What is everyone drinking?

[Jimbo]

Had a couple (3) glasses of Dewars at a friends last night and good lord, this morning I woke up with a SLAMMIN headache. I always considered Dewars a passable blended scotch, but Ive changed my mind, they must buy cheaply made scotches for their blend made with bad (no?) cuts? I can (often do ) drink twice as much of my own and feel chipper and fine in the morning.

[Richard7]

Yesterday I was far from my "Stash" as the evening approached so I stopped by the local abc to get some spirits to help me through the night.
Now Joe Walsh might have had other things in mind when he wrote his song "Help me through the night" but in my case all I needed was something to drink that would not leave me hating myself in the morning.
I stopped off at a bottle store and got a quart of ole smokie.

At first I was happy... It tasted good in a mixed drink. But by the time I had my third drink the only words I can think of to describe the taste is perfume.

I have gotten to the point that I would pay a premium price for some good stuff if I could not get to my stuff.

Keep stilling, It is worth it!

[midwest shinner]

Hell yeah, old smokie is pricey crap. if you're gonna drink commercial shine i would go for midnite moon. their fruit flavors are all just their neutral with real fruit. and their plain shine is a neutral from corn. and really is a great neutral but with a nice mouthfeel and very slight grainy taste. but yeah if i can't drink some good homemade likker it has to be the top shelf shit to even come close

[Odin]

Just had me a few cans of Löwenbräu here on holidays in Hungary. It is originally German and very tasty. Especially since it only has 4.2% in alcohol. Great when it is 41 degrees C ...

O, and I had a glass of faux Kentucky Lite whiskey that was aged on mullberry wood. Made by a friend of mine who's from Holland but living in Hungary for the holiday season. Very nice!

Bushman: glad you (and the mss) like the gin/genever hybrid I made. I hope it is not too strong for your palate, since I made this variety to accompagny spiced chinese and indonesian cuisine.

Odin.

[Beerbrewer]

Some of Sainsbury's own Czech lager to start, having a BBQ so will hopefully get some of the guests to try some Birdwatchers in a punch or on it's own and my own elixir that I made using herbs from the garden.

[Jimbo]

Bonfire baby! First real drink of this since its been aging. Wow is it good. Smoother than most Scottish single malts Ive had and a rich smokeyness from the peat and cherry smoked malts. This one just made my fav list and the recipe moved to the front of the book. Cheers! http://jimshoochrecipes.blogspot.com/20 ... iskey.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

62.5% in the glass + 3 cubes to water it down, perfect.

[midwest shinner]

Congrats Jimbo, sounds freakin tasty for sure, I'm craving whisky now. Gotta wait til i get off work for that though. At least i talked my boss into letting me hold a tasting for my first batch of wine, so will enjoy that. Anyway, I'm glad you put that sweetfeed to good use. I've still got another 50 lbs of it if we do team up on a brew together and recently acquired 55lbs of canadian 2 row so i see some single malt in the near future. For commercial stuff i picked up a bottle of some beer barrel bourbon from New Holland brewery/distillery so i can't wait to try some of that after work

[Bushman]

Apple brandy celebrating my 2 month project remodeling my rec room. Below are three pictures of the rec room, added surround sound, a full kitchen, re did the fireplace and mounted a large TV above.

[midwest shinner]

Damn Bushman i will raise a glass to that. Beautiful job on the remodel, from the pics it looks fantastic. i know how much work goes into something like that and how great it must feel to be able to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor

[Halfbaked]

Nice Bushman

[Bushman]

Son is getting married this next weekend and we have family coming from Norway and Germany along with the rehearsal dinner Friday night at our house for 50+ people. I am serving 40 lbs of salmon I caught and was really under the gun to get this project done. Have some landscaping and last minute trim to finish but the big job is done. Time for a second glass

[Halfbaked]

Did you do it or have it done? detail, detail, detail ,detail. Love the colors and the keystone over the fireplace. LOVE me some lox. I think that's the way its spelled

[Jimbo]

Beautiful work Bushman.

Im now into a nice Cedar Ridge Single Barrel Iowa Bourbon someone gave me at a show we played last night. Its pretty nice, but a little on the neutral side, and lots of oak. Wished I could taste more whiskey and less oak. Its this one... http://crwine.com/iowa-bourbon-whiskey/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow Won a lot of awards, I guess lots of oak wins awards now?

Here's the only shot of the show I have so far, it was the first act of many, this guy was a blues and folk singer songwriter. He asked me to sit in with him and add some fills and leads so I winged it. Songs ranged from Robert Johnson-ish to Woody Guthrie type stuff, Fun.

[Bushman]

I did most of the work, my son helped with the demolition of the old rec room and I had help installing cabinets and another person helped with the rock work. The cabinets I had custom made in Canada.

[Stainless dude]

Bonfire baby! First real drink of this since its been aging. Wow is it good. Smoother than most Scottish single malts Ive had and a rich smokeyness from the peat and cherry smoked malts. This one just made my fav list and the recipe moved to the front of the book. Cheers! http://jimshoochrecipes.blogspot.com/20 ... iskey.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

62.5% in the glass + 3 cubes to water it down, perfect.

That sounds really good jimbo, after thinking how good 6 mo. old sf was I realize how much more there is to learn and try..

[Jimbo]

Thank you stainless. it was a fun drop to make with the half bag of SF Midwest gave me, and a whole bunch of peated and cherry smoked barley and 6 row on top to mash it AG style. Its so smooth I feel like I cant do it justice yammerin about it, smoother, even on a big slug, than any single malt scotch Ive had in a long while. Its gotta be the cuts? The Oats Im thinking helped too. Hell I dunno.

