Ice...Ice...Baby?

[Richnimrod]

1 minute ago, The Black Tot said:

 

I don't want to know that kind of stuff, Rich!!!

OK.   ...Sorry.   I'll try to be more circumspect in the future, my friend.   

Pretend I was referring to Bob T. Stagg (George's lesser known brother's namesake Bourbon) in that Eggnog.  

[Vosgar]

5 minutes ago, Richnimrod said:

OK.   ...Sorry.   I'll try to be more circumspect in the future, my friend.   

Pretend I was referring to Bob T. Stagg (George's lesser known brother's namesake Bourbon) in that Eggnog.  

Isn't BTS part of the annual MGPAIC? (MGP Antique Indiana Collection)

 

Aged 36 months IIRC.... 

[The Black Tot]

1 minute ago, Vosgar said:

Aged 36 months IIRC.... 

...in "born again" American oak...

[MJWP]

On 12/5/2019 at 6:06 PM, The Black Tot said:

My cousin used to put ketchup on corn flakes.

 

That shizz was wrong.

 

It doesn't matter how he liked it.

Bourbon aint cornflakes ..... 

[Richnimrod]

12 minutes ago, MJWP said:

Bourbon aint cornflakes ..... 

Well.   Not entirely, anyway.  

[flahute]

4 hours ago, Richnimrod said:

Well.   Not entirely, anyway.  

Rich is on to something here.

[CardsandBourbon]

The following quote is from Fred Noe, regarding his mother, Annis, who only drank bourbon with ginger ale:

 

“She says that’s the best way to drink it, and ain’t nobody gonna tell her any different,” Fred said. Annis has had a clear influence on Fred’s philosophy on the precise and proscribed ways bourbon should be consumed. To wit...

“There’s no right way or wrong way to drink bourbon,” he said. “And anybody tells ya any goddamn different is full of shit.”

 

Link to full article:  https://www.thrillist.com/culture/the-best-way-to-drink-bourbon-according-to-a-master-distiller

 

I drink mine neat, but sometimes I'll use a large ice cube, but sometimes I'll add 2 or 3 small cubes.  Depends on my mood at the time.

[The Black Tot]

32 minutes ago, CardsandBourbon said:

The following quote is from Fred Noe, regarding his mother, Annis, who only drank bourbon with ginger ale:

 

“She says that’s the best way to drink it, and ain’t nobody gonna tell her any different,” Fred said. Annis has had a clear influence on Fred’s philosophy on the precise and proscribed ways bourbon should be consumed. To wit...

“There’s no right way or wrong way to drink bourbon,” he said. “And anybody tells ya any goddamn different is full of shit.”

 

That makes great ad copy, and is good for selling bourbon to everyone.

 

This may come as a shock, but sometimes master distillers engage in hyperbole...

[HoustonNit]

 
That makes great ad copy, and is good for selling bourbon to everyone.
 
This may come as a shock, but sometimes master distillers engage in hyperbole...

What these guys are also salesman? I thought they where only interested in fine tuning there craft and making the best whiskey possible. That and sharing there passion with there customers.

[BigSkyDrams]

Interesting topic. Personally, I prefer anything over ~110 to be proofed down a bit, and am a big fan of the big ice ball that makes the pour a slowly evolving journey. It’s been a few years since I’ve cracked a GTS or WLW, but the last bottles I had I drank neat. At this point in my journey though, I will feel no shame in proofing them down a bit after the first couple sips. I don’t doubt those of you in the “always neat” camp, but I’m my experience, I get more flavor out of many barrel proof offerings with a bit of dilution than I do keeping them at full strength.

 

On the other hand, I do take some issue with others’ preferences, at least when it comes to drinking from my cabinet.  Namely, my father-in-law comes to visit several times a year, and we enjoy sipping whiskey together and chatting. My problem, though, is that his preferred method is to basically fill a rocks glass with crushed ice from my fridge and then add ~2-2.5 oz of whiskey, making for a sort of whisk(e)y slushee. While I’m glad to indulge him of that, I have trouble with the notion that he can taste any difference whatsoever between my casual stuff and higher shelf offerings when consumed in that manner. Over the past year or so, he did it with some Lot B, Nikka Coffey Grain, and some pricey Balvenie I had. So I’ve selfishly stopped offering up my better stuff (e.g. Blanton’s, W12s, RBs, etc.) when he comes to visit.  If it’s all going to taste the same through that much dilution and temperature reduction anyway, he can get by with my bottles in the $20-30 range. 
 

