In the "Bartender's Bible" the author talks about several topics that (he says) often turn into serious discussions at bars, between serious drinkers. Back when I was a bartender, I never heard any of that stuff. All I ever heard anybody talk about at a bar was sports, sex, and getting drunk as a fuckin' skunk. Do we have any hardcore drunks here that know their shit? Do you have a favorite premium liquor that you think is worth the extra money? For me, that would be 1800 Tequila. Also, Grey Goose is the only vodka that I'll do straight-up. I don't find Jim Beam Black to be much different from their regular label. Jack Daniel's premium stuff is good, but so different from their flagship whiskey that I really can't compare them. There's an empty stool at the bar, if anybody wants to join me. Karen
haha ive had some serious convos about premium bourbon wen i was a bartender at my dads golf course. golfers are some serious drinkers. i gotta say if im gonna spend the extra dough i want a nice bourbon. pref 1792 ridgemont reserve. its an 8 year aged kentucky straight. pretty smooth but still a little bite. one of my personal favs.
I will have to look for that one at the store tomorrow. I'm sure that most male bartenders get taken more seriously than the girls. To be honest, I know a hell of a lot more about it now than I did when I was doing that job.
I think it was about two years ago that Jack Daniels cut their Old No. 7 brand from 96 proof to 90. Probably so that they would sell more of their Single Barrel, which costs more, but isn't as smooth. I still drink Absolut straight. It hardly ever appears on lists of top vodkas anymore, but it tastes the same as always to me.
Ketal, I'm familiar with. Around here, Level seems to be more popular in upscale bars, but to me, it tastes almost like a hybrid between a vodka and a gin. Too many flavors have been added. That's supposed to be the bartender's job. Last year, I missed a chance to go see the Jack Daniel's Distillary, partly because it is in a dry county (strange!) in the middle of nowhere. I wish I had checked it out, if for no other reason, to find out why the Single Barrel turns out so different from the No.7. I could surely skip their cheesy gift shop, which is no doubt loaded with expensive junk like their square shot glasses that you can't really drink out of.
I just found another alcohol forum, over in Psychedelics. Obviously, alcohol is a drug, but I never thought of it as a psychedelic. Why two alcohol forums? That seems confusing and pointless. Put all the threads together, and the two would make one decent forum.
1800 is okay, but it doesnt hold a candle to cabo wabo's reposado, my all time favorite tequila also, the price varies a lot by location (i've seen it go for as much as $45) but you can get a fifth of pyrat xo rum for 25 bucks back in my hometown, and thats worth it. its a great sipping rum. but if it costs more than 30 bucks, i won't buy it. i think 25 is a fair price for it. and hendricks gin is fucking marvelous. only a mild-moderate juniper character, but with the unique addition of cucumber to the list of botanicals used. its very distinctive, mellow, and refreshing. a hendricks martini garnished with cucumber slices rather than an olive or something is probably my favorite cocktail besides a well made mojito (everything fresh, no mixes, and preferably with something other than white rum even though its less traditional) when it comes to scotch, i drink stuff on the more afforable end of the spectrum, considering you could pay $100-1000 for a bottle of really good scotch. i stick to the $40-60 range, and only buy it when i feel rich enough to do so :tongue: but compared to standard, affordable blended whiskies, i really like auchentoshan, aberlour, isle of jura, and if i can find a good deal on it then i love oban. but i'm more likely to buy really fine beers. more affordable, and easier to drink. you can get a bomber of some of the best beers in the world for 10 bucks or less.
that gin with the cucumber sounds delish nesta! im gonna have to give that a try on my bday next week. i love a good gin. most ppl dont and i dont know y...........
most gin can be very dry, very abrasive. i used to hate it! gin, tequila, and bourbon are the only drinks i ever had to acquire a taste for. but once i got it, it stayed and its powerful! now i dont dare buy bottles of liquor for myself, cause they disappear fast and leave me feeling like shit. especially gin. last time i got gin i had too many martinis and fell flat on my face on the pavement walking home and felt sore and achy ALL over for three days or so. had trouble taking the stairs and such. literally a hit-by-a-train feeling. anyway, its expensive ($25-35) but definitely try the hendricks, it's awesome. and in addition to being absolutely delightful, it comes in a fucking AWESOME old timey corked bottle
That sounds interesting. I like the bottle. And it is 88 proof. What more could you ask for? Remember when Bombay Saphire first came out? Everybody had to have it. I thought it tasted and smelled like perfume. I stuck with Beefeater, which gets no respect anymore. The Sir Francis Drake Hotel even got rid of their Beefeater doorman! Yes, it was cheesy, but still a San Francisco landmark. How do you know where to start? There is a store in town that sells hundreds of brands, but they don't have printed information about them, like they do for their extensive wine collection. It looks overwhelming.
