Whisky and Scotch Recommendations

I love a good bourbon, but I think I enjoy drinking rye more. Sounds like I need to find some Angel’s Envy.

I've been trying both the high rye bourbons and just rye whiskey. Had a lot of good stuff lately.

Redemption Rye, Bulleit Rye, the aforementioned Wild Turkey, have all been great.

For bourbons, Wild Turkey, Angels Envy, Bulleit, Four Roses, Old Grand Dad (best cheap one), Basil Hayden, or Knob Creek I've had in the last year. Really can't go wrong, they have all been good to great.

Also I bought an $80 bottle of Whistle Pig whisky as a gift to one of my best friends. He says it's great but I haven't been able to verify personally. Needed to get him something nice and it was #1 on a ranking I saw, so I got it.

Whistle Pig has been amazing, every bottle I've had of it was a standout.

Yeah, +1 for Whistlepig rye. Even the $40ish “Piggyback” 6-year is great.

Worth noting that a huge number of American ryes are the same product - a 95/5 mash distilled in a gigantic facility in Indiana (MGP) and then shipped out to the brands (Bulleit, Templeton, Dickel and many, many others), who slap a label onto it and sell it as a supposedly unique product. Not to say they are all identical, as many of the brands age and finish the rye in their own way. Still, they all end up very similar (at least in my experience) - which is good news, because if you like one, you'll probably like another. Plus, you can shop for the cheapest one and know that you're not getting an inferior product.

I do enjoy rye, but it gives me a headache. I've switched to Crown Royal. I doubt it's considered good by connoisseurs, but I love the smoothness.

Along those lines, and also a bit beyond the strictures of the thread, a friend of mine had a generic cognac from Costco (Kirkland's) that was shockingly good. Apparently, it's made in France. I know what my in-laws are getting me next Christmas...

Costco has some really nice stuff; I have a 24 year I got last fall, can't recall if it's a highland or Speyside. It was $65, which is silly for that age. The Kirkland-branded Islay scotch they had for a brief while was fabulous for IIRC $40. I've heard good stuff about their Bottled in Bond bourbon, but haven't seen it. I walk into the liquor store every time I'm at Costco (there's a separate entrance for the liquor store because Minnesota) just to check to see if they have any new Kirkland branded stuff because I'm willing to try it.

Their London Dry gin is also excellent if you just want a classic gin of that particular style; it's not one of the newer really citrus-forward or other interesting new takes on gin, but, if you want a classic, juniper-forward gin, it's really very nice stuff, and stupidly cheap for the quality. I know their French vodka is also highly regarded.

Tasty Pudding, I know that was true for many of the Ryes when the small brands were popping up like mushrooms (and some large ones restarting old brands). But these days a lot of them have transitioned to their own distilled juice.

Whistlepig started with a 10 year old rye from a distiller in Alberta, who (like MGP) had been caught with stocks when the bottom dropped out of the market in the late 90’s and yet continued to produce for the Canadian blended and rye markets (which shrank, but didn’t disappear). That was in 2007, so their first product was a ten year old Rye.

Then they started aging up variously sourced Ryes in different blends. In 2015, they finally set up their distillery, so the “Vermont Estate” line is produced from elements made on their farm - Rye and grains, barrels and well water. Other ones have off-site sourcing.

MGP has continued to drive the Rye resurrection, but other companies have started distilling their own. I think Jefferson is house-made, for example. But honestly, rye has less innate subtlety; it’s all about the blend and the aging process. So as you say, don’t worry about whether your rye is 100% handcrafted artisan sourced. If it’s good, it’s good. And because it often comes from large batch producers, it can be less expensive than Bourbon, although of course scarcity and reputation (and flavor) can drive exceptional ryes to high prices, “ordinary” ryes are often much tastier than bourbons at the same price point, since so much effort is put into “hand-crafting” bourbons.

Rye is good value all around. And, no one has mentioned this, it can be a better cocktail base than bourbon for the same drinks, due to the full, spicy flavor that mixes well in whiskey cocktail recipes. A Brooklyn, for me, far outclasses the famous Manhattan. Just don’t forget the actual Italian Maraschino cherries in syrup!

Oh, and horror of horrors… Rock and Rye used to be alcoholic’s choice, with bottles with a few pieces of sad fruit in the bottom and lots of sweet sugar dissolved in going cheaply to young adults (ahem) and habitues alike. It was a good mixer for sweet drinks but usually was imbibed by the glass, straight. But if that sweet, fruity, spicy mix was your intro to whiskey, it definitely left a sensory impression that was missed.

