Whiskey, Bourbon, and Other Fine Spirits!

thunderwagn said:
I can't speak for the Taylor, but based on the rest my vote is easily Early Times. :D
Click to expand...

The ET is really good. IMO, the 2005 Dickle (last year's) bottled in bond is my favorite so far. But to be honest, they are all pretty darn good in their own ways.
 
BOB357 said:
Love that Old Taylor, but haven't seen it in years.
Click to expand...

I was fortunate enough to be able to get 2 bottles of it. One to drink now and one to save for a special occasion to be named in the future. I try to get 2 bottles when the special stuff comes around because it's not very often I see it. Plus, the bottle was around $45 with tax, so not too bad on the wallet either.

I found the OT Small Batch BIB to be very sweet caramel candy with just a hint of oakiness and a little pear/apple note to it. I've only had it a couple times, so I'm very curious to see how it changes over time.
 
As I am putting things back in order in my basement, I am putting things in different places, and trying to decide what to do with women things, like these whiskey boxes. I had them on shelves, sort of on display, but now using those shelves for my sports book collection. Might try and find a place for these in the garage. There 37 of these!
20201101_101836.jpg
20201101_101844.jpg
 
Craigerrr said:
As I am putting things back in order in my basement, I am putting things in different places, and trying to decide what to do with women things, like these whiskey boxes. I had them on shelves, sort of on display, but now using those shelves for my sports book collection. Might try and find a place for these in the garage. There 37 of these!
View attachment 12701 View attachment 12702
Click to expand...
Shit piles up after awhile. I keep my scotch in it's box or container until it's empty then I throw them away. Same with bottles. I keep some of the cooler bottles for projects, the rest go into the recycling bin.
 
I've quit adding to my bottle and glassware collections. I have several painted bombers from the same breweries, so if I add one from a different brewery, I get rid of one. I keep a few extra pieces of glassware in reserve and only add more when I break one. Most are shaker pints, but I've added a couple of tulips and a few odd shapes over the years. We use them, so they do serve a function. Coasters don't take up much space, so I still collect them. Admittedly, I usually forget to take a coaster or 2 when we visit a brewery for the first time, so the wife is actually doing the collecting.
 
What is the most you would pay for a 750 mL of whiskey?

Feel free to break it down by category.

  • Bourbon - ?
  • Canadian - ?
  • Scotch - ?
  • Irish - ?
  • ? - ?
 
Tough question!
I just ordered four bottles of bourbon that cost me $85 total with tax. So that balanced out to $20 a bottle. The cheapest was $15.99 and the most was $22.99. In all honesty, I typically try to stay well under $30. But I do splurge! More than I should!
On your list above, I'd go about $100 tops for a very special bottle. I don't want to beat up on our Canadian brothers, but I won't pay anything for Canadian till someone pours me a sample of something I like. I will say my experience with Canadian is very, very limited, but what I have had just wasn't to my liking.
I'd also add Mezcal and maybe tequila to that list and also do a very special buy at about $100.
I can't say that I'd buy more than one or two $100 bottles a year, and again, has to be a circumstantial and special maybe even lucky buy.
I also refuse to pay more than a few dollars of what bottles are worth or secondary price. Example: I can periodically get Weller Special Reserve for a hair under $30. I see it being sold all over in other states for well over a $100. (and regular Makers Mark is better imo).
 
thunderwagn said:
Tough question!
I just ordered four bottles of bourbon that cost me $85 total with tax. So that balanced out to $20 a bottle. The cheapest was $15.99 and the most was $22.99. In all honesty, I typically try to stay well under $30. But I do splurge! More than I should!
On your list above, I'd go about $100 tops for a very special bottle. I don't want to beat up on our Canadian brothers, but I won't pay anything for Canadian till someone pours me a sample of something I like. I will say my experience with Canadian is very, very limited, but what I have had just wasn't to my liking.
I'd also add Mezcal and maybe tequila to that list and also do a very special buy at about $100.
I can't say that I'd buy more than one or two $100 bottles a year, and again, has to be a circumstantial and special maybe even lucky buy.
I also refuse to pay more than a few dollars of what bottles are worth or secondary price. Example: I can periodically get Weller Special Reserve for a hair under $30. I see it being sold all over in other states for well over a $100. (and regular Makers Mark is better imo).
Click to expand...