well u jus give each one a try. wenever i go to get brew for the night i try to get something new each time. and then it can dpend on if u think micro brews are premium. which i think they are. :cheers2:
yep, try new things, and read reviews about them online. beeradvocate.com has a plethora of information about beers, both about styles and specific brews. tons of reviews, articles, and pages of basic information. i'm just a beerlover, and to me, the world of wine, intriguing though it may be, is rather mysterious and hard to understand. make a point to try new beers often, to try different styles of beer often, and to be open to learning to love something that doesnt suit your taste initially. i used to stick only to heavy, sweet beers, like strong belgian or belgian-style ales (chimay, gulden draak, trois pistoles, corsendonk, etc. were among my favorites) but i've learned to love basic golden lagers, doppelbocks, insanely hoppy bitter beers like india pale ales and barleywines, and so on. there is a TON of variation - at least as much variation as there is with wine, and i'd argue far more - and its true that it can be overwhelming, but if you love beer, it pays off in the long run to learn what you like and what you dont. to start out, i'd suggest trying things based on the recommendations of the store clerks, or else just trying something that either looks really unusual or intriguing, or something you've simply never heard of. while drinking a bottle, read up on the beer you're drinking and see what other people have to say about it. sometimes its hard to pick out the nuances until they're pointed out to you (for instance saison beers tend to have a "barnyard funk" to them, due to the inclusion of wild yeasts in the fermentation, some dark strong belgians have fruity/raisony flavors to them, and german hefeweizens often have banana/clove/bubblegum underflavors - if you don't know they're there, sometimes placing the flavor is like finding a needle in a haystack, but once you taste it it is very present, and it becomes more akin to finding a buick in a haystack) http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/ http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style anyway, cheers to beers :cheers2: i'm trying a new beer today, actually, for the first time in a while. upland brwing co., a local microbrewery, has put out a beer called "the ard ri" which they are billing as an "imperial red ale," which is really essentially just a barleywine with an abnormal name. its very strong (9.5%ABV) and very transparent amber/copper color with persistant, though thin head, nice lacing, and a strong hop character. more spicy, woody, earthy hops, and less on the floral or citrussy end of the spectrum. the malt is deep and rich, and the alcohol and hops are aggressive but not overly so. all in all, it's fairly well balanced and would probably age very nicely. i wanted to try something new and knew literally NOTHING about this beer, and i'm a little disappointed that its essentially a barleywine because its not quite what i was in the mood for, but i can't deny that it's very good beer and worth the cost. as good as it is, and as strong as it is, it's pretty much a bargain at a bit under 10 bucks a sixpack (considering one sixpack has as much alcohol, ingredients, and flavor as two six packs of "average" beer)
Thanks for the link! I will definitely be spending some quality time there. I still remember when the world of wine seemed so big to me that it was almost unknowable, but you just have to chip away at a subject like that a little bit at a time, and you eventually get up to speed. The local ABC store - that's what liquor stores in NC are called - is putting a bottle of Hendrick's on special order for me. The guy was mega-impressed that I knew about it!
ABC is a big chain, i think. we have a couple ABC's in central ohio. but there are lots of single-location shops with local owners, too. here in indiana in the town i go to school, its mostly big red liquors, but also bloomington liquors and the grocery stores and drug stores can carry full strength hard liquor, too, which is totally foreign to me
Oh. In North Carolina, ABC stands for Alcoholic Beverage Control. The state owns them all. It's a legal monopoly. They are operated by the individual counties, which get most of the profits. NC has a lot of old-fashioned liquor laws. For example, all ABC stores are closed all day Sunday, and the grocery stores and restaurants are not supposed to sell beer or wine before noon on Sunday. Imagine going out to Sunday brunch and seeing people waiting patiently at their tables for the stroke of high noon, when they can legally order a mimosa! It's absurd.
' Ha! It's the same way in Texas. Hell they stop seeing liquor here at 9pm and beer at 12am. Plus no liquor sells on Sunday unless it's beer or wine. At least Texas has independent liquor stores tho which is some what nice, the local stores usually give better deals than the big chain liquor stores down here.
That major-league sucks ass. I shouldn't be surprised, though. George W. fucked you guys over before he had his way with the rest of the country. You're lucky to have any liquor at all. We should all move to New Orleans. Liquor seven days a week, all day and all night except 4am to 7am. :cheers2: And you can buy all the drugs you want in the 700 block of Bourbon Street.
i was shocked to learn they don't even sell beer or wine on sundays here! i mean, iirc the liquor stores are closed in my hometown on sunday, but you can still go to a grocery or gas station and pick up a six pack. its ridiculous! anyway, today i picked up some really nice bourbon. it's called buffalo trace, and its a nice craft whiskey, but at a really affordable price. it's won all sorts of awards recently for putting out such a good product at such a good price. its usually like 21 or 22 dollars i think, but i got a bottle on sale today for 18:cheers2: i also picked up a bomber of stone IPA, one of my favorites. i like their ruination IPA better, which is stronger and more flavorful but also more expensive. their regular IPA is pretty damn strong as it is, though, so i just got that instead, since the price difference was like two bucks. with these and my small supply of marijuana, i'll have a damn fine evening i'm sure :sifone:
