whisky drinkers…this feels wrong, but..

tastes ok
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english…whisky[/url] by rOcKeTdOgUk[/url], on Flickr

Why is that “wrong”? There’s some lovely Japanese stuff out there. Is is only “right” if it’s Scotchish?

Just ordered Chapter 9 so hope that’s good too 😕

The Welsh stuff – Penderyn – is really brilliant.

japanese whisky captain?? you’d be black balled from my club sir, post haste 😕

Yamazaki is a fine drop.

Yoichi was voted the best single malt in the world a couple of years ago. At £150+ a bottle it’s not going to be in Morrisons anytime soon but I’d drink it if I had the cash. Right now, I’ll have to settle for a hefty dose of BNJ and wait for Xmas to treat myself to something special.

Rocketdog, they sell the Japenese whiskey in the Almanac in Kenilworth, taste tested it last year when I was inebriated and can confirm it was nothing if not expensive 😛

Surely whiskEy if it’s not from Scotland…wonder how that label on the english stuff is ok?

Penderyn +10 nicer than a LOT of Scotty water of life

I had some yamazaki pressed on me in tokyo, despite insisting that it would not go with sushi, and I did not want it with ice.

It was pretty good as it happens

Yamazaki is great. The Welsh stuff is terrible. And the Irish stuff is bland.

is it just me, the uneducated oik I am, but that seems a little clear for a single malt

Wy considered opinion of Penderyn is that it’ll be fantastic when it’s finished. Sadly, given the price they’re charging for it now, I’ll need to sell a kidney to buy it by that point.

Surely whiskEy if it’s not from Scotland

That’s not quite right; as a rule of thumb, whiskey is the Irish spelling (and the one that the US adopted, with a couple of notable exceptions) and whisky is everywhere else. The Scots didn’t remove the ‘E’, the Irish added it.

I’ve had half an eye of the English whisky for some time now – I’ll be very interested to hear a review or two.

Drinking Penderyn felt quite a lot like the time I pissed on an electric fence. I wished it would stop doing what it was doing to me and I never wanted to experience that again. It’s up there with black olives off an olive tree for the worst tastes I have ever had. And for the money I could have had an amazing single malt…

Some Japanese whisky is excellent – better than most Scotch I have ever had, but comes at a price.

English whisky just seems wrong for loads of reasons – geographical, political and historical.

uneducated oik I am, but that seems a little clear for a single malt

Two things,

1) whisk(e)y gets darker with age, as it absorbs flavours from the cask. ‘Raw’ whisky is clear. A light whisky is a young whisky, though the reverse is not necessarily true, because

2) whisky sometimes (controversially) has caramel added to it in order to give it colour. There’s an argument that this affects taste, though in whisky circles it’s akin to the directional speaker cable theory.

There’s a quick and dirty test for caramel, if you care. Shake the bottle; if the froth is brown that indicates caramel, white froth is caramel-free.

i bet that would taste lovely mixed with pineapple juice 🙂

To mix Scotch and Coke is a waste of good whisky, to mix Bourbon and Coke is a waste of good Coke – I can’t remember where the quote comes from, I may have made it up

igm

“to mix penderyn and meths is a waste of good meths”

T-FIFY

There does seem to be a divide. I discovered bourbon before I discovered whisky, and (here at least) good bourbon is harder to track down than good whisky. Jack Daniel’s is the Bells of the bourbon(*) world, but it’s what most people think of when you say bourbon.

The instinct is for whisky drinkers drink bourbon like they drink whisky, and vice versa. It doesn’t work. The drinks have basic similarities but they’re different beasts and need to be approached differently. When I learned (from generous and patient teachers) how to appreciate whisky, I retro-applied the same principles to bourbon. I found out the hard way that this is wooly thinking.

(* – which is ironic because it’s not actually a bourbon)

Cougar – Member
I found out the hard way that this is wooly thinking.

So how do you drink Bourbon?

I already know how to drink Whisky.

I drink Scotch with Coke & ice, I drink it with just ice, I drink it neat.

I do exactly the same with JD.

How and when I drink the various combinations depends on the time of day, my mood, or what’s available.

I like drinking it however it comes – surely that’s all that matters isn’t it?

People get too anal about these sorts of things to be honest.

The worst tasting whisky I have tried was the 16yr old ‘best on the shelf’ whilst in Scotchland.

