Bourbon

[Brontoburglar]

I got my brother a bottle of the KC maple for his birthday. As a new dad he needs good bourbon

the distillery in Maui's pineapple whiskey is pretty good. we're going to make mules with it tonight.

[P.D.X.]

Is anything with ginger beer a 'mule' now?

[Brontoburglar]

I guess? I've always called it a whiskey horsefeather but all the prepackaged shit is called mule now so I really don't know what I should be saying!!!!

[P.D.X.]

The trend is disturbing.

[mister d]

"Rum Mule" is a very gross term to think about.

[sancarlos]

I guess? I've always called it a whiskey horsefeather but all the prepackaged shit is called mule now so I really don't know what I should be saying!!!!

So, if one puts a straw in the prepackaged drink, is that called sucking on a mule?

[The Sybian]

I guess? I've always called it a whiskey horsefeather but all the prepackaged shit is called mule now so I really don't know what I should be saying!!!!

So, if one puts a straw in the prepackaged drink, is that called sucking on a mule?

I believe it’s sucking off a mule.

[Sabo]

I know this is the Bourbon thread, but I don't care to create a Scotch thread.

Anyone have any recommendations for a bottle of Scotch to give as a gift? Would like to cap the purchase at $50, if possible. The intended recipient usually drinks J&B.

Thanks in advance.

[EnochRoot]

I was out with my wife this past weekend in downtown Catonsville, and we had an after dinner drink at Jennings Cafe.

Had a glass of this on the rocks.



Anybody had this? TBH, I find it better than the original.

[A_B]

I don’t think I’ve had that one. But you usually can’t go wrong with Elijah Craig.

[Brontoburglar]

the trader joe's rye is phenomenal -- and only $20 a bottle. we've gone through way too much of it.

also, on the ginger beer reference upthread, you can't go wrong with bourbon, ginger beer and a splash of pineapple juice. perfect summer drink. thank you hawaii trip.

(I think I referenced that drink in the trips thread or something)

[P.D.X.]

Whaaaat. TJ's rye? Sad backwards booze state laws :(

[Giff]

Trader Joe's has liquor??

[Brontoburglar]

the perk of living in a state controlled by the beer industry is you can buy liquor everywhere. so our trader joe's has a phenomenal liquor section. apparently their version of jack is actually jack with a different label ... and $10 cheaper.

the trader joe's premade whiskey sour is also incredibly good. I think it's $16 or so and a bottle is 8-12 standard drinks (which obviously is fewer when you're family pouring at home)

[mister d]

I've had the gin and vodka which, in my very expert opinion, both seemed fine as mixers.

[Giff]

Gonna find out today if the ones in Michigan sells liquor.

[Brontoburglar]

they should have them per state liquor laws dot com

https://www.stateliquorlaws.com/state/MI

(bookmarking this for any future travel)

[The Sybian]

Trader Joe's has liquor??

NJ is weird, I think they only allow 2 in the entire State to hold liquor licenses, but those two sell beer, wine and liquor. Pretty small selection of each, a decent percentage of that is TJ label. Haven't tried any of it, but I'm guessing it's all name brand stuff with a TJ label. Their annual Vintage Ale is brewed by Unibroue (I think it actually says that in small lettering on the bottle) and is really good and underpriced.

[mister d]

I don't think I knew this. Is the other one in Ridgewood or Princeton?

[The Sybian]

I don't think I knew this. Is the other one in Ridgewood or Princeton?

Westfield and Princeton.

Someone recently sued Wegmans because they obtained liquor licenses under a different family members' name for every location. I don't know the specifics of the law, but Wegmans clearly violated the spirit of the law, and I'm OK with that.

ETA: Very brief search, it looks like a company or individual in NJ can only own two liquor licenses, which is insane. That must not include restaurants. Wegmans liquor stores in NJ are connected to the grocery store but have separate registers. They are clearly part of the same store.

-I saw Wegmans was fined for operating liquor stores in NY State. They can sell beer, but do not have liquor licenses. They argued family members operate 5 completely independent stores that happen to have the same name. One is in my parent's town. It is in a giant parking lot with only a huge Wegmans store and nothing else. It's made to look identical in every way from building materials to branding. They were also fined for skirting beer license laws in PA.

[bapo!]

Hello, bourbon people.

I have no business being in this thread, but I want to pass along a book recommendation. I'm finishing up Wright Thompson's 'Pappyland,' and it's fantastic. Thompson is 45, but he writes like he's much older. Obsessed with nostalgia and the passing of time. That colors the way he sees bourbon and his friendship with Julian Van Winkle.

