A nice whiskey for the old man?

Wailin

tuxy wrote: »

Off topic but I tried redbreast 12. Made me break out in a rash on my face, no food or drink has ever done that to me. Any whiskey expert have any idea what's in it that would cause that?
My guess is some kind of colouring they add to it but what do they add and why?

That's a strange one alright! Are you certain it was the whiskey?

tuxy

Wailin wrote: »

That's a strange one alright! Are you certain it was the whiskey?

Yes tried it twice with the same result. It is odd, the whiskey tasted good but the rash was very bad both times. I was going through a real whiskey phase at the time and was trying as many different ones as I could and never had this reaction with anything else.

Useful.Idiot

tuxy wrote: »

Yes tried it twice with the same result. It is odd, the whiskey tasted good but the rash was very bad both times. I was going through a real whiskey phase at the time and was trying as many different ones as I could and never had this reaction with anything else.

Very odd alright. The only colouring legally allowed to be in Irish whiskeys is E150a, and most whiskeys would have it.

Useful.Idiot

OP, does your dad like the smokier scotches? If he does something like a Laphroaig Lore or Ardbeg Uigeadail would be a great gift in your price range imo. Of course if you're not sure if he's into them could be a waste of money :P

fret_wimp2

CJay1 wrote: »

That's the spirit!

I dont see the point in spending a lot of money on something that wont be appreciated/noticed.

Would be the same as giving me a 50 quid bottle of wine, would be an absolute waste as i wouldnt appreciate it or notice much difference between it and a 20 euro bottle.

But its the irish way to throw money away at xmas in an attempt to take the pain of having to figure out some grand gesture, so might as well get a bottle of RedSpot or Red Breast 12 cask strength, maybe use it for hot ones or in the xmas pudding.

tuxy

Would it be snobbish to say that yes it is a waste to give an expensive bottle to someone who will put ice in it to numb the taste?
I liked the idea of getting him a selection of bottles.

skooterblue2

TomOnBoard wrote: »

Steer clear of the airport and pick them up in special offers, or order them from the North.....

I find that Sainsburys in Newry carry an excellent range.

ozmo

What about a trip to Jamison distillery- there are different priced tours with some letting you sample from the casks.

I went to the Bushmills tour- was good to do and you got to try several of their whiskeys- someone mentioned a distillery watering down to 40% as if it’s a bad thing - Bushmills do this process also with all theirs - think it might be the norm to make it up to to 80% alcohol then bring it down to legal levels.

Useful.Idiot

skooterblue2 wrote: »

I find that Sainsburys in Newry carry an excellent range.

Yeah Redbreast for £31 is still the deal of the century.

TomOnBoard

ozmo wrote: »

What about a trip to Jamison distillery- there are different priced tours with some letting you sample from the casks.

I went to the Bushmills tour- was good to do and you got to try several of their whiskeys- someone mentioned a distillery watering down to 40% as if it’s a bad thing - Bushmills do this process also with all theirs - think it might be the norm to make it up to to 80% alcohol then bring it down to legal levels.

There absolutely needs to be homogeneity in strengths of any alcohol, so distilleries everywhere would need to ensure that their particular bottles contain contain the same relative strength of alcohol per unit oif volume as all others within a market. So it makes huge safety sense for distilleries to 'water them down'. Otherwise you'd have lads dropping like flies drinking cups of 80% thinking that they were drinking 20%. So, 40% seems to be the norm over here.

If you go into a distillery, you'll see stuff all the way up to near 100% following distillation depending on their processes, but they couldnt sell that or allow common folks to partake of it.

Imagine the Jameson or Bushmills Distilleries with fleets of stomach pump wielding ambulances parked around the block... That's what you;d have without a standardised unit system...

TomOnBoard

tuxy wrote: »

Would it be snobbish to say that yes it is a waste to give an expensive bottle to someone who will put ice in it to numb the taste?
I liked the idea of getting him a selection of bottles.

