makers mark is wonderful

Just pour them all back in the mule, and recycle them for a better drink!

Personally I'd far rather have a fine cup of good Cajun coffee, and it's still legal to drive an automobile in most states!

i brought home with me a bottle of 'famous grouse gold reseve' today and i think its pretty good.

dont know the cost of it in the us

Whiskey is such a personal thing, I can't imagine buying for someone else. I personally favor bourbons for their complexity, and Canadians for their "bang for the buck" factor. Even an $8 bottle of McNaughtons beats many $50 Scottish products, IMHO. On the bourgon side, my F.I.L. is in the liquor business, and keeps me in the premium label stuff from Wild Turkey. Pretty easy to tolerate, though not "the best" IMO.

Fortunately, I found out I can't STAND the high dollar Scottish single malts. As a reminder, I had a glass of Lapraigh (sp) last Saturday, and it tasted like a swamps smells..... Hard to imagine developing a liking to that stuff. JMO, Dutch.

My Grandaddy always said to look for George Dickel. You won't be dissappointed and neither will your FFIL.

In all cases it sounds to me like all this advice is coming from some good sources and I will so heed.

I've started getting into bourbon lately.

My take

Makers Mark - good

Knob Creek and Woodford - really good. I prefer the Woodford ever so slightly.

Blantons - The best I've had.

All of these are under $50/bottle at the PA state stores.

quote:

Originally posted by Steffen-9.3:
i brought home with me a bottle of 'famous grouse gold reseve' today and i think its pretty good. dont know the cost of it in the us

Excellent whisky....$27-$32 in U.S.

Bourbon...the more you pay the better the bottle and label. Corn is better on the cob than in the bottle.
Scotch or Irish.....the more you pay the better it is. Bowmore 18, Oban 14, Red Breast 12, Bushmills 16

quote:

Originally posted by adamhunter:

Pappy Van Winkle is about the best bourbon going in my opinion. It is available, or was at one time, in 15, 20, and 23 year old. I have never had the 23 year old (it's about $250 a fifth), but have had both the 15 and 20. Both are fantastic, the 20 being the better choice as expected.



Look into the Pappy 20year. Last time I bought it was about $100 a fifth. Be sure your future father in law lets you have a taste though.

Ditto this. I bought a bottle of 20 year old for $98 in Houston last weekend. Its a bourbon drinker's bourbon.

quote:

Originally posted by wetdog2084:
makers mark is wonderful

When I want a whiskey, this is my favorite.

I am not a "smoke in a bottle" fan, though I do enjoy a good single malt lowlands scotch.. ya'll have have every drop of a smokey+peaty highlands

I was at the store last night, and laughing at Johnny Blue -- 68 bucks for a 250ml... for BLENDED whiskey, smoke flavor ADDED

Old Overholt is an interesting American rye with a curious but delightful flavor. I wasn't sure about it at first, but as I worked through the bottle over the course of a month, it grew on me, and I came to really like it. I'm thinking about buying another jug.

RG

So what's the difference between a rye and a bourbon?

Well, Steve, there are some very knowledgeable guys following this thread who could probably fill several pages with info on the distinctions between the various whiskeys or whiskys, but as I understand it,and very broadly speaking, Scotch is made from barley, bourbon is made from corn, and rye is made with, well, rye. There is a bunch of data on this on the web and I started looking into it a year ago and ended up with my eyes sort of glazed over. Just entirely too much stuff. Much better to just drink some and enjoy.

What sorts of liquor do you run across on the Dark Continent?

RG

Thanks.

We get a lot of relatively inexpensive blended whiskies, some of which are locally made and some imported.... many of those, esp the local ones, are like drinking petrol. We can also get Bells and Famous Grouse etc, but at an inflated price.

We used to be very limited in regard to malts, and maybe had only 4 -6 only available, but that's changing now and we're steadily seeing more choice, but at quite a high price. About the cheapest single Malt you can buy is Glen Grant which is about US$25, which although not a great malt, is OK. A really good malt that you might save for high days and holidays can easily cost 15 times that amount.

I've never seen a rye whisky here but that could be because I haven't looked. - I've gotta drive to town today, so will drop into the bottle shop and see if they have any. - Then come back here to run a name or two past you guys.

We also get a lot of locally made brandy and of course some very good local wines, which are quite inexpensive. - US$5 or so will but you something drinkable at the lower end of the scale and they go up from there.

Ah, what a bastard! - I went into 3 bottle shops today and none of them stocked any rye whisky at all.......... in fact, none of them had even heard of a rye whisky......... I was looking forward to trying some of that!

Guess I'll have to wait till I can get someone to bring a bottle over from the States.

Steve, is there any way to send you some from here? I'm thinking about tarrifs, customs, and all that. If you know how to do this, I'll send you a jug.

RG

That's very kind of you indeed, but I reckon it'd almost certainly either get stolen or broken.

However, if you can recommend a brand, I'll either get one of my clients to bring some over next year or I'll ask on the African hunting forum if anyone is coming to the lowveld earlyish next year.

Hi, Steve-

Yeah, I figured shipping a jug wouldn't really work. As far as a recommendation goes, there is the "Old Overholt" mentioned, (referred to locally as Old Overcoat), Wild Turkey is making a rye, but I think it's a blend, Jim Beam ditto.
The real news is that Anchor Breweries in San Fran, makers of the excellent Steam Beer, has been making a 100% rye malt for a time and I've heard good things about it. It's called "Old Potrero" named after a district in S.F. Don't know the proof and haven't yet seen any, but I'd bet this is pretty good stuff. There are some Canadian ryes, but these are definitely blended.

Now, I'm no connoisseur, I'm just a shop rat, and drink a lot of beer with some Wild Turkey Black Label or Geo. Dickel now and then. Some friends turned me on to Scotch years ago, but I drink it rarely. So when I first tried this rye, I thought it tasted like some kind of industrial solvent. But that is what I had thought when I first tried Glen Livet! It is surely different, but after growing accustomed to it, I found it to be light, clear, a little bitter, and very clean.

Anyhow, if you can't get someone to bring a jug of the Potrero, go with the Overcoat.

Best of luck,

RG

Great, thanks very much, I'll do that very thing.

Jim Beam's Rye whiskey is "Straight Rye" according to the label.

Most of the others are blends.

but even most Bourbon whiskeys contain SOME rye.

Old Portrero(sp?) is a "Boutique" spirit and priced accordingly.

AD

Rye makes a good sandwich. Single malt Scotch is a for drinking. Irish a second.

Bourbon has to have been made from 51% corn by volume and should come from Bourbon County, Kentucky to wear the name. But you can make it anywhere and legally call it bourbon.

Rye whiskey has to be 51% rye grain by volume. "Straight Rye" or "Straight Bourbon" are legal terms referencing the length of aging, not the percent of grain. I belive Anchor Brewing is the only US distiller making rye whiskey from 100% rye malt. This would make it one of America's only "single malt" whiskeys other than some straight-up 100% corn moonshine-style novelty spirits.

There should still be some Canadian distillers making pure rye whiskey.