I’m in my bourbon phase. And I’ve tasted and drank many from all over and many price points. After all that, I’ve settled on Evan Williams as my everyday house bourbon. Way underrated and over looked. In a different bottle this would be 3 times the price.
It's probably underrated, but still Wild Turkey 101 is easily the most underrated value bourbon there is.
Always trust in higher proof whiskey. Iron law. Even Williams at 86 proof just doesn't hold together in an old fashioned like 101.
Watered down whiskey regardless of price point sucks. Hence, why Basil Hayden (80 proof is for fags).
Wild turkey is the best.
What's odd to me is it has a connotation of being like hardcore.
So I'll be at a business thing and I'll be like y'all got any wild turkey and everyone around me is like ohhh turkey guy huh.
Like yeah dude it's good.
This is funny to hear that the perception still exists.
The origin of that is that Wild Turkey 101 in history was the first well known brand to offer the public the opportunity to drink a bourbon at closer to barrel strength. The difference was that was that the industry standard was 80 proof and and this was geometrically stronger.
Today, the fun thing is that you can actually buy some of your favorite brands at barrel strength [116 proof or so] if you want which is pretty cool from a flavor standpoint.
As kids most of us had never heard of blending it with vermouth, lemon and other flavoring agents to make a Manhattan, old fashioned or bourbon/ whiskey sour etc.., and adding water defeated the purpose so they drank it straight leading them to their first fucked up experience ~ a point in time that resonated for the rest of their lives in some cases, which is really what you are hearing when you hear "ohhh turkey guy huh"
Now of course 100 proof and a blend of 7-8 years of aged bourbon has become the standard of higher quality product offerings for many major brands, so the remaining taste difference is the 13% Rye and the number 4 sharp oak barrel flavor which is the taste signature for Turkey 101.
Every board's gotta have a Wild Turkey superiority guy.
It's been my house bourbon for years. I could drink like infinity of simple syrup laden old fashioneds made with Wild Turkey watching Godfather 1 and 2 back to back. @MikeDamone would be passed out and dying of diabetes.
Only reason men don't like good Scotch is because they were never taught how to drink it correctly. When you sip it keep your mouth closed and don't let any air it...if air gets in it burns and you won't taste a thing. You do it right and its a whole different experience.
Also, if you hate money the best mixed drink in the world is Single Barrel Jack and Mexican Coke. I'm a Scotch guy but I grew up in Tennessee and am more than a little partial to the various iterations of Jack Daniels.
Just thinking about Scotch is making me grimace. A friend left a bottle of Dewer's at my E WA place and I did drink it, eventually, mixing it with anything I had, even just water. But again, I just can't drink Scotch straight, or I'm pretty sure I'll die.
Scotch doesn't make me want to die, but it is still strong. The one I liked the best (small sample size but still) is when @PurpleBaze sent me a bottle of Arran 10. That was good stuff. Still put a big fat fucking ice cube in it but I liked it a bunch and didn't feel like I was getting throat punched. There were a few other Scotch brands that had a bunch of promise, but ultimately, like you, I just think I'm probably not a Scotch guy.
I have been a rum guy for 30 years (rum sodomy and the lash!), and my whiskey guides and others have correctly pointed out that the sweetness of bourbon is an easy transition for my taste buds after so many gallons of rum. I just dig bourbon. Especially wheated bourbons. I think I'm hooked.
Funny that Rum is often considered to be rot-gut whiskey for the pours (like me). I've always liked it with almost any kind of fruit juice and fucking lived on it in the West Indies. Cruzan, btw, is underrated.
But a Spanish-speaking white guy friend of mine with a hispanic wife turned me onto this Flor De Cana stuff a couple of years ago, and it's outstanding straight.
Rum is my jam. I've had all of it, from every maker. FDC is a staple for me (just polished off a bottle of 12 year) but Zacapa really is my shit. Love it. The XO stuff is sublime, and the 23 year was made for sipping. Nectar of the Gods type shit.
@PurpleBaze just treated me to some rare Opthimus rum that is 25 year aged and finished in malt whiskey barrels. It's expensive, and I haven't tried it yet, but I am very much looking forward to it.
If they sell it at Total Wine or Bevmo, it's going into my liquor cabinet, toot-sweet.
