Which bottle did you just buy and why?

I just purchased a few things, mostly to replenish the “cocktail” section of my bar:

• The Famous Grouse Blended Scotch: I was leaning towards Grant’s but FG offered 12 bonus air miles. This will mostly be used for cocktails, but I don’t mind a Grouse and Soda if I get bored of cocktail experiments.
• Woodford Reserve Rye: mostly for cocktails, but also because I don’t believe I’ve ever tried an American Rye. This seems as good a place as any to start.
• Diplomatico Distillery Collection Number 2, Barbet Rum: this one gets mixed reviews, but apparently the distillery collection from Diplomatico is not dosed (and it’s bottled at 47% abv) so that will be interesting.
• El Dorado 3 Year Rum: I needed a white rum that works in cocktails and my wife isn’t keen on overproof rums so the Wray & Nephew will have to wait a few weeks.
• 1800 Silver Tequila: again, I just needed a 100% agave tequila for cocktails. My wife didn’t care for the El Jimador Reposado, so I thought I’d give a Blanco/Silver a go.
• Broker’s Gin: unfortunately the 47% abv version isn’t available here, but the 40% version still gets pretty decent reviews from bartenders. My mother-in-law (who drinks gin more regularly than I do) usually buys Bombay Sapphire, but I find that one a bit soft. Broker’s is (supposedly) more juniper-forward which is exactly what I’m looking for when I make a Martini or even a gin fizz.

@OdysseusUnbound The Botanist gin from Bruichladdich made a pretty good G&T. Haven’t tried it in a martini. Tanqueray No. Ten makes an excellent martini. I’ll have to try the Brokers.

@OdysseusUnbound Nice catch

I'm tempted to order a few rums an ryes from Alberta, but I've been told to "wait for a sale".

I'm not a cocktail guy, but I'm planning to get some gin from Dillon's when I have the chance. Some Gin, some of their CS rye and perhaps some bitters.

Why? Because they have provided hundreds of litres of spirit sanitizer to front line workers, including my palliative care group, for free, and they are continuing to do so while selling sanitizer for a reasonable price.

@BlueNote I liked The Botanist in a G&T but I didn’t find the juniper presence in it strong enough for a Martini. I normally get the standard Tanqueray, but I wanted to switch it up, and if I’m being totally honest, the Broker’s bottle has a tiny Bowler hat on top of the bottle and I’m amused by silly things like that.

@OdysseusUnbound Oh yeah, the bowler hat. I have had Brokers gin. My sister in law worked at the Hood River distillery in Oregon and she brought up a few miniatures of Brokers one year and we all had G&Ts. I think they may have imported it in bulk and bottled it there. Should have tried it in a martini, but it all went pretty quick in a couple of rounds of G&Ts.

We got a Tanqueray Export strength (43.1%) delivered with the shopping as my better half is consuming gin at an impressive rate

This is my kind of gin - loads of classic juniper and liquorice and it has a slight industrial note to it that I love. Arrived chilled and I couldn't help having a nip or two from the bottle - I could sip this, seriously. Has to be the best value gin going and no fancy shenanigans! Would like to try their no.10 ...

@RianC I happen to like gin heavy with the flavour of juniper quite a lot and thus standard Tanqueray has always been a favourite of mine. If you do not already know it try some Tanqueray No.Ten. Oh my, what a sipper! And relatively inexpensive for a premium product. For cocktails though, I go with standard Tanqueray. For me, the complexities of Tanqueray No.Ten get in the way in most cocktails. Others see it differently and love Tanq 10 in cocktails. I keep both products in stock in my home on a regular basis.

Standard Tanqueray has juniper, coriander, angelica root, and licorice. Tanqueray No Ten (named after the still on which it is made), uses those four and adds grapefruit, lime, orange, and camomile.

drinkspirits.com/gin/…

@RianC I understand your excitement when it arrived chilled, but for goodness sakes man, could you not have used a glass?

@Nozinan - No time for such luxuries when one's unpacking umpteen shopping bags, sorting what's ours and what's for relatives and trying to entertain a teething bairn and a hyperactive three year old!

@Victor - I think the 10 will have to be the next one I buy!

@RianC I hear you. I have unpacked umpteen shopping bags and sorted as well. I hope you wiped down the bottle with something of higher ABV before sipping.

Ardbeg Uigeadail, Corry, Kilchoman Machir Bay, Pepper Rye, Ardbeg 5. Two Roku Gins.

Variety is the spice of life. I keep calling around for the IB Caol Ila bottlings. Since quaratine no luck. To twist John Price, I should have saved them while I had them.

