HQS

I'll occasionally add a splash to stews or stirfrys but I use cheap cheap whiskey for that.

Go to /b/ if you're going to shitpost

Actually, it's a legit trick but only for Vodka

Of course it won't work on Bourbon, etc, where you're paying for the flavor

I drink to get drunk and save money, but I appreciate better liquor all the same.

what are some good beginner scotch/whiskey for ~50$?

>light, flowery, sweet, smooth
Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie, Glen Garioch, Balvenie
>rich, dark, creamy, syrupy
Bunnahabhain 12
>dry, salty, smoky, maritime
Ardbeg 10, Laphroaig 10, Ardmore

Scotch-
Highland Park 12
Glenlivet 12
Glenmorangie 10

Bourbon-
Elijah Craig 12
Eagle Rare 10
Four Roses Small Batch

I'd really suggest Highland Park 12 as your first whiskey. It's got a little bit of everything without being overbearing. And just because it's relatively young for a scotch does not mean it isn't a quality whiskey.

good suggestions too

I really think that Glenlivet is likely to disappoint. It's not THAT low tier, but I tasted some Glenlivet 18 a few days ago and I was expecting so much more, it really didn't taste like a whisky so matured

I want to buy a good smokey whiskey for my dad on his birthday. Hé really enjoys these and already owns a nice "collection" (about 15 bottes).
I was thinking about an Octomore, is it really worth it ?

So I guess Pogues Irish Whiskey is a thing now.
Saw it at my liquor store and had to pick it up.
I still prefer Tullamore Dew.

Is pic related any good?

Going on holiday with my Dad and bringing a bourbon you don't see very often in the UK, Tesco has it for £32. I really like both Bulleit and Buffalo Trace and they hover around the £20 mark so is this a step up, or should I just bring a bottle of something else?

Vat 69 is a high quality whiskey, right?

Macallan is not a smoky whisky at all. For that you want Islay malts - smokiest one at a reasonable price is Laphroaig 10. Avoid the Laphroaig Select, it is a nice dram but nowhere near as smoky as the 10.

But... The link the guy (maybe you) posted read "wood smoke"... I was told a lollapalooza.

better living through chemistry, yes

Wasn't me who posted it. It is a lovely whisky, but not smoky at all. Worth a try as something a little different, although it is expensive. Speyside whisky tends to either be light and easy drinking or quite rich and sherried so a very different proposition from Islay stuff.

Even in my third-world country, where all imported alcohol is expensive, this whiskey is pretty cheap. Do not know the reason of this.

It is a cheap whiskey. The other cheap whiskeys are just sweet, like cut brandy; this is sharp and smoky.

Do you also have The Claymore, Highland Bird, Highland Reserve, Highland Queen, Haddington House, Glen Scanlan, Lord Calvet, Famous Grouse, Hankey Bannister, Long John, Black Velvet and the "the Domestic Knock-off X" withing about one € price range from Vat 69?

i tried Lagavulin but it honestly tastes like a cigarerre water.

Been enjoying this a lot more.

Any other smokey whiskies worth trying that aren't ashtray smoke?

W o o d f o r d

Lagavulin 16? If you didn't like that, it is pretty safe to say that you won't like most Islay whiskies.

Try some speyside stuff, very different and very nice.

Highland Park is an excellent choice also, glad you found something you like

picked up a liter bottle of this at duty free yesterday

i know i will prob get hate for this but during winter this is a great drink to have.

I don't mind whisky liqueurs, a local distillery does a good one.

Mind-blowingly amazing.

I can't imagine how the "150" is compared to this; one day I'll need to try it.

I have a bottle of the 150 - it is pretty damn good.

How does the taste compare to the 100? I've only ever had the standard red label & the 100.

I've become very fond of Old Pulteney. I even asked for a bottle for my birthday tomorrow. Smooth and creamy as fuck.

Quel est le prix de cette douce liqueur? Trop fainéant pour chercher sur le web...

Are there any good cheap smokey whiskeys? All the ones I can find are too expensive for me.

You forgot that we are europoor and all our products are shie tier.

Can I send you some dollars to buy a bottle?

Alright disappointed OP here, my liqueur store didn't have my Talisker. Sheit.
They do have a Baumore on sale, don't know what age but I'm guessing the most basic one. Should I give it a go? Thoughts?

*Bowmore

The basic Bowmore is fine, but nothing special. Don't overpay for it, it sits around the £25 mark here and that is about right I think. For reference that is about half what Lagavulin 16 is, and less than a standard 10 year old Islay malt.

try wine-searcher com, it actually has a decent inventory and prices on everything for looking for shit if you haven't already

Why are you drinking the liquid jew?
Cause it makes you feel "cool"?
Helps you "fit in"?
Takes away the reality of your already terrible life?
Helps you get "laid" ?(rape charge these days fellas if she's drunk)
Helps you get smarter and healthier?

Alcohol is poison and makes any human act degenerate.

Stop drinking the alcoholic jew.

it makes you fat,sweat and unattractive
it makes you make terrible life choices you normally would not consider sober
it makes you act like a mental retard. If you're drinking to "fit in", you're drinking to fit in with retards.
It will more than likely end you up with a criminal charge for something stupid, you'd never do sober.
In some case it will ruin your life in every way possible.

