~ Whisky thread ~ (People of legal drinking age only please!!)

[leonmarino]

I am drinking a nice glass of Suntory Hibiki 17 yrs. as I'm typing this post..

The nice aroma with a hint of sweetness, a soft, round taste which is a feast to the tongue, not too heavy but rather elegant, and an after-taste that seems to last for eternity.. I love it..

So does anyone else here ever drink whisky? (Or whiskEy?) My personal favorite are actually the heavier Islay whiskys. I could kill for a Ardbeg, and murder for a Coal Ila. But then again I have come to appreciate many kinds of this wonderful spirit. I even like the taste of a bourbon from time to time! (Maker's Mark.. Tastes like sweet fresh baked cookies with syrup!)

And of course, the Japanese whiskys.. Yamazaki is great, Hibiki is excellent, but I haven't tried much else to be honest. Anyone got more experience?

 

[Mike Cash]

Nikka Black is popskull rotgut whisky that a civilized nation ought to be ashamed to produce.

Any whisky that can be purchased in 3 liter bottles in supermarkets is to be avoided.

 

[Goldiegirl]

Ok, I don't drink whiskey, but I have tried it, and unless it's mixed with soda, it's just too strong for me. Anyway though I do have a whiskey kind of question. I was given a bottle called Denki Bran while I was in Japan and I am wondering what it is? Is it a whiskey?

You should always avoid grocery store brands of alcohol....I swear they are made from diesel fuel.

 

[Kinsao]

Mmmmm, now, I love whisky. But I only like single malts! My favourite is a scotch whisky called Sheep Dip. :liplick: (Honestly! XD) I also like Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie, Glenlivet and Pig's Nose.

Tip - if you feel a cold coming on, cut a finger of whisky with some hot water, put a tablespoon of sugar and about 5 cloves in it, and drink it. ONLY DO THIS WITH BLENDED WHISKY, it'd be criminal to treat a single malt in such a way! It sounds an awful thing to do to such a great substance, but it really does work for staving off that ill feeling.

 

[Mycernius]

Ahh, I love a good malt whisky. One of my favourites is Laphroaig 10 year old. A woody burnt taste that is not as smooth as some malts, but gives a wonderful warm feeling when it goes down. I have a bottle near me as I type, along with a Glenmorangie 12 year and a Dalwhinnie 15 year. If I just want a nice whisky and not an expensive malt (they, after all need to be savoured) Bowmore, an Islay malt, is good.
Like a good son, I always buy my mother a malt whisky for Christmas. Malt whisky drinking runs in the family. The only time I drink a malt if I use it as a mixer. My grandfather, a man of many years of good drinking, told me once, "The only thing you should put in a malt is a nip of good, clean water". It help the flavour, apparently. I must admit I refrain from doing this.
The worst one I ever had was called Canadian Club. Something better used for stripping paint with, or cleaning the faimly silver.
I've never tried a Japanese whisky, but the best still come from Scotland or Ireland. Years of practice.

 

[leonmarino]

Yeah, whisky drinkers unite!
I've seen some big bottles in Japan too.. I even think I saw a few 4.5 litre bottles of Black Nikka once.. Weird!! But still there're some pretty damn good whiskies in Japan..
I know the thing that involves mixing whisky with hot water, or tea, with sugar, or honey and some even put some fresh lemon juice in it.. They say it helps against a cold but.. I've never tried it to be honest!!

I've never tried a Japanese whisky, but the best still come from Scotland or Ireland. Years of practice.

Um.. How can you say that when you've never tried a Japanese one?! Mind you, Japanese whisky making is already 100+ years old (I believe) and Japan IS the biggest whisky producing country in the world. With the obsessive pursuit of quality in their blood they just might distill something very very special. Don't you think?
I really like Irish whiskey (mind the spelling!) too though.. Have you ever tried Connemara? It's one of the few peated single malts made in Ireland. Combines the soft and velvety character of Irish whiskey with the smokey peats often found in Islay whisky.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

Still have it??

Do they still have the whisky in Japan with the dead poisoness snake in the bottle, think it was a Mumushi or something like that. I think it was susposed to make a man more sexualy potent by drinking it. I thought about trying it, the snake part wasn't so bad , but all the tons of floating crap from the disolving snake grossed me out.