Most ppl have been advertised into drinking whiskeys on cubes of ice for decades. I did it myself. However, when the wife's uncle ( a Bushmills man) explained to me what was going on with the chemistry in the glass, I got it and never drank any whiskey over ice since. So, whiskey afficionadoes need to learn to explain! explain! explain, rather than adopting superior attitudes at the bor! Jeez, I've lost so many Saturday evenings in Rugby and Golf clubs with gob****es smugly extolling one drink or another while trying to police what other ppl were drinking based on feck all knowledge or explanation at all.

Mind you, the whiskey lads were not the worst.... Save me from the Feckin Chateauneuf de Pape 1961 brigade as though the blood of Christ Himself was stored therein....

tuxy

Isn't the 40% alcohol important for tax, is there a higher tax band for alcohol over 40%?
I do know 40% is the minimum needed to label it an Irish whiskey.

Wailin

TomOnBoard wrote: »

Imagine the Jameson or Bushmills Distilleries with fleets of stomach pump wielding ambulances parked around the block... That's what you;d have without a standardised unit system...

It's not standardised though. Whiskey has to be a minimum of 40% before it can be called whiskey. Irish whiskey, in general, is known for being easy to drink because of the low abv compared to say Scotch, which are commonly 46-48%. Some say too easy to drink, which if you try a midleton very rare, you'd agree.

They dont need to bottle it at 40% but they chose to for more quantity im guessing. Method and madness are all bottled at 46% and are the better for it.

TomOnBoard

tuxy wrote: »

Isn't the 40% alcohol important for tax, is there a higher tax band for alcohol over 40%?
I do know 40% is the minimum needed to label it an Irish whiskey.

AFAIK, 45% is the maximum ABV on bottled whiskey in the British Isles.

Edit: I'm wrong...Wailin Advises of 48% above. I've drank some of those without knowing... I've been labouring under the illusion that alcohol content was more or less the same.. So THAT'S why, I got Rat-Arsed in Madogs's in Edinburgh!! Phew, I was blaming my lack of restraint!!

OU812

In the end I went for a bottle of Johnnie Walker: Royal Route, runs to about €160 but I got it for €90 through a friend.



Lovely presentation & my friend who also likes his whiskeys said he really likes it & it's a decent sip.

Thanks folks.

TomOnBoard

Useful.Idiot wrote: »

Very odd alright. The only colouring legally allowed to be in Irish whiskeys is E150a, and most whiskeys would have it.

Surprised to hear that most Irish would have it... In fact, I;d be much more concerned about aberational effect from flavour than from colour.

Some whiskys, such as genuine Bourbon, would NOT use colouring (officially)... Any such colouring is supposed to come from the cask...

I'd be surprised if MOST Scottish single Malts use it...

But I see you said whiskey!! :-)

Useful.Idiot

TomOnBoard wrote: »

Some whiskys, such as genuine Bourbon, would NOT use colouring (officially)... Any such colouring is supposed to come from the cask...

I'd be surprised if MOST Scottish single Malts use it...

But I see you said whiskey!! :-)

Maybe when I say most I mean most of the widely available, mass produced whiskeys at least. As you go towards mid/higher end Irish single malts/single pot stills they generally wouldn't use colouring. Some distilleries (Teelings) outright state that they never use colouring.

Scotch has the same legal requirements regarding that colouring. So I suppose it's up to the distillery themselves and who their whiskey is targeting.

L1011

tuxy wrote: »

Isn't the 40% alcohol important for tax, is there a higher tax band for alcohol over 40%?
I do know 40% is the minimum needed to label it an Irish whiskey.

No, the tax rate on spirits is linear on spirits. Obviously the higher % the more you pay but it is directly proportional.

Wailin wrote: »

Scotch, which are commonly 46-48%.

The vast majority of Scotch is 40%.

TomOnBoard wrote: »

AFAIK, 45% is the maximum ABV on bottled whiskey in the British Isles.

