How are you pouring?

[Vision]

Lately I've been drinking bourbon neat or on the rocks. I assume that's how most others do it here. Anyone drink another way or have a secret cocktail?

[TNbourbon]

I'm a sipper, so sometimes a 2-ounce pour will last me 30-45 minutes while I'm reading a book, say. Therefore, I avoid ice, because its melting changes the proof of the drink over the time I'm drinking it. However, more and more, I splash in a few drops of plain water -- either bottled spring water, or water left out overnight to allow the chlorine, et al, to evaporate. I still enjoy many of them neat, but higher-proof bottles, like Stagg @ 144-proof, just cry out for dilution in order to get the full extent of the flavors.

[LeNell]

Usually straight, but higher proofs sometimes beg for a cube or two especially on a hot day. Secret cocktail?

Kentucky Joe:

1 oz Maker's Mark

1/2 oz coffee liqueur (we use a Columbian one that isn't sold here in the States, but Kahlua would work. For a real kick, use Illy espresso liqueur).

Pour over rocks and stir.

[cowdery]

As Tim said, to taste for flavor you want to dilute with room temperature water, preferably filtered or otherwise rendered tasteless in its own right.

[ratcheer]

With me, it is almost always neat or on-the-rocks. Sometimes, I like it with water (up to 1/3 water).

I guess my secret cocktail is when I sometimes get a craving for something a little sweeter, I dig a lump of brown sugar out of the box and let it dissolve in a neat shot.

Tim

[cowdery]

I guess my secret cocktail is when I sometimes get a craving for something a little sweeter, I dig a lump of brown sugar out of the box and let it dissolve in a neat shot.

Interesting. Are you aware that is actually a very traditional (i.e., 18th and 19th century) way of drinking American whiskey? It only lives on today in the mint julep.

[TNbourbon]

I often detect a trace of brown sugar flavor in Weller products. In fact, it might have been the first 'flavor' I could ever discern from a bourbon. I might just experiment with that ploy.

[angelshare]

We also drink it neat or on the rocks 98% of the time. Usually, I will add water to Booker's, sometimes as much as 50/50, over ice. The folks here would know, but I thought I read somewhere that Booker Noe considered this a good way to drink his whiskey. It's great on a warm summer evening while you're sitting on the porch.

They're not exactly secret, but Tina makes a mean Manhattan and an outstanding Old Fashioned when she wants.

Tim, I'm intrigued by the brown sugar thing. Is there a favorite brand with which to do this?

[brian12069]

I usually like it neat in a rock glass...maybe 2-3 oz. I like to get the aroma from the glass a few times before I sip it. Rip Van Winkle 15 year 107 proof is great this way, it smells like maple syrup before I get my first sip. I never ever mix mine with water. Once in a while I have it on the rocks but the more time goes on and the more experienced I have become with bourbon I just seem to like it neat. One different thing I do sometimes is I have a decanter and I pour the bourbon in the decanter and put the decanter in the refridgerator. This makes the bourbon cold without ice. This even seems to make cheap bourbons taste good to me. Anyone else ever try this?

[Paradox]

Here's a great thread where people discuss how they like to drink their bourbon as well...

[ratcheer]

Chuck, I guess I was only vaguely aware that a lot of old timers took their whiskey with sugar. Maybe I read it in a work of fiction or something. It just seems like a natural thing to do. I only do it two or three times a year, usually in the cold months.

Thanks, Tim

[ratcheer]

No, Dave, just plain old grocery store brown sugar that my wife uses for cooking. It is usually Domino or Dixie Crystals, I think.

Tim

[Vision]

I've been thinking of doing the refrigerator thing Brian, actually the freezer. But I wasn't sure about keeping the whole bottle in the fridge. What are you using for a decanter?

[dgonano]

Sometimes I just add a few drops of bitters to my bourbon. I still like to pour over a few small icecubes.

[musher]

I like mine straight, neat, and in what I like to call a whiskey snifter -- a Riedel bourbon glass. It fits so nicely into my hand, and I can get a good whiff with each sip. I'll hold on to the glass for a while before I drink, in order to warm the whiskey a bit. The aroma and flavor really come out that way.

[camduncan]

guess my secret cocktail is when I sometimes get a craving for something a little sweeter, I dig a lump of brown sugar out of the box and let it dissolve in a neat shot

Now I'd never thought of that before..

I've tried several lumps of sugar in Absynth to make it drinkable, but it never occured to me to try it in bourbon.

[brian12069]

I just have an old glass 750ml Decanter. I would put it in the freezer but the freezer in my bar is too small

[robbyvirus]

I used to always drink it neat, in a small snifter-like glass, but in recent months I've switched to drinking it with just one cube of ice, which I find brings out the flavors a bit. And if I'm drinking a high-proof bourbon like Stagg or Booker's, then I cut it with some water...I find the high-proof bourbons intolerable without that.

[cowdery]

Have you read Red Likker, by Irvin S. Cobb? It is often consumed that way in that novel, which is set mostly in the 19th century.

[Dave_in_Canada]

Tim, hmmmmm... two of my favourite things, bourbon and brown sugar. I'll have to try them together (thanks for the tip!). Maybe that's why I like BT bourbons so much...

And I'm going to also try a dash of maple syrup!

[angelshare]

Actually, I was wondering about the bourbon! Does it matter what brand you use? Are there some brands that are off limits to sugar?

[ratcheer]

No, I have only heard of that in a previous post of yours.

It could even be that I heard of the practice from some old person(s) I have been acquainted with in the past. But, I am almost 53 years old and I honestly have no idea where I might have heard about it. I.e., I have read a lot of books, met a lot of people, heard a lot of songs, etc, over a pretty long period of time. It just escapes me. But, it seems like I have heard it, somewhere.

And, yes, isn't the mint julip a tasty cocktail?

Tim

[ratcheer]

Oh, sorry. No, no particular brand of bourbon, either. Really, I don't do it very often at all. When I do, I am usually part way through a shot and get the idea that I want it sweeter. Its almost always a spur of the minute thing.

Tim

[ratcheer]

Maple syrup? Oooo, that sounds good, too!

Tim

[dgonano]

Just the other day I made a Bourbon Old Fashioned- Bourbon, bitters, fruit and a lump of sugar. It's finished off with fruit and ice. This is similar to your sugar concoction.

Plus I use sugar in my sazerac cocktails, with rye, absinthe and bitters.