A little bit of whisky knowledge can be a dangerous thing .

www.youtube.com/watch

@Jonathan meant John Prine

Today, the Society released their Feis Ile 2020 celebration bottlings in the U.S. market. 6 different casks were released (2 Laphroaigs, a Bunnahabhain, a Bowmore, a Caol Ila and an Ardbeg).

While I would have loved to get one of each, I value my marriage enough to get permission from my wife on what I order and she was nice enough to let me order two bottles. :-)

Caol Ila SMWS 53.320 (12 year - Sep. 2007) "Raiders of the flossed ark" from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead - 58.2% ABV. Why? Because it is a single cask, Society Caol Ila which is a no brainer for me. I love the Society releases from Caol Ila and I will buy as many as my wife will let me!

Bunnahabhain SMWS 10.190 (6 year - Oct. 2013) "Make moine a devil!" from a second-fill ex-Oloroso Sherry butt - 61.1% ABV. Why? Because it is in the rarely seen "Heavily Peated" flavor profile, I like peated Bunnhabhain's and it was matured in an ex-sherry cask. Again, a no brainer for me.

Why didn't I order any of the other bottles? If I was only limited to two bottles, I picked my favorites of the 6. One of the Laphroaigs was a 22 year and therefore outside of my price range. The other Laphroaig was my 3rd favorite and was my backup in case one of my two favorites sold out. The Bowmore was from the lightly peated flavor profile and unless it is in a sherry cask, most Bowmore's don't do anything for me. Finally, the Ardbeg. This was a tough one because it was also aged in an ex-Oloroso cask, but it's price tag was a little outside my comfort zone for a single bottle. If I would have purchased this one, I would have only been able to get the one bottle. I would rather get the two bottles that I purchased for about the same price.

By the way, the younger Laphroaig was named "Collateral Drammage". I love that name!

I’m stocking the bar up at our “cottage”, so I picked up a few things today:

• Luksusowa Vodka, mostly for my wife
• Wray & Nephew Overproof White Rum, because rum with coconut water, lime, and club soda is a great summertime drink.
• Beefeater London Dry Gin (40% abv, sadly the 47% abv version isn’t available here), because they didn’t have any Broker’s and I’m not that picky with my G&Ts or my Spicy Gin Caesars.

I have a bottle of nearly empty Jim Beam Bonded up there, so I’ll bring my WT 101 to the cottage for when the whiskey mood strikes me.

Well, to add to my 'oh my, how long will this COVID-19 stuff go on' I decided to help the economy by buying two bottles.

Why? I tried this at a friend's home when I went to visit a group of whisk(e)y friends in Taipei, and I came to enjoy it. Another reason is, it was 'reasonable' for me, and I found it on a store's website that ships to Colorado. One more reason, although I know I could have gotten in Taiwan and Japan for less, I don't think I will be getting out to either of lose places any time soon.

Oh yes. I should mention. I did pick up a bottle of this, when I was in Tokyo, some time ago. I still have yet to open it. These two bottles are 'back up,' in case....uh....my masks don't work.

I will let the photo do the rest of the talking...

JD Single Barrel barrel proof. Loving the bottle I've got on the go and I was going to get another but they sold out. Came back in a few days ago and I had to get one (last buy till xmas, pinky swearsies )

At £55 is there a better high proof bourbon/TW available in the UK? Doubt it.

@RianC wow 55 quid is a great price. That's about as low as what we pay in Tennessee.

@casualtorture - Right?! Not long ago, when it was rarely available, it was going for £80 at least, but Amazon must be getting a good deal somewhere down the line ...

my only query is that all UK bottles are 64.5%, so there must be a little dilution going on? Not that I mind, it's still a beasty proof! I also noticed some char deposit in the bottle and a little cloudiness with water so, though they don't make a feature of it, they seem to be giving a near craft presentation too.

@RianC they probably have just one Jack Daniel's Barrel Proof barrel to sell, and that barrel is at 64.5% ABV. It would be a lie and a fraud for a bottle labeled Barrel Proof to be diluted.

Jack Daniel's Barrel Proof is NOT an easy to find bottle where I live near Washington, D.C.

@OdysseusUnbound Don’t be swimming while under the influence.

@Victor - I did think that may be the case but wondered if 'barrel strength' gave them more legal wiggle room than stating barrel proof? Just seemed odd that they're all the excact same %.

Just as a quick follow up to my two earlier posts where I included a photo two bottles of the Glengoyne 21yo, and one of the photos had the two bottles of 14yo Hazelburn Oloroso Sherry Cask.