Anyway, here's what Im drinking tonight. Cheap wine, cheap cigars and a bottle of Jim Beam Black Label. The Jim Beam is underwhelming for 8 year bourbon, you can definitely taste the poor cuts. Why does my 8 month old out of a 5g barrel taste better? Can only be the cuts right? Everything else is the same, recipe, charred oak, bla bla. Im disappointed constantly by 'top shelf' likkers anymore. Jack tastes like oaked neutral. fucking activated charcoal, REALLY??, WTF guys. $49 single barrel Iowa bourbon is lacking, and all oak. Jim Beam 8 year Black is ... well... blah. Poor cuts, I dont know how else to describe it. Makers I had a couple glasses of Sat night was harsh. Dont get me wrong, I like flavor and bite, done well, but this is more than that. Can anyone here recommend a GOOD Bourbon, please. Last one I had that I enjoyed was Knob Creek last month. im tempted to go drop some Benji's on Bakers, Bookers, Basil Hadens and a few others and see again what I think.

Holy shit Im ramblin, the Chianti is talkin. Ill shut up. here's what Im drinkin. Since when did gallon jugwine come in 4L jugs???? A gallon of this shit wasnt enough?? Bring on the headache. Does it help if I drink this jugwine out of a Blenheim glass I got last year at Dave Mathews winery in Virginia? hahahaha

[midwest shinner]

Currently finishing a stripping run on some rye bread whisky and enjoying some cheap but decent wine from my work(a bit more expensive than Jimbos Carlo Rossi wtf always on the same page) and sipping some Eagle Rare Bourbon, which has a bit more bite than some good homemade but for $29 a fifth is purty damn good. I recently tried some New Holland Distillery Beer Barrel Bourbon which was okay but just kinda lacking. I gotta say Jim I've also been quite underwhelmed by most commercial stuff recently. Nothing seems as good as even a decently made home distilled AG whisky or bourbon

[Richard7]

Having a glass of just-a-sip's TN orchard, from the traveling bottle. Good stuff this is.

[midwest shinner]

Sipping a snifter of Basil Haydens Bourbon and washing it down with some cider. Very nice sipping whisky that's for sure, and the price wasn't as bad as i thought it would be.

[Beerbrewer]

One finger of Birdwatchers on ice followed by an IPA of my own making. Had a few already on a lovely bank holiday and damn, got to get up for work tomorrow

[Jimbo]

This is not terrible! Enjoying a glass now. Duncan Taylor collection. They buy single barrels from distilleries to sell and/or age themselves and sell their own single cask bottlings.

This is a 34 year old Speyside. Really nice.

[Richard7]

Jimbo, I had to laugh a little when I saw aged 34 years and a www. on top of the label! In your opinion how did they do on cuts? Hang over notes are a must in that category!

[Jimbo]

haha right? distilled in '69, bottled in 2004. Purchased new from a shop in 2013. Weird. No complaints here tho, it was a gift.

Its good, really smooth, nice cuts (or the crap soaked in the oak after 34 years in the cask haha). Smoke phenols are mild, consistent with a Speyside. They're there, but not in your face like an Islay single malt. Its got some fruityness, the color is lighter than I would have expected for a 34 year scotch, but they do use used bourbon barrels or sherry butts traditionally for scottish whisky, so they already been soaked out for several years before the scotch goes in. Ive drained more than half the bottle in 3 sittings now. Its hard to leave alone once you start pouring some glasses.

Interesting that its at 40.2% and bottled cask strength. Not surprising tho given its age and source. Alc dropping in the cask is a sign it was stored somewhere very humid, so more alcohol evaporated than water. Scotland is, of course, very humid and cool.

Duncan Taylor is an interesting outfit. Buying casks to age and offering them up themselves, single cask bottled, of course giving due to the distillery as well, Tamdhu in this case.

[LWTCS]

Sampling some over proof AG ( think he said 52-53% corn?) supplied by Usge....

Very smooth and not at all thin. A very good long finish.
Thank you Usge.

[midwest shinner]

Sipping some Basil Hayden and knockng back a few Bell's two hearted ales. Ahh i love my days off

[Jimbo]

Brew day. Drinking an IPA and assorted tastings of this and that. I like sipping out of the aging jars to see how things are coming along. Its nice that Im rarely disappointed, this has gotta be the best goddamned hobby ever. I cant be only one waiting for the corporate dickheads to hand pinks, so there's an excuse to dive into this full time? Damn close to doing a little research on recent easing on distillation legislation and paying a visit to the local winery (several hundred acres) to see if they have any interest in adding brandy to their lineup. Bring some samples to prove my salt. Be a nice way to break into this legally. Am I nuts?

[Richard7]

Bring some samples to prove my salt. Be a nice way to break into this legally. Am I nuts?

I would test the waters before I jumped in. Ask a few questions like "Have Y'all ever looked into making brandy from this wine?" and see if they start talking about legal stuff. If you decide it's okay to at least discuss it I would start with "I know this guy!"

Just my $0.02 worth!

[ga flatwoods]

First question is have you made brandy off of their wine and how did it turn out? Assuming you held the course, if it was bad then it had to be the source product!
Although Jimbo, Master Distiller for @#$/ Winery doesn't sound bad!
GA

[midwest shinner]

Recouperating after a going away party for a friend last nite, drinking coffee. May not be a bad idea Jimbo, especially with your experience making brandies and considering how fantastic yours are... And that's the reason I'm looking into moving to Kentucky, whiskey country. I would love to work at a distillery, i wouldn't even care if i started out hauling grain around 10 hrs a day so long as they gave me a chance. I would love going to work everyday if i worked for a distillery, that's for sure

[normanseven]

Ice cubes made from cider wash that wouldn't fit in the kettle, topped off with output from the cooling lines...