Edit: I'm wrong...Wailin Advises of 48% above. I've drank some of those without knowing... I've been labouring under the illusion that alcohol content was more or less the same.. So THAT'S why, I got Rat-Arsed in Madogs's in Edinburgh!! Phew, I was blaming my lack of restraint!!

There maximum is in the 90s% and is very close to the limit for distilled alcohol.

The majority of Scotch sold is 40% and the majority of Irish sold is 40%. Higher exist for both, e.g. the commonly available and popular Redbreast Cask Strength is up to 60%

TomOnBoard wrote: »

Surprised to hear that most Irish would have it... In fact, I;d be much more concerned about aberational effect from flavour than from colour.

Some whiskys, such as genuine Bourbon, would NOT use colouring (officially)... Any such colouring is supposed to come from the cask...

I'd be surprised if MOST Scottish single Malts use it...

But I see you said whiskey!! :-)

The majority of whisky and whiskey is dyed. Look at the back of German market bottlings where it must be declared by law. People expect the product to be a lot darker than it comes from the cask basically.

Younger products would look quite unappetising in a lot of cases if not dyed

the beer revolu

All whisk(e)y is "watered down" at some point in the process.
The spirit is typically diluted to a strength of between 60% and 70% before being put into cask. And then diluted to its final bottling strength.
The Irish technical file doesn't mention cask strength, so even cask strength could be diluted to its bottling strength to achieve consistency.
Scotch cask strength cannot have water added after maturation.

tuxy

Interesting, adding water is fine and can improve the flavour if done right.
I sometimes add a little extra room temperature weater and it can even bring out some extra flavour in the whiskey.
Ice is only for the nasty stuff that you want to tone down the flavour on.

Wailin

L1011 wrote: »

The vast majority of Scotch is 40%.

I have ten bottles of scotch in my collection, one is 40%, Glenmorangie 10. The popular blended stuff like Johnnie Walker, Teachers etc is 40% alright.

Also, whiskey is coloured for consistency of batches. Wouldn't look good to the average consumer two same whiskies side by side but different colour due to cask variances. That's why they add E150.

the beer revolu

Wailin wrote: »

I have ten bottles of scotch in my collection, one is 40%, Glenmorangie 10. The popular blended stuff like Johnnie Walker is 40% alright.

Also, whiskey is coloured for consistency of batches. Wouldn't look good to the average consumer two same whiskies side by side but different colour due to cask variances. That's why they add E150.

Irrespective of what you have in your collection, it is still true to say that the vast majority of scotch is 40%
There's a whole lot more blended Scotch sold than single malt.

Wailin

the beer revolu wrote: »

Irrespective of what you have in your collection, it is still true to say that the vast majority of scotch is 40%
There's a whole lot more blended Scotch sold than single malt.

I did mention vast majority of scotch at 40% is the popular blended whiskey.

the beer revolu

Wailin wrote: »

I did mention vast majority of scotch at 40% is the popular blended whiskey.

Your post read as if you were disputing the statement.

Wailin

the beer revolu wrote: »

Your post read as if you were disputing the statement.

I don't really care how my post read, but you obviously do and its not the first either.

blindside88

If he doesn’t really have a particular brand or style that he likes I would go with a mixture like has been suggested earlier in the thread. You could go for an Irish, a scotch and an American. Or you could go down the route of getting 5 12yo bottles or 4 15yo bottles to add to 60 as a nice touch if he’s turning 60. Best of luck with what ever you decide

biko

I see you got him a bottle but for others in same situation - you could get him a whiskey taster set, I've got them at airports before
Let him try a few to find his own way, so to speak.

tuxy

biko wrote: »

You could get him a whiskey taster set, I've got them at airports before

But his dad doesn't like the taste of whiskey. It's more of an evening ritual.

knipex

OU812 wrote: »

Over ice mostly

Then it doesn't really matter.

tuxy

knipex wrote: »

Then it doesn't really matter.

He just spent €160 on a bottle that will be chilled to the point of almost no taste

But I guess he does have a point that the presentation is nice and that can be important for a present.