Tony Santana Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 (edited) Excellent advice. Shows you how helpful this community can be. You'll get better at it with more experience. And some people just have more sophisticated palates than others. And everybody's palate is different. Bottom line: if you like it, it's good. Edited December 16, 2016 by Tony Santana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDanner Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 11 hours ago, MeAndMyWhiskey said: ....... Someone used the word "nuance", which is appropriate, I think. My wife chuckles when I say I like the "nuances" of what she considers "jet fuel" but as we spend more time with this narrow class of spirit, we find what we like. And, for me, what I like (or even what I perceive) varies from night to night, from drink to drink. We joyfully welcome you to our obsession. And, as you can tell from all of the replies you've generated, you are among (similarly crazy) friends. When I nose something and pick up a note, I'll often ask my wife to nose it and see if she picks it up as well. I always get the same two word response..."cough syrup". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mortre Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 I started about a year ago, and still couldn't do even a short review, but I can get more than just bourbon flavor now. That said, I stopped buying more than one bottle at a time. I might be wrong, but I feel like that has helped me develop my pallet. Day to day the same bottle, but the taste can change. If you like the yellow label, try the small batch or single barrel next. Bourbons from the same distillery have similar flavors in my experience. I can pretty well guarantee I will like something from Wild Turkey, but not so much with Buffalo Trace.Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeAndMyWhiskey Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Obviously, there's no wrong answer, but I, on the other hand, often like to take two different distilleries' products side by side in an effort to notice what comes out differently between the two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Mack Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 On 15/12/2016 at 6:37 PM, Guinny_Ire said: What is your availability of Bourbons in Hull? I was about to ramble off some lower price bourbons to try and realized you might not have them available. Also, what did you drink before moving into Bourbon? sorry for the late reply to your question! In terms of purchasing bourbon off the shelf - it really is your supermarkets like morrisons, tesco, asda and sainsburys and with them you always get your Jim Beam and the variety of products from them, and you generally have Woodford Reserve, and maybe Makers Mark, and sometimes Buffalo Trace, we have a massive Tesco in our city centre and they have Knob Creek small batch which was a surprise I went to Marks and Spencer the other day and they Four Roses SB and Elijah Craig 12 Year! which was a big surprise as that was the only 2 bourbons they had (they also had Tin Cup which is a fine american whisky but I know its not bourbon) To be honest I use Whiskey Exchange or even Amazon for my bourbon purchases and seem to reasonably priced! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Mack Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 On 18/12/2016 at 8:06 AM, mortre said: I started about a year ago, and still couldn't do even a short review, but I can get more than just bourbon flavor now. That said, I stopped buying more than one bottle at a time. I might be wrong, but I feel like that has helped me develop my pallet. Day to day the same bottle, but the taste can change. If you like the yellow label, try the small batch or single barrel next. Bourbons from the same distillery have similar flavors in my experience. I can pretty well guarantee I will like something from Wild Turkey, but not so much with Buffalo Trace. Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk Glad you said that I bought the Four Roses Yellow Label and enjoyed the lightness of it and the ease of it, so I purchased a bottle of the Single Barrel, it was a great choice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IowaJeff Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 You're not missing anything by not being able to denote 15 different flavors from bourbon. Just keep trying new things. Follow the thread of flavor profiles you've liked but also periodically step out and try something completely different - tastes change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanstaafl2 Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 On 1/5/2017 at 11:11 AM, Andy Mack said: I went to Marks and Spencer the other day and they Four Roses SB and Elijah Craig 12 Year! which was a big surprise as that was the only 2 bourbons they had (they also had Tin Cup which is a fine american whisky but I know its not bourbon) Tin Cup likes to call itself an American Whiskey as if it is not bourbon but it is a sourced bourbon of undetermined but likely relatively young age from MGP like lots of others. The "American Whiskey" moniker is just PR crap. When it first came out I think they didn't bother putting the state of distillation on it (which is not legally correct) but I don't know if they have changed that now in light of the legal action against Templeton and others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clueby Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopVol Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I'm in the same boat as you, OP. I just posted something very similar in the new to straight bourbon forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDanner Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 On 1/6/2017 at 0:18 PM, tanstaafl2 said: Tin Cup likes to call itself an American Whiskey as if it is not bourbon but it is a sourced bourbon of undetermined but likely relatively young age from MGP like lots of others. The "American Whiskey" moniker is just PR crap. When it first came out I think they didn't bother putting the state of distillation on it (which is not legally correct) but I don't know if they have changed that now in light of the legal action against Templeton and others. Several years ago I remember reading somewhere that there was confusion over where their bourbon was coming from since the % of rye they were claiming was not being made anywhere. Someone (smarter than me) did the math and figured out that it was a mixture of two of MGP's high rye recipes to arrive at the stated %. It was a very interesting