Octopus Overlords

Went looking for some Blanton's last night on the way home, didn't realize it was going to turn into a bit of a treasure hunt, turns out that it is the bourbon that John Wick drinks. Picked up some Four Roses Single Barrel (barrel strength OBSQ) "Rally Juice" while I was there. Oh, and yeah, that Redbreast 12yo is a favorite as well.

Blantons is supposedly very difficult to find, at least around here. I casually look whenever I’m in a liquor store, and I’ve never seen it. A buddy picked up a bottle once on a whim. He went home and researched it a little, and decided to go back to the store to buy more. But by the time he got back they were all sold out.

So.. backed the Norlan whiskey glasses sometime back and just got an email about their new product called "DRAVE" which is all about being able to add water drop-by-drop to help with your "whiskey ritual". You can pre-order the pipette for a measly $65 or you can get it right now with a crystal carafe for the water for only $350.

Law's Distillery in Denver.

I liked their Four Grain Straight Bourbon but not enough to purchase any. The wife actually enjoyed the Rye Whiskey and I did not. Tomorrow we are doing Stranahan's which I'm really looking forward to.

Cool!
I reallyike Stranahan's. Looking forward to your review.

Being new to this was very informative and helpful for the both of us. My wife is such a champ, she really doesn't like it, but she'll come along and try anything I'm drinking.

Really looking forward to Stranahan's. Law's tour today was primarily because Stranahan's was booked until tomorrow. It was great, but not really all that much a fan of their whiskey.

Stranahan's Distillery tour today.

Wow, what a great tour and educational experience. No offense to Law's, but the whiskey at Stranahan's blows Law's completely out of the water.

The tour itself gave us a sample of their original Single Malt Whiskey and their black label Diamond Peak whiskey (which I ended purchasing a bottle of).

In their bar I had a dram of Snowflake Whiskey which is a limited release that sold out in 3 hours this year. This year's release was aged in a Syrah and Muscat cask both from Balisteri, a port cask, a California Merlot cask and Old Vine Zin cask from Spero, a Chocolate Stout cask finish, two Madeira casks and a rum cask. A bit unique that had distinct chocolate notes.

Additionally I had their Sherry Cask Whiskey. Some notes of cherry and more of a sweet taste. I enjoyed it but nothing I wanted to pay $80 for a bottle of.

We had a great time, super tour and great whiskey's. I put our name of the VIP tour wait list.

Xmann wrote: ↑Sun Jan 20, 2019 9:45 pm Stranahan's Distillery tour today.

Wow, what a great tour and educational experience. No offense to Law's, but the whiskey at Stranahan's blows Law's completely out of the water.

The tour itself gave us a sample of their original Single Malt Whiskey and their black label Diamond Peak whiskey (which I ended purchasing a bottle of).

In their bar I had a dram of Snowflake Whiskey which is a limited release that sold out in 3 hours this year. This year's release was aged in a Syrah and Muscat cask both from Balisteri, a port cask, a California Merlot cask and Old Vine Zin cask from Spero, a Chocolate Stout cask finish, two Madeira casks and a rum cask. A bit unique that had distinct chocolate notes.

Additionally I had their Sherry Cask Whiskey. Some notes of cherry and more of a sweet taste. I enjoyed it but nothing I wanted to pay $80 for a bottle of.

We had a great time, super tour and great whiskey's. I put our name of the VIP tour wait list.

Not to be snide, but nothing you described is Bourbon. Looks like a cool place to visit.

Get Off My Lawn!!

I'm somewhat of a purist and like leaving aging in used barrels to the Scots. However, I'd definitely be interested in tasting some of that.

I'm glad you had a good time at Stranahan's. I'd really like to do that tour.

Looks like I'll be able to get my hands on a bottle of Blanton's here soon. It runs out so quickly that you have to be lucky and happen to get to the store within hours of it being placed out. Or, you know someone at a liquor store who can hold some bottles for you. A buddy of mine spoke with a liquor store nearby, and they purchased a barrel of the stuff that should be coming in in three weeks. They told him they would pull some bottles for him, so I'm making sure to grab a bottle of the stuff while I can.

I gotta say, I'm loving having a drink of bourbon or whiskey in the evenings. I bought a bottle of Eagle Rare I'm looking forward to trying this evening.

My collection now has Woodford Double Oak, Eagle Rare, and Stranahan's Diamond Peak.

