OT any bourbon or whiskey drinkers?

[samspann1]

Heading to Kennebunkport, Maine, for vacation. It's a great place but two of the best parts are that I'll be driving by a New Hampshire liquor outlet and driving by Tree House Brewing in Massachusetts.

The NH outlets are huge, price and selection are great, and they don't charge state tax. I usually load up on the way home.

Not sure if I'll have time to hit Tree House, this year.

Tree House is awesome.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Heading to Kennebunkport, Maine, for vacation. It's a great place but two of the best parts are that I'll be driving by a New Hampshire liquor outlet and driving by Tree House Brewing in Massachusetts.

The NH outlets are huge, price and selection are great, and they don't charge state tax. I usually load up on the way home.

Not sure if I'll have time to hit Tree House, this year.

Tree House has been outstanding this year, made it down two times this year and shooting for another in the early fall or very late summer. The 2 draft max on Sat's is still a bummer but they have been going with 3 on Fridays and the Can offerings have been outstanding. Trillium is only about an hour away from the man brewery in Charlton, highly recommend them as well.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Had some WhistlePig Rye whiskey this weekend which was excellent. Very smooth, and easy to sip on.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Heading to Kennebunkport, Maine, for vacation. It's a great place but two of the best parts are that I'll be driving by a New Hampshire liquor outlet and driving by Tree House Brewing in Massachusetts.

The NH outlets are huge, price and selection are great, and they don't charge state tax. I usually load up on the way home.

Not sure if I'll have time to hit Tree House, this year.

One of the best parts of my son going to UNH.

 

[OburgOrange]

Had some WhistlePig Rye whiskey this weekend which was excellent. Very smooth, and easy to sip on.

It’s good

 

[SUskibum]

I have been drinking a lot more tequila than whisky this year. It’s been fun exploring the different agedness and brands

 

[kuethstheman]

I have been drinking a lot more tequila than whisky this year. It’s been fun exploring the different agedness and brands

Any favorites?

 

[chop block]

No, but I'm cutting back on trying new ones. My pattern is buying, trying, then buying something else. I've got about 20 bottles that I've had a shot or two of. I've switched to trying to finish off a few bottles before buying anything new.

Currently working on Nikka from the Barrel. Good stuff!

Me and my best friend buy a bottle that neither of us have had for each other's birthdays then drink it together. He got me a bottle of the nikka Coffey grain, fantastic. Never in a million years would have guessed it was Japanese.

 

[kuethstheman]

Me and my best friend buy a bottle that neither of us have had for each other's birthdays then drink it together. He got me a bottle of the nikka Coffey grain, fantastic. Never in a million years would have guessed it was Japanese.

That's another good one! After I kill off the Nikka from the Barrel, I may move on to my bottle of that.

 

[chop block]

I have a habit of never completely finishing a bottle but it's been getting a little ridiculous. Was on vacation last week and decided some needed to go. Drank a tyrconnell, glen garioch, noble oak rye, and buffalo trace. Oh and my wife took care of a tanqueray Malacca. I hope my neighbors don't look to careful at the recycling bin tomorrow.

 

[DMDMD]

Not sure if I'll have time to hit Tree House, this year.

You can buy online and pay ahead of time, then just hit the can-pickup line if you're in a hurry. But its a beautiful space, so you should carve out a little time if its nice out.

 

[Cusester]

A top 5 bottle for me and relatively inexpensive at $52 or so.

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

Any favorites?

for my money, you can't beat Casamigos for sipping tequila, the blanco or the reposado. Patron silver delivers too

Whiskey should be a Dalwhinnie 25, just heavenly but expensive and hard to find. 15 year aged works too

 

[SUskibum]

for my money, you can't beat Casamigos for sipping tequila, the blanco or the reposado. Patron silver delivers too

Whiskey should be a Dalwhinnie 25, just heavenly but expensive and hard to find. 15 year aged works too

Funny, That is basically the exact opposite of my take. Takes two to make a market!

I have found that I like Anejo (or extra) much more than silver/blanco with reposado being in the middle.

I also found that the Aggedness makes a much bigger Difference to me than the premium vs mid tier make. Eg, I would rather a $60 Anejo 1800 over a $60 sliver Don Julio

Also, of all the players in the $40-$80 bottle range, Casamigos is easily my least favorite. Even though paradoxically it is the brand that got me back into tequila after a 20 year hiatus.

Last interesting take I found was some brands have an Anejo but then add an ultra filter process to it so all the color is removed and it becomes clear. This gives you the smoothness of the aging of the anejo but the crispness of a blanco which makes it great for a sipping summer drink with a citrus (I squeeze a fresh quarter orange into mine over ice).

One thing you will find with this extra filtered Anejo is you lose some of the anjeo flavors that I love (gives it some of the same flavors of bourbon barrel aging) but the extra filtering makes it crisp and light by taking out all the residuals. Arrete is easily my favorite in this line.

Don Julio, Casa Noble, Patron and 1800 are all good imo for Anejo’s but I find a lot of bars still dont carry them unfortunately.

 

[kuethstheman]

for my money, you can't beat Casamigos for sipping tequila, the blanco or the reposado. Patron silver delivers too

Whiskey should be a Dalwhinnie 25, just heavenly but expensive and hard to find. 15 year aged works too

I do like anejo best, especially Don Julio, but I like a good reposado also. Casamigos is great. Herradura is my go-to.

