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Non-political break: Scotch Whisky

edited August 2020 in Off-Topic
(Edited to fix the spelling of MacAllan. ) Bought me a bottle after a long while, the other day. MacCallan 12-year, Double Cask. Highland Single Malt. Smooth as silk. Prices are high here, but this was supposedly "on sale" in the $60s. Great stuff. THREE words appear on the fancy box it comes in, to describe the flavor: Honey. Citrus. Ginger. Tastes like distilled BARLEY to me. Lovely.

Rectum/Spectrum cable and internet are both out. ALL DAY LONG. Only this page, and my email will work. No doubt because they are not full of flashy and very useless nonsense and crap that nobody wants nor needs.
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  • With good bottle of scotch, a day w/o internet can still be fun. Enjoy! :)
  • edited August 2020
    Only in the midst of an outrageously overpriced stock market can one afford to drink the stuff. Reasonably “palatable” scotch costs around $25-$30 per bottle. The next step up (mid-grade) starts at around $40. As Crash mentions, $50-$60 gets you into premium range, though some brands reach $100 or more. The typical 750 ml bottle gets you 15 regular 50 ml servings. So the stuff @Crash is putting away is costing him $4 a drink (before any sales tax that might apply). One nice mid-range scotch that sells for a bit less is Chivas Regal ($37 at last look) - but a bit too sweet for my taste.

    Trump raised the import tax (all domestically sold scotch is imported), but in MI, anyway, some of the increase in cost has been absorbed by the middlemen. A $25 bottle on average jumped only $2-$3 after the tariffs were increased. In MI the state has a monopoly on distribution / pricing of spirits. So prices tend to be the same at different retail outlets. About every 3 months they do a price reset. I always try to buy a couple extra for the cabinet when the price is lower.
    -

    Possibly of interest to some - “To be legally defined scotch your product must be ...

    - Distilled, produced, matured, and bottled all in Scotland
    - Created only with barley and water
    - Aged for a minimum of 3 years in oak barrels
    - Have the maturation and bottle years marked on the bottle “


    https://whiskeywatch.com/whiskey-varieties/scotch/macallan-12-review/
  • If you can find it try Black Bottle. An old scotch aficionado who worked at a bar with over 100 different whiskys loved it. I think most of the blend comes from MacCallan. I found it here in Massachusetts for around $30

    Total Wine has the best prices in the NE that I have seen. I like Peat and can get Laphroaig 10 for $42 or so. When I was working I was tempted by the 35 yo but thought that even my wife would guess it was $1500 a bottle

    If @Crash had that drink in a bar he would pay $10 so this is a bargain

    OR he could be tempted by the Glenfiddich 50 yo at $38,000

  • If you don't know (seems unlikely), in addition to the old known peaty blends (JW Red, Teacher's, White Horse ...), some of the good sweet blends now have a 'black' version (meaning peaty). So while not Laphroaig, you might try a bottle of Famous Grouse Black and see how you like it.

    (None of this is to be confused w JW Black.)

    Some blends have added a little peat over the last decade or two regardless. Probably because the kinds of newbies who might buy a good blend expect that taste. Dewar's now is notably smokier than in the past, and there are others. Even J&B, which used to be the lightest and sweetest of all the blends. FG regular not, fortunately.
  • Highland / Speyside s-m fans might always want to check, when staring at pricy Macallans and Highland Parks and so on, the price of the adjacent Balvenies. Wonderful stuff and almost always a bargain comparatively. Not for the Islay crowd, of course.

  • Balvenie Carribean Cask (or Double Barrel) is quite nice. Macallan 12 is always a good 'daily' dram. I'm also partial to Jura and Scapa from the salty windy north, too.

    At the moment I'm on a Laphroaig Quarter Cask kick for my scotches --- peaty as hell but nice.
  • Nobody I know in my age group (mid 30's) drinks hard liquor, it's all beer and wine. I have a number of friends who can endlessly detail the tastes of various kinds of craft beer, much as everyone on this thread has discussed scotch.

