Whisky and Scotch Recommendations

Green Spot is my favorite of the "Spot" bottles. Love that screenshot of Daniel for that review. Redbreast 15 is my favorite. I have the 12, 15 and 21. If you get a few duckets to spare track down a bottle of Bushmill 21. It is crazy good.

Been on a wheated bourbon kick of late. Starting to be some great stuff out there. Bernheim and Woodford are my current favorites.

polypusher wrote:

Hrdina, Oban 14 is basically my favorite. If I feel like I can afford it I go for that. Do you have any recommendations for similar scotches (similar flavor/character) that are both cheaper and more expensive? What I get on the cheaper end tends to be Bowmore and it's fine, doesnt have a ton in common with Oban 14 but I'd like to try some others.
I don't know of a finer/more expensive one on the same spectrum.

Ha, I can't say that I have a wide range of experiences, and to be honest I still have trouble with comparing two bottles if I'm not drinking them together. Most of the Scotches I've tried (so far) I've had only one bottle each.

BTW, I'm pretty sure that I originally tried the Oban based upon your recommendation in this thread.

I'll throw out a couple of thoughts, but I'm sure you can get some better-informed opinions than mine here.

That said, other Highlands I've had that IIRC were in the same league as the Oban would be the Dalwhinnie 15 or maybe the anCnoc 12. Another really good one is the Balvenie Double Wood, which spends a little time in Sherry casks if you like that sort of thing. If you really like that sort of thing, try the Glenmorangie Quinta Rubin.

Bowmore definitely isn't too much like Oban since it's (lightly IIRC) peated. I've had a couple of their scotches, and really liked the Bowmore 15 ("Darkest").

I can't say I remember which of these were expensive or not, other than to say that most of the bottles I buy tend to be about $50-$70 here in NJ.

fishdude wrote:

Green Spot is my favorite of the "Spot" bottles. Love that screenshot of Daniel for that review. Redbreast 15 is my favorite. I have the 12, 15 and 21. If you get a few duckets to spare track down a bottle of Bushmill 21. It is crazy good.

Been on a wheated bourbon kick of late. Starting to be some great stuff out there. Bernheim and Woodford are my current favorites.

I've had a little more of the Green Spot, and yeah that's a really good Irish.

Thanks, I've added the Bushmill 21 to my wanted list. Whenever I go into a store without already knowing what I want to get, I whip out the list to see if they have something I've been meaning to try.

Glenmorangie was the first bottle I ever bought. I later had the Quinta Rubain and loved it.

polypusher wrote:

Glenmorangie was the first bottle I ever bought. I later had the Quinta Rubain and loved it.

Yeah, that's a good one. It's actually a scotch that I've bought more than once.

Since you liked that, look into the Bowmore 15 Darkest, Macallan 12 Sherry Oak Cask, or Redbreast Lustau.

The Michter's Rye is not bad at all. It's just that Angel's Envy is top-notch. Try mixing the Michters into an Old Fashioned or a Brooklyn (a rye Manhattan with Luxardo added to the mix) and I think you'll like it a lot better.

(I've discovered that rye and Luxardo go so well together that I keep them both available for tasty concoctions. For example, one part each of rye, red vermouth, Luxardo and orange juice, with a Luxardo Maraschino cherry - fantastic!)

polypusher wrote:

Hrdina, Oban 14 is basically my favorite. If I feel like I can afford it I go for that. Do you have any recommendations for similar scotches (similar flavor/character) that are both cheaper and more expensive? What I get on the cheaper end tends to be Bowmore and it's fine, doesnt have a ton in common with Oban 14 but I'd like to try some others.
I don't know of a finer/more expensive one on the same spectrum.

Famous Grouse and Caol Ila might be up your alley.

Robear wrote:

The Michter's Rye is not bad at all. It's just that Angel's Envy is top-notch. Try mixing the Michters into an Old Fashioned or a Brooklyn (a rye Manhattan with Luxardo added to the mix) and I think you'll like it a lot better.