Eagles Rare 10 is really good

I've been liking scotch over the last year or two, but I'm a cheapskate, so whenever I do manage to convince myself to spend fifty bucks on a bottle, I only drink it occasionally. I usually manage nursing a single bottle for six months, with beer as my everday drink, because it's cheaper.

I started dabbling in bourbon last summer, because it's cheaper. I like it, though I don't love having to be careful about not getting a brand that buys their booze from the one major distillery and sticks it in a fancier bottle. I've also been looking at some "best cheap bourbon" lists, and wound up finding that Evan Williams Bottled in Bond is actually really damn good, and at fifteen bucks a bottle, I don't mind it as an everyday drink. I don't even mix it, it tastes fine neat.

Otherwise, I got a bottle of Auchtenochan Three Wood for Christmas that I like a lot. Jameson's Caskmates, both IPA and Stout are really good too, if I'm in the mood for something more mellow.

Just be careful out there as sometimes you start with one bottle and then you have four bottles and then you are trying to figure out where the hell to put 70 bottles of whisky.

Speaking of tours though, one of the most fantastic experiences of my life was the “Water to Whisky Experience” at the Laphroaig distillery on Islay in Scotland. It took about four hours, but in addition to the normal facilities tour they take you out on a short hike across Islay to the water source that they use to feed the distillery (with an amazing lunch). And that is followed up with a trip to their peat fields to learn how to cut peat. At the start they give you a mini Glencairn glass that hangs around your neck, and they give you drams to sample throughout the tour.

The tour culminated with a private viewing of the warehouse (they don’t tour through there), where they pull a barrel out for the group and you can draw a sample to take home.

At the time it was also the only place you could buy Laphroaig 21yo which was in a 350cl bottle for like $150.

Overall experience was 10/10 and I highly recommend.

That sounds pretty damn fun.

So did you buy the bottle?

McNutt wrote:That sounds pretty damn fun.

So did you buy the bottle?

Absolutely. Once my money as converted from USD into GBP it was like I was playing with Monopoly money. Who would want to go through the hassle and expense of changing that back to USD?

Crowd-sourced Beginner Whisk[e]ys. This is from the youtube channel I mentioned earlier. I'm going up to their distillery this weekend. While they are getting the distilling part up and running, they are blending some MGP whiskey and aging it locally.

There was a recommendation on the channel the other day for blending 2 parts Elijah Craig Bourbon with 1 part Laphroig and it was really good. Gave a sweet start with a smokey finish.

noxiousdog wrote: ↑Fri Feb 01, 2019 10:37 am There was a recommendation on the channel the other day for blending 2 parts Elijah Craig Bourbon with 1 part Laphroig and it was really good. Gave a sweet start with a smokey finish.

I have both, but cannot imagine a scenario where I would mix them. It's like a psychological block.

RunningMn9 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 01, 2019 12:49 pm

noxiousdog wrote: ↑Fri Feb 01, 2019 10:37 am There was a recommendation on the channel the other day for blending 2 parts Elijah Craig Bourbon with 1 part Laphroig and it was really good. Gave a sweet start with a smokey finish.

I have both, but cannot imagine a scenario where I would mix them. It's like a psychological block.

Since neither are expensive, I didn't mind. I certainly didn't use my quarter cask though!

Finished off my bottle of Woodford Reserve tonight. Really enjoyed it and with my very limited exposure, it's my favorite thus far.

I had some Balcones Single Malt a couple days ago. It was one of the best whiskey's I've ever tasted. Spicy without the rye funk.

Bought a bottle of Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon. Not as good as the Four Roses Single Barrel but it was almost $10 cheaper a bottle.

I was at an upper end bar in downtown Minneapolis and was looking at their whisky selection. I noticed a brand called Whistlepig. Searched Google for it and holy crap is that high end for a rye whisky. Their lesser end product is almost $80 a bottle if you can find it. They do not even distill their own whisky but get it sourced from other distilleries and blend and age it at their site.

I've been experimenting with ~$20 whiskeys. The other day I bought Jim Beam Devil's Cut. It's a pretty solid every-day bourbon. Not a bad way to spend $20.

I’ve got a friend whose a rye whiskey fan, and he has declared loudly that WhistlePig is the best rye you’re going to find. I’m not a rye guy, so I can’t really verify that though.

I don't really like Rye either.

I was browsing the liquor section as my wife was shopping for dinner and I almost bought the Four Roses or the Elijah Craig, but I passed on both. They had the Whistlepig there as well. I also noticed the Devil's Cut and it's inexpensive price.