At $20 a bottle, that is pretty cheap. What bottles did you get?

As for the Weller's, I don't understand that going for over $30. It's a great whiskey at $25, good whiskey at $30 and anything above that, it is just hype that is not really deserved. The Weller 12 is a great whiskey at $45 bucks, good whiskey at $55 bucks, but not worth it at higher prices than that. Weller 107 is great at $55, good at $70, but that's the limit of the value. Haven't tried the CYPB, Full Proof, or Single Barrel, so I can't speak to those.

Of course, that is all my 2 cents on the subject.
 
AGbrewer said:
At $20 a bottle, that is pretty cheap. What bottles did you get?

As for the Weller's, I don't understand that going for over $30. It's a great whiskey at $25, good whiskey at $30 and anything above that, it is just hype that is not really deserved. The Weller 12 is a great whiskey at $45 bucks, good whiskey at $55 bucks, but not worth it at higher prices than that. Weller 107 is great at $55, good at $70, but that's the limit of the value. Haven't tried the CYPB, Full Proof, or Single Barrel, so I can't speak to those.

Of course, that is all my 2 cents on the subject.
Click to expand...
Some of my everyday favorites that I try to keep on hand, plus a silly bottle just because I'm a Walking Dead fan and it was only $15.99

Mellow Corn (one of my absolute favorites)
Elijah Craig small batch
Larceny
And Spirits of the Apocalypse: The Walking Dead
Honestly, for really good sippin everyday whiskey, I don't see much reason to spend over $25.

Where's your price range?
 
thunderwagn said:
Some of my everyday favorites that I try to keep on hand, plus a silly bottle just because I'm a Walking Dead fan and it was only $15.99

Mellow Corn (one of my absolute favorites)
Elijah Craig small batch
Larceny
And Spirits of the Apocalypse: The Walking Dead
Honestly, for really good sippin everyday whiskey, I don't see much reason to spend over $25.

Where's your price range?
Click to expand...

I personally don't believe that any whiskey with worth over $200. So that is my line in the sand. However, most of the time I don't go over about $50. There are tons of great whiskies under $50 (and quite a few under $25 to your point).

Why only $50? Well, IMO, it's a hose job. The distilleries are putting an MSRP that more than covers their operating cost, so why is the market charging a 1000% markup. Economics 101 my boy, it's a simple case of supply and demand of course. I get that the store needs to make money, but anything over about 10% above MSRP doesn't make sense to me. For a small mom and pop store, I could see them charging a little more as they don't have the sales volume to keep prices low like the big chain stores.

Again, that's just my 2 cents.
 
We are pretty heavily taxed on alcohol here in Canada, plus our dollar is weak compared to the US dollar. Your $20Us is about $27CDN.
Due to these two factors, what I pay would not be relative.

The following is not intended to be a political statement of any kind, just citing a bit of history.
In the Canadian manufacturing industry we actually like having a weak dollar, it makes exporting goods to the US more favorable (read: profitable). In the early 2000's, Allan Greenspan (13th Chair of the Federal Reserve who served under Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush Jr.), made efforts to weaken the US dollar for the same reasons, to promote the export of US goods to the world. He succeeded, and the US/CDN dollar were even at par for a period of time (after being more like $0.65 for years). This caused a lot of Canadian Manufacturing to run on hard times, and have to find ways to be profitable.

