The Alcohol thread?

[Waldo1639]

Actually I don't drink beer often, only when going on a "coffee" with friends, but when I'm out at the weekend I mostly take wine or if want to get wasted I drink, I believe english word for this is schnapps/brandy/slivovitz, we call it rakija or šljivovica, it's Balkan's most famous drink. The best slivovitz is homemade. We have a nice plum orchard, and we bake slivovitz every year, it's fantastic. But baking is good part, the worst thing is picking all those plums.

 

[Alex]

I like both bourbon and scotch - though I am not so keen on blended scotch, even the good ones, just single malts.

That's the most wanky lot of bs ever. You can't say you only like single malts, but not mention which regions. They vary so much region to region they're completely different drinks. Same goes for blends. Depends what the blend is going for. It could be a blend of a load of similar malts.

Frustrates me to no end, this idea that single malt automatically means better. It just means specific characteristics. If you find one you like, great, but if you don't it's hit and miss. You were being very specific in your post about everything else, so I refuse to believe you wouldn't have mentioned what you look for in a single malt, your favourite single malt or at the very least favourite region if what you said wasn't just wank.

I love a good Scotch, but I don't limit it to loving a malt or a blend. Johnny Walker Blue (a blend) is ridiculously expensive (and over priced) but is one if the nicest, most balanced whiskies I've tasted. I know it's also not fashionable for those talking up single malts because it's a big global brand, but it's damn smooth and damn nice.

Got that out of my system, now, to the rest of the response

 

[Alex]

In the States we generally think of vodka as a woman's drink, and almost everyone I knows shoots Jameson and Powers almost exclusively for liquor. I don't, so I'm glad that at least on SG I'm more man than other drinkers.

Shooting Jameson's is a waste.

 

[Mint]

Is anyone else amused by the thread title? I love the uncertainty of it all.

The Alcohol Thread! yo. Sponsored by the triumverate of SG drunks Shifty*i, Tommy and Sir Didier*y.

Hahaha i know how to make good titles .

 

[Alex]

Actually I don't drink beer often, only when going on a "coffee" with friends, but when I'm out at the weekend I mostly take wine or if want to get wasted I drink, I believe english word for this is schnapps/brandy/slivovitz, we call it rakija or šljivovica, it's Balkan's most famous drink. The best slivovitz is homemade. We have a nice plum orchard, and we bake slivovitz every year, it's fantastic. But baking is good part, the worst thing is picking all those plums.

There isn't really an English equivalent. Schnapps and different vodkas sort of. Not really brandy (in flavour) but in the way it's created-fermented and distilled fruit. But brandy is very specific.

 

[Sir Calumn]

That's the most wanky lot of bs ever. You can't say you only like single malts, but not mention which regions. They vary so much region to region they're completely different drinks. Same goes for blends. Depends what the blend is going for. It could be a blend of a load of similar malts.

Frustrates me to no end, this idea that single malt automatically means better. It just means specific characteristics. If you find one you like, great, but if you don't it's hit and miss. You were being very specific in your post about everything else, so I refuse to believe you wouldn't have mentioned what you look for in a single malt, your favourite single malt or at the very least favourite region if what you said wasn't just wank.

I love a good Scotch, but I don't limit it to loving a malt or a blend. Johnny Walker Blue (a blend) is ridiculously expensive (and over priced) but is one if the nicest, most balanced whiskies I've tasted. I know it's also not fashionable for those talking up single malts because it's a big global brand, but it's damn smooth and damn nice.

Got that out of my system, now, to the rest of the response

No but this is the point, even the good blended whiskeys dont do it for me. Alright, I have never tried blue label, but I have tried JW Green, and Chivas Special Reserve, and a few others, but I just dont really enjoy what I consider to be the confused taste of blends. I would prefer even a poor single malt to a good blend.

And yes I am aware that single malts vary greatly in terms of flavour and region, I have just spent four years living in Scotland. My preference is for Islay malts because I like that peatiness, though from the few I've tasted Campbelltown malts are really pretty special.

EDIT: Blind tasting single malts I can almost always get the region spot on, though admittedly except for the very famous ones I am less consistent at naming the exact distilleries.

 

[Alex]

Whiskey in the evening.