Uncle Frank

:?

 

[Mycernius]

Um.. How can you say that when you've never tried a Japanese one?! Mind you, Japanese whisky making is already 100+ years old (I believe) and Japan IS the biggest whisky producing country in the world. With the obsessive pursuit of quality in their blood they just might distill something very very special. Don't you think?
I really like Irish whiskey (mind the spelling!) too though.. Have you ever tried Connemara? It's one of the few peated single malts made in Ireland. Combines the soft and velvety character of Irish whiskey with the smokey peats often found in Islay whisky.

A 100+ years! They might catch up with the Scots and Irish then. They might have had some experience, but whisky is an Irish/Scots invention, actually more Celt. The Irish and the Scots both say that they invented it. For a brief established whiskeys Bowmore in 1779, Laphroaig in 1815.
Our local supermarket, well Sainsburys, sell quiet a wide range of whiskys. I'll have to ferret out that Irish one though.

 

[Domon]

I used to really like an Irish whiskey called Powers, but cant drink it any more due to the extreme hangovers it gave me. Never could stand scotch though. Horrible.

 

[Revenant]

I haven't tried many Whiskeys, Booker Noe's was probably the best.

 

[Mars Man]

OH....nice thread !! (opens the bottom, left-hand office desk drawer, checking out the window to see if any students are nearby, quickly tilts the well worn brown paper bag's bottom towards the heavens, then hides it away, rubbing the left hand across the left corner of the mouth....)

Oh yeah...well, to be honest, I only drink whiskey on somewhat special occasions...perhaps to protect its quality in my mind? I have tried the one that Kinsao mentioned, Glenfiddich, but the others you folks have mentioned (other than Black Nikka--which I have never consciously touched) I have never heard of.

Back in Arizona, I always sipped on Wild Turkey 101 or Jack Daniel's 12 year (was it?) Here, in my dozo, I have one bottle of Old Grandad (I think that's the right name [just shows how seldom I delve into the bottle]) and one finished Chevaz Regal (is that right?) and a bottle of Zen Zen. You guys will have to forgive my illiteracy on the subject.

With my laziness, I guess it is, I usually go for a beer. Oh, and I do have some 14 bottles of wine in stock at most times...in the dozo, well out of the sunlight.

 

[leonmarino]

OH....nice thread !! (opens the bottom, left-hand office desk drawer, checking out the window to see if any students are nearby, quickly tilts the well worn brown paper bag's bottom towards the heavens, then hides it away, rubbing the left hand across the left corner of the mouth....)

I have tried the one that Kinsao mentioned, Glenfiddich, but the others you folks have mentioned (other than Black Nikka--which I have never consciously touched) I have never heard of.

Glenfiddich is world famous. It is actually Glenfiddich that started the single malt category! Before that, there were only blended whiskies.. Because of a shortage in a certain whisky they needed for their blend they started bottling "single malts", which was unheard of.. Through heavy marketing they were able to give it the image it has now. Taste-wise, Glenfiddich is often critisized because it's a bit too "dry", and not so pleasant for the throat. Others say that that's a worthy characteristic of the whisky.

Back in Arizona, I always sipped on Wild Turkey 101 or Jack Daniel's 12 year (was it?)

I've had a Wild Turkey once! I remember I liked it. Jack Daniel's.. I haven't tried the 12 yrs, but the common joke among whisky fanatics I know is about the ordinary Jack Daniels, mixed with coke, which supposedly is a big waste.. Of the coke!!

 

[Mike Cash]

I'm recently mourning the disappearance of Teacher's. Can't find it anywhere.

 

[MajideSaiaku]

I live in the Homeland of REAL whiskey and I have to say, I dont drink much of it.

 

[Mars Man]

leonmarino san, thanks for that information. Hey, did you call me Mike? I'm still here, and still teaching..hee, hee, hee...

Seriously, I have never heard of that either--wow, so illiterate here. Where is that one from Mike Cash?

Oh, nurizeko, first you've got to get married, maybe, then you'll be drinking more of it....hee, hee, hee.....(this crazy old Mars Man...)