article in that it touched on the growing trend of NDP's (if that term was around at the time). I've bought a couple of these and thought they were pretty good, but there's a lot of stuff in that $30 range that just blows it out of the water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Tot Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Andy, you don't have to limit yourself to what you can get locally in Hull. In the UK, you can buy your stuff online - Amazon sells bourbon. I've used a few online stores in the past when I'm at my London place. I use Drinkfinder UK once in a while. Regarding your tasting, yes, keep drinking bourbon (provided you're enjoying it of course) fairly regularly for a year and you'll start having a series of "a-ha" moments until you start to get a real sense of the differences. I found that a lot of stuff that I thought was great in the beginning only turned out to be mediocre once I became more experienced, and vice versa. Either way, there's no right or wrong, there's only "i'm really liking this tonight" and "meh" There are worse courses of study. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDanner Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 10 hours ago, The Black Tot said: ...I found that a lot of stuff that I thought was great in the beginning only turned out to be mediocre once I became more experienced... ...ahem, Maker's Mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mortre Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 ...ahem, Maker's Mark.Only fit for making BBQ IMO. That said, it makes some mean BBQ sauce!Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTNBourbon Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 On 11/15/2016 at 7:39 PM, Queball said: This book was very helpful to me in picking out aromas and flavors: Bourbon curious : a simple tasting guide for the savvy drinker, by Fred Minnick. I don't know if it's available at your local library, but bookstores probably would have it. If not, there's always Amazon. It will provide you with a guide to the various bourbons and what to look for in them. For instance, Larceny (a wheated bourbon) has a very floral nose. So you'd look for what scents are in there. I find rose pedals, magnolia, and other floral notes. Anyway, the book will give you a good primer on bourbon aromas and tastes, which in time, you'll be able to expand upon. Dean I have that book on it's way to me. Thanks for the recommendation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobafett2k6 Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 On 15/11/2016 at 7:06 AM, Andy Mack said: I'm 29 now and when I was younger if I tasted bourbon (or any spirit straight really) I used to hate it and think god how can people drink this! - but I think age does mature you (not to sound obvious) and it changes you Hi Andy, I'm from just up the road to you in sunny South Shields! (well, not so sunny for about 11 months of the year). I also recently only started drinking American Whisky (do I have to say 'whiskey' around here?) in the last few months and I just turned 37, I'm really enjoying it! I always thought all whisky would taste like scotch and I still think that's vile. On 15/12/2016 at 2:55 PM, Andy Mack said: At the start I was real concerned - shall I drink it neat or with a bit of ice? well its become evident that I like it in a tumbler with about 2 pieces of ice - i know a lot of people have it straight with no ice, but I have heard from people, drink it how YOU drink it - so i am! This might be a bit controversial as I know its not a bourbon, but I even bought a cheap bottle of JD no.7 (supermarkets selling cheap for the xmas period) - and I actually enjoyed it!! - I know my tastebuds are maturing as when I was younger - I wouldn't even try JD (or any whiskey or spirit) straight - so as I have gotten older, I am most likely reaping the benefits Problems are now becoming apparent - I am running out of space where to put my bottles of bourbon! its looking very crammed already and ive just got the 5 bottles! Absolutely right, drink it how you like, it's for you after all and I like JD too, Gentleman Jack is nicer than Old No7 in my opinion. I also ended up with quite a few bottles rather quickly! As for tasting, I hear you. I often think I pick up caramel first and foremost, then less commonly toffee, chocolate and rarely butterscotch. That's pretty much it. I've never nosed a glass and thought it smelled of "Grandma's old leather chair and tobacco smoke". I can tell my rye from bourbon and think I can notice rye heavy bourbon but struggle to tell some bourbons apart. All I know is, I know when I like something! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobafett2k6 Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Oh and I forgot, a lot of tasting notes say 'oaky' or some variation on that, I haven't a clue what that smell is though! I imagine the smell of freshly cut wood but I've never smelled that in a whisky... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richnimrod Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 1 hour ago, Bobafett2k6 said: Oh and I forgot, a lot of tasting notes say 'oaky' or some variation on that, I haven't a clue what that smell is though! I imagine the smell of freshly cut wood but I've never smelled that in a whisky... Not so much 'freshly cut' as old musty damp oak, usually, and sometimes very damp and musty. A kind of sour slightly acid smell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queball Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 (edited) 2 hours ago, Bobafett2k6 said: Oh and I forgot, a lot of tasting notes say 'oaky' or some variation on that, I haven't a clue what that smell is though! I imagine the smell of freshly cut wood but I've never smelled that in a whisky... Do you know any woodworkers in your area? If so visit his shop and do the following: Chuck a 3/8" drill bit in the drill press. Take a piece of white oak, and drill a hole into it, not all the way through. Let the bit spin a few seconds until you get a curl of smoke out of the top of the hole. Smell that smoke, and you'll get a very strong scent of vanilla -- that's where the vanilla smell and taste in bourbon comes from. Next just take the piece of white oak, and take a good, long smell of the wood itself, away from the hole. What you're smelling here is what white oak smells like -- where the oak scent and taste comes from. Enjoy! Dean Edited February 25, 2017 by Queball Correct spelling error Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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