Whiskey and whiskey tasting...

nesf

How do people drink theirs? Is there any family traditions regarding it?

Personally, my favourite whiskey (that I can afford to drink regularily!) is Jamesons 12 year old. I like scotches and tend to pick up a bottle or two of something new when I'm in Scotland. I've no time for bourbons outside of pubs where tbh it's a choice between crap whiskey and crap bourbon in most places tbh.

Family traditions: a bottle of Paddys was always kept in the house, but only for "hot toddies" and for cooking. Occasionally it would be served with a dash of water as a "straight drink". Hot toddies were made with a teaspoon of sugar and a slice of lemon floating on top with 3 or 4 cloves stuck in it. A bottle of Midleton or Jameson's 18 year old is usually around for Christmas. Occasionally, an aged cognac will replace this.


My favourite way to enjoy a (good) whiskey is straight with no ice. With cheaper whiskeys I'll happily add white/red lemonade or with bourbons, coke occasionally. Whiskey and ginger ale is interesting, but I'd consider it a waste of any decent whiskey to be mixed like this.

Mixes I like: (non-aged whiskey in this )

Some of these are staple standard mixes. So nothing too original here.

Jamesons and white - my usual spirit in a pub
Jamesons and lime
Jamesons and bitter lemon (similar to a whiskey sour)
Jamesons and dry ginger ale
Whiskey Sours are a fav - Although not common in pubs and tend to be expensive.
Scotch and water.
Southern Comfort and white.
JD and coke
JD and lime - odd but nice

I'm sure others can add to this list.


Whisky Tasting

Would people be up for discussing whiskey and possibly tasting notes from them? It's kinda like wine tasting except more fun

If you smoke/have smoked cigars then you'll appreciate the parallels in tasting notes. Similarily with cognacs.

Whiskey tasting is far less pretentious than wine tasting

Example from: www.thewhiskeyguide.com

Jameson 12 yo 40%


Jameson is the best selling Irish Whiskey in the world. Like most Irish whiskies, it is tripple-distilled. The Jameson 12 yo has more of everything compared to the 'regular' Jameson with no age statement.

Appearance: Gold.

Nose: Rich, fruit, malt.

Taste: Medium bodied.

Finish: Medium finish with a lingering fruitiness.

Not too shabby a description. Take a good sniff of a Jameson's 12 year old and it's easy to find the fruit and malt.


Anyways, all this talking about whiskey has made me thirsty...

monkeyfudge

Middleton would be my favourite whiskey... if not perhaps my favourite liquid.

It's a tad on the pricey side though.

I've recently acquired a taste for Green Spot, which has come only just come back on the market apparently. I'll have to pick up a bottle of it as very pubs carry it at the moment. The Palace on Fleet street is one such place though and a lovely pub to drink a whiskey in.. well when it's quiet, that is....

I always drink my whiskey straight... I don't like the way ice and water dilutes the whiskey.

And I've never much cared for scotch or bourbons though. It has to be a nice tripple distilled Irish whiskey for me...

nesf

monkeyfudge wrote:

And I've never much cared for scotch or bourbons though. It has to be a nice tripple distilled Irish whiskey for me...

I came across a very nice scottish triple distilled earlier this year (I can't remember the name). They do do a damn nice triple distilled when they put their mind to it.


I agree on the Midleton's but I can't afford to drink it any way regularily! So I list my usual "at home, feeling like a nice tipple" whiskey as my favourite instead.

Dimitri

I can never have ice in my jameson i think kills the taste and all you get is the burn. Always a bottle of paddys in the house but only ever used for cooking.

Laguna

I like Southern Comfort neat. Slides down the ole' throat real good thanks..

Thraktor

Midleton? You might as well be claiming you have a glass of the '73 vintage every night as a nightcap, because €120 a bottle is a bit expensive for a day-to-day whisky, don't ya think? Nah, when I'm out-and-about I'm generally on either Jameson, or the 12yr variant thereof, wither straight or with a bit of ice. A bit hesitant to go with the 12yr, though, after a certain pub charged me €7.90 for a glass of it the other night.

I've been trying to expand my knowledge of whisky for a while now, and I'm well aware of a few wine tasting/beer tasting courses around the country, but does anyone know of a good whisky tasting course for those of us wishing to get too know a bit more about the drink?