When the rye market disappeared, Rock and Rye producers vanished. Except for one… Mr. Boston. Which now had a few bad years, but on the revival, realized they had a niche. As the quality of ryes rose, Mr. Boston’s Rock and Rye literally became tastier and tastier. These days, if you don’t want to pony up the dollars for an artisan rock and rye (which may not even taste like the 70’s or 80’s versions, due to the decreased emphasis on sweetness in whiskies), Mr. Boston is an entirely satisfactory starting Rock and Rye. Again, great for mixing.

Funny how different everyone's tastes are. Back real quick on the Octomore, I have a bottle of the 20.3 version and I would say it's one of the best things I've ever tasted. I think it's amazing, well beyond any other scotch I have tried. It's certainly the most expensive individual bottle I've purchased by far but it was at the height of the initial pandemic quarantine and I figured I'd splurge. I'm really glad I did!

I don't know if this is the right thread, and I don't really care if it isn't, but I've gotten into mezcal recently. Good stuff.

I was initially scared off since any clear liquor usually sends warning signs from my college years, but a smoky tequila is nice.

(Yes, I know I'm just finding different ways to drink scotch without buying more scotch. I'm being adventurous!)

Vrikk wrote:

I don't know if this is the right thread, and I don't really care if it isn't, but I've gotten into mezcal recently. Good stuff.

I was initially scared off since any clear liquor usually sends warning signs from my college years, but a smoky tequila is nice.

(Yes, I know I'm just finding different ways to drink scotch without buying more scotch. I'm being adventurous!)

Mezcal rocks. Smokier, the better. Try making a Ranch Water cocktail with mezcal instead of tequila. So much better.

Well I got a bottle of Angel's Envy, and it's definitely a tasty and smooth bourbon. I think I'll have to compare it against a bottle of Piggyback one of these days - you know, for science!

AE is good, but too expensive imo. You can get 2-3 bottles of equally tasty rye for 1 bottle of AE.

Wild Turkey Rye, Woodford Reserve Rye, Knob Creek Rye, Rittenhouse Bonded Rye, to start the list. Those are all between 20 and 30$ a fifth, even lower if you get lucky and find on sale.

Buffalo Trace is my usual go-to for bourbon; AE was recommended upthread, so I wanted to give it a fair shake.

Oh I wasn't busting your chops! Sorry if it came accross that way. I just spend a lot on medicinal brown and wanted to give some alternative recommendations.

Yeah I've had AE bourbon several times but never purchased a bottle myself hehe.

SallyNasty wrote:

Oh I wasn't busting your chops! Sorry if it came accross that way. I just spend a lot on medicinal brown and wanted to give some alternative recommendations.

We good, fam.

Don't forget High West distillery. Fantastic Ryes and Bourbons. Really, really good.

Oh yes! Their double rye is like 30$ here and is stellar.

They also distill their own, for most if not all of their whiskeys. They make bank largely on blends that are interestingly aged.

Sounds like High West sourced from MGP in Indiana to start 15 years ago and then has switched to making their own. Interesting

That reminds me I stumbled on this during March Madness...

I want to try Pistol Pete if I'm ever in New Mexico.

NMSU first college with its own whiskey

That's the way of a lot of newer distilleries, Stele, and it illustrates the quality of MGP products, as well as the importance of finishing expertise.

Angel's Envy rye is fabulous and unique enough it's worth trying; sure, it's pricier, but those rum barrels give it this spectacular caramel sweetness that's really different, and it's phenomenal. Angel's Envy's barrel finishing really do give their whiskies a unique character, so you can't compare them to other standard (but excellent) offerings. I love me some Rittenhouse and Woodford Reserve, but they're in a very different category than AE.

Ah, interesting. I didn't see Angel's Envy rye (finished in rum barrels) at the store - only Angel's Envy bourbon (finished in port wine barrels).

I dig them both, and I've had the bourbon many times; it's just damn good. The rye is generally $90-100, but, if you feel like splurging, it's worth it. It really doesn't taste like any other rye I've ever had, and it's my favorite rum casked whiskey I've ever had. I know people who love the Balvenie Caribbean Cask, but I really didn't enjoy that at all. The AE rye is just so different and great.

Keep talking up that finished rye. I have a bottle waiting for me from a friend. Next time I visit my parents or they visit me, I will get it.

It's true. I still have some of the port finished AE Rye from a few years back. The Port flavor is even more pronounced with the Rye than with the Bourbon, so if you enjoy Port, it will really knock you over.

High West, I think it is, went one step further and actually mixed Port into one of their Rye blends. It's fantastic.