Posted on 02/21/2021 8:25:18 AM PST by simpson96
Whiskey purists will likely try and demean you if you drink anything on the rocks or with a little water. They want you to sip it straight, unchilled. That’s patently ridiculous. Yes, some whiskeys are crafted to be taken neat. But even the super svelte whiskeys out there will likely bloom in the glass with a few drops of water or a single rock.
Moreover, a good bourbon on ice can actually lead to a whole new set of flavors. Which is some cool chemistry, when you think about it.
What happens is twofold. One, the bourbon materially changes when you add water. Bourbon doesn’t come out of the barrel at 40 or 50 percent ABVs. Blenders add water to find the proof and flavor profile they’re looking for. So when you add more water, you’re proofing the whiskey down even further. The water isn’t adding flavors — it’s just allowing more of the chemical compounds that are already present in the dram to bloom or reveal themselves (while possibly muting others).
Next, you have the cooling effect of ice. Which effects you, not the whiskey. Our senses of taste and smell tend to mute flavors of things that are very hot or very cold. So as the whiskey cools, we’re going to taste less of what’s in there while, at the same time, fixating on certian notes — because our senses have to find something to… sense. In some cases, those notes could be things you didn’t even notice in the room temperature dram, simply because they were hidden by something sweet or woody or anything really, because, as mentioned above, adding water lets other chemical compounds (flavors) come to the surface.
(Excerpt) Read more at uproxx.com ...
On a side note, I used one of the Eagle Rare wooden boxes for pencils and such as an undergrad, many years ago. Still have the box somewhere.
That’s right, Don Brodka.
E. H. Taylor Whiskey, hands down.....
Always for me, simple and sweet, “The Lemmy”!
I ran into George Dickel decades ago in Montana, in a little log restaurant on the side of a mountain.
A buddy and I had already set up camp, we followed the state map to the little inn, and we had a couple steaks and many smiles and winks from the innkeeper’s two lovely daughters.
After eating we sat at the small pine-built bar, where I spotted the Dickel, which I had been looking for since seeing the name mentioned by a favorite Montana author of mine.
We had a glass, and another and another, the hale and hearty bartender-inkeeper calling out, every 20 minutes or so, “another Little Dickel?”...to which we raised our glass.
We slept by the Sun river that night, a Ruger Blackhawk for a pillow-—the local sheriff had stopped by our camp to warn us of grizzlies in the area, and we dreamed—I did anyway—of the two daughters coming by with a midnight snack and an hour or two of tickle—oh...sorry, I meant Dickel.
Thank you.
. That’s my no. 1 go to. The 15 year. The snobs look down their noses at it, but that just leaves more for me.
>Gag me. Does that really entice anybody to sample “Elijah Craig Barrel Proof”?
Not really, it’s just a bunch of jibber jabber
I like Garrisons which is made in Texas. I take it three fingers with three ice cubes.
A lot of people in this country pooh-pooh Australian table wines. This is a pity, as many fine Australian wines appeal not only to the Australian palette, but also to the cognoscenti of Great Britain.
'Black stump Bordeaux' is rightly praised as a peppermint flavoured Burgundy, whilst a good 'Sydney Syrup' can rank with any of the world's best sugary wines.
'Chateau Bleu', too, has won many prizes; not least for its taste, and its lingering afterburn.
'Old Smokey, 1968' has been compared favourably to a Welsh claret, whilst the Australian wino society thouroughly recommends a 1970 'Coq du Rod Laver', which, believe me, has a kick on it like a mule: 8 bottles of this, and you're really finished -- at the opening of the Sydney Bridge Club, they were fishing them out of the main sewers every half an hour.
Of the sparkling wines, the most famous is 'Perth Pink'. This is a bottle with a message in, and the message is BEWARE!. This is not a wine for drinking -- this is a wine for laying down and avoiding.
Another good fighting wine is 'Melbourne Old-and-Yellow', which is particularly heavy, and should be used only for hand-to-hand combat.
Quite the reverse is true of 'Chateau Chunder', which is an Appalachian controle, specially grown for those keen on regurgitation -- a fine wine which really opens up the sluices at both ends.
Real emetic fans will also go for a 'Hobart Muddy', and a prize winning 'Cuiver Reserve Chateau Bottled Nuit San Wogga Wogga', which has a bouquet like an aborigine's armpit.
Stay tuned, this will be a good thread.
PFL
Under federal law to be called Bourbon it has to be distilled in the United States, not just Bourbon County or even Kentucky.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/27/5.22
If it’s distilled somewhere else, it may be whiskey, but it’s not bourbon.
what constitutes bourbon is defined in 27 CFR 5.22. It can distilled any where in the United States.
Last time I drank bourbon was in Rabbit Hash, KY. “Heaven Hill” was the brand. Passed the bottle around. It lived up to its name.
What’s wrong with Evan Williams??? I like it better than Jack.
David Chase...which Woodford Reserve expression? Generally, the Distiller’s Select is most commonly found around me. But, I’ve settled on the Double Oaked as my ‘go to’ bourbon. I also like their Rye.
That’s a great George Dickel story. Thanks.
” One of my favorite Montana authors “ wouldn’t be James Lee Burke, now would it ?
Most of his novels are set in Louisiana, but he lives in western Montana.
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