Fine Liquor

[Tonker]

Gin : Plymouth is THE martini gin.  Hendrick's is also good, and I'll drink Tanqueray.  Gordon's is possibly the worst drink on the planet.

Vodka :  I'm not much of a one for vodka but Russian Standard, straight from the freezer, with black bread and sausage, is teh ablls.

Rum : Havana Club Anejo, for all I know about rum.  I drank half a bottle of Bacardi white, neat, when I was 15, and have never really felt the same about rum since.

Tequila : Tres Generaciones Anejo or Don Julio Anejo - both of which are fantastically peppery.  You can keep the rest.  This is why :



Whisky (no 'e').  Man, where to start?  First of all, if you're drinking neat whisky, it has to be single malt.  If you're not drinking it neat, then Happy Shopper Cooking Whisky is fine.  I'm not generally a big fan of the peaty whiskies (Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Ardbeg and so on) BUT the Ardbeg Supernova, which is apparently the World's peatiest whisky, is exceptional.  I prefer whisky that's come from the seaside and tastes like it - Clynelish is seaweedy and salty and my absolute, absolute favourite.  Highland Park 18 (from Orkney, half way to Norway) is also great - although also quite peaty.  Hmm... turns out, I do like peaty whiskies after all.  Glenlivet is a really good, inexpensive, pretty neutral single malt that is a good place to start if you're not sure... I think somebody mentioned Aberlour earlier, which is also a very serviceable, inexpensive, middle-of-the-road malt.  Try some of the port/sherry/madeira cask finishes that Glenmorangie, for instance, do.  And don't ever, ever try Loch Dhu.  It's a black whisky (it looks like Guinness) and tastes of bananas.  They stopped making it, and I can't blame them.

If I absolutely, absolutely have to drink blended whisky then it's Canadian Club or Jameson's.  By the way, did you know that you can't age Malt whisky in a new cask, and the vast, vast majority of malt whiskies are aged in casks that once held American Bourbon?  True story.

Cognac : meh, whatever.

[Bort]

I'll take your Scotch suggestions into consideration, Tonk. I do like the peaty ones, but...

[SKO]

Gin : Plymouth is THE martini gin.  Hendrick's is also good, and I'll drink Tanqueray.  Gordon's is possibly the worst drink on the planet.

Vodka :  I'm not much of a one for vodka but Russian Standard, straight from the freezer, with black bread and sausage, is teh ablls.

Rum : Havana Club Anejo, for all I know about rum.  I drank half a bottle of Bacardi white, neat, when I was 15, and have never really felt the same about rum since.

Tequila : Tres Generaciones Anejo or Don Julio Anejo - both of which are fantastically peppery.  You can keep the rest.  This is why :



Whisky (no 'e').  Man, where to start?  First of all, if you're drinking neat whisky, it has to be single malt.  If you're not drinking it neat, then Happy Shopper Cooking Whisky is fine.  I'm not generally a big fan of the peaty whiskies (Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Ardbeg and so on) BUT the Ardbeg Supernova, which is apparently the World's peatiest whisky, is exceptional.  I prefer whisky that's come from the seaside and tastes like it - Clynelish is seaweedy and salty and my absolute, absolute favourite.  Highland Park 18 (from Orkney, half way to Norway) is also great - although also quite peaty.  Hmm... turns out, I do like peaty whiskies after all.  Glenlivet is a really good, inexpensive, pretty neutral single malt that is a good place to start if you're not sure... I think somebody mentioned Aberlour earlier, which is also a very serviceable, inexpensive, middle-of-the-road malt.  Try some of the port/sherry/madeira cask finishes that Glenmorangie, for instance, do.  And don't ever, ever try Loch Dhu.  It's a black whisky (it looks like Guinness) and tastes of bananas.  They stopped making it, and I can't blame them.

If I absolutely, absolutely have to drink blended whisky then it's Canadian Club or Jameson's.  By the way, did you know that you can't age Malt whisky in a new cask, and the vast, vast majority of malt whiskies are aged in casks that once held American Bourbon?  True story.

Cognac : meh, whatever.

I eagerly awaited your appearance in this thread. Sir, you did not disappoint.

[Quality Start Machine]

I'll take your Scotch suggestions into consideration, Tonk. I do like the peaty ones, but...

[Bort]

I'll take your Scotch suggestions into consideration, Tonk. I do like the peaty ones, but...

Sigh.

[Tonker]

I'll take your Scotch suggestions into consideration, Tonk. I do like the peaty ones, but...

If you like peaty whisky then you should make it your life's work to get hold of a bottle of the Ardbeg Supernova, Jon.  It's rarer than rocking-horse droppings, but you never know...

[PenPho]

I'll take your Scotch suggestions into consideration, Tonk. I do like the peaty ones, but...

If you like peaty whisky then you should make it your life's work to get hold of a bottle of the Ardbeg Supernova, Jon.  It's rarer than rocking-horse droppings, but you never know...

Does its availability compare favorably to Unicorn apples?

[powen01]

Anybody try this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenniv%C3%ADn ?

[Tonker]

I'll take your Scotch suggestions into consideration, Tonk. I do like the peaty ones, but...

