Liquors & Cocktails

Seconds to all the people that posted Elmer T Lee. That stuff is reliably awesome and only 26.99 at the local Spec's. Need to remember to pick up a couple bottles next time I'm around one.

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For those that like the less sweet batches of Elmer, I have been working on a bottle of this for a while and I totally recommend it.

McCheese_sl said:

I've become convinced that, unlike beer, scotch isn't something I'll ever be able to get accustomed to (at least in terms of sipping it neat. I can drink everything when it's mixed). I've been trying to force myself to enjoy it for years and have had some truly high quality stuff, but it all continues to taste like shit.

Any ideas on how to ease into scotch to reach the point where I can appreciate and enjoy it? For example, when turning someone into a beer drinker you can start by giving them stuff like Hoegaarden and progress to the hoppier beers over time. Is there any newbie-friendly kind of scotch that I'm not aware of?

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I'm not sure if someone else has mentioned this yet (saw this post, but not enough time to read the other posts, right now), but one thing I've come to find and teach to people who don't find scotch tasty is how to drink it. I don't mean water/ice (though it helps, especially ice as it makes it cooler and cuts some of the stronger bite), but the actual technique. This is what I do, what I've had a few others do, and now they love scotch and can actually taste and define a scotch's profile.

This is the technique: take a sip of scotch, and hold it in your mouth; breathe in and out, shallowly, through your nose as you swirl it around your mouth a little; take one to two small sips, but leave some in your mouth and inhale long and slowly immediately after you swallow; before you run out of the ability to inhale, finish swallowing what's in your mouth and inhale deeply through your nose; swallow again (no scotch in your mouth) and exhale through your mouth.

Of course that sounds like it would take a full minute to do, but it really doesn't. I usually do that method the first few sips of the night, but from then on just take and swallow one sip at a time (rather than swallowing multiple times). The big key, in my opinion, is inhaling through the nose. That cuts the alcohol taste and get more flavor. Another method to get the deeper flavors is swallow and inhale through your nose, with your mouth open.

But this is what works for me - I initially didn't like scotch because of the taste, but on a whim I did it that way and enjoyed the taste. Got another, different bottle, and took the first sip like normal and hated it, but I did the method and loved it. I've recommended it to quite a few people and they've really come to like scotch as well.

This may not be the proper way to do it, but I'm getting great flavor from scotches and I enjoy it - so it isn't wrong in my book.

That's more or less the proper way to taste spirits with a couple exceptions. Usually you breath in through your mouth and out through your nose. The idea is that inhaling through your mouth helps gets the volatile compounds popping to detect all the notes, while exhaling through the nose lets your sort out the quality of the distillation. As you've noted this methods gives a pretty intense alcohol burn at first, but the process is actually helping you get a more robust sense of the spirit once that quickly subsides. People tend to swirl the glass too much when tasting spirits, let that shit sit and let the vapors build up. Secondly don't stick your nose up close take a few short sniffs from further way after you've let it sit a few minutes. In short spirits aren't wine so don't taste them like wine.

When you do a bunch of tastings typically you always do two sips, spit both of them out, and drink a bunch of water in between. My personal preference when I'm trying something new is the standard two sips and then wait 30 - 60 seconds and take a big gulp straight down the hatch. Tasting will give you a lot of great notes, but a gulp will tell you a lot about the character of the spirit in a cocktail.

So, this all sounds pretentious as fuck and it fucking is. Never forget that, but it's a nice way to enjoy some spirits and broaden your horizons. It's not something I recommend doing in public, but it's something that's enjoyable to do at home/ small parties.

Chanur_sl said:

Makers Mark is reducing its alcohol content.



What is a good alternative? I drink Scotch mostly and pretty unfamiliar with bourbon.

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a couple dollars more for a 750ml will get you some Johnnie Walker Black which is very nice. Also, i personally like Dewars White Label which can be found on the cheap (approx $30) for 1.75 ML.

Chanur_sl said:

http://www.wfpl.org/post/makers-mark...me-meet-demand

Makers Mark is reducing its alcohol content.



What is a good alternative? I drink Scotch mostly and pretty unfamiliar with bourbon.

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Four Roses or Elijah Craig at the sub $25 price point.

Buffalo Trace is good, as well as Blanton's from the same distillery. Quite a bit more than a bottle of maker's. Probably double the price at 750.

If price doesn't matter, I'd go Blanton's over Buffalo Trace. Again, same distillery, one is just the higher quality hooch from the same place. All of the Buffalo Trace bourbons are top notch, it just depends on what you want to pay. Buffalo Trace, Blanton's, Elmer T. Lee, Pappy Van Winkle, and I'm sure some others are all born out of the same place.

I've yet to find a better bourbon for a cost:deliciousness ratio than Evan Williams

I prefer Jack over Evan but at half the cost it's a no brainer

Chanur_sl said:

What is a good alternative? I drink Scotch mostly and pretty unfamiliar with bourbon.

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Why not just stick with Makers if that's what you like? They aren't lying. A 3% drop in alcohol isn't going to noticeably affect anything. If your palate if refined enough to tell the difference between 86 proof Makers and 80 proof Makers then why the fuck are you drinking Makers? If you are dead set on a replacement though it's hard to recommend anything because Makers is a wheated bourbon and there aren't many wheated alternatives that are in the same quality range as Makers.

The best cheaper alternative to Makers is W.L. Weller. If you want something better than Makers then you want either Pappy Van Winkle or Old Rip van Winkle, and both of those can be hard to find even in Kentucky. If you aren't tied to wheated bourbon then go nuts. If you are shelling out $40 + for bourbon then you aren't going to get a bad bottle. It's all good. Find something you like.

Definitely not a connoisseur of vodka, but I find Ketel One to be hands down the best bar available vodkas out there surpassing even the more expensive Grey Goose. Incredibly smooth, so smooth that it's the only vodka that I can even casually enjoy on the rocks. Have always found Grey Goose to be overrated.

Since most people don't drink vodka straight I don't really see the point going above the $12 price point of Smirnoff. I can even drink Smirnoff straight. That is actually what I got shit faced on all the time when I was underage. Such a good deal!

About the only difference I can ever tell between a $12 plastic jug of smirnoff and something more expensive like Grey Goose is the hangover the next day. The extra filtering of the more expensive brands seem to hurt a little less the next day. Not sure if that is worth 4 or 5 times the price though, since there is no discernable flavor difference when you're actually drinking it(especially when mixed with whatever)

If you want the best Vodka, go Jean Marc XO. Ranked the best consumer Vodka you can buy multiple years running. Tastes like water all the way through. No additional flavors, so perfect for mixing. I prefer to drink it on-the-rocks, it is that smooth and tasteless(like water). Best of all, no hangovers the next morning!

I am drunk for the first time in a month ... that is all.

Buy the cheapest bottle of vodka available, and then run it through a brita filter a few times.