>hey man, remember that night we got wasted and I pissed my pants, called my ex crying like a bitch and then puked all over myself and passed out in at?
>HA HA! What a great night!!
Stop drinking the liquid jew

How is the price of Smokehead, Bruichladdich, Coal Ila, and Talisker near you?
Ardberg and Laphroaig are likely to be cheaper and more widely available, but as a warning they are the kind of whisky that you love or hate, very particular taste that some people can't stand.

If you can find it I would try Lagavulin 8 or 16, the 16 is much more common, and the 8 is a newer offering. I think the 8 is better than the 16 and it's cheaper.

This motherfucker knows what's up.

NO ONE FALL FOR THE BAIT

JUST IGNORE AND SCROLL ON

>I was thinking about an Octomore, is it really worth it ?
I've been drinking Octomore since 2.1, and have around a dozen different bottles of it stashed away. If your dad likes peatbombs like Laphroaig and Ardbeg and has never had an Octomore before, any of the .1 releases (6.1, 7.1, etc) will be good for him. They're young, high-proof, and straight-up peat to the extreme, not terribly complex, so some people think they aren't worth the money.

The .2 releases are wine-finished, and beginning with the 6.2 are exclusive to travel retail and directly from the distillery, so you probably won't find those anywhere. They're where the Octomore line really shines; the 2.2 is a legendary drink.

.3 releases started with the 6.3, which was designed to be an Octomore spirit as Islay as possible. The barley for these releases comes from Octomore farm just a couple miles from the distillery. These are also wine-finished. The 6.3 got great reviews.

7.4 is the first .4 release and spent 7 years in virgin oak casks. It's got a lot of oaky flavor to it, unsurprisingly.

So, if you can, get a 6.1, 6.3, 7.1, or 7.3 for your pops.

i prefer rum
>Red Rum

One in particular?

Well, I think there isn't really much more to add here. Thanks a lot for the answer, it helps me a lot !
I will go check in the alcohol store in my town, I remember seeing an Octomore bottle down there, but as a Swiss fag living in a small town... Anyway there is still time before his birthday.

Again, thanks a lot user !

Question:
How long do Grand Marniers last? Like if you keep those celebratory bottlings for 20 years, are they still going to be good then? I've heard conflicting things since Grand Marnier is 40% cognac and also a liqueur at the same time.

I use it to pan sear rib eye. Look up burbeon seared steaks they're great

Belvinie 12 & Johnny Walker Black

...

Dont you have a containment board?

I hear big pete is good and extra peaty and you should not be discouraged by label. Not had it though.

I really like monkey shoulder.

I don't have a problem with the jack daniels honey. I but really nice coffee and a small shot in a coffee is great.

This has always been my issue with grand marnier (and other liqueurs). You don't know if it's expired or not already.

Do all whiskies taste like wood? For some reason, I've tried several types, granted they're all starter level samples, but all I'm getting is like I'm licking tree bark.

>tfw they smell so good but taste like shit desu senpai

What have you tried so far though so we at least have an idea

Jameson's, some Canadian whisky, Bushmills, Jameson, Wild Turkey. All entry level offerings for the whiskies. Will I only ever be able to drink Japanese shochu, because at least that doesn't taste like tree?

I'm kinda glad that I didn't get into a buying frenzy for expensive scotch. Shit can go sky high when I checked the prices of Glendronach 15 right before they stopped making them.

Well, shochu doesn't taste like tree because of how it is processed before it becomes shochu.

I like Booker's better and it's 5 bucks cheaper where i live. Cask strength snd no chill filtration are both big pluses imo.

As much as i love whisk(e)y, i think brandy is the king of spirits. I'm especially partial to Armagnac. I've got a bottle of Chateau Laubade cask strength 1989 open right now that is just insanely good.

Also in my cabinet:
Delord XO
Darroze 1979
Lagavulin 16 distillers edition
Glenfarclas 21
Glenmorangie Signet
Bunnahabhain 18
Willett's Family Estate single barrel bourbon
Orphan Barrel Barterhouse bourbon
Jefferson's Very Old bourbon
El Dorado 21 rum
Clement XO agricole rum

>Delord XO
Is that the 25 year or something?

I like Caol Ila and Laphroaig.

>i think brandy is the king of spirits
I'm thinking of branching out more to brandy and have done some research.
Got any tips for calvados, cognac, and armagnac? Are the popular brands like Hennessy and Courvoisier just name brand popular or is Remy Martin, Gautier, and Camus the way to go?

Ardbeg 10 is pretty high class for a cheap scotch relative to other scotch prices.

>big pete

Generally speaking, cognac and armagnac are fairly similar. Both are grape brandies made in France, although in different regions. Though they use slightly different grapes (cognac is about 99% Ugni Blanc, while Armagnac also uses baco blanc, folle blanche snd colombard), the main difference is distillation. Cognac is distilled twice while armagnac is only distilled once, like a whiskey. This means more flavorful compounds and oils are left in Armagnac, and results in Cognac being generally mellower, more delicate, and arguably more 'refined' while Armagnac is bolder, richer, and more powerful in flavor. Armagnac also doesn't have the same name recognition or prevalence in popular culture, so it's often way cheaper for the quality but also harder to find.

