Any whisky/whiskey experts here?

[Virgil61]

MPC I'll use a capful or less of bottled water depending on the bourbon. I take it it's the same for Scotch then?

 

Yes, I was thinking of Scotch re: amt of water. Though my father teethed me on Southern Comfort, I'm not much of a bourbon fan. To me, it's just the base for mint juleps (a seasonal treat for when the Kentucky Derby comes around), though I'd be happy to discover its merits.

 

Are you a Southerner by birth?

 

Bourbon is pretty much all I know and I'm no expert, there seems to be a whole wave of 'small batch' and 'single barrel' bourbons out in the last ten years. It's a bit of a take off from the micro-brewery beer boom of the '80s/90s.

[Pertinax]

Quality malts are supposed to be mixed with water.

 

Yes, but just a little water--like 20 drops of water for a double.

 

Check-"a teaspoonful at most" as my Father would have admonished.

[M. Porcius Cato]

Are you a Southerner by birth?

No--a New Yorker by birth.

 

Bourbon is pretty much all I know and I'm no expert, there seems to be a whole wave of 'small batch' and 'single barrel' bourbons out in the last ten years. It's a bit of a take off from the micro-brewery beer boom of the '80s/90s.

 

Sounds like a good thing to me.

Edited November 8, 2006 by M. Porcius Cato

[Gaius Octavius]

Are you a Southerner by birth?

No--a New Yorker by birth.

 

Undoubtedly from Cato, N.Y.

 

[Virgil61]

Are you a Southerner by birth?

No--a New Yorker by birth.

 

Undoubtedly from Cato, N.Y.

 

 

I predict he will be buried (many, many decades from now) in Utica.

[M. Porcius Cato]

Actually born in Ithaca, NY. To be buried in Utica...that's an interesting idea.

[Gaius Octavius]

Actually born in Ithaca, NY. To be buried in Utica...that's an interesting idea.

 

Utica? No!, A thousand times NO! I won't have it. The gods have fled from Utica. Ovid!, Ovid! Poetic justice! And a statue in Cicero, with a bottle of Dewar's cradled in his toga.

 

Edited November 8, 2006 by Gaius Octavius

[spittle]

Good title for a biography "From Ithica to Utica: The Life and Times of Internet Cato"

 

What is the difference between sour mash and bourbon proper? I can tolerate Jack Daniels or Jim Beam. I think they are the only two I have sampled. I'm assuming Southern Comfort is a mixer or something. Surely its too sweet to be a genuine bourbon whiskey?

 

As for the Single Malts and Fine Blends I must confess that if it came in a medicine bottle I would flush it down the toilet! I accept that millions of people cannot be wrong (four times as much scotch whiskey as French brandy is bought in France each year - and they regard themselves as the arbiters of good taste) but I cannot tell one whiskey from another. To me they are equally horrid!

I'm do not wish to belittle another persons passions, I accept the problem is with me but spirits are just so sour!

I like German. Czech and American Lagers (beers). And Irish stouts (Guiness).

 

Have any of the Americans who post here ever tried a pint of English bitter?

[M. Porcius Cato]

Have any of the Americans who post here ever tried a pint of English bitter?

 

Yes--loved it.

[Gaius Octavius]

Good title for a biography "From Ithica to Utica: The Life and Times of Internet Cato"

 

What is the difference between sour mash and bourbon proper? I can tolerate Jack Daniels or Jim Beam. I think they are the only two I have sampled. I'm assuming Southern Comfort is a mixer or something. Surely its too sweet to be a genuine bourbon whiskey?

 

As for the Single Malts and Fine Blends I must confess that if it came in a medicine bottle I would flush it down the toilet! I accept that millions of people cannot be wrong (four times as much scotch whiskey as French brandy is bought in France each year - and they regard themselves as the arbiters of good taste) but I cannot tell one whiskey from another. To me they are equally horrid!

I'm do not wish to belittle another persons passions, I accept the problem is with me but spirits are just so sour!

I like German. Czech and American Lagers (beers). And Irish stouts (Guiness).

 

Have any of the Americans who post here ever tried a pint of English bitter?

 

Pay attention! Bourbon may only come from kentucky. The other rot comes from 10asee. It's all 'sippin' whiskey. Real men drink it straight in great quantities. When you have a cold, you stand in front of an open window, naked ,with a bottle of aspirin in one hand and a quart of any whiskey in the other. Take a slug of the booze and throw a couple of pills out of the window. Continue until booze is exhausted. If you put your hand on the top of your head, you will note that it is as hot as a griddle and that your nose has stopped running. No need for a quack.

 

I hope that Pantagathus :notworthy: will give me a 'bitter' label in the U.S. Right now he has me drinking Dogfish Head (Raison D' Etre). "A deep mahogany ale brewed with Belgian beer sugars, green raisins & a sense of purpose." Pretty good stuff. Even my Bride goes for it. He doesn't give a hang about my wallet.

 

As for our French friends, what do they know about food, wine or booze?

[Pantagathus]

Have any of the Americans who post here ever tried a pint of English bitter?

Yes--loved it.

Yep, as a fine beer lover, English Bitters were about my only logical choice to drink during my many visits to Dubai.

 

GO, glad you like the Raison D' Etre As for an authentic English Bitter in the States, I know you can probably find at least Tetley's somewhere. For a delicious American take on it I will recommend Rouge's 'Brutal Bitter' :wub:

[spittle]

English Bitter.

Avoid any breweries from south of Nottingham like the plague! Yorkshire is the center of the universe when it comes to bitter. Especially a small town called Tadcaster.

 

John Smiths, Sam Smiths (generations back the brothers split the company. Johns is a far larger company but Sams is the choice of the man in the know) Tetleys, Stones.

 

From the other side of the Pennines (Lancashire - The people who take sole credit for victory during the war of the roses but were in fact a small part of a nationwide coallition that HAD to combine to win the might of the House of York) we have Websters.

 

Courage is a southern brew invented so Northern folk could be sure of their inherent superiority. A simply awfull drink! Trophy (despite being from Sheffield - near Tadcaster and in the haert of Bitter country) is another best left well alone.

 

"On Ilkley Moor bar tat..."etc

Barnsley Bitter. Tiny brewerie but SO special.

 

Dun't thee thar me, simmer darn, se' thee. Tinternet or no!.

[Gaius Octavius]

Dun't thee thar me, simmer darn, se' thee. Tinternet or no!.

 

?Que?

 

[WotWotius]

I am too young to enjoy whiskey; my taste buds are still intact. Maybe if I were to drink enough whiskey, it would destroy enough of my taste buds for me to enjoy its unique taste.

 

In it is my view that anybody who pretends to enjoy drinking whiskey at my age is too pretentious for their own good.

Edited November 9, 2006 by WotWotius

[Virgil61]

Good title for a biography "From Ithica to Utica: The Life and Times of Internet Cato"

 

What is the difference between sour mash and bourbon proper?...

 

Bourbon is legally defined as containing 51% corn and encorporating a number of strictly outlined processes including using newly charred oak barrels (which gives it a strong taste) and aging. It does not have to be distilled in Kentucky but only those from that state can be called Kentucky Straight Bourbon.

 

Instead of 'sour mash' I think you mean Tennessee Whiskey perhaps? There are only two, Jack Daniels and George Dickel. They begin the same as bourbons I think bu then utilize a filtration process near the end that bourbons forgoe involving liquid 'filtering' through maple charcoal.

 

Legally JD and GD can call themselves bourbons but refuse to do so.

 

 

 

English Bitter.

 

Sam Smiths

 

That is good stuff! Not difficult to get in the US either.