I'll probably read 75 or 80 books this year, and this might be the best of them.

And it's even inspired me to buy a bottle of bourbon. (Don't ask which one; it's below your standards.) This will probably end badly.

There is an orchid that lives for only one night. It grows in the wild on cactuses. Old bourbon is a lot like these flowers. Once you crack the seal and pull the cork the whiskey sometimes has only minutes to live. I think of that poem “The Waking” by Theodore Roethke, about how we begin dying the moment we are born. That’s true for bourbon, too. One afternoon Julian and I drank an old Stitzel-Weller that had been made in the late 1960s. His father was living when this whiskey got distilled and barreled, and so when he opened the cork—he needed to gently pull it out with a wine key as it crumbled—a world in which his father was still alive briefly filled Julian’s kitchen, on our noses and tongues when he poured a glass for each of us. We sat at his kitchen counter and drank in silence.

[A_B]

Hello, bourbon people.

I have no business being in this thread, but I want to pass along a book recommendation. I'm finishing up Wright Thompson's 'Pappyland,' and it's fantastic. Thompson is 45, but he writes like he's much older. Obsessed with nostalgia and the passing of time. That colors the way he sees bourbon and his friendship with Julian Van Winkle.

I'll probably read 75 or 80 books this year, and this might be the best of them.

And it's even inspired me to buy a bottle of bourbon. (Don't ask which one; it's below your standards.) This will probably end badly.

There is an orchid that lives for only one night. It grows in the wild on cactuses. Old bourbon is a lot like these flowers. Once you crack the seal and pull the cork the whiskey sometimes has only minutes to live. I think of that poem “The Waking” by Theodore Roethke, about how we begin dying the moment we are born. That’s true for bourbon, too. One afternoon Julian and I drank an old Stitzel-Weller that had been made in the late 1960s. His father was living when this whiskey got distilled and barreled, and so when he opened the cork—he needed to gently pull it out with a wine key as it crumbled—a world in which his father was still alive briefly filled Julian’s kitchen, on our noses and tongues when he poured a glass for each of us. We sat at his kitchen counter and drank in silence.

Impossible!

[sancarlos]

Hello, bourbon people.

I have no business being in this thread, but I want to pass along a book recommendation. I'm finishing up Wright Thompson's 'Pappyland,' and it's fantastic. Thompson is 45, but he writes like he's much older. Obsessed with nostalgia and the passing of time. That colors the way he sees bourbon and his friendship with Julian Van Winkle.

I'll probably read 75 or 80 books this year, and this might be the best of them.

And it's even inspired me to buy a bottle of bourbon. (Don't ask which one; it's below your standards.) This will probably end badly.

There is an orchid that lives for only one night. It grows in the wild on cactuses. Old bourbon is a lot like these flowers. Once you crack the seal and pull the cork the whiskey sometimes has only minutes to live. I think of that poem “The Waking” by Theodore Roethke, about how we begin dying the moment we are born. That’s true for bourbon, too. One afternoon Julian and I drank an old Stitzel-Weller that had been made in the late 1960s. His father was living when this whiskey got distilled and barreled, and so when he opened the cork—he needed to gently pull it out with a wine key as it crumbled—a world in which his father was still alive briefly filled Julian’s kitchen, on our noses and tongues when he poured a glass for each of us. We sat at his kitchen counter and drank in silence.

Damn! I'm going to read that book tout de suite!

[mister d]

[The Sybian]

Chocolate mint bourbon sounds disgusting. I recently tried Knob Creek Smoked Maple. I was expecting it would be aged in barrels used for maple syrup and a more subtle maple flavor, but this was more like they poured maple syrup into a barrel of bourbon. The maple isn't overwhelming, but it was stronger than I expected, and that threw me.

[MaxWebster]

oy. i'm gonna go Plessy vs. Ferguson on this one - absolutely equal...well, you know. 2 things i like a great deal - in fact I love having a little dark chocolate on a plate *accompanied by* whiskey.

[Pruitt]

Looks like what they'd drink on a party tractor in Nashville.

[The Sybian]

Looks like what they'd drink on a party tractor in Nashville.

I love that comment so much.

[Square Rob]

Hello, bourbon people.

I have no business being in this thread, but I want to pass along a book recommendation. I'm finishing up Wright Thompson's 'Pappyland,' and it's fantastic. Thompson is 45, but he writes like he's much older. Obsessed with nostalgia and the passing of time. That colors the way he sees bourbon and his friendship with Julian Van Winkle.

