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

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

[MWB]

Anyone ever had Knob Creek Butterschotch?

[MWB]

Fellow NC bourbon drinkers…. ABC stores are dropping allocated bourbon this week, at msrp. Different Weller and EH Taylor, along with Buffalo Trace. Pretty much hit or miss, but worth a shot to check it out.

[MWB]

The Woodford Reserve Double Oaked is excellent. Tons of caramel and vanilla. Definitely on the sweeter side of bourbons, but honestly from my memories this is one of the closest bourbons to Pappy Van Winkle 15 that I've had recently.

Just had this. Agree… very good. Similar profile to Evan Williams single, but more depth.

[mikey]

Finally found a reliably good white to order when I'm out...Sancerre...a consistently quality white to order with a meal with little guess work about whether it's going to be good or not...at least, so far...

[Shyster]

I didn't have anything better to do over the weekend, and I wanted to exercise my car a little (not much besides short trips recently), so I drove over to Ohio to buy some whiskeys that the PA state stores inexplicably do not sell or offer only on special order. Picked up bottles of George Dickel No. 8, George Dickel No. 12, George Dickel Barrel Select, and George Remus Straight Bourbon. Also bought a local Ohio whiskey: Middle West Spirits Reserve Wheated Straight Bourbon. I believe it's distilled in Columbus. It's a four-grainer with both rye and wheat in addition to corn and malt.

I've been buying whiskeys recently at a rate that vastly exceeds my consumption.

[LeopardLetang]

Haha i hear ya and I'm heading to Delaware this week. I'll be stocked for the year

[LITT]

anyone have recommendations on a good bloody mary mix? my assistants birthday is next week and she is in a bloody mary kick at the moment

[Tomas]

@Dickie Dunn : Do you know anything about Herradura Ultra Anejo? The other day, I was running through Sam's Club liquor store. They were surprisingly thin on good tequila, but they had this one. In a black fancy box, decent price (about $50), so I bought it, simply because I saw Anejo, and I remember that Herradura is supposed to be a good brand.

When I took it out of the box, the first surprise was that it was as clear as "blanco/silver" tequilas - which made me realize I did not buy their "normal" Anejo (which I know has dark brown color). OK, I don't mind the color - but when I opened the bottle:
- the smell is something between window cleaner and a cheap vanilla-scented candle
- the taste is incredibly super sweet, for me it's something between vanilla+coconut - and not in a good way.

Because I am cheap, I won't pour $50 down the drain, so I'll probably leave it for mixed drinks, but it's clearly disappointing, because the "real" Herradura Anejo was really really good. Have you heard anything about this "Ultra" version?

[Dickie Dunn]

@Dickie Dunn : Do you know anything about Herradura Ultra Anejo? The other day, I was running through Sam's Club liquor store. They were surprisingly thin on good tequila, but they had this one. In a black fancy box, decent price (about $50), so I bought it, simply because I saw Anejo, and I remember that Herradura is supposed to be a good brand.

When I took it out of the box, the first surprise was that it was as clear as "blanco/silver" tequilas - which made me realize I did not buy their "normal" Anejo (which I know has dark brown color). OK, I don't mind the color - but when I opened the bottle:
- the smell is something between window cleaner and a cheap vanilla-scented candle
- the taste is incredibly super sweet, for me it's something between vanilla+coconut - and not in a good way.

Because I am cheap, I won't pour $50 down the drain, so I'll probably leave it for mixed drinks, but it's clearly disappointing, because the "real" Herradura Anejo was really really good. Have you heard anything about this "Ultra" version?

I have never personally had that variety, but what you have accidentally bought yourself is a cristalino, the “ “Anthony Bourdain seafood stew” analogy of the tequila world. In general, tequila distillers take an aged tequila and put it through charcoal filtering to remove the color and some sharpness while enhancing the flavor notes picked up from the barrel during aging, making it more approachable for novice tequila drinkers.

In reality, they’re taking a batch of tequila that was botched somewhere between distilling and aging, charcoal filtering out the color, flavor, and smell (which is smells very astringent), and then taking advantage of the liberal additives standards for anything that isn’t a blanco tequila to make it taste appealing.