Crucifix

I'm not really a connoisseur of whiskey, but I do quite like it from time to time.
I tried Bushmills a while ago, and found it very very nice, but I'd usually have Jamesons.
Someone mentioned Southern Comfort, which I despise. But more importantly, is Southern Comfort actually a whiskey? I thought technically it was a malt liquor or some such?

Thraktor

Southern Comfort is a bourbon, which is a type of whiskey (notice the e) usually made in Kentucky. Technically, only whiskys (notice the lack of an e) made in Ireland or Scotland are meant to be called whisky, whereas Americans are to be reffered to as bourbons, sour mashs, or whatever category they fit into, or, more usually, by the use of the word whiskey in it's americanised spelling, with the added e.

nesf

Thraktor wrote:

Southern Comfort is a bourbon, which is a type of whiskey (notice the e) usually made in Kentucky. Technically, only whiskys (notice the lack of an e) made in Ireland or Scotland are meant to be called whisky, whereas Americans are to be reffered to as bourbons, sour mashs, or whatever category they fit into, or, more usually, by the use of the word whiskey in it's americanised spelling, with the added e.

Actaully, the "whiskey" spelling was used first in relation to Irish Whiskey.

It's not an americanisation, it's just something they stole from us

In Ireland it's spelt whiskey. In Scotland etc whisky.

Both are accepted spellings though, so it's a matter of choice. But to be correct, it's whiskey when referring to Irish or American whiskeys and whisky when referring to everything else.

Laguna

I don't give as **** what it is! hah! I'll drink it all the same..

_Turismo4

Laguna wrote:

I like Southern Comfort neat. Slides down the ole' throat real good thanks..

It’s nice with red to…

Blisterman

Southern Comfort's hardly whiskey.
Whiskey based, sure, but it's too sweet to be whiskey surely.

Zaph

Have to say that I'm a bourbon man myself. Wild Turkey if I'm out, but at home I have several bottles of excellent, and hard to come by, small batch bourbons. I tend only to bring them out on special occasions and when there's a whiskey drinker around who'll appreciate them.

Crucifix

I looked it up on wiki and a friend provided another link (it's at the bottom), and they suggest Southern Comfort is actual a blend of a grain spirit, which may be bourbon, and peach liqueur. Interesting.

bonkey

My top two Irish whiskies are probablly Redbreast and Conemara. Middleton, I personally think, is somewhat overrated.

Scotch-wise, I guess I'm an island man, with Islays taking most of my top preferences. The Distillers' Edition Talisker, though, is currently my top Scotch - a fantastic expression of an already-good whisky.

As for tasting...only ever straight, with perhaps the tiniest drop of water (depending on the whisky/whiskey) to set the oils off.

jc

the_rook

They do some whiskey tasting in the Jameson distillery. I imagine it's only the different Jameson whiskeys available. I was also under the impression that Scottish whisky is whisky and all other whiskey is whiskey. SC is certainly whiskeyish but i'll leave it to the conisseurs.

Blub2k4

Crucifix wrote:

I looked it up on wiki and a friend provided another link (it's at the bottom), and they suggest Southern Comfort is actual a blend of a grain spirit, which may be bourbon, and peach liqueur. Interesting.

Southern Comfort is a whiskey liqueur and has very little to do with whiskey really.

JackieChan

Jaysus,
We got bottles of Talliskers free from work last year. It was undrinkable. Tasted like it was distilled over a bbq, very smokey...to the point of been undrinkable.
The first whiskey I ever had was a Tullamore Dew and it was a beauty.
My memory of it is probably enhanced due to the friends and athmosphere that was about in the pub!!
Not a whiskey drinker myself but have the odd Jameson/S.C.

Funnily I was in a small off licence in the north of Holland (near Bergum) a few years ago and decided to see what Irish whiskey I could see. The only one was Tullamore Dew! Big surprise to me!

growler

I like a jameson with a drop of water but no ice, sometimes mix it ginger ale, and like jameson in an irish coffee, but I keep a few nice bottles of scotch around too, pesonal fav is Oban, but i like most of the scotch single malts, Talisker is a lovely tipple as is Lagavullen and the Islays.