 

[Pachipro]

My favorite is Wild Turkey 101 Kentucky bourbon which I buy in 1.75L size for $27-$34, depending on the sales. (I always travel just over the boarder to Kentucky to purchase as, believe it or not, there is no tax on alcohol in Kentucky! Here in Tennessee the tax is 9.25%)

I also drink Old Grandad, Jim Beam, Jack Daniels and the occasional bottle of Sake, but Wild Turkey 101 remains my favorite.

 

[Iron Chef]

Back in the day when I was an ALT, my junior-high school's daytrip consisted of visiting and touring the Nikka Yoichi whiskey factory. According to the brochure:

"Nikka Whisky's two domestic distilleries in Yoichi Town, Hokkaido and Miyagikyo, Sendai, was founded by Masataka Taketsuru (1894-1979), the father of Japanese whisky. Masataka was the first Japanese to study the techniques of whisky making in Scotland and bring them back to Japan. Masataka decided to build his first whisky distillery in Yoichi Town, Hokkaido. It had all the necessary conditions and a climate ideal for whisky making, with mist, clean air, and cool, clean water. The first distillery was founded in 1934."

I still to this day wonder if the trip wasn't for the accompanying teacher and chaperon's benefit (free samples) rather than for the students... I mean, how many junior high kids would perk up at the mention of a dilapidated and now decreipt facility that manufactures hard alcohol?

 

[MajideSaiaku]

Oh, nurizeko, first you've got to get married, maybe, then you'll be drinking more of it....hee, hee, hee.....(this crazy old Mars Man...)

I dunno, marriage by its defenition means you;ve survived long enough to suffer a long slow death.


I found some Scottish brand whiskeys in Japan, which was nice, I guess their considered pretty expensive stuff, but to me its like whiskey I could pop up to the distillery to get first hand.

 

[leonmarino]

I'm recently mourning the disappearance of Teacher's. Can't find it anywhere.

Hm.. Isn't it available anymore in Japan? I aided a friend working in his liquor store this past X-mas, and I remember selling a bottle of Teacher's, so I don't think it's discontinued.. For MarsMan's information, it's a Scottish blended. And I have to say it is very mellow for its price category. I often recommend it to whisky beginners.

I live in the Homeland of REAL whiskey and I have to say, I dont drink much of it.

No offence my friend, but the spelling is "whisky" in your case; Scottish, Japanese and Canadian whiskies are spelled without the "e", and American and Irish are with the "e".

I always travel just over the boarder to Kentucky to purchase as, believe it or not, there is no tax on alcohol in Kentucky! Here in Tennessee the tax is 9.25%

Say what!? NO tax on alcohol? I tried to look up how much the tax on alcohol is here in Holland, but couldn't find any sources.. But I assure you it's way more than 9.25%...

Masataka was the first Japanese to study the techniques of whisky making in Scotland and bring them back to Japan.

The story I heard was that his dad (who was the boss of some Sake company) was afraid that he would never come back and settle there with a Scottish beauty.. And he did find a woman there that he wanted to marry!! But fortunately he brought his wife-to-be AND the info on whisky-making back to Japan!!

 

[maushan3]

Some Buchanan's and Chivas mixed with some mineral water.

Mauricio

 

[Mike Cash]

leonmarino san, thanks for that information. Hey, did you call me Mike? I'm still here, and still teaching..hee, hee, hee...

Seriously, I have never heard of that either--wow, so illiterate here. Where is that one from Mike Cash?

Friends help you move.

Real friends help you move bodies.

Somewhere above that sublime level are friends who entirely unsolicited hook a brother up with a bottle of Scotch. Mars Man sent me a CARE package with a bottle of Teacher's in it. That ranks somewhere between donating a kidney and jumping on a grenade in my book.

Thanks a million, Mars Man!

 

[Mycernius]

Teachers is widely available in the UK. I've recently bought a bottle called Bruichladdich an Islay malt. Yet to try, so I'll get back to you with that.

 

[Mars Man]

Thanks a million, Mars Man!

Hey !! You're most welcome !! I was just so surprized to see it there on the shelf, just kinding lighting up like a three million watt neon sign saying, 'here I am' !! (since I had never ever heard of it before)

Anything to help out a friend !! Please enjoy it !! MM

 

[tigi]

i don't like wisky at all >_<

 

[Mike Cash]

i don't like wisky at all >_<

Thank you, that was very enlightening.