For cognac I'd definitely avoid the 'big name' producers, at least at first. Not that they don't make a good product, but they're so well known that they're pretty severely overpriced. Going searching for cognac from less-known producers will give you a lot more bang for your buck. I also find they often come across as less 'engineered', if that makes sense. Some of my favorites are Daniel Bouju, Francois Voyer, Martell, Braastad, and Chateau de Montifaud. If you can find Martell Cordon Bleu or Daniel Bouju XO Empereur, they're both stellar 'masculinely flavored' cognacs at a pretty solid price for how good they are. Voyer's Napoleon is a good one as well.

Armagnac is probably my favorite liquor of all and there's not much I've tried that i didn't like, but i would definitely give Chateau Laubade a mention for having readily available cask strength bottlings.

Calvados is pretty different and I don't honestly have a lot of experience with it. If I'm buying calvados i usually go to the liquor store i visit most often and just ask for a recommendation.

Isn't that worth 70 USD?

Holy crap no, where I intended to buy it it was €37, which should be 42 bucks or something among those lines

Sometimes you just gotta

>Anything goes, as long as it's high quality.

What makes something high quality?
Tastes test have shown that normies (not sommeliers) are unreliable at telling the difference between brands.

Also vodka is the best alcoholic drink because it's the easiest to mix with Pepsi and not end up with something yucky.

I've never tried absolut, but quite in general I despise large brand vodkas cause they don't give a shit about the flavor, they just want to get people drunk.

I still think you're bait.

What? EC is 20$ vs. 50$ for bookers. Where are you that Elijah Craig is more expensive? I don't believe that

>I still think you're bait.

>Veeky Forums engenders this level of paranoia
>how do I really know he feels that way, it could be a trick
Seek help.

How encompassing should a liquor collection be?
>6 main distilled spirits (brandy, gin, rum, tequila, vodka, whisky)
>6 regions of scotch whisky (lowland, highland, speyside, islay, island, campbeltown)
>5 main countries that produce whisky (scotch, american, irish, japanese, canadian)
>5 brandy types (cognac, armagnac, calvados, coñac, slivovitz)
>3 eastern asian spirits (shochu, baijiu, soju)
The more I look at it, the scarier it seems to even try and start a liquor collection. It seems like stamp collecting, but more expensive. We haven't even gone down the subtypes of the ones I mentioned up top, like regional types of rum or gin or vodka.

I'm thinking whether I should get that or Highland Park 12.

Why is scotch so cheap in the EU?

Just start with what you like and work from there.

Also i should mention that many of those types of spirits that you mentioned have quite distinct regional differences or subcategories- for instance, Cuban rum is quite different than Guyanan Demerara rum or agricole rhum from Martinique.

Be thankful you're not getting into wine collecting though- way, way more regions and varieties, often more expensive, and barring fortified wine and a few oxidized styles like vin jaune, they don't last once opened.

What are some good whiskeys in the $30 range?

I was gonna ask the same thing.

Either he's full of shit or his liquor store fucked up

Old Forester is an underrated and well priced gem.

>El Dorado 21 rum
Patrician tier taste

Look at Scotland's location relative to Europe

Now look at Scotland's location relative to America

Then realize that Scotland is (currently) still of the EU

There's your answer

I've got some of this right now. I'm still forming an opinion on it.

$49 isn't too hefty a price either.

Their Birthday Bourbon is always really solid.

Have you ever tried their 25 year old? It's fucking hard as balls to find but it's easily the best rum I've ever tried.

Different user here, what would you recommend between

>Pyrat XO
>Zaya 12
>Cruzan something

brandy types (cognac, armagnac, calvados, coñac, slivovitz)
Missed 2: Pisco and Grappa.

Solid scotch for a very reasonable price.

I had no idea they had a 14, what's it like?

I think 12 is a good whiskey but it has too much of an icing/vanilla taste for me personally

Pyrat really didn't do too much for me. It has an odd after taste in my opinion.

I really enjoy Appleton rum.

I'm beginning to agree

The 14 (Bourbon Barrel) is US only, it's aged in American ex-bourbon casks and finished with a charred oak cask. It has a strong spicy oak flavor with a bit of caramel (maybe a tad of vanilla?) at the end. It has a pleasant long burn.

I like it. Fairly smooth sipper.

How is Appleton Estate's signature blend?

Zaya. I found Pyrat XO to be kind of underwhelming.

Definitely worth cracking the Zaya and then letting it sit for a while- a few weeks to a month even- or decanting it and letting it sit for a week or two. Especially true of the Trinidad one. It's excellent rum but it really badly needs a bit of oxygen exposure to open it up- it's really heavy on the vanilla aroma at first but as it sits with some air in the bottle it gets better and better, and more flavors become apparent- things like caramelized bananas and gingerbread.

If you really want to drink it right away, I'd say go for Cruzan single barrel.

I enjoy Maker's 46, but not plain Maker's Mark.