Went home empty handed. Still working on my Eagle Rare and Stranahans.

I’ve got a bottle of the Elijah Craig (picked up on my trip to Louisville a few years ago), and it’s pretty good.

I have a box from Whistlepig in my house. The wife brought the box home full of other stuff, but seeing as I have no taste for whisk(e)y, I’m fine with that.

I like ryes quite a bit. Whistlepig is good, but not worth the price except on rare occasion. My go tos are Rittenhouse on the cheaper side, and Willett on the pricier.

For $20 bourbons, check out Larceny and 1776.

I just bought a bottle of Jim Beam Repeal Edition for $13. I'm excited to try it as the reviews are really good.

I was sad to see that Booker's, which I used to get for $40, is now selling for $80.

I'm not a fan of flavored spirits but today someone at my packie was giving out tastes of an Irish whiskey infused with cinnamon, clove, and something else. It tasted like Red Hot candy, if Red Hots were made with whiskey. Sadly, their shipment has been tied up in Customs since December and he only had nips for sale. It was unexpectedly good.

I'm not that big of a Rye fan either and I thought WhistlePig was just in the "blending" business but in diving into their website today, it seems they're a distiller as well. For a cinnamon whiskey I tend to keep some JD Tennessee Fire on hand in the freezer for that.

It wasn't just the cinnamon, it was cinnamon + clove that made it remarkable. Ordinarily I assume that flavorings are added to cover up inferior spirits, and that might have been true here. But oh my, that one sip had such a nice burn that it stayed on my tongue for an hour.

The Repeal Batch wasn't bad. My friend liked it a lot. Definitely tastes better than $13. It's a bit too sweet for me. One of the sweetest bourbons I've tried actually.

Kraken wrote: ↑Sat Feb 23, 2019 11:12 pm It wasn't just the cinnamon, it was cinnamon + clove that made it remarkable. Ordinarily I assume that flavorings are added to cover up inferior spirits, and that might have been true here. But oh my, that one sip had such a nice burn that it stayed on my tongue for an hour.

Of course, was just throwing that out there. Be curious if you know the name of it as it sounds very interesting but a search only seems to turn up cocktail recipes or how to infuse your own.

MonkeyFinger wrote: ↑Sun Feb 24, 2019 10:51 am

Kraken wrote: ↑Sat Feb 23, 2019 11:12 pm It wasn't just the cinnamon, it was cinnamon + clove that made it remarkable. Ordinarily I assume that flavorings are added to cover up inferior spirits, and that might have been true here. But oh my, that one sip had such a nice burn that it stayed on my tongue for an hour.

Of course, was just throwing that out there. Be curious if you know the name of it as it sounds very interesting but a search only seems to turn up cocktail recipes or how to infuse your own.

I wish I'd either bought a nip or taken a picture of the label to remind myself. I couldn't find it on my packie's website. I'll ask someone when I go in next weekend.

I wonder if it was Flaming Pig.

Flaming Pig Spiced Irish, a unique, all natural liqueur made from Irish whiskey expertly infused with whole cloves, cinnamon sticks and black peppercorns. The taste is smooth and sweet followed by a spicy kick that puts fire in your belly. Best enjoyed neat or over ice

mori wrote: ↑Sun Feb 24, 2019 2:07 pm I wonder if it was Flaming Pig.

Flaming Pig Spiced Irish, a unique, all natural liqueur made from Irish whiskey expertly infused with whole cloves, cinnamon sticks and black peppercorns. The taste is smooth and sweet followed by a spicy kick that puts fire in your belly. Best enjoyed neat or over ice

The description sounds right, but I think the dude said they import the whiskey and infuse it themselves.

RunningMn9 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 22, 2019 11:41 pm I’ve got a friend whose a rye whiskey fan, and he has declared loudly that WhistlePig is the best rye you’re going to find. I’m not a rye guy, so I can’t really verify that though.

It's definitely the best rye that I've ever had. I typically only use them for manhattans, but I got a whiskey advent calendar last year, they mixed a number of ryes in with the bourbons so I tried a few. WhistlePig is worth drinking straight.

Elijah Craig is on the too sweet side for me, but it's drinkable.

Bought a bottle of Basil Hayden's last night. A little too much pepper for me, so i had to add some ice.

Friday night at a company party there was some Elijah Craig at the bar and i really really liked it. That's high on my wish list now.