I'll probably read 75 or 80 books this year, and this might be the best of them.

And it's even inspired me to buy a bottle of bourbon. (Don't ask which one; it's below your standards.) This will probably end badly.

There is an orchid that lives for only one night. It grows in the wild on cactuses. Old bourbon is a lot like these flowers. Once you crack the seal and pull the cork the whiskey sometimes has only minutes to live. I think of that poem “The Waking” by Theodore Roethke, about how we begin dying the moment we are born. That’s true for bourbon, too. One afternoon Julian and I drank an old Stitzel-Weller that had been made in the late 1960s. His father was living when this whiskey got distilled and barreled, and so when he opened the cork—he needed to gently pull it out with a wine key as it crumbled—a world in which his father was still alive briefly filled Julian’s kitchen, on our noses and tongues when he poured a glass for each of us. We sat at his kitchen counter and drank in silence.

I just bought ten copies of this for Christmas presents for friends so it ducking better live up!!!!!!!!

[Square Rob]

But no pressure bapo…

[govmentchedda]

It's good, and gifting it to bourbon lovers is a great idea. Wright has lost his fastball though.

[bapo!]

But no pressure bapo…

Well, I mean, that is a lot of pressure. I just wanted people here to buy one copy. Or take it out of the library. If this goes badly...well, I'll just be hiding in the hockey threads. You'll never find me there.

But if you need to buy 10 more books, I would recommend Paul Theroux's 'The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia' (1975) or David McCullough's 1983 history of the Brooklyn Bridge. And I had forgotten that I read Jack Falla's 'Open Ice' (2008). That's actually the best book I've read this year, but nobody else cares about hockey, so I won't recommend it.

Wright has lost his fastball though.

:( Maybe too much bourbon 'research' has slowed him down.



Currently reading Reid Mitenbuler's 'Bourbon Empire' (2015), a history of bourbon and bourbon marketing. It's fun. Also want to read a couple of a F. Paul Pacult's books. He's written histories of Jim Beam and Buffalo Trace. Anybody here read any of these?

[bapo!]

I finished that Reid Mitenbuler book that I mentioned earlier. I'm a noob, so about 95% of it was new information for me. But even you guys might enjoy it. Give it a look.

Now onto Pacult's book about Buffalo Trace. There's a lot of stuff here (like the first third of the book) about frontier history, Native Americans, bison, etc. I would probably care more if I were a resident of Kentucky.

Bought a bottle of Maker's Mark. I might actually be developing a taste for this stuff. Almost 50 years old and still learning how to drink.

[mister d]

It took me several years just to be a half dozen times per winter bourbon guy.



(First attempt was in NOLA on an expense account and already drunk. Went and got a glass from the hotel bar in my pajama pants with very serious purpose and I don’t think I finished it.)

[sancarlos]

I'm in the middle of the Wright Thompson book about Pappy Van Winkle, etc. Am enjoying it.

Downside - inspired me to over-imbibe on whiskey last night.

[bapo!]

Went and got a glass from the hotel bar in my pajama pants with very serious purpose and I don’t think I finished it.

As I type, I'm wearing optic-yellow Oregon football pants, which is similar to pajama pants, right? Anyway, I'm going to finish this glass.

I'm still A Beer Guy, but this just adds another thing to read about and learn about. I'm somewhere between dreading and looking forward to MaxWebster's advice about single-malt scotch. We'll see where that leads me.

[govmentchedda]

Went and got a glass from the hotel bar in my pajama pants with very serious purpose and I don’t think I finished it.

As I type, I'm wearing optic-yellow Oregon football pants, which is similar to pajama pants, right? Anyway, I'm going to finish this glass.

I'm still A Beer Guy, but this just adds another thing to read about and learn about. I'm somewhere between dreading and looking forward to MaxWebster's advice about single-malt scotch. We'll see where that leads me.

To the good place.

[mister d]

I love the effort to get into that next place. I absolutely hate interests I don’t get unless its something I also don’t want to get.

[mister d]

(I don’t like olives and I don’t like wine. Otherwise there is nothing is don’t like.)

[elflaco2]

picked up a couple of bottles of Coppersea Distiellry - Excelsior NY Rye Whisky -- while i was working out of Albany a couple of weeks ago.
very tasty. haven't seen it in these jersey parts yet .. will be getting more next time i'm up there.