(I've discovered that rye and Luxardo go so well together that I keep them both available for tasty concoctions. For example, one part each of rye, red vermouth, Luxardo and orange juice, with a Luxardo Maraschino cherry - fantastic!)

I honestly have no idea how to make a Manhattan; I really do anything mixed more complicated than a highball.

Fredrik_S wrote:
polypusher wrote:

Hrdina, Oban 14 is basically my favorite. If I feel like I can afford it I go for that. Do you have any recommendations for similar scotches (similar flavor/character) that are both cheaper and more expensive? What I get on the cheaper end tends to be Bowmore and it's fine, doesnt have a ton in common with Oban 14 but I'd like to try some others.
I don't know of a finer/more expensive one on the same spectrum.

Famous Grouse and Caol Ila might be up your alley.

I'll second the Caol Ila: I picked up a bottle of Caol Ila 12 some time ago, and thought it was good if not quite as peaty as I like.

I've never tried Famous Grouse. In fact, when I was in the store this week, I saw a bottle on the shelf and that was the first time I had noticed it!

Whiskey Tribe favorite 5 Irish right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfNu...

So, for each major type of spirit there are a few - very few - basic drink recipes that provide us with all the huge variety you see on bar cocktail lists. The Manhattan is one of the most famous, and easiest.

2 parts Bourbon or Rye; 1 part sweet vermouth; 2 drops of bitters of your choice per every 3oz; and a twist of orange skin.

The Brooklyn is the same, but it adds 1/4 to 1/2 part Luxardo and a Luxardo cherry. You can put a teaspoon of the syrup from the cherry jar in there if you have a sweet tooth.

(Luxardo is *the* Maraschino Cherry liqueur, and Luxardo Maraschino Cherries in Sugar Syrup are the original, unbelievably delicious Maraschinos. They are nothing like the American neon ones. And they last forever, being entombed in thick sugar syrup, so you can parcel them for cocktails and ice cream as needed, they'll live safely in the fridge.)

Once you have the basic Manhattan down, ask yourself, what would it taste like with, oh, Port wine instead of Vermouth? (Answer- freaking delicious!) Or with a bit of orange juice added, or if you swap in something like raspberry liqueur instead of Luxardo? The liquor cabinet is now your playground! Tons of fun to be had.

fishdude wrote:

Whiskey Tribe favorite 5 Irish right now.

Oooh, thanks. I was previously unaware of a peated Irish whiskey, so I'll be keeping an eye out for that Connemara Peated Single Malt.

When I was writing about my Green Spot, I also came across their Top 10 Irish video (from January).

I'm beginning to think that Daniel's had Green Spot on more than anything else.

Robear wrote:

So, for each major type of spirit there are a few - very few - basic drink recipes that provide us with all the huge variety you see on bar cocktail lists. The Manhattan is one of the most famous, and easiest.

I might have to give that a try someday, although I do usually try to avoid sugary things like that Luxardo syrup.

He does not deny loving the green spot. The red spot is great as well but not worth the extra duckets for me.

fishdude wrote:

Whiskey Tribe

I really, really enjoyed these videos. Usually I scorn these sorts of things (along with most podcasts) because there's always so much horsing around and too little substance. But the editing and the passion of the two gentlemen really helped make this genuinely interesting. Thanks!

Rex and Daniel do their fair share of shenanigans but their passion is definitely there. I got very lucky when I started exploring bourbon and found them. I have very similar tastes in scotch and bourbon so their likes and dislike generally apply to me. Saves a ton of money!

A friend of mine was gracious enough to share his bottle of Old Tub with me. It was damn good, especially for $20.

Yep, i have a couple bottles hidden away. Super yummy.

How do people just keep booze around? I don’t drink it heavily but if I have bourbon around I drink a little every other night on average.

muraii wrote:

How do people just keep booze around? I don’t drink it heavily but if I have bourbon around I drink a little every other night on average.

I used to do pretty much that (and double on boardgame nights) but then I turned 50 and my nephrologist had a talk with me. So it's alluring, but by and large I can resist.

muraii wrote:

How do people just keep booze around? I don’t drink it heavily but if I have bourbon around I drink a little every other night on average.

