How Do You Drink Your Bourbon?

[dgonano]

Four tiny ice cubes(from the "under the bar" fridge).
They are completely melted within a few minutes.

[SSBourbon1]

I use a very old juice glass (atleast that is what I think it is)used to be my grand mother's and I somehow got the set. Works very well since it is small and is curved and wider at the top then the bottom, allows for good "nosing" I usually add two ice cubes, used to drink it all straight, but jus can't any more. Besides, I do notice that I get more flavors with a little dilution with most bourbons.

[OneCubeOnly]

I have noted this fact, previously, but I was hooted down by everyone else claiming it only gives dilution.

You were being trolled...a certain poster started the whole "dilution" malarkey. He doesn't speak for me...that's for sure.

[TNbourbon]

I usually drink neat (now in my new Ebay-purchased Riedel bourbon glasses -- which are remarkably similar to some $1-a-glass drinkware I found at Tuesday Morning, one of those discount/closeout stores in our area, and previously used). However, high-proof bourbons (like Stagg, Booker's) require some water to varying degrees, and almost everything is tried at some point with a few dribbles of water, ala s***ch.

[tommy]

So no one admits to drinking their bourbon straight from the bottle??

[jeff]

When I first started drinking bourbon (Maker's and Wild Turkey) I would fill an old fashoned glass with ice and pour in the bourbon. Gradually I started adding less and less ice to the point of a single cube for a 2-3oz pour. As my palate began to refine a bit, and I began enjoying a broader range of bourbons, I found that ice really kind of dulled, or toned down some of the flavor components. Now I drink my bourbon mostly neat, but will add bottled, room temperature spring water from time to time to bring down proof or to open up a slightly tannic bourbon. Occasionally I will mix bourbon and Perrier in a 1:1 ratio and drink it over ice. I know it sounds awful, but it is quite refreshing on hot afternoons IMHO.

[timberwolf]

I always drink my whisky neat. I don't consider this to be an affectation, since I have tried most other ways and I don't seem to enjoy it as much as I do straight. In fact, I never much cared for bourbon until I did start drinking it neat. Logically, this seems silly to me, since most whisky is diluted from barrel proof when it is bottled. Must be a mental block; go figger.

Nevertheless, I currently like my bourbon best at room temperature, unmodified, in a wide, thick, short, glass cylinder, although I've been itching to try a real tasting glass.

Of course, I have yet to try anything over 100 proof, so when I do I suspect I may discover certain advantages in a bit of room-temp spring water.

[wadewood]

Most of the time, I drink it neat in a brandy snifter.

However, occasionally I will take a hiball glass and fill with chipped ice with a pour of BT or Knob Creek.

[Dave_in_Canada]

LOL. would that be with, or without, a straw!

[brendaj]

drinking their bourbon straight from the bottle??

Hey now...ya'll are startin' to embarrass me... EW7 makes a plastic bottle called a traveler that's pretty cool and fits nicely in a saddlebag...
Bj