    It will be interesting to watch how the overall alcohol market evolves over time. Perhaps distillers will lose market share to craft beer, of which a sweet IPA with bitter, floral, earthy, and a hint of a citrus taste to it sounds delicious right about now ...:)
  • At a web site called "Uncommon Goods" one can find scotch infused toothpicks. Leave it to the Canadians.
  • edited August 2020
    Macallan 12 was always my go-to as well. My trip to great Britain and Ireland made me more open to Irish whiskeys and American bourbons also. Good Irish whiskey is available for a good price...Yellow or Green Spot, Red Breast, and one my local Irish bartender recommended, Writer's Tears are all good choices.
  • An Irish friend has been keeping me supplied with 15 yr "Single Pot Still" Red Breast. I just checked- no mention of Yellow or Green on the label.
  • edited August 2020

    Dewar's now is notably smokier than in the past, and there are others.

    Dewars “12 Year” blended is probably the best value around here this summer at $30.00. Much better than their White Label. The price difference can’t be more than $5.

    Dewars 12 isn’t too far off in flavor from pricier JW Black - my favorite.
  • I find those two pretty different, but if you shop price, you should try Old Smuggler, which is the gold standard for value --- a very good blend that is low in cereal taste and also in peat. Famous Grouse to my taste is more pleasing than Dewar's and at Total ~$5 cheaper for a handle. At the same FG pricepoint is a similar Speyside-oriented blend, Duggan's Dew.

    Even JW Black is a tiny tiny bit peatier than decades ago.
  • Glad for the responses! I'm going to be earmarking this thread. There really, honestly is no such thing as a real bargain or "sale" here, even when something is featured as such. Our 50th State is literally the end of the line. And I'm guessing that stuff is cheaper on Oahu as compared to the Neighbor Islands, too. @davfor might attest... (Molokai.) By the way, driving eastward from Honolulu, one must eventually turn the corner toward Waimanalo and Kailua and Kaneohe. On a perfect, clear day one time, I looked across the channel and could actually see the closest point on Molokai. Very cool.
  • Kailua is my fave beach on Oahu, it’s where I Iearned to wind surf. Love the turtles there as well.
  • @Crash: Have you done any fishing ?
    Derf
    P.S. I don't drink Scotch!
  • @PopTart @Derf My wife works in Kailua. Small world. And she's quite familiar with that great beach over there. I tend to want to avoid the crowd, so I like to head up the other way, to Chinaman's Hat. I can check-off a bucket-list item: I ate at Haleiwa Joe's, up there, before the Covid restrictions.

    No, no fishing, yet. Maybe never. There are serious boats you can go on, to get the massively monstrously big tuna and the rest... There is only ONE place where you can fish in freshwater here on Oahu, in the middle of the island: Lake Wilson. I inquired about it. You have to buy the freshwater license. No problem... But there is some kind of "entrance fee," after that. (Extortion.) And even if fishing from shore, you must have a life-preserver with you, though you're not required to wear it, on shore. ...Someone's decided to make a simple, lovely pastime very stupid and complicated.

    My wife and I looked online at the websites for some of the saltwater boats that go after the big fish. Wifey is accustomed to the bluefish-sized (3 and 4 feet long) and porgy-sized specimens in Long Island Sound.... When she saw a picture of the gigantic tuna being brought onto the boat, she decided against it. (She's 5 feet tall, 115 pounds, and with a bit of a long-term messed-up elbow on one arm...) And here's a new wrinkle: back East, if you catch a fish, it's yours. On these boats in Hawaii, the captain claims X poundage. You get the rest. ... I will look forward to freshwater fishing if I ever get back to the Mainland--- East or West. My son's around L.A.
    https://img1.wsimg.com/isteam/ip/5603fcc2-6759-4c82-bd6c-f799b6578fd9/40e98257-896c-416d-bf36-353eddf462ab.jpg/:/
  • And along that coast (below Kailua) was "Robin's Nest" where Magnum lived. I think the house has now been sold and demolished.
    Further north of Kailua, my wife and I stopped and talked with some kids who were rowing. They had two big long boats and were a local rowing team. We got some nice pictures. This happened a year ago December. The kind of experience you can have if you're just tootling around and stopping when something looks interesting.

