All About Whiskey

[jyp]

I tried a couple of Texas whiskies this weekend with one of my sons. Bought a bottle of Yellow Rose, mainly because it's made in Houston and had a sticker saying it was well rated. I found it exceedingly simple, almost boring. Probably a good whisky for a summer day on ice, but not anything special. I also bought a bottle of Balcones Single Malt for the first time. I don't ever recall this Waco made whisky being available to regular peons like me, so I spent the $60 on it. Apparently this is a post-Chip Tate batch, so this explains why it was on the shelf. But it was delicious. Really good flavors, very malty, no heavy alcohol burn. I'll be buying it again.

That was my experience as well with both Yellow Rose and the Balcones Single Malt. If you want something different but good (at least to me), you should try the Balcones Brimstone - the taste reminds me of gunpowder...

Rip- I really appreciate the tip about watering things down to 80-proof. That had seemed like blasphemy, but I like it. In the past I had only used a couple of drops, but targeting for 80-proof improves things.

[Mark Rippetoe]

To be honest, I did not invent this approach.

[ravl]

Pipes and pipe tobacco is also in this category. Much lower nicotine, no inhalation, more pleasant to consumer (and victims). The pipes themselves are fantastic to collect (similar to knives and guns), vintage and new, and the tobaccos range from garbage to $100's of dollars an oz. Sound familiar?

And your stash won't spoil if the humidity is 0.0001% off

[Matt Reynolds]

What about storage. I assume when you have a large collection of expensive whiskey, many bottles are open in your cabinet. How long do they keep and still have good flavor, etc?

I have around 140 bottles. Virtually everyone of them are open now. They pretty much last forever, unless they are 2/3 empty. The air tends to mellow them a bit but it rarely degrades the whiskey itself.

Rip & Matt-

What do you guys think about the new Texas whiskeys?

Along with all the new breweries, there has been a substantial number of new distilleries. I live north rast of Dallas and there are 5 distilleries within 30 miles of me. I have been trying their bottles and most are not impressive, but several are drinkable - smooth, sometimes a bit too sweet, usually they remind me of Irish Whiskey. Balcones stands out - their single malt is pretty good, but expensive. I really like their Brimstone, which I imagine it tastes like that whiskey Clint Eastwood pulled out as Josey Wales I also like the Herman Marshall Rye from Dallas (it's not Willet, but I like to support the local guys so I keep a bottle on hand).

I do really like Balcones. That Brimstone is the smokiest whiskey I'v ever had. It makes Laphroiag tastes like school milk. But you can't drink anything else with it for the rest of the night, or eat any food really, unless it was campfire marshmallows or something. The next morning my mouth tastes like I smoked a cigar.

Outside of that, I think Garrison brothers is some decent whiskey, but overpriced. That's really my issue with most the craft distilleries. For the price, you can't beat $30 for 10 year old Eagle Rare. I was looking at Stranahans in Colorado, and its very decent whiskey, but $79 for a 4 year old whiskey is crazy.

I've been fortunate enough to try plenty of Scotch Whiskey in my time but it was a bit of an eye opener going on a field trip with Matt and Rip to a Houston bottle store so big the aisles had parallax errors and the subsequent 10 bottle hotel tasting session. I think my pick for the evening was the Buffalo Trace. I can't remember the name of the drop that Matt said tasted like mild salmon, not normally a taste I associate with my drinking but just shows how broad the palette can get.

MacKenzie Rye. Tastes like Salmon. Actually, specifically Lox, with cream cheese and dill.

Rip think I'm crazy. But Comrade Campitelli agreed that he could at least tell what I was talking about.

[Bradley Gish]

This was a very informative video. Being from KY, I'm somewhat ashamed that I was unaware of this info, I've drank whiskey for a while, but never gave much thought on what it was made of, or the process in which It was distilled. So Rip and Matt, being the avid whiskey enthusiast that you are, I assume that you both have taken part in THE Bourbon Trail here in Central/Eastern KY?

[Mark Rippetoe]

I haven't. I believe Matt has partaken.

[Wretzel]

THE Bourbon Trail here in Central/Eastern KY?

The old army drill sergeant who gives the tour at Wild Turkey is a hoot. Top tip: bring a DD, and you can drink their free samples, too. Couple of recommendations: Wild Turkey Rye 101. I did not believe the man when he said it tasted like a scotch. But it does. And, not whiskey, but in the Lexington area you can find Burly Bourbon Barrel Barleywine, blew my boots off. Tastes an awful lot like bourbon, but you get to drink a lot more of it.

[Chris Lippke]

... Central/Eastern KY?

Where the climbing is better than the whiskey.

We were there a couple weekends ago (at the Red), and my friend Julia was excited for this Bourbon Trail business. Though not on the official Bourbon Trail (?), I believe she was a little salty at Buffalo Trace for selling Van Winkle T-shirts, but not the product itself (relevant link below). She did manage to pick up a bottle of Willett Rye 3-year on the way back.
Having been apart of the Buffalo Trace Council in the BSA, I really want to like Buffalo Trace, but I haven't yet.

Does the distillery ever sell any of the Pappy...

[Mark Rippetoe]

The old army drill sergeant who gives the tour at Wild Turkey is a hoot. Top tip: bring a DD, and you can drink their free samples, too. Couple of recommendations: Wild Turkey Rye 101. I did not believe the man when he said it tasted like a scotch. But it does.

Turkey anything tastes like scotch in the same way my piss tastes like scotch. The old sergeant was hired for his personality.

[Wretzel]

Turkey anything tastes like scotch in the same way my piss tastes like scotch. The old sergeant was hired for his personality.

Why are you wasting that piss in the toilet! You're flushing down a gold mine!

Just wanted to correct myself, it wasn't Wild Turkey Rye 101, but Russel's Reserve Rye, 6 year. (Russel is the ancient master distiller at WT. The RR bottles are WT, but from the better barrels, located in the better parts of the aging storehouses.)