If you like peaty whisky then you should make it your life's work to get hold of a bottle of the Ardbeg Supernova, Jon.  It's rarer than rocking-horse droppings, but you never know...

Does its availability compare favorably to Unicorn apples?

It's slightly easier to get hold of, yes.  About on a par with hens' teeth.

[Bort]

I'll keep an eye out. Oh heck: two eyes. As often as I can spare them.

[SKO]

Anybody try this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenniv%C3%ADn ?

The article mentions that they drink this to mask the taste of this. This raises a few questions. 1) Why would you eat something that "is an acquired taste and has a very particular ammonia-rich smell and fishy taste, similar to very strong cheese slathered in ammonia" and 2) Why would you eat something that requires a taste of 80 proof schnapps in order to become palatable?

[J. Walter Weatherman]

If overseas, Cuba's Havana Club makes fantastic rum.

I actually had it in Cuba and managed to sneak some home.
It is outstanding.

I used to sneak in absinthe from the czech republic when I'd visit there.
Much better than the fake absinthe crap here in the US.

What's it like? (face on hands, elbows on table)

Tastes like liquorice.

Overrated by people who rate such things.

[powen01]

Anybody try this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenniv%C3%ADn ?

The article mentions that they drink this to mask the taste of this. This raises a few questions. 1) Why would you eat something that "is an acquired taste and has a very particular ammonia-rich smell and fishy taste, similar to very strong cheese slathered in ammonia" and 2) Why would you eat something that requires a taste of 80 proof schnapps in order to become palatable?

Some of us like to have excuses for why we drink.  This just seems like a perfectly stupid one that I would like to try.

[Slaky]

If overseas, Cuba's Havana Club makes fantastic rum.

I actually had it in Cuba and managed to sneak some home.
It is outstanding.

I used to sneak in absinthe from the czech republic when I'd visit there.
Much better than the fake absinthe crap here in the US.

What's it like? (face on hands, elbows on table)

Tastes like liquorice.

Overrated by people who rate such things.

Exactly right. The hallucinogenic properties aren't much more than they would be if you drank a comparable amount of any other strong liquor.

All that and I have a bottle in my house just sitting there.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

I used to sneak in absinthe from the czech republic when I'd visit there.
Much better than the fake absinthe crap here in the US.

What's it like? (face on hands, elbows on table)

Tastes like liquorice.

Overrated by people who rate such things.

Exactly right. The hallucinogenic properties aren't much more than they would be if you drank a comparable amount of any other strong liquor.

All that and I have a bottle in my house just sitting there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe

Today it is known that absinthe does not cause hallucinations. Thujone, the active chemical in absinthe, is a GABA antagonist; and while it can produce muscle spasms in large doses, there is no evidence that it causes hallucinations. It has been speculated that reports of hallucinogenic effects of absinthe may have been due to poisonous chemicals being added to cheaper versions of the drink in the 19th century, to give it a more vivid colour.

...

Past reports estimated thujone levels in absinthe as being high—up to 260 mg/kg of absinthe. More recently, published scientific analyses of samples of various original absinthes have disproven earlier estimates, showing that very little of the thujone present in wormwood actually makes it into a properly distilled absinthe when using historical recipes and methods. Most proper absinthes, both vintage and modern, are within the current EU limits.

...

A study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol concluded that high doses (0.28 mg/kg) of thujone in alcohol had negative effects on attention performance. It slowed down reaction time, and caused subjects to concentrate their attention in the central field of vision. Low doses (0.028 mg/kg)did not produce an effect noticeably different from plain alcohol. While the effects of this high dose were statistically significant in a double blind test, the test subjects themselves were unable to reliably identify which samples were the ones containing thujone. For the average 65 kg man, the high dose in the study would be 18.2 mg of thujone. The EU limit of 10 mg/L of thujone in absinthe means that about 1.8 liters of the highest legal thujone content absinthe would have to be drunk to reach the measured effects, a feat likely to cause alcohol poisoning.

...

The prevailing consensus of interpretation of United States law and regulations among American absinthe connoisseurs is that, with the revision of thujone levels by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), it is now legal to purchase such a product for personal use in the United States. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food and beverages that contain Artemisia species must be thujone free. Thujone free is defined as containing less than 10ppm thujone.

...

A faux-absinthe liquor called Absente, made with southern wormwood (Artemisia abrotanum) instead of grande wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), is sold legally in the United States. This was the first U.S. approval referring to "absinthe" on the front label; the front label says "Absinthe Refined" but the TTB classified the product as liqueur. In 2007, TTB relaxed the absinthe ban, and has now approved over 50 brands for sale. These brands must pass TTB testing, which is conducted using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. The TTB considers a product to be thujone-free if the FDA's test measures less than 10ppm (equal to 10 mg/kg) thujone. St. George Spirits, a California distillery, began producing and selling absinthe in 2007, making it the first U.S. company to do so since 1912.

It tastes like liquorice and drinking it the traditional way is a thoroughly gay experience.

The only people I've ever known that have been into the stuff have been goth-types. Which figures.