Wine, Scotch, Rum, Tequila, Vodka, and the like

[RonnieFranchise]

TIL Gin and Tonic was developed as a way of delivering quinine, which protects against malaria.

If those mosquitoes are gonna bring it on they should do it now, because I'm pretty loaded on g&t's right now.

https://www.india.com/lifestyle/gin-and ... l-1934782/

[Shyster]

Love G&T. Speaking of gin, I just tried out making the Pendennis Club Cocktail from Anders Erickson's latest video below. Gin, apricot liqueur, and lemon juice in a 3:2:1 ratio, with a couple dashes of Peychaud's Bitters. This is a damn tasty cocktail. The only apricot liqueur that the PLCB carries without a special order is bottom-shelf Jacquin's apricot brandy (mine came in a plastic bottle), so a better apricot liqueur would likely make it even better.

[Troy Loney]

Visited my sister in Lexington and did a bunch of bourbon stuff.

I still wouldn't consider myself a "bourbon guy", but I do appreciate it more. I learned that I don't like neat rye whiskey, that I really like an old fashioned, and the Woodford Reserve is the best tour for someone that's new into whiskey, the tour guide did an amazing job explaining how to best experience drinking whiskey.

My sister booked us tours at BT, WR, and Willet, and we basically just went to all the spots. I thought Willet and Castle and Keynes were the coolest spots to hang out at, WR and Four Roses both feel corporate, Heaven Hills is like "we are corporate", BT has their nose so far up their ass it's a bit exhausting, and Wild Turkey doesn't seem to give a ****, but they'll make you an amazing cocktail and give you the glass.

BT only makes one of their premiums available per day, and it was Weller the day we went, so I got a bottle of that for $30. They put Blantons out on Monday, but sold out before 11 and the one thing I explained to my sister before going was that I would not wait in lines for it, and since her and her husband were both "in jail" until next month for Blantons, they didn't care. WR had some special release available for purchase, so I also picked up one of those for a "bourbon guy" friend.

[shafnutz05]

That's good stuff Troy, I need to get down there and check out the area.

[Troy Loney]

The drive from Pittsburgh was less than 6 hours, so not bad at all. You go right through the heart of downtown Cincinnati, I drove through there on Saturday afternoon right as the crowd was flooding into the ballpark to see the Reds. So when I drove by, I saw all those pieces of **** rolling in to see the Reds finally lose to break their winning streak.

I think most people stay in Bardstown for Whiskey stuff, but I thought that downtown was actually kind of depressing. Lexington has college town vibes to it, so just a better spot for food and drink, even though it makes there more driving to have to do. There's also a group of municipal courses in Lexington that are cheap and easy to get on to. I played two while i was down there, both pretty short, in decent shape and cheap. One was only a couple block from their place, it was flat and easy to walk. So an easy way to get some exercise in on a trip like that.

[Shyster]

Sounds like a great trip. I really need to do the whiskey trail tour one of these days.

I can see Heaven Hill coming across as corporate because they're a massive distillery and have an absurd number of offerings. The funny thing is that they're one of the few major distilleries down there that isn't owned by an international conglomerate. Jim Beam and Maker's Mark are owned by Beam Suntory. Buffalo Trace and Barton 1792 are owned by Sazerac. Four Roses is owned by Kirin. Bulleit is owned by Diaego. Wild Turkey is owned by the Campari Group. Woodford, Jack Daniels, and Old Forester are owned by Brown-Forman. Heaven Hill is family-owned.

[Shyster]

On whim, I picked up some Crème de violette, so I've been making Aviations. Very nice cocktail, and perfect for the summer. I also bought some peach schnapps to try out as a variant of the Pendennis Club Cocktail.

[Dickie Dunn]

Wanted to try something new tonight with my random collection of liquor and settled on a Martinez. Making gin taste like a glass of sweet vermouth seems like a waste of gin.

[Troy Loney]

Sounds like a great trip. I really need to do the whiskey trail tour one of these days.

