amounts of fireball if they wanted allocations. My local place had single barrel, smb, rye as well as eagle rare sitting on the shelf last time I went for msrp and no one is buying it. The whole thing was a scam. Anyway prepare to be underwhelmed when you open the bottle but at least you only paid ~50-60 dollars for it.
Anyone here ever have Dancing Goat? I had their 10 year Single Barrel and I thought it was pretty good for $60. Their older stuff is MGP but even their own stuff is about 6 years old minimum.
Man, I wish Illinois had a better distribution for the truly unicorn bottles. The only place I have ever been able to get one was at my local Garfield Beverage where they had a lottery to win the right to buy some at MSRP.
That said the distribution of allocated stuff is usually pretty good and easy to find.
>>22048444 This. The number of people I see waiting outside of a Binnys at 6 AM on a Saturday trying to get a Pappy is absurd. Especially since I'm pretty sure Binny's never get Pappy's
>>22048407 >>22048441 It's good and not as extremely intense as I was expecting. I tried mezcal for the first time recently and ended up loving it, so I thought this would be a similar experience. I also kind of lied, more like withheld the truth, in order to build more drama. I also bought some Monkey Shoulder because I wanted to make a Penicillin. The Monkey Shoulder is literally indistinguishable from bourbon to my child's palate. It tastes slightly different from the OGD 100 that I usually buy, but not necessarily any better. The Penicillin is very good, but I'm not really sure what exactly the Monkey Shoulder is doing here that any random bourbon wouldn't.
>>22048474 >The Monkey Shoulder is literally indistinguishable from bourbon to my child's palate I never get this kind of pear type fruitiness it has in bourbon, but it is aged in bourbon casks and not peated so there is some overlap in the sweet vanilla flavors
it's not supposed to be anything special, just a very mellow, sweet scotch that's simple but easy to drink unfortunately a lot of cheap scotch is terrible compared to cheap bourbon or irish, so when there's anything drinkable under 30$, people hype it up
>>22048474 >The Monkey Shoulder is literally indistinguishable from bourbon to my child's palate. You don't have a child's palate. You have a completely fucking broken palate. Holy shit what the fuck is wrong with your tongue? See a doctor.
I just went bourbon hunting for a few hours all over town and I ended up with a weller special reserve and a new green river honey release how did I do? There wasn’t much else to get
Have any anons tried The Reveries? Its origins are from r*ddit and it gets crazy internet hype (any online stores that carry it sell out very quickly), but I snagged a 8 year single barrel recently and it's genuinely very good. It has a classic bourbon profile with brown sugar, oak, hints of leather, and with a nice orange peel that emerges on the palate and hangs around on the finish. I wish it were slightly sweeter though.
>>22049117 As long as you enjoy them you did good. Personally I'd pass on both of those, though I'd be interested in trying the green river. I don't really understand the recent popularity of honey finishes. I have a bottle of Penelope Rio that only got the honey finish and it's really boring. Though it is essentially Penelope wheated with a honey finish which is boring by design. I don't know why they bottled this and duped customers like me who neglected to carefully read the label. But anyway, I'm sure there's some good honey finishes out there. I have the dark arts long strange drip but haven't opened it yet.
>>22049174 What Penelope bottles are worth buying. I really like the toasted rye but bought a bottle of architect and it sucks. I almost bought a bottle of the tokaji rye but read it was kind of shitty.
>>22049121 It’s my first weller and I got it for msrp And the green river is new, I just want to try something new Should I go back and return the weller? I think it’s worth having one on the shelf even if I don’t open it for a while
>>22049317 How much did you pay for the weller? If you are paying more than 40 you got scammed. Weller is just another overhyped bottle from Buffalo trace which is known for being bland but in this case it’s even worse because it’s wheated.
Pic related and the KC 12-year cask strength are the only things I'm excited for this year and I'll probably never see them because Michigan fucking sucks for anything even mildly allocated
>>22049596 I paid $41 before tax I am still thinking about taking it back, there is a lot of competition in the $40 range these days and I only got this because it was one of the few bottles that I don’t have that I found last night
I just opened a store pick of high west Cabernet finish. I kind of was down on the idea of finished whiskey but this bottle has won me over. Would recommend.
For me it's making two cocktails of this and Diet Coke. After that I go out and smoke cigarettes while sipping throughout the night until I'm blackout. And I never buy the glass version, only the plastic bottle, because who needs class?
>>22051255 it's hard to beat this stuff for the price. I was drinking it today along with Jim Beam 7 year which is like twice the price and I'm not sure which one I prefer desu
>>22040584 It’s decent, it’s not crazy good, for the price and the proof it’s a no brainer, it has a lighter sweet profile than the usual Evan single barrel, it’s fairly easy drinking with a good amount of spice. It does have some apple to it. I like it. We should all list our barrel numbers in here, are there any really good barrels out there?