Your particular purchase is a blend of unnamed añejo (unsellable garbage water), extra añejo Seleccion Suprema ($350 per bottle so probably a drop to add legitimacy to the product), and if you look at your bottle it says right at the bottom of the label that agave syrup is added as well. Openly admitting the use of additives to make the tequila sweeter, while labeling it an añejo (blends get designated the age of the youngest tequila in the mix) and selling it for the same price as añejo (if not more). Worst part is that the fake, overly sweet flavor profile has made this garbage a huge hit with uninitiated tequila drinkers.

It’s not ruined tequila; it’s a whole new thing.

[Tomas]

@Dickie Dunn : Do you know anything about Herradura Ultra Anejo? The other day, I was running through Sam's Club liquor store. They were surprisingly thin on good tequila, but they had this one. In a black fancy box, decent price (about $50), so I bought it, simply because I saw Anejo, and I remember that Herradura is supposed to be a good brand.

When I took it out of the box, the first surprise was that it was as clear as "blanco/silver" tequilas - which made me realize I did not buy their "normal" Anejo (which I know has dark brown color). OK, I don't mind the color - but when I opened the bottle:
- the smell is something between window cleaner and a cheap vanilla-scented candle
- the taste is incredibly super sweet, for me it's something between vanilla+coconut - and not in a good way.

Because I am cheap, I won't pour $50 down the drain, so I'll probably leave it for mixed drinks, but it's clearly disappointing, because the "real" Herradura Anejo was really really good. Have you heard anything about this "Ultra" version?

I have never personally had that variety, but what you have accidentally bought yourself is a cristalino, the “ “Anthony Bourdain seafood stew” analogy of the tequila world. In general, tequila distillers take an aged tequila and put it through charcoal filtering to remove the color and some sharpness while enhancing the flavor notes picked up from the barrel during aging, making it more approachable for novice tequila drinkers.

In reality, they’re taking a batch of tequila that was botched somewhere between distilling and aging, charcoal filtering out the color, flavor, and smell (which is smells very astringent), and then taking advantage of the liberal additives standards for anything that isn’t a blanco tequila to make it taste appealing.

Your particular purchase is a blend of unnamed añejo (unsellable garbage water), extra añejo Seleccion Suprema ($350 per bottle so probably a drop to add legitimacy to the product), and if you look at your bottle it says right at the bottom of the label that agave syrup is added as well. Openly admitting the use of additives to make the tequila sweeter, while labeling it an añejo (blends get designated the age of the youngest tequila in the mix) and selling it for the same price as añejo (if not more). Worst part is that the fake, overly sweet flavor profile has made this garbage a huge hit with uninitiated tequila drinkers.

It’s not ruined tequila; it’s a whole new thing.

Thanks!! This sounds pretty terrible. Funny thing is that I almost never buy anything without checking BeerAdvocate, Vivino, or TequilaMatchmaker first. This was a rare deviation - I was in a hurry, I saw Herradura + Anejo, so what could go wrong?

[MWB]

Anyone had Smoke Wagon bourbon? So good. Had it after McKenna 10, and it blew the McKenna out of the water.

[Shyster]

Never had it, but I'll note it to give it a try. My understanding is that Smoke Wagon is sourcing its juice from MGP in Indiana and then does its own blending and supplemental aging in Nevada. My understanding is that sort of thing is also getting harder to do. MGP used to have a ton of well-aged bourbon in stock, so when bourbon skyrocketed in popularity in the last decade or so, a whole lot of NDPs (non-distiller producers) bought up that bourbon to do their own releases (e.g., such brands as Smooth Ambler, Belle Meade, Redemption, Old Scout, and Widow Jane source some if not all of their whiskey from MGP). But that supply of old MGP bourbon is running out, so a lot of the NDPs are either having to scramble to find suitable replacement whiskey from other distilleries (not easy to do) or they're reducing the age of the whiskey they're selling. So you have to watch out a little when dealing with NDPs because what's in the bottle can be subject to change, and this bottle might not taste the same as the next one.

[Shyster]

Interesting article I saw on Google News:

‘Harassed’ by aggressive customers, Idaho liquor stores set new, ‘fair’ rules
https://www.idahostatesman.com/entertai ... 28026.html

For rare whiskies, the Idaho liquor system is going to: (1) hide from the online system whether a given store has inventory of rare stuff; (2) ship the rare bottles to random stores; (3) instruct clerks to put bottles on the shelf at random times, and (4) refuse to sell anything that isn't out on the shelf. The idea is that rather than people camping out to buy stuff out when a store opens, which most people don't have the time to do, it will basically be random as to when and and where rare bottles end up for sale.

