-PJ
Posted on 01/05/2013 4:29:46 PM PST by nickcarraway
I had the privilege of getting a bottle of 21 year old Macallan. Any Macallan which is old enough to drink itself, is always superb.
Oak has vanillin
Some varieties of scotch are very smokey, true. It’s an acquired taste. The good stuff is invariably single malt with only one exception that I can think of, and that would be Pinch, or The Dimple as it’s known in some countries. A good starter single malt that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg would be 12 year old Glenlivet. Smoke is not so pronounced.
As I have explained to my kids:
All booze starts out as vodka. Basically alcohol and water.
Then it is flavored, with wood or berries and so on and so forth.
When they make Jack Daniels, they first make vodka, then they put it into barrels.
So all booze is basically flavored vodka.
It may be a bit more complicated than that, but not by much.
I live a simple life, so I drink cheap vodka, which is basically the same as expensive vodka, because I have never been able to discern a difference between the two. It is just alcohol and water. I just cant wrap my head around one company’s alcohol and water be better than an others.
I spend time just outside of Edinburgh about three to four times per year. I’m not much a scotch drinker, I prefer gin, but I typically bring back a bottle of single-barrel for my dad. Over the past three years, we’ve put quite a collection together. Usually to try to stick with something that is at least 15 years old.
The people working at the store I go to are exceptionally knowledgeable about the various distilleries, regions, styles, etc. it is really easy to blow an hour or two browsing and listening to the amount of information they have.
How to drink whiskey...
1. Short glass full of ice.
2. Fill 3/4 with Glenlivet.
3. Swirl glass gently for three or four minutes.
4. Drink it down.
Hey, you have been peeping in my window...
Hell yes, but them boys came over from Scotland and not having barley and peat to make scotch found a good use for corn squeesings. And they weren’t anymore happy to pay taxes to the Federal gov’ment that they was to pay the King of England for the privlidge. Thus the whisky rebellion that George Washington had to put down, moonshining during prohibition, and by golly NASCAR.
Hello there old friend! Happy New Year to you and yours!
I see you found this one ere did I.
My father used to say that until you got used to it, it tasted like water leftover after a fire.
He was used to it.
-PJ
That's what Chivas tastes like to me. I always had a hard time with it.
Hell yes, but them boys came over from Scotland and not having barley and peat to make scotch found a good use for corn squeesings. And they weren’t anymore happy to pay taxes to the Federal gov’ment that they was to pay the King of England for the privlidge. Thus the whisky rebellion that George Washington had to put down, moonshining during prohibition, and by golly NASCAR.
Hell yes, but them boys came over from Scotland and not having barley and peat to make scotch found a good use for corn squeesings. And they weren’t anymore happy to pay taxes to the Federal gov’ment that they was to pay the King of England for the privlidge. Thus the whisky rebellion that George Washington had to put down, moonshining during prohibition, and by golly NASCAR.
If I want to service my soul and meatloaf isn't available, I'll take a good 'burger and fries over lark's tongue a la Maurice any time.
McDonalds and Burger King don’t make good burgers. Filling but not good.
Scotch distillers use old bourbon barrels. The reason being Scotch needs all the help it can get and even then it’s not enough.
Although Lark’s Tongues in Aspic is phenomenal.
How to drink whiskey? O.K., I’ll have a go at it:
Wrap fingers around full glass, raise to lips by bending arm, imbibe as usual. Practice helps. Details provided on request.
At our office party this Christmas, all of the guys were going on about Johnny Walker Blue. They said it was so smooth - made me want to try it. I tried some Chivas Regal once, but didn’t particularly care for it. I just don’t want to spring for $300 for a 750 ml bottle I probably wouldn’t appreciate.
I’ll stick with my lovely Old Vine Red from Marietta Vineyard in California. I have to order it in by the case as it’s not carried by our liquor control board. Worth. Every. Penny.
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