Oboe Cadobro Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 (edited) I love a good bourbon sipped neat, but I hardly ever pour it over rocks, maybe because the cold makes the spirit taste too dry for my palate. If I want it cold, then I whip up a cocktail, with my faves being the Manhattan and Old Fashioned. On a hot day, a Bourbon Buck serves quite nicely to beat the heat in style and with flavor. On the cigar forum that I frequent, when somebody mentions making a cocktail with bourbon, there are a couple of guys with apparently limited palates who think that it is a SACRILEGE to mix "good" bourbon with anything...what am I supposed to do?...keep shitty bourbon around for cocktails? I try to ignore their pathetic jack-booted tirades and just pass it off as a limited education... Meanwhile, I'll continue to enjoy cocktails made with high-proof bourbons like Booker's, WLW, RR101, WT101, OFBIB, ORWV 107, etc...:grin: ================================= PostScript: being the Newbie I am, I apparently missed the fact that this prolly should have gone in the Cocktail room...my bad! :blush: Edited January 8, 2014 by Oboe Cadobro An attack of Noobishness! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grain Belt Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 My dad often tells a story at deer camp that has some bearing here. When he was in high school football in the 60's he and his buddies noticed another player washing himself very judiciously in the shower after practice. The young man noticed the other boys snickering and said "It's my cock and it's my soap and I'll wash it just as fast as I want!" So, in other words, it's your bourbon. Do what you want with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zillah Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Quality in, quality out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callmeox Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Moved to the Cocktails forum for further discussion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squire Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Oboe, apparently there are some folks who can't seem to build themselves up without tearing something/someone else down. To put something as plebeian as whisky on a pedestal strikes me as downright silly. What, they won't let their friends mix a drink with the good stuff? If that's true perhaps they should be hanging out with a better class of people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pudsky Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 I agree, better whiskey, better mixed drink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squire Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Pudsky's correct and his statement is easily proven. Mix two identical cocktails using the ordinary and the good stuff. Sometimes the difference is remarkable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sailor22 Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 I agree - in fact my favorite drink is .. "Pappy 20 on the rocks please, hold the rocks, hold the glass." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garbanzobean Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 A well crafted cocktail highlights the quality of the alcohol used to make it. Said cocktail will never be as good as it can be without quality ingredients. People who use shitty alcohol in cocktails are subscribing to the penny wise, pound foolish school of bourbonomics. That or they are just trying to cover the taste up by drowning everything in sugar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squire Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I respect everyone's opinion on the subject and understand my close friend's admonition that it really doesn't matter because "You're just gonna mix it anyway". I suspect though his attitude may be somewhat tempered by a long marriage to a lady who likes her drinks very sweet and without a trace of alcohol taste.I however strongly subscribe to the junk in junk out rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sailor22 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 A bitter hot bottom shelfer will benefit from the additional sugary sweetness of coke and they play ver well together. It's an enjoyable drink no doubt. But will a premium delicious sipper actually benefit by mixing with soda pop? Or does the value of using it as a mixer reside primarily in its cost? Anyone ever done a blind Coke and Bourbon tasting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanstaafl2 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 A bitter hot bottom shelfer will benefit from the additional sugary sweetness of coke and they play ver well together. It's an enjoyable drink no doubt. But will a premium delicious sipper actually benefit by mixing with soda pop? Or does the value of using it as a mixer reside primarily in its cost? Anyone ever done a blind Coke and Bourbon tasting?Mixing with coke/soda likely does help more than hurt a less noteworthy bourbon. Not sure coke or dark soda does much for a good bourbon, not that I have tried it, although I have developed a liking for ETL with a splash of Sprite! Not a top sipper perhaps but a good quality bourbon that seems to work well. But in a cocktail where the base spirits really needs to carry the drink like a Sazerac or an Old Fashioned (or something a bit off the reservation like a Rapscallion*) then the better the spirit likely the better the drink for me. Maybe it is mental as much as anything, never tried doing it blind, but I would like to think it is not the case! *Rapscallion2 1/2 oz Talisker (I usually use the 10yo but no rule says the 18yo wouldn't work!)3/4 oz Lustau PX Sherryabsinthe rinseStir over ice; strain; lemon twist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brisko Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 (edited) A bitter hot bottom shelfer will benefit from the additional sugary sweetness of coke and they play ver well together. It's an enjoyable drink no doubt. But will a premium delicious sipper actually benefit by mixing with soda pop? Or does the value of using it as a mixer reside primarily in its cost? Anyone ever done a blind Coke and Bourbon tasting?Not blind but early on in my bourbon journey I did a head-to-head with what I had on hand, all mixed with Coke Zero: EWB, Woodford, EC12, and JBB. EC12 was the clear winner, hands-down. Tying for a distant second were EWB and Woodford (I found both to be a little too subtle for my taste). Beam was just gritty and not enjoyable. (And I'm no Beam hater).I guess the point is that if you like the flavor of bourbon and cola, it's worth experimenting. My own 2 cents is that a big, bold bourbon does really well where a more subtle refined one does not, regardless of price category.I'm editing this to say that I also did head to head with those bourbons neat around the same time and I didn't rank them in the same order as with Coke. Edited January 9, 2014 by Brisko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squire Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 The coke/soda thing is what I think of as a highball, which is to say tall glass with ice, a measure of whisky, then filled with the mixer and Brisco is correct in that coke will drown out the less forthright Bourbons.Of course there are many cocktails using Bourbon that don't call for coke/soda as an ingredient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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