I can see Heaven Hill coming across as corporate because they're a massive distillery and have an absurd number of offerings. The funny thing is that they're one of the few major distilleries down there that isn't owned by an international conglomerate. Jim Beam and Maker's Mark are owned by Beam Suntory. Buffalo Trace and Barton 1792 are owned by Sazerac. Four Roses is owned by Kirin. Bulleit is owned by Diaego. Wild Turkey is owned by the Campari Group. Woodford, Jack Daniels, and Old Forester are owned by Brown-Forman. Heaven Hill is family-owned.

The history display at heaven hill was actually cool. And as a Jewish owned distillery, I was naturally drawn to their back story. The corporate sense was strictly the vibe, if I lived down there, I would go to willet across the street 100% of the time merely due to the differing atmospheres of the bars.

Woodford and four roses were like hotel lobbies. Buffalo trace is very touristy, wild turkey is a great place to chill out at, of course the one castle compound place was also a great place, except apparently the bourbon sucks/ not well thought of.

Finishing off my bottle of weller right now, it grew on me a lot. My sister and her husband got out of jail last month for Blantons and brought me up a bottle a couple weeks ago. They are getting a little bit like bourbon hoarders and buy their allotment on the premiums, they were trying to get me to buy one of the other ones they put you on jail for.

[Shyster]

Neat. I did not know the history of Jewish owners being involved in the whiskey business. That's cool. I think Castle and Key has only been open since 2018, so any bourbon products would still be relatively young. I don't think I've every had anything they make. Give them another 10 years to have plenty of juice of all ages, and we'll see how good their stuff is.

I've been continuing to work on my small but growing cocktail repertoire. I plan on taking my "show on the road" for Thanksgiving, so I created a menu for future use. This is what I have so far:



The "specialties" are the two cocktail variants I've come up with myself.

[Shyster]

Also on the subject of cocktails, I have a book recommendation for Liquid Intelligence: The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail by Dave Arnold. While I'm nowhere near done reading, I can already say it's a great book. As a pedantic nerd on multiple subjects, I can recognize a fellow pedantic nerd, and Dave Arnold is a pedantic nerd on bartending. There's a whole section on ice—how to make it, how to cut it, how it works in terms of ice size and dilution—and that section uses terms like "entropy" and "enthalpy." Arnold is also someone who uses refractometers so that he can determine the specific gravities of all his simple syrups and fruit juices so that, for example, every bottle of "rich" simple syrup he makes has exactly the same Brix sugar content. This is basically a science book that just happens to be about making drinks.

[RonnieFranchise]

Maybe an odd choice for August but I'm enjoying a Huckleberry Vanilla North Forest Kreme from Chankaska Spirits in Minnesota. Very tasty.



https://northforestkreme.com/

[shafnutz05]

Shyster that's a solid menu

[Shyster]

Kinda went a little overboard and just ordered seven new bottles of bitters to play around with:

Bitter Truth Peach Bitters
Bitter Truth Drops and Dashes Blossom Bitters
Bitter Truth Chocolate Bitters
Bitter Truth Creole Bitters
Bittercube Cherry Bark Vanilla Bitters
Old Forester Smoked Cinnamon Bitters
Mister Bitters Honey Apricot & Smoked Hickory Bitters

I already have:

Bitter Truth Bogart's Bitters
Bitter Truth Aromatic
Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Bitters
Bitter Truth Drops and Dashes Roots
Peychaud's Bitters
Angostura Bitters
Angostura Orange Bitters

I really like Bitter Truth brand bitters, as you can probably tell. I'm interested in comparing their Creole Bitters with Peychaud's.

[Shyster]

Circling back to the topic of gin, what are the go-to gins for FAF? I personally prefer gins that are juniper-forward, so I lean more toward the classic London Dry style. After some sampling, I quite like Broker's Gin, although Tanqueray No. Ten is also quite good. I think Broker's is a very good value in that it runs about $5 to $10 less per bottle than competitors like Bombay, Tanqueray, Beefeater, etc. but doesn't give up anything in terms of taste or proof. Plus I like the nattily dressed gentleman on the label and the little bowler hat.