I’m only able to keep bourbon around by also having gin, tequila, wine, and beer around as well.

I never used to have an issue keeping booze around, but I’m drinking a lot more whiskey this year.

Whereas in the past it would take me a year or more to finish a bottle, I’ve gone through four bottles so far this year and have a good start on a fifth.

A lot of that is due to a weekly whiskey and tonic during a pandemic happy hour that I have with some former colleagues over Zoom, but even before then I was drinking some straight a couple nights each week. And I have noticed that the whiskey-to-tonic ratio has been getting a little higher as 2020 wears on.

Do whiskey and tonic go well together? I haven't heard of that mix.

Sure, especially the complex Scotches that open up in water. Just make it like a gin and tonic, and if you like, put a lemon twist in. Good hot-weather variant for whiskeys, because it lightens them up significantly, and with ice, it's quite refreshing. (Remember, it's *tonic*, not soda, so it already has citrus and bitter and sweet notes.)

Bonus is not dragging an herb garden across your tastebuds like a regular G&T. Hi Paleo!

Nevin73 wrote:

Do whiskey and tonic go well together? I haven't heard of that mix.

I like it, at least

muraii wrote:

How do people just keep booze around? I don’t drink it heavily but if I have bourbon around I drink a little every other night on average.

The trick is to have so many bottles you can't drink them fast enough.

Ranger Rick wrote:
muraii wrote:

How do people just keep booze around? I don’t drink it heavily but if I have bourbon around I drink a little every other night on average.

The trick is to have so many bottles you can't drink them fast enough.

This guy gets it.

Definitely. Hovering around 35 bourbons and a dozen scotches at this point. Drinking is a theme. Wheaters. High Rye. Highland. Lowland. Peat bomb. Great system.

Ranger Rick wrote:
muraii wrote:

How do people just keep booze around? I don’t drink it heavily but if I have bourbon around I drink a little every other night on average.

The trick is to have so many bottles you can't drink them fast enough.

Yeah, no. This approach is how I ended up quitting booze entirely. Not least of all because caning through a bottle or two of > $50 scotch a week isn't sustainable for my wallet, let alone my liver.

I'm with muraii, keeping booze around is a licence to be drinking entirely too much. Obvs not applicable for everyone, but is/was certainly the case for me.

Yeah, I was being flip; in my case it doesn't matter how many bottles I have, I only have a drink a couple times a week at most. I've been lately working on only pulling from bottles I've mostly finished so I can pare the shelf space down a bit. But I realize that definitely doesn't work for everyone.

Yep, we have a bottle of Bourbon, Tequila, Vodka, 151 Rum and a variety of bitters, mixers, etc and we imbibe at most, 3 times a week and almost exclusively 1 drink each time. I have food addictions, so I don't keep certain foods in the house, so YMMV of course, since no one's brain chemistry is identical.

Yup, everyone has their own vice that's tough to control. Mine is ice cream. Doesn't matter how many bottles of whisky I've got hanging around, I still only drink one shot glass worth every week or so. Ice cream though, that stuff would be the death of me if I let it.

I've always disliked cocktails, and I've eventually come to realize it's because almost every cocktail I ever had was basically somebody taking booze and dumping some form of sugar into it, and, well, sweet drinks suck. All of them. Sweet cocktails, sugary juices, soft drinks. Yuck. But, of course, quarantine has given me time on my hands, and . . . hey, cocktails are really good. Really, really good. I've at this point figured out the perfect Boulevardier:
1.5 ounces Maker's Mark
.75 ounce Campari
.75 ounce Sweet Vermouth
Orange peel twist

It was good when I was using the crappy Martini and Rossi Sweet Vermouth that had been around forever; the wife picked up a somewhat better one (Drillaud, I think), and the cocktail is now just a spectacular, shimmering glass of bourbon with this glorious sharp orange bitterness in it. Almost bought a $35 bottle of Carpano Antiqua vermouth earlier today to try to up my game more, but resisted.

An Old Fashioned still sucks, though. Keep your dirty sugar out of my whiskey, please.