Got bottle of Zacara and another Guatemalan Rum - El Pasador de Oro, which were both delicious straight. Drank them with my soccer fag friends who dragged me to Lumen field to watch Portland kick the Sounders' asses. Ha, ha.
Pioneer Square and the stadium areas are fucking shit-holes, anymore. All that garbage isn't from the homeless or the addicts. The Majority of seattleites are shit-for-brains faggot-losers in desperate need of multiple ass-kickings.
Only reason men don't like good Scotch is because they were never taught how to drink it correctly. When you sip it keep your mouth closed and don't let any air it...if air gets in it burns and you won't taste a thing. You do it right and its a whole different experience.
Also, if you hate money the best mixed drink in the world is Single Barrel Jack and Mexican Coke. I'm a Scotch guy but I grew up in Tennessee and am more than a little partial to the various iterations of Jack Daniels.
IFL sotch and the only thing about it that holds me back is being a pour. I'm about 81% corn liquor and 19% Scotch on a annual basis.
JD Daniels single barrel is pretty decent, but come on with the whiskey and coke. That's a terrible drink. @Swaye and @creepycoug say "hold our Cuba Libres!"
Only reason men don't like good Scotch is because they were never taught how to drink it correctly. When you sip it keep your mouth closed and don't let any air it...if air gets in it burns and you won't taste a thing. You do it right and its a whole different experience.
Also, if you hate money the best mixed drink in the world is Single Barrel Jack and Mexican Coke. I'm a Scotch guy but I grew up in Tennessee and am more than a little partial to the various iterations of Jack Daniels.
IFL sotch and the only thing about it that holds me back is being a pour. I'm about 81% corn liquor and 19% Scotch on a annual basis.
JD Daniels single barrel is pretty decent, but come on with the whiskey and coke. That's a terrible drink. @Swaye and @creepycoug say "hold our Cuba Libres!"
Give me the sweet stuff. I'm not man enough for the Whiskey. I know this will come as a surprise to many of you, but my birth did not involve me emerging from Fidel's head fully grown, dressed and armed screaming my battle cry. I actually have a real father, and that man has consumed more J Walker Blue Label than any human being should and his liver is in tact. I plan to donate it to science. He has had enough JW "with a splash" to kill three men.
I never acquired a taste for whiskey. Maybe @HoustonHusky 's advice will help me next time I try. I'm going to remember it.
I had a session with The Turk in high school, and it turned out as you'd expect...will have to re-visit, since it's been 40+years. Half of "my people" are from Tennessee, and several relatives worked there, including a master distiller @HoustonHusky...
I'm trying to become more educated in the Bourbon distilling process so i looked this up ~ the results seem really interesting:
"Rescued from near extinction by Ted Chewning, Jimmy Red corn was already making waves in the culinary world when we opened our doors in 2013. Named for James Island just over the bridge from Charleston and heralded by Chef Sean Brock, Jimmy Red was a legendary moonshiner's corn that had dwindled down to a mere 2 cobs following the death of the last man known to grow it. His family gave the seeds to Ted who began the arduous process of bringing it back to life. Through the efforts of folks like Ted, Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills, Greg Johnsman of Geechie Boy Mill, and Sean Brock, Jimmy Red corn seed reserves were slowly being rebuilt. In 2015, thanks to the diligence of Dr. David Shields of University of South Carolina, Jimmy Red corn was accepted as a new addition to the Slow Food Ark of Taste, an international catalog of endangered heritage foods.
In early 2014, just a few months after we opened, Glenn Roberts entrusted us with enough Jimmy Red corn seed to grow 2.5 acres. We grew it in partnership with Dr. Brian Ward at Clemson University and harvested enough corn to distill 2 batches of the most unique bourbon we have ever tasted. With each passing year, our planted acreage of Jimmy Red has grown exponentially with an expected harvest of 250,000 pounds in 2017.
Jimmy Red corn is the most remarkable corn we've ever worked with. Nutty, sweet, and mineralic with an extremely high oil content, the fermented mash produces a 3" thick oil cap. We distill on the grain, so all of that oil is blended back into the mash and provides an unusually creamy mouthfeel in the distillate. The Jimmy Red whiskey is aged for a minimum of 2 years, creating a straight bourbon unlike any other we've ever experienced.