Edit: a little too loose between my use of “bourbon” and “whiskey” interchangeably, particularly in talking non-bourbons.

Edited December 11, 2019 by BigSkyDrams

[Richnimrod]

2 hours ago, BigSkyDrams said:

Interesting topic. Personally, I prefer anything over ~110 to be proofed down a bit, and am a big fan of the big ice ball that makes the pour a slowly evolving journey. It’s been a few years since I’ve cracked a GTS or WLW, but the last bottles I had I drank neat. At this point in my journey though, I will feel no shame in proofing them down a bit after the first couple sips. I don’t doubt those of you in the “always neat” camp, but I’m my experience, I get more flavor out of many barrel proof offerings with a bit of dilution than I do keeping them at full strength.

 

On the other hand, I do take some issue with others’ preferences, at least when it comes to drinking from my cabinet.  Namely, my father-in-law comes to visit several times a year, and we enjoy sipping whiskey together and chatting. My problem, though, is that his preferred method is to basically fill a rocks glass with crushed ice from my fridge and then add ~2-2.5 oz of whiskey, making for a sort of whisk(e)y slushee. While I’m glad to indulge him of that, I have trouble with the notion that he can taste any difference whatsoever between my casual stuff and higher shelf offerings when consumed in that manner. Over the past year or so, he did it with some Lot B, Nikka Coffey Grain, and some pricey Balvenie I had. So I’ve selfishly stopped offering up my better stuff (e.g. Blanton’s, W12s, RBs, etc.) when he comes to visit.  If it’s all going to taste the same through that much dilution and temperature reduction anyway, he can get by with my bottles in the $20-30 range. 
 

Edit: a little too loose between my use of “bourbon” and “whiskey” interchangeably, particularly in talking non-bourbons.

While I totally support your decision to limit the options you offer out of your own whiskey cabinet according to a prescribed dilution (or lack of any dilution at all?); I do wish to point out that some folx with amazingly sensitive palates can determine differences among whiskeys even at very highly diluted levels... and maybe very low temperatures as well.   I don't believe I know any such folx; but they're reputed to be out there.  Maybe your F-i-L is one?

[smokinjoe]

Undiluted high proof alcohol will deaden a palate every bit as quickly as a lower temp.  Pick your poison.  

[BigSkyDrams]

3 hours ago, Richnimrod said:

While I totally support your decision to limit the options you offer out of your own whiskey cabinet according to a prescribed dilution (or lack of any dilution at all?); I do wish to point out that some folx with amazingly sensitive palates can determine differences among whiskeys even at very highly diluted levels... and maybe very low temperatures as well.   I don't believe I know any such folx; but they're reputed to be out there.  Maybe your F-i-L is one?

That’s a fair point. I don’t suppose he is, but perhaps I’ll break my newly imposed rule and give him a blind side by side of, say, benchmark and EHT both served in that fashion.  Matter of fact, I haven’t tried a bourbon slushee myself, so I could include a couple for my own analysis. 
 

Even if he/I can distinguish a bottom shelf vs. upper shelf when turned into slushee form though, I think my bigger gripe is generally with turning any fine sipping bourbon into a slushee.

[The Black Tot]

It reminds me of the bar that made PVW23 Jello shots for publicity/rebellion.

 

Would you still have Annis Beam's ire if you thought that was a bit of a shame?

 

Where do you stop? Do you put Chateau Lafite into your gravy mix?

 

Waygu in your chili?

 

Do you make your Margaritas with Tears Of Llorona? Your Zombies with Velier? Your Old Fashioneds with pre-fire HH?

 

Nobody HAS to respect anything rare or special. But if a guest of mine doesn't give a damn, I've got them covered with lots of spirits that exceed their requirements. You can call that elitist if you want - but for me it's about respecting the achievement that that spirit represents. It's damned HARD to make spirits that are special. Many try, and most bottles fail - even the big boys who have been doing it for a hundred years.

 

One is not a better or cooler person for being all right with dumping ORVW into coke.

 

Annis Beam or Mr Lee didn't have to give a crap - access to special bourbon wasn't really a problem for them or their families - so common that for them it was probably hard to take it seriously. Maybe their attitude was different about other special things that they couldn't raid the rack house for on a whim.

 

Now, is that a stretch vs. the ice premise? Perhaps. But it's pretty well documented that tastebuds don't work as well when they're cold, and that the fragrance is reduced when temperature is lowered, so... whether you like it or not, it's a reduced experience.

