Hard Drinkers, Lets Drink Hard (Spirits, Liquors and Cocktails)
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So… Looking for a decent single malt... Preferably around 50€... No peat, no smoke, needs to be complex, bit sweet, lingering,... It's obvious I know nowt about whiskey so... HELP!..
My brother, who is an expert on whisky, says:
_Anyway - I would be looking at something like a Speyside…
Aberlour A'Bunadh is awesome - that would be a good start point, it is certainly sweet and complex... and kinda a blend of napalm and honey
If he doesn't want something at 60% alcohol or so... some people don't... then Springbank, Mortlach or Edradour would all be worth looking for... and a little different from Glenfiddich or something._
I pointed out to him that @Seul is a beer fiend, and wouldn't be scared off by a little alcohol, to which he replied:
The Aberdour it is then. I think my second bottle of it ran out some time ago…. mmmmm
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So… Looking for a decent single malt... Preferably around 50€... No peat, no smoke, needs to be complex, bit sweet, lingering,... It's obvious I know nowt about whiskey so... HELP!..
No peat, no smoke? Damn, that eliminates most of my favorites (I'm sipping on some Laphroiag 18 as we speak!)…
How about Highland Park 12? There's a little peat and smoke, but nothing like anything else I'd normally recommend :-\ It's a little sweet, complex and very tasty.
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Backing the A'Budnah - a perfect whisky and should be +/- 50€. As I love Clynelish, you could also try the Distiller's Edition. Highland Park is always a safe bet, but if he doesn't like peat, that outrules it already.
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incoming:
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seul,
this one is 25€ more than you want to spend but as good as it gets.
also quite cheap for something like that:21 years
singke cask
54,4 %
Speyside
non chillfiltered -
^what distillery is it or is it unnamed?
I haven't watched the Whisky Scene nor bought a bottle for a year. It just got so frustrating when the good malts with Age Statement got replaced by what I call "designer Whiskies" - no Age, but a fancy name and high price to signal high quality. And this came with an increasement of the bottles with Age. i just think of the Highland Park 18 Years ot the Talisker 18 Years - both almost doubled their Price within a year.Laphroaig 10 YO Cask Strength died a silent death. Lagavulin's distiller's Edition got a huge price increase, the old Macallan's first got annoyingly expensive, then were taken off the market, too and so on. The new customers (due to the Hype) don't seem to care.
My best bottles are 4-5 years old now and I got them for a third of their nowadays value.
Rant over
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sorry, it's a Tamnavulin bottled by Duncan Taylor.
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i would always advice to buy single cask whiskeys from independent bottlers if possible.
cheers -
Thank you! I've got some great indipendent bottlings (love Murray McDavid and Gordon & MCPhail), but Qualities seem to be inconsistant there, too. High demand (from Asia?) seems to make the warehouses run out of the good stuff (or sell it to damn high Prices).
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The demand is definitely from Asia. At Heathrow duty-free last week, I saw Chinese customers buying Talisker like it was going out of style. Multiple that by a few million and…
Whisky prices are quite steep in Hong Kong so I've been continuing my education by picking up smaller bottles from the Classic Malts series when back in the UK: I really liked the Lagavulin and Cragganmore bottles I've had recently and Talisker 12 was good too. Obviously this is starter stuff compared to the rare bottles some of you are copping but I'm developing my palate this way and enjoying the ride.
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I didn't drink a dram for months, as I know I can't get many of that stuff again (or at reasonable Prices). The positive effect: when I drink "standard" stuff like the whiskies you mentioned - they taste wonderful. The palate can definitely be trained to taste the smaller differences - and also forgets them, if you don't. So I guess I'll stick with standard bottles the next years. And the normal Lagavulin has always been a great Whisky (even if it would benefit from a few percentages more alcohol).,
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The Manhattan is probably my favourite cocktail; I have made a metric fuck tonne (MFT) of these over the years. I thought I would share some experience about nailing the perfect (IMO) Manhattan.
There are many recipes that you can reference when making a Manhattan, in my experience almost all of them have 2 main issues:
- Not enough rye
- Too much vermouth
Even Salvatore Calabrese (who I love) is too heavy handed with the vermouth. My recommendation is (AT LEAST) 100ml of rye per person (I like to use Rittenhouse or Sazerac, Pikesville is a good, slightly lower cost, option. Obviously there are many more ryes you could use, but price may dictate your selection).
Maximum vermouth (I like to use Lillet Rouge) usage is 10ml per person, so a 10:1 ratio, this may seem low but you can always add a tiny bit more. What you need to avoid is the “winey” notes of the vermouth over-powering the heady liquor hit of the rye.
For the bitters I use Angostura, but you could make your own, this is a good book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bitters-Spirited-Cure-All-Cocktails-Formulas/dp/1580083595. As with the vermouth, less is more – 2 shakes of the standard Angostura bottle per person is more than enough. As with all recipes – taste during build and before serving.
IMPORTANT – chill the glass, either by leaving the glasses in the freezer of using ice and water in the glass for 10 minutes before serving.
Cherries – you need cherries. The supermarket ones in syrup are acceptable and some palates like the extra sweetness imparted by the gomme, but fresh cherries (slight slashed with a knife) or cherries steeped in booze (brandy or liquor of your choice) are the best. Minimum 2 cherries per person, 3 if they look forlorn.
There are two main builds/presentation.
In a classic cocktail glass, no ice. This is more suited to mixed company when a genteel air is required. Example (Manhattan is on the right):
If there is a surfeit of oxblood leather wingback chairs and a preponderance of male consumers then a presentation with a big fucking chunk of ice is desirable (multiple ice cubes should be avoided as dilution becomes excessive – I use these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ice-Ball-Moulds-Silicone-Sphere/dp/B007SDDASG). Example (no cherry variant):
Enjoy, experiment, get fucked up.
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thanks hectic, great post! manhattan is my favourites as well,
and you are damn right with the whisky/vermouth ratio.
one thing i like to add is, the importance of the right bitter.
if you chose angostura there is a great difference.the one made from angostura bark is to avoid.
the bitter named after the city angostura is the on, IMO.the both nearly look the same but the paperlable of the good
one reaches over the bottle shoulders and covers a part of the bottelneck as well.
cheers! -
i'm not a fan of the octave concept
but this one is a simply outstanding single single malt!
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Sounds great, would like to try…
Coming back to the discussion about the recent release politics of established, commercial distilleries:
That is exactly the reason why I switched to gin. I still buy the occasional bottle of whisky, but it's not the same...Some pictures from the weekend:
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Here's the story behind the pig war…
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_War