I love the fact that the bourbon industry is doing great, but I can say the high demand is annoying. I can remember the last time I saw a bottle of regular Buffalo Trace for sale, let alone Blanton's or Weller or something like that.

[eddy]

Agree and doesn't help that the PA online store is an absolute disaster.

[LITT]

Agree and doesn't help that the PA online store is an absolute disaster.

the worst

[Shyster]

I didn't realize how badly the PA site sucked until I started looking at the Ohio Liquor website (because I was going to drive over to buy some stuff not carried in PA). There's no comparison between the two.

TIL I learned the difference between some proof terms. I knew what "cask strength" and "barrel proof" meant; they refer to whatever proof the whiskey in the barrel is at the end of aging. "Full proof," however has a different meaning; it's the original entry proof for the barrel. For bourbon, the alcohol percentage often increases during aging, so whiskey that was put in the barrel at, say, 120 proof might have risen to 130 proof X years later because the water may have evaporated faster than the alcohol. A barrel-proof bottling will be at that 130 proof, or whatever else the proof is. But a "full proof" whiskey will be diluted back down to 120 proof, which was the entry proof.

[tifosi77]

Didn't we have discussion ITT a few ears ago that sort of touched on that?

[Shyster]

If we did, I clearly did not remember it.

[Dickie Dunn]

Never heard of full proof before. The legal requirements, or lack there of (RIP Canadian whisky), for classifying liquor always intrigues me. In Mexico you’ll be hard pressed to find a retail sale bottle of tequila above 70 proof whereas US law requires a minimum of 80 to be considered tequila.

[MWB]

Interesting article I saw on Google News:

‘Harassed’ by aggressive customers, Idaho liquor stores set new, ‘fair’ rules
https://www.idahostatesman.com/entertai ... 28026.html

For rare whiskies, the Idaho liquor system is going to: (1) hide from the online system whether a given store has inventory of rare stuff; (2) ship the rare bottles to random stores; (3) instruct clerks to put bottles on the shelf at random times, and (4) refuse to sell anything that isn't out on the shelf. The idea is that rather than people camping out to buy stuff out when a store opens, which most people don't have the time to do, it will basically be random as to when and and where rare bottles end up for sale.

I love the fact that the bourbon industry is doing great, but I can say the high demand is annoying. I can remember the last time I saw a bottle of regular Buffalo Trace for sale, let alone Blanton's or Weller or something like that.

That’s a really interesting way to do it. The place I frequent in SC does a release ever 3-4 weeks on Saturday morning. At this point, you can get in line early morning (around 7) and get a decent bottle, but not super rare (Blantons, Weller, etc). To get rare bottles, you have to camp out overnight.

Meanwhile, in NC, they are sucking and supplying much of anything now.

[Shyster]

I know the Barton / 1792 distillery has a full-proof offering, but that's the only one I'm aware of right now. I bought a bottle of 1792 Small Batch, but I have yet to open it. I've also picked up a couple of other available stalwarts, like Wild Turkey 101 and Maker's Mark 46.

[MWB]

A buddy picked up a bottle of 1792 full-proof in Boston last month. Haven't opened it yet. I have 1792 Small Batch... very solid bourbon.

In-laws got me a bottle of Ezra Brooks Cask Strength when they were in Kentucky. Looking forward to trying that too.

[willeyeam]

jefferson's ocean - good stuff

[RonnieFranchise]

anyone have recommendations on a good bloody mary mix? my assistants birthday is next week and she is in a bloody mary kick at the moment

http://www.ratpackred.com/page4.html

This is a super small operation, available only in Beaver County and online through their 1990’s looking website but an excellent product.

I have also been using this vodka for extra pepper. Available through the vaunted PA wine and spirits website!

https://craterlakespirits.com/crater-lake-pepper-vodka/

Crater Lake also makes a nice hazelnut vodka which is good in a dessert coffee.

Finally the Demetri’s bloody Mary spice blend is great too but a little more work than just a mix.

Sorry I know this response is probably too late but just saw the question.