 

Joe is right about proof though. Too high and it anaesthetizes your palate. It anaesthetizes your palate regardless, it's just a question of how quickly. 

 

There is a point of water addition, which I quite enjoy trying to find, where the concentration of flavor is best matched to the tongue.

 

I don't think it's co-incidence that 107 is a fairly popular proof in Kentucky.

 

I also think drinking stuff at 120 proof or higher without a splash is the bourbon equivalent of making orange juice out of concentrate and using half the water. 

 

Booker himself said that Booker's was not meant to be consumed at barrel strength - if we're going to quote the gospel of the Beams, after all. I suppose Annis thought he was full of shit for saying so.

 

Everyone's palate is different, but everyone's palate gets less sensitive when it gets cold. And there are lots of refreshing and fully satisfying options for a hot day that don't involve the finest achievements in the world of spirits being diminished by serving methodology.

[FacePlant]

So many great posts in this thread. Many very well stated and thought out. I've always had my own personal preferences of neat or on the rocks. And, that opinion has been a moving target as the years have passed. I would make a sizable wager that each of us started enjoying bourbon through cocktails or for the tough guys on the rocks. JR Ewing, surely an icon to be appreciated, enjoyed his bourbon and branch during the run of Dallas from the late 70s through the 80's. As a purist I enjoyed my on the rocks during that period.

From the mid-2000s through this past summer I began to drink bourbon more and more neat. Affordable bourbons during the hot weather with ice but the good stuff was to precious to ice down or add water.

Then a health situation took me away from my passion for 6 months. No booze or alcohol. The only way I could break back in was to put my bourbon on heavy ice-meaning small fast melting cubes. For the first time in as long as i could remember this stuff was just too hot, even the 90 proof. It's probably going to take a couple of months of icing it down before I will enjoy my pours neat again. AND THAT INCLUDES THE GOOD STUFF! This past weekend with guests in town I poured an ER17, CEHT 4g, and my beloved WLW all on the rocks (but now a large single ice ball). In the past these sacred cows would never be lowered to blaspheme like that! 

I've learned a personal lesson. Don't make any rules to drink bourbon. Just drink and enjoy!  

[TehRegion219]

17 hours ago, FacePlant said:

 Don't make any rules to drink bourbon. Just drink and enjoy!  

Quote of the thread?

of the week?

...

[MJWP]

On 12/11/2019 at 9:46 AM, The Black Tot said:

 

That makes great ad copy, and is good for selling bourbon to everyone.

 

This may come as a shock, but sometimes master distillers engage in hyperbole...

Sure and sometimes they just give their honest opinion . Live and let live.  Not sure how that quote sells bourbon . Just seems to encourage others to be free in how they want to consume . 

[The Black Tot]

23 minutes ago, MJWP said:

 Not sure how that quote sells bourbon . 

Then you ain't in advertising.

[MJWP]

2 hours ago, The Black Tot said:

Then you ain't in advertising.

You are right I ain't  and I drink bourbon anyway I like it and I encourage others to  do the same ....marketing be damned

Edited December 14, 2019 by MJWP

[The Black Tot]

16 minutes ago, MJWP said:

You are right I ain't  and I drink bourbon anyway I like it and I encourage others to  do the same ....marketing be damned

Looks like Cambridge is still as feisty as when I saw the Ramones at Lulu's in 1994.

[HoustonNit]

Even when I drank mixed drinks I didn’t like bourbon and Coke and would prefer ginger ale and bourbon. That being said these posts in here have me craving Coke and Bourbon. I’ll think I’ll get some Coke this afternoon.

 

Not that bad actually, Mexican Coke and lime helps.

 

[flahute]

1 hour ago, HoustonNit said:

 

Not that bad actually, Mexican Coke and lime helps.

 

That looks delicious.

[HoustonNit]

That looks delicious.

Very surprised how much I liked it. I almost never drink Coke. My liquid consumption consists of water, sparkling water, black coffee, beer, wine and barrel aged spirits. That’s it. Well maybe the rare cocktail, especially when I have winter citrus around.

[EarthQuake]

2 hours ago, HoustonNit said:

 

Not that bad actually, Mexican Coke and lime helps.

 

Okay, I'll admit it. You had me at Mexican Coke and lime.

[MJWP]

11 hours ago, The Black Tot said:

Looks like Cambridge is still as feisty as when I saw the Ramones at Lulu's in 1994.

That it is ....