This post is more about the Glengoyne 21yo. I went back to the website a couple of days later, after I received my package, and guess what? The liquor store increased the 21yo Glengoyne to from $147.00USD /ea. (the price I paid) to a whopping $199.99USD. Now, I am not taking responsibility for the jump in price, but if I am the cause, I feel bad. I feel bad that I didn't get more!

: P

@Victor All the more reason I was kicking myself for not buying the JD SB BP when I saw it on the way down to visiting you, because @paddockjudge was able to get us back across the border (legally) without paying a penny in extra duties.

But thanks to @cricklewood for “rescuing” me the next year with a bottle that he got for me at the SAQ.

@RianC they have no legal 'wiggle room' whatsoever because 'barrel strength' is identical in meaning to 'barrel proof', but companies do still sometimes break the law. I've never seen it with respect to watering down US barrel proof whiskey. The usual place where companies try to skirt the law is by misleading labeling as to place and distillery of origin or as to type of whiskey. E.g. there are some who market "bourbons" with greater than 80% corn content. By US Law, those are not bourbons, but are corn whiskeys. Many people are less interested in buying 'corn whiskey' than in buying bourbon, hence the appeal to shadiness.

@Nozinan who would have predicted that @paddockjudge could charm le douanier into accepting 10+ bottles over the legal limit without paying duty? Hindsight is 20/20.

One of my favourite French words, douanier, because of the charming aria in Carmen.

www.youtube.com/watch

@Victor I thought to be considered Corn Whiskey it has to be aged in uncharred or used barrels, i.e. Mellow Corn. If aged in charred new barrels it reverts to Bourbon, i.e. Barterhouse and Rhetoric releases which are all 86% corn. Not 100% sure though.

@Astroke yes, I believe that what you say is also true about the use of used barrels being a definer of corn whiskey. But bourbon by law cannot contain over 80% corn. If it is legally neither corn whiskey nor bourbon, in the US it is just called whiskey. Bourbon has a number of defining characteristcs. It is not a generic designation for US whiskey. If you distill and age a mashbill of 40% wheat, 30% corn, 20% oats, and 10% barley, it is still whiskey, but it is not bourbon, nor corn whiskey, nor wheat whiskey, nor oat whiskey, nor barley whiskey. It is just whiskey.

When I went to make the Jerry Thomas Manhattan last night that @TracerBullet mentioned earlier this week, I realized that I didn't have enough rye to make two drinks (one for me and one for my wife), so I only made one for her (I had a couple of sips). It was so good, I want to make some more later today, so I just ordered a replacement bottle of Rittenhouse Rye Bottled in Bond. While this rye doesn't blow me away, it is great for mixed drinks, is priced very well and is a respectable 50% ABV. I seriously thought about ordering a different rye to try, but just couldn't beat this one for the quality and value ($29 USD before taxes).

I also purchased a couple of miniature (50ml) bottles of rye since they had them in stock. One I've had before; Knob Creek Rye also at 50%, but the 750ml bottle retails for $51 USD, so I wanted to see how it stacks up to the Rittenhouse (At the same ABV, is the Knob Creek worth the price difference?). I also got a Quarter Horse Rye. I have a feeling this one is not going to be very good, but it's only 50ml and it was only $4 USD. Not a huge risk for the investment. I also wanted to see how it stacks up to the Rittenhouse since they are the same price per bottle.

@bwmccoy I agree, Rittenhouse Rye Bottled in Bond is great for cocktails but it's not a sipper, IMO. Glad you enjoyed the cocktail!

@bwmccoy I remind you that your experience is exactly as I said when you first asked about it: Rittenhouse BIB is not a great sipper (for many, including you, me, and @TracerBullet), but it is one of the two cocktail ryes, along with Wild Turkey 101 Rye, that drove US bartenders to resurrect straight rye as a whiskey genre in America.

While on the subject of cocktails, I own a bunch of cocktail books that my wife wanted, and friends gave us. Only one of them I find excellent, practical, and WELL worth the trouble: The Twelve Bottle Bar. Whisky lovers, without the "e" will be appalled that the only whiskey they use in this book is US straight Rye, but there are good reasons for that. The Twelve Bottle Bar is probably best found now in online used book vendors. Their cocktails and stories are excellent, even if the Scotch lovers will disapprove that Scotch is not used in the book.

@Victor - Thank you for the book recommendation. My wife ordered it on-line and it arrived yesterday (Amazon is on-the-ball with their delivery promptness).

I’ve briefly scanned it and was pleased that we have most of the 12 bottles listed in the book. Anxious to read through it and try some of the recipes!

Thanks again @Victor ! As usual, you are a wealth of knowledge!