I think I've finalized by Blood and Sand riff. I did a taste test with my bitters collection to select the one I thought tasted best. I also switched the cocktail to rye to get some added spiciness in the mix, but you could still use a bourbon. Whether rye or bourbon, I'd use something that's at least 90 proof or more, e.g., Wild Turkey 101 bourbon or rye or something bottled in bond.

The Blood and Rye
1.5 oz. rye whiskey
1 oz fresh-squeezed orange juice (preferably blood orange if available)
1 oz. sweet vermouth
0.5 oz. Cherry liqueur (could also be maraschino, but I recommend not using Heering)
2-3 dashes of Old Forester Smoked Cinnamon Bitters

Ratios are 3:2:2:1.

Shake with ice and serve up with an orange twist.

[Dickie Dunn]

Barr Hill is my go to for most gin cocktails. It's a juniper forward Old Tom that is distilled with honey so it has a hint of sweetness. For a London Dry I usually go with Beefeater.

I've always found this site to be a good reference: https://theginisin.com/

Best gin I've ever had is a sample from a friends gift bottle of Stratford Dry from Shakespeare Distillery in the UK, which is not available in the US. Only time in my life I've considered "neat" as the best way to drink a gin. Heavily juniper forward London Dry, perfectly balanced with other botanicals and a hint of citrus. It tasted like Christmas smells. Juniper, pine, rosemary. I'm not even a huge gin fan but have considered going to great lengths to get a bottle shipped to me.

[eddy]

Found some heaven hill bottled in bond on the shelves, this is my first go with it and it's delicious

[RonnieFranchise]

I used to be a Bombay Sapphire guy and if I have to get something locally I'll still go with that, but my favorite is the Greenhook Ginsmiths American Dry Gin, from Brooklyn.

https://theginisin.com/gin-reviews/greenhook/

It makes in my opinion the perfect G&T, which is what I typically use it for. It isn't available in the state stores of course. You can get it at most liquor stores in New York, and I've seen it in NJ and CT. Or you can get it on the Astor website, https://www.astorwines.com/item/26619 which kept me boozed up during COVID.

We are in Rochester enough to see my son that I stock up when I'm there.

[count2infinity]

I'm a Barr Hill man myself. It's sweeter than most gins, so I tend to back off a touch on the syrups in cocktails with it, but not by much.

I also like Tanqueray Rangpur... it's supppppper citrusy, which I love in summer cocktails.

[genoscoif]

So visiting my parents in Tennessee. They asked what we wanted to drink for dinner. I jokingly said bourbon, knowing full well my parents don't drink. My dad says 'hey, I have a couple bottles, but they're old.' My mom then has to tell them where they are now.

He pulls out...a bottle of jack Daniel's bicentennial 1996 that is still in the original box. Quick online search looks like $600 to $1600.

Then he pulls out another bottle. It was opened probably 20 years with 1 drink taken from it. Sticker on the front at the base of the neck says aged 10 years. Label says 'Old Rip Van Winkle bottled expressly for Friends of Green River Steel. Asleep 10 years in the wood.' Side of that Label states 'Every drop distilled in the fall of 1983.' My dad doesn't think he even had the one drink. Was probably someone at a party they hosted.

I might throw up.

I'm now trying to get him to give me the Jack Daniel's.

[LeopardLetang]

Wow. Crazy man

[Shyster]

OMG, if that were unopened... That's original Stitzel-Weller juice. I guarantee someone would have paid thousands for that bottle.

[genoscoif]

OMG, if that were unopened... That's original Stitzel-Weller juice. I guarantee someone would have paid thousands for that bottle.

Yep. Still smells amazing. I know it would taste nothing like it 'should' or did, but I'm still tempted.

[MWB]

Had three different whiskeys tonight: smoke wagon, Penelope and Akashi. Smoke wagon is pretty great. Penelope good. Akashi was smooth but not my favorite.

[shafnutz05]

That is great stuff Geno. What a find