History lesson over:)

I typically spend between $60 and $100 Canadian for my Whiskey's of choice.
I have only ever had one Canadian Whiskey that I would consider "Neat Worthy", most Canadian whiskey is just too sweet for me.
This was the Crown Royale Northern Harvest Rye, which won 2016 Whiskey of the year, it was $35.
I am mainly scotch, and some Irish, but have been delving into the Bourbon a bit.
I have had one "hit" (Buffalo Trace $39), and one "miss" (Ellijah Craig Small Batch $50)
 
AGbrewer said:
I personally don't believe that any whiskey with worth over $200. So that is my line in the sand. However, most of the time I don't go over about $50. There are tons of great whiskies under $50 (and quite a few under $25 to your point).

Why only $50? Well, IMO, it's a hose job. The distilleries are putting an MSRP that more than covers their operating cost, so why is the market charging a 1000% markup. Economics 101 my boy, it's a simple case of supply and demand of course. I get that the store needs to make money, but anything over about 10% above MSRP doesn't make sense to me. For a small mom and pop store, I could see them charging a little more as they don't have the sales volume to keep prices low like the big chain stores.

Again, that's just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...
There is definitely some supply and demand at play, as well as taxation.
Where some of the high costs come in are with the longer aged whiskeys, this is very costly. Not only the space required, but the barrels need to be moved regularly so the batches age evenly. On top of that the longer it is aged, the less there is to package as there is the "angels share" (evaporation). Then there are the casks that they are aged in. For instance Jack Daniels uses new wood barrels only. Sounds expensive right? Their spent barrels are actually sold well in advance to other distillers. Then you have whiskeys which are aged in multiple barrels, like the auchentoshan three wood. Belvenie has a Double Wood, a triple cask, and a Carribean Cask.
Did I mention that I LOVE Whiskey?
 
This from the JD site:
After a six-day fermentation, the mash is distilled to 140 proof. The new-make whiskey is then charcoal-mellowed through 10 feet of maple charcoal prior to aging. Aged at least four years in new, charred American oak barrels which the distillery makes itself.

Compare the cost of this with the cost of aging the Lagavulin 16 Year Old
A much sought-after single malt with the massive peat-smoke that's typical of southern Islay - but also offering richness and a dryness that turns it into a truly interesting tipple. The 16 year old has truly become a benchmark Islay dram from the Lagavulin distillery.

I do love me some JD though!
 
Craigerrr said:
We are pretty heavily taxed on alcohol here in Canada, plus our dollar is weak compared to the US dollar. Your $20Us is about $27CDN.
Due to these two factors, what I pay would not be relative.

The following is not intended to be a political statement of any kind, just citing a bit of history.
In the Canadian manufacturing industry we actually like having a weak dollar, it makes exporting goods to the US more favorable (read: profitable). In the early 2000's, Allan Greenspan (13th Chair of the Federal Reserve who served under Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush Jr.), made efforts to weaken the US dollar for the same reasons, to promote the export of US goods to the world. He succeeded, and the US/CDN dollar were even at par for a period of time (after being more like $0.65 for years). This caused a lot of Canadian Manufacturing to run on hard times, and have to find ways to be profitable.

History lesson over:)

I typically spend between $60 and $100 Canadian for my Whiskey's of choice.
I have only ever had one Canadian Whiskey that I would consider "Neat Worthy", most Canadian whiskey is just too sweet for me.
This was the Crown Royale Northern Harvest Rye, which won 2016 Whiskey of the year, it was $35.
I am mainly scotch, and some Irish, but have been delving into the Bourbon a bit.
I have had one "hit" (Buffalo Trace $39), and one "miss" (Ellijah Craig Small Batch $50)
Click to expand...

I'm glad it's not just me on the Canadian whiskey thing. I not only have I found it sweet, but also "fruity" may be the best word I can find to describe it. I may have to see if I can track down that Crown Royale Rye.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Copyright © 2007-2024 Brewer's Friend, Inc. - Send Feedback - Terms - RSS Feed - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

Back
Top