    David
  • +1. Yes, indeed. Sad to realize we are on a 2-week semi-lockdown, again. And the kids with their schoolwork! It's not enough to pay attention to the material and LEARN. They gotta sign-in so the teacher knows they're there. And the ins-and-outs of the damn computer programs, etc. etc. etc. Covid is outa control now--- unlike the earliest days of the restrictions in the early Spring.
  • Howdy folks,

    Nice thread and I've learned a lot. Got a shopping list.

    Way back in Vietnam we were completely tax exempt. Completely. Cigarettes were $1.40 a carton or $0.15 a pack. Chivas was $5.00 a 5th. In the Corps, enlisted couldn't buy liquor below Staff NCO grade regardless of age so we had our navy corpsmen buy our booze [yeah, like high school where you had some older guy buy you a 6 pack.] We didn't have any mix so we had to come up with booze on booze drinks. Rusty Nails out of a canteen cup. And for the purists, a true Rusty Nail is with a 2 oz. of scotch and 1/2 oz. of Drambuie and if you really want it to be correct, you pour the scotch over crushed ice and then insert your finger into the middle and melt a hole into which you carefully pour the Drambuie.

    and so it goes,

    peace and wear the damn mask,

    rono
  • Oban. Hard not to like for beginners but good enough for snobs.
  • +1. And +1.
  • Many of my ancestors left Scotland for Ireland while they were waiting for Kentucky to be discovered.

    Scotch and Irish are delightful. And I've enjoyed many styles. Laphroaig for weddings. Pinch for wakes. MacCallans for cards. Dewars for flying. And any Irish when I feel obstreperous. But none suit my genes so well as Bourbon.

    In the long run I find I'ld rather split a decent bottle of wine with dinner every night than enjoy a fine bottle of whiskey on some other schedule.

  • :) Duly noted.
  • edited August 2020
    Crash +1


    Although Whiskey too harshe for us (we are definitely too soft). we do have love Screwdrivers. They are excellent and easy to make

    We also use beringer red wines though, highly recommend after hard day of work and mellow out

  • I'm with WABAC.

  • We're not just a scotch snobs. One of our fave go-to bourbons is called Widow Jane. It uses the magical waters of upstate New York, which for those who know about New York's water, makes for a great, smooth taste.
  • edited August 2020
    WABAC said:

    Dewars for flying .“

    Don’t normally drink while flying - or ever before dinner. However, on a nighttime trans-Atlantic flight couple years ago on Air Canada, I requested scotch (after whatever passes for dinner on such flights) and they brought me a Johnny Walker Black! So, I assume that’s their house brand. Of course, being seated in one of their premium sections might have helped. JWB’s a welcome notch up from the Dewars served on many domestic flights. Been buying JWB fairly regularity ever since.

    Re whiskey - I drank quantities of bourbon back 30-40 years ago. Thinking about it always reminds me of that line in a song by Hank Williams Jr.

    “Lordy I have loved some ladies and I have loved Jim Beam
    And they both tried to kill me in 1973.”
    (A Family Tradition)
  • hank said:

    WABAC said:

    Dewars for flying .“

    Don’t normally drink while flying
    I haven't lost a flight yet. Two in the departure airport. And two on the plane. But I'm not dogmatic if it's a short hop like San Francisco to LA. Or if I'm driving on the other end.

    Flying is OK. It's the airports, loading, and unloading that get me.
    Re whiskey - I drank quantities of bourbon back 30-40 years ago. Thinking about it always reminds me of that line in a song by Hank Williams Jr. about how “... Jim Beam nearly killed me in 1973 ...”:)
    I now allow myself a couple of mini bottles a week. Bulleit usually.

  • Bullett, bourbon? My son likes it.
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