Whiskey

[limey]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Moonshiners.

Home distillation of liquor used to be the province of backwoods bootleggers. Up until 1974, when the world price of sugar skyrocketed, commercial moonshiners throughout the Southeastern United States made enough money making hooch that it was worth the risk of getting caught by federal revenuers.

Today, making your own liquor is as illegal as ever, and a lot less lucrative. In fact, it's considerably cheaper to buy it off the shelf.

As a result, today's home distillers are quintessential do-it-yourselfers. Many are engineers and techies, much like the liquor connoisseurs who attend the Whiskies of the World Expo each year in San Francisco. "We have a whole audience that we refer to as the whiskey geek," event founder and organizer Riannon Walsh says. "I think 90 percent of them are techies."

[skysidhe]

If you drank it at youth parties then it's time to graduate.

I like a good Canadian whiskey. I'd like to try a good Irish.

[BrianR]

I'm a Scotch man. Glen Fiddich or Glen Morangie, pref 25 years old. I enjoy the finer things in life...in moderation.

I find that a glass of fine Scotch and one ice cube, swirled in the hand and sampled gently will relax six weeks of tension from me.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by wolf

Just the regular stuff (what is that, 8 year, 10 year? The older ones are too expensive for drinking)

What I had in mind was the Port Finished, Sherry Finished, or Bourbon Finished flavors. Like Balvenie, Glenmorangie is taking to using two-barrel systems, finishing off the ageing in barrels that previously were used for one of the above.

This is Pennsylvania, son. We can't buy booze in the regular supermarkets here. We have to go to the State Store. Self-serve liquor is a fairly recent innovation.

Rather familiar with it; I've bought beer in Penna. before -- many years ago now.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

I bought a bottle of the 12yo Balvenie in 1996, and found that it required 10 years to develop a taste for it.

Considering buying another bottle. It's cost-effective at that rate of consumption.

Huhm... you're the first guy I've met who doesn't like Speyside scotches. Or is it scotch in general, and from anywhere? That's actually easier to understand.

The only Speyside I've tasted that I didn't like was 12y.o. Glenfiddich. I dislike its bitter finish and prefer whiskies without it.

[Undertoad]

Oh, I developed a taste for it, it just took 10 years. Like the first year I drank a finger of it, and I said, I just don't get why this stuff is so special. The second year I drank a finger of it, and I thought, well this seems pretty much the same. And so on, until last year when I said, hey this stuff is actually pretty good.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Hmm. And was there ever a Scotch that got your favorable attention at first sip?

For me, that was Laphroaig.

[smoothmoniker]

Oh yes ... Lagavulin 16 Year for me. The very first sip almost brought a tear to my eye.

[Sundae]

David Tennant

Oh, Scotch. Sorrry.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Darn it, we need a shot-of-whisk(e)y smiley!

"Scotch is what ye drrink; Scots is what ye arrrre."