My son bought me my first extra anejo, recently: Adictivo. Loved it! although it was more like a Port than a tequila.

As for Dalwhinnie, somehow, I've never tried it, any expression.

I take that back! For most of my life I thought scotch was awful. Someone told me to get Dalwhinnie and that it would turn me into a scotch lover. Didn't work. I gave away a perfectly good bottle. Would love to have that back now!

 

[samspann1]

Semi-related, but when I make a Manhattan at home, I use 2 parts bourbon, 1 part sweet vermouth, a dash of bitters and finish it off with a luxardo cherry. I don’t use simple syrup….is that a thing now? Had two manhattans at 2 different places last weekend, and both were considerably sweeter (not necessarily in a bad way) than what I’m used to.

Also, saw tequila mentioned upthread. Starting drinking ranch waters this summer - they’re super refreshing on a hot summer day.

 

[kuethstheman]

Semi-related, but when I make a Manhattan at home, I use 2 parts bourbon, 1 part sweet vermouth, a dash of bitters and finish it off with a luxardo cherry. I don’t use simple syrup….is that a thing now? Had two manhattans at 2 different places last weekend, and both were considerably sweeter (not necessarily in a bad way) than what I’m used to.

Also, saw tequila mentioned upthread. Starting drinking ranch waters this summer - they’re super refreshing on a hot summer day.

Don't think I've had a Manhattan with simple syrup. That's an Old Fashioned thing.

 

[samspann1]

Don't think I've had a Manhattan with simple syrup. That's an Old Fashioned thing.

Right - the sweetness in those drinks just threw me for a loop

 

[SUskibum]

Semi-related, but when I make a Manhattan at home, I use 2 parts bourbon, 1 part sweet vermouth, a dash of bitters and finish it off with a luxardo cherry. I don’t use simple syrup….is that a thing now? Had two manhattans at 2 different places last weekend, and both were considerably sweeter (not necessarily in a bad way) than what I’m used to.

Also, saw tequila mentioned upthread. Starting drinking ranch waters this summer - they’re super refreshing on a hot summer day.

Don’t make a ranch water fresh (which is essentially what i said… tequila plus fresh sqeezed juice, then add soda water) because you will be ruined on those canned drinks.

But they are good in a pinch

 

[Melancer46]

My brother bought me one of those bourbon of the month club things for 3 months so I ended up getting to try a few bourbons I had never heard of before:

• Union Trail 5 year from Utica I believe
• Barrell Bourbon
• "Tara" from Stellum Bourbon

All of them were pretty decent and I had a lot of fun getting to try some new bourbons. None of them were particularly groundbreaking but I think the one from Utica was my favorite of the bunch.

I think I need to try to get my hands on another bottle of McKenna's 10 Year BiB again if I can find a bottle at a reasonable price.

 

[Newhouser]

A top 5 bottle for me and relatively inexpensive at $52 or so.

I like the Prohibition style the best but the 1910 is solid as well.

 

[Newhouser]

Semi-related, but when I make a Manhattan at home, I use 2 parts bourbon, 1 part sweet vermouth, a dash of bitters and finish it off with a luxardo cherry. I don’t use simple syrup….is that a thing now? Had two manhattans at 2 different places last weekend, and both were considerably sweeter (not necessarily in a bad way) than what I’m used to.

Also, saw tequila mentioned upthread. Starting drinking ranch waters this summer - they’re super refreshing on a hot summer day.

I mix equal parts bourbon and rye with the bitters and vermouth and cherry or orange rind. Never have used use simple syrup.

 

[kuethstheman]

Heading to Kennebunkport, Maine, for vacation. It's a great place but two of the best parts are that I'll be driving by a New Hampshire liquor outlet and driving by Tree House Brewing in Massachusetts.

The NH outlets are huge, price and selection are great, and they don't charge state tax. I usually load up on the way home.

Not sure if I'll have time to hit Tree House, this year.

I didn't get to Tree House but I hit the Wiggly Bridge Distillery in York, Maine, and a NH outlet.

Wiggly Bridge makes a bunch of stuff including bourbon, tequila, and rum. All unique. I grabbed their straight bourbon and their Platinum tequila. Both very good.

At the outlet, I picked up a couple of Compass Box blended scotches that I've wanted to try (Spice Tree and Orchard House) along with their Glasgow Blend, which I've had. I grabbed some Westland and Stranahan single malts. Also some staples (Monkey Shoulder and Bulleit Rye).

So much for not buying new stuff and working through what I already have! I couldn't resist the prices!

 

[samspann1]

So I was gifted a cocktail smoker set, and am going to fire it up (no pun intended tonight). The instructions say to fill up the glass with smoke BEFORE pouring the cocktail, but the instructional YouTube video shows the smoke being infused with the cocktail already poured. Anyone have any insight as to this conundrum?

 

[007]

So I was gifted a cocktail smoker set, and am going to fire it up (no pun intended tonight). The instructions say to fill up the glass with smoke BEFORE pouring the cocktail, but the instructional YouTube video shows the smoke being infused with the cocktail already poured. Anyone have any insight as to this conundrum?

Google/YouTube wood chips for smoked cocktails