The thing about foreign “scotch” is that scottish distillers could wee in a bottle and charge £20 and people would buy it, whereas foreign distillers really need to get it right.

So how do you drink Bourbon?

I already know how to drink Whisky.

For a good example of either, neat is always your starting point. Often, it’s your end point as well.

With boubon, adding drops of water doesn’t work, it flattens the drink. I’ve yet to find a bourbon that reacts positively to drips of water in the same way whisky does. And believe me, I’ve tried.

Bourbon, however, does work well over ice, unlike whisky. I don’t actually know why. The best analogy I can think of is comparing red and white wine; the former should be at room temperature, the latter chilled. It’s the same concept with whisky and bourbon I think.

Bourbon, however, does work well over ice

Thanks I’ll give that a try. I bought some Maker’s Mark this afternoon.

Also,

How and when I drink the various combinations depends on the time of day, my mood, or what’s available.

… this. Being a pretentious git isn’t mandatory to enjoy a good whisky / bourbon. Some people like to analyse every note in a piece of music and some just appreciate a catchy tune, both appreciate it. Ultimately, what’s important is that you enjoy it. Just, y’know, humour us if we can’t resist going “hey, did you catch that bass riff in the second bridge? Genius!” occasionally.

I bought some Maker’s Mark this afternoon.

Good choice. I hope you like it.

Maker’s is one of my favourites, it was a landmark drink for me. It’s akin to drinking Bell’s for years and then someone going “hey, have you tried this Glenmorangie stuff?” It’s not fair to compare it to a 25 year old malt that costs three figures of course, but it annihilates the JDs of this world.

It’s great on its own, it’s superlative over ice, and at well under 30 quid a bottle it’s not wholly criminal to throw Coke into if you’re looking for a long drink.

If you’re really interested, I can bore you to death about Maker’s, complete with pictures (-:

Last night, drinking Bruichlaiddich Rocks with an old friend. Initially confused at a well named Islay malt without a specific age (mixed vintage, appropiately) but fond memories of being ‘schooled’ in the wonderful pub at Portnahaven and the distillery visit next (on my birthday) should make me confused about a whisky ‘designed’ to be drunk with ice. Also, it was labeled as ‘unpeated’ but still has a distinct peaty taste.
I shared it with the now seventy year old aging-Robin-Hood-look-alike artist who got me back into art twenty years ago. It worked just fine.

I like JD, but more so after at least one shot glass full, after it’s beaten my taste buds into submission. I really like Sainsbury’s and Morrison’s own brand Kentucky Burbon, much smoother and a proper ‘sippin’ whisky’. There’s also Woodfords Special Reserve, (I think that’s what it’s called), Stephen Fry visited the distillery on his trip around America and I found Waitrose sell it. Damn fine drink, I can get very mellow indeed with a bottle of that, and Christmas is coming along with my annual splurge on fine spirits. Mmmmmmmmm.

You English boys need to stick to warm beer – your whisky’s p1sh.

I suspect that English and Welsh whisky is better than any Scotchish beer. 😉

I bought some Maker’s Mark this afternoon.

MMMMMM , I like Makers Mark it’s nice , have a look for Woodford Reserve too It’s a different beast to the Makers but stands out as probably my favorite Bourbon.

Yeah we have a lot of bad ale but the original remark still stands 😉

http://www.glannarmor.com/home.htm – rumoured to be very good.

An English relative bought me yon English Whisky for a laugh. Just finished the bottle and have to say is is very good, probably because it has to be if the brand is to survive. Quite light and very smooth. Yum.

There does seem to be a divide. I discovered bourbon before I discovered whisky, and (here at least) good bourbon is harder to track down than good whisky. Jack Daniel’s is the Bells of the bourbon(*) world, but it’s what most people think of when you say bourbon.

technically J.D Is a sour mash whiskey

CaptainFlashheart – Member
I suspect that English and Welsh whisky is better than any Scotchish beer.

Better than any mainstream one certainly (well single Younger’s No3L was killed off anyway) but there’s a few good ones if you look. But then CFH I don’t remember you ever letting the truth stand in the way of a good posture.

I thought the Penderyn tasted like vodka. Aftertaste just of alcohol.

Not exactly unpleasant – but let’s just say we didn’t order any more of it.