>>22051511 Yeah I wouldn't say it's an exceptional bottle but it's a good affordable pour. Mine is: >barrel 111 >barreled 12/18/18 >bottled 2/23/26 so about 7 years old
Tonight I'm doing a blind of >Rare Breed >OF1920 >KC12 I've got a bit of a cold with a clogged nose so my olfactory senses aren't at their best but fuck it
>whiskey A Plenty of spice on the nose. Some brown sugar. A bit of orchard fruit. Not much oak presence but it shows up in the finish. >whiskey B Lots of oak on the nose. That varnish note is showing up (love that shit). I'm pretty sure I'm picking up the Beam peanut note. There's some toffee and the finish reminds me of peanut brittle. >whiskey C Also has lots of oak present on the nose but less than B. The varnish note is just barely present. Has a bit of spice and lots of brown sugar.
I have a hard time ranking these so there's very little difference, they're all good pours: C > B > A
>>22051868 And the reveal: >A Knob Creek 12 >B Rare Breed >C OF1920
At least I correctly identified the OF1920 but fuck I'm kind of embarrassed as I thought the KC12 would be a gimme. I've always struggled to identify the beam peanut note that people talk about so maybe I was trying too hard and imagining flavors. Though to also be fair to myself I've disliked most knob creek products so at least my ranking was as I expected.
Same anon >>22051872 again. I decided to keep the fun going and open up a bottle of Eagle Rare that's been sitting unopened in my closet for a while. I got this from HiProof and supposedly it's a pick from a Louisville restaurant/bar that they somehow came into possession of (HiProof is a store in California, so it seems a bit odd that they had this). Anyway, I don't have a ton to say about it. I wanted to hate it because of the gay buffalo trace manufactured scarcity and having not seen a bottle in person for years, but it really is great. This bottle absolutely fits the grape jelly profile I've read about in some reviews. The only downside is that I bought this bottle as something to share with plebs but it's too good for that, I will have to hoard it all for myself.
>>22051975 Agreed but this bottle in particular is pretty interesting though it lacks in complexity. You're right though, I should share it with normies because most of my bottles still mog it.
>>22051608 The bottle is indeed pretty silly. I'm willing to bet they would sell more if it didn't look so silly. Now that I've tasted it on multiple occasions it's actually grown on me. Pretty nice for a ~50 euro bottle. Very smoky, a little bit sweet, sort of nutty, very smooth. Would recommend.
>>22053046 What's wrong with calling a drink smooth? I just mean that it goes down the hatch without an unpleasant aftertaste or any "burn" like cheaper liquors often do. I'm (relatively) new to drinking liquor, you see.
>>22053058 It’s a massive red flag indicating flavorless or soulless. It’s not bad intrinsically, but there's a kneejerk to boomer retards whose pretty much only criteria is “HOW SMOOTH IS IT?” We’re not high schoolers taking shots trying to quaff down the yucky whiskey. If something has burn or bite but it has the flavor to justify it so be it. But to boomers who for a long time (and still kind of do) influenced the market they would gladly strip down the flavor and make watery “smooth” shit out of everything.
>>22053092 Buffalo trace knows their target audience that’s why all their shit is bland as hell. I like some bite in whiskey soemthing like rare breed has the perfect bite and flavor combination.
>>22053037 that's great >>22053058 nothing, performative /ck/ tasters want to have fun >>22053112 and that's a good thing >>22053092 >It’s a massive red flag indicating flavorless or soulless no it's not, it's a way to describe the flavor profile
>>22053301 >no it's not, it's a way to describe the flavor profile no, it’s mouthfeel. and it’s correlated with narrow tails, chill filtering, and dilution aka removal of flavor. i agree smooth can be a good thing but as I said it’s a red flag when it’s often sought as the end goal at the cost of flavor
Happy Fryeday everyone. Today I opened up a cask strength small batch rye from Union Horse Distilling in Lenexa KS. It has a 100% rye mash bill and is 5-7 years aged. This one fits right into that rye profile that I love with punchy spices dominated by dill and a pleasant sweet backbone. I need to try this and the willett side by side to see if I can tell a difference.
I also opened a Sagamore CS rye and this shit is great too. The rye spices aren't so dominant but layered with a delicious dark brown sugar. I have to assume that this would be really good if double oaked. So picking up a Sagamore Rye DO might be on the agenda soon..
And I'm finishing off with the new riff balboa rye which is always a treat. Every time I come back to this bottle I enjoy it more. This time I'm picking out a lot of mint, vanilla, honey, and lemon zest which all combines together beautifully. If you enjoy rye you should be on the lookout for this bottle.
Just had my first pour of Four Roses OESO (100 proof single barrel) and this is nice. I'll have to find a cask strength bottle of this sometime. I've had CS bottles of OESF and OBSQ that I didn't enjoy much. I guess I'm just a pleb who likes fruity sweet stuff.