The bourbon is labelled "jimmy red" by high wire distilling company which i think now automatically becomes the signature drink for the upcoming 10 year HCH anniversary party... assuming i can get it, I'm ordering 2 bottles to be sent to Stalin now to hold in reserve for the Party ~ I'm ordering the "Cask Strength" version, so you will all be walking on your lips.
Comments
The origin of that is that Wild Turkey 101 in history was the first well known brand to offer the public the opportunity to drink a bourbon at closer to barrel strength. The difference was that was that the industry standard was 80 proof and and this was geometrically stronger.
Today, the fun thing is that you can actually buy some of your favorite brands at barrel strength [116 proof or so] if you want which is pretty cool from a flavor standpoint.
As kids most of us had never heard of blending it with vermouth, lemon and other flavoring agents to make a Manhattan, old fashioned or bourbon/ whiskey sour etc.., and adding water defeated the purpose so they drank it straight leading them to their first fucked up experience ~ a point in time that resonated for the rest of their lives in some cases, which is really what you are hearing when you hear "ohhh turkey guy huh"
Now of course 100 proof and a blend of 7-8 years of aged bourbon has become the standard of higher quality product offerings for many major brands, so the remaining taste difference is the 13% Rye and the number 4 sharp oak barrel flavor which is the taste signature for Turkey 101.
Only reason men don't like good Scotch is because they were never taught how to drink it correctly. When you sip it keep your mouth closed and don't let any air it...if air gets in it burns and you won't taste a thing. You do it right and its a whole different experience.
Also, if you hate money the best mixed drink in the world is Single Barrel Jack and Mexican Coke. I'm a Scotch guy but I grew up in Tennessee and am more than a little partial to the various iterations of Jack Daniels.
Pioneer Square and the stadium areas are fucking shit-holes, anymore. All that garbage isn't from the homeless or the addicts. The Majority of seattleites are shit-for-brains faggot-losers in desperate need of multiple ass-kickings.
Oops, wrong thread again. Oh Darn.
JD Daniels single barrel is pretty decent, but come on with the whiskey and coke. That's a terrible drink. @Swaye and @creepycoug say "hold our Cuba Libres!"
I never acquired a taste for whiskey. Maybe @HoustonHusky 's advice will help me next time I try. I'm going to remember it.
Will verify but had many conversations and the dude is legit whiskey sommelier. Attended school and has ongoing training on the subject matter.
"Rescued from near extinction by Ted Chewning, Jimmy Red corn was already making waves in the culinary world when we opened our doors in 2013. Named for James Island just over the bridge from Charleston and heralded by Chef Sean Brock, Jimmy Red was a legendary moonshiner's corn that had dwindled down to a mere 2 cobs following the death of the last man known to grow it. His family gave the seeds to Ted who began the arduous process of bringing it back to life. Through the efforts of folks like Ted, Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills, Greg Johnsman of Geechie Boy Mill, and Sean Brock, Jimmy Red corn seed reserves were slowly being rebuilt. In 2015, thanks to the diligence of Dr. David Shields of University of South Carolina, Jimmy Red corn was accepted as a new addition to the Slow Food Ark of Taste, an international catalog of endangered heritage foods.
In early 2014, just a few months after we opened, Glenn Roberts entrusted us with enough Jimmy Red corn seed to grow 2.5 acres. We grew it in partnership with Dr. Brian Ward at Clemson University and harvested enough corn to distill 2 batches of the most unique bourbon we have ever tasted. With each passing year, our planted acreage of Jimmy Red has grown exponentially with an expected harvest of 250,000 pounds in 2017.
Jimmy Red corn is the most remarkable corn we've ever worked with. Nutty, sweet, and mineralic with an extremely high oil content, the fermented mash produces a 3" thick oil cap. We distill on the grain, so all of that oil is blended back into the mash and provides an unusually creamy mouthfeel in the distillate. The Jimmy Red whiskey is aged for a minimum of 2 years, creating a straight bourbon unlike any other we've ever experienced.
The bourbon is labelled "jimmy red" by high wire distilling company which i think now automatically becomes the signature drink for the upcoming 10 year HCH anniversary party... assuming i can get it, I'm ordering 2 bottles to be sent to Stalin now to hold in reserve for the Party ~ I'm ordering the "Cask Strength" version, so you will all be walking on your lips.
@DerekJohnson