WhiskEy?? But you said you drink Scotch, not Irish :P

At least most sour mash whiskies use the Irish spelling most of the time. So I guess you've covered your bourbon (unless you're talking Maker's Mark).

Interesting that you like bourbon and scotch, but not Irish. Bourbon is so sweet tasting to me. But I'm like you with ice/water. I often like a splash of water in my Scotch, but only ever ice in Irish. Scotch can just be that little bit burnie.

Interesting side is that Scotch tasters actually use distilled water to water it down to about 20% when tasting it. Apparently anything with higher abv burns taste buds, meaning you miss some flavour.

 

[Sir Calumn]

Ha I use the Irish and Scottish spelling interchangeably.

To be honest I have just no experience at all of Irish whiskeys, I dont know why, I have never really explored them much and there dont seem to be many on the market in England. In fact I even have a rudimentary knowledge of Canadian whiskeys, but know nothing about Irish. It's something I will have to explore.

The reason I think I really enjoy bourbon is because low grade bourbon is so much better than low grade scotch, I would always take a Jim Beam over a Bells or a Grouse, so I got used to it. But I really enjoy good and even semi good bourbons, and I also like the whole cowboy frontier mystique that surrounds them. Maker's Mark, Woodland Reserve, Elijah Craig, Jeffersons, Four Roses Single Barrel etc - often I will buy one of those above a single malt of similar price.

And I always have my single malts with water, though just tap water. But if I was drinking a really good one I would seek out distilled water and take advice as to the exact level to dilute it to.

Interestingly though, I never put water in my bourbon, if I dont have any ice I just drink it straight.

 

[Alex]

You'd prefera poor single malt!?? Ew. They're harsh, unbalanced and monotone.

And I don't believe you're going to pick a Speyside whisky in a tasting much more than 50% of the time.

A blend can have layers of flavour, and if it's a good one, it should blend together smoothly, not contradict and confuse itself.

What you think about rye/Canadian whiskies?

 

[Alex]

That's why I try to say whiskies whenever possible, to include all categories. But Irish is only ever Whiskey, Scotch only ever Whisky and Americans change, but generally whiskey (they say because of the large Irish heritage there). Interestingly Canadian is generally whisky, which because of the big Scottish heritage there (and I believe American/Canadian accents can be compared in a similar way).

Generally on the rest of the world (this is for Americans, not you Sir_Didier_Drogba), whisky means Scotch, whiskey: Irish, and if someone wants sour mash/bourbon they ask for bourbon/whatever brand they want.

I've had to explain to do many idiots, that JD (and any other sour mash) is under the bourbon umbrella, not the whisky/whiskey one that includes Scotch and Irish.

 

[Sir Calumn]

Well if we're talking just a cheap whisk(e)y to get drunk off, I'd prefer a poor bourbon. But yeah, I'd prefer a poor single malt to even a mediocre blended whisky, for example I'd take a 12 year Glen Moray over a JW Black Label, even though the Glen Moray is cheaper and generally regarded to be pretty poor.

Speyside is the most challenging because there are no real giveaways, so yeah maybe you're right, though you can always look for the one without a giveaway! Also I find that if it's got a particularly pungent smell it is usually a speyside.

Canadian whiskeys I quite like - again, I dont mind the sweetness, and they're a little less complicated in taste than the bourbons.

 

[Alex]

I like Canadians much more than Bourbons. Really don't like bourbon.

I don't drink many crap whiskies unless it's to get smashed with dry ginger ale. And then I'd definitely prefer blended scotch to bourbon or single malts.

 

[Sir Calumn]

Ahh you see I am completely opposed to mixing whiskey with anything....

Except maybe a cheeky Manhattan on very, very rare occasions.

 

[Sir Calumn]

Also where would you suggest starting, if I was interested in getting more acquainted with Irish Whiskey?

 

[ShiftyPowers]

I find whiskey/bourbon/scotch/whatever drinkers to be the most pretentious dicks in the world. Thanks for confirming my stereotype Alex

 

[Acid (X) Amino]

I drink only Black Label, Chivas Regal and Swing most of the times.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Woah, what year is this??? Welcome back.

 

[Mint]

Seems like ive created a good thread .

 

[Sir Calumn]

Woah, what year is this??? Welcome back.

Haha yeah of all the random resurrections I never expected this one! Last post August 2009!

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Next up, Amika?