What bourbon to show up Sc***h drinkers

[SSBourbon1]

Hey all,

Just wondering what bourbon you would choose to show those other whisky drinkers that bourbon is where it's at. Gotta get a bottle within the next week and would like your opinions.

[bluesbassdad]

There's an old adage, "You can lead a scotch-drinker to bourbon, but you can't make him drink", or something like that. :grin:

Seriously, are the subjects open-minded on the subject? Are they label-conscious, or are they focused on what's inside the bottle? Are they accustomed to the power of cask-strength scotch? How well do they like peat?

Depending on the answers to those questions my suggestion would include one or more of the following:

Maker's Mark (here we go again!) -- For anyone who thinks bourbon is "too strong" (say, someone who drinks Glenlivet 12 y/o exclusively)

Buffalo Trace -- To introduce sweetness, bourbon-style

Elijah Craig 12 y/o or 18 y/o -- Bourbon's answer to peat/smoke

Wild Turkey Rare Breed/Kentucky Spirit -- To me, the quintessential flavors of bourbon (YMMV)

George T. Stagg -- For the cask-strength drinkers, lest they conclude that bourbon is a "wimpy" drink.

Be sure to include your personal favorite, if you have one.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[melting]

I don't really know how to show up a scotch drinker. A bunch of us from the shop get together every Saturday morning after work at 8:00 a.m. and have a couple of drinks. We rotate the hosts house every week. Pretty funny though as we all live within 3 miles of each other. But anyways.

One of the guys is a Scotch drinker. I really think that he believes that the more expensive the bottle the better the drink. Spending $179.00 for a 750ml is just beyond me. Anyways, when it's at my house every 4 weeks he wants the same thing. Bookers. He has it every single time and says he loves it. But other than the times we're at my house he always drinks scotch. I'm not giving up on him yet though. I've started working the economic angle on him lately.

[Joeluka]

Am I alone in enjoying both?? Bourbon is just so much less money than scotch. I can get so much more great bourbon for the price of great scotch. Hell I love whisk(e)y. Do the same bourbon drinkers who dont enjoy scotch like rye? Straight rye is not bourbon so do the same rules apply?? I'm just thinking out loud. I find that almost all whisk(e)y goes down nice a smooth to me.

[shaggy]

I have only tried scotch a couple times. The one I did like was called Haig and Haig Pinch. I tried some J&B one time and just about spit it out. A friend from Europe brought it to me as a gift. I ended up giving it to the maintenance guy for the building. I think he enjoyed it much more than I did. That was back about 7-8 years in my college days. I was thinking about getting into scotch, but I have too many good bourbons I still want to try. Maybe when I get tired of bourbon, but I don't see that happening...

[SSBourbon1]

That's just it. I have only tried scotch a few times myself and just don't have a taste for it and would not even have an idea what to compare it to. But the input on the barrel proof ones makes some sense to me. Afterall, several of the guys I know like the moonshine that we have access to out ot

Tennessee....

[NorCalBoozer]

Hey all,

Just wondering what bourbon you would choose to show those other whisky drinkers that bourbon is where it's at. Gotta get a bottle within the next week and would like your opinions.

my experience going from bourbon to scotch.....well i didn't like any of the scotches that had been listed as good crossovers for a bourbon drinker. They were mostly scotches that were "bourbon-like".

In the end what got me to like scotch was an Islay....Ardbeg 10, which is really a strong scotch and not something someone would suspect a bourbon drinker to go for.

I suspect this would work the same in reverse...trying to find the best crossover (or closest in taste) to scotch is probably not the way to go. I would offer 3 or so bourbons, a wheater (like Makers) a stronger rye based (any of the Wild Turkeys) and then maybe a rye whiskey(Rittenhouse bond).

this is a pretty good spectrum then hopefully one of them they will like and then they can focus more closely.

[CrispyCritter]

Am I alone in enjoying both?? Bourbon is just so much less money than scotch. I can get so much more great bourbon for the price of great scotch.

You aren't alone! It was Scotch that convinced me that whiskey was worth drinking in the first place. On the other hand, Scotch runs a huge gamut - a peaty Islay like Ardbeg, a Speyside sherry bomb like Aberlour A'Bunadh, a middle-of-the-road pour like Highland Park, an artisanal blend like Compass Box Asyla, and a cheap mass-market blend like Cluny are all Scotch, but no two are anything close to being alike.

It was a bottle of George T. Stagg that opened the bourbon floodgates for me - but I was already accustomed to cask-strength monsters like A'Bunadh and Uigeadail. I drink more bourbon and rye now than Scotch (economics are a big factor), but I don't like Scotch any less - it's just one good choice among many, and for me it's more of a treat than a daily pour.

[ratcheer]

Hey all,

Just wondering what bourbon you would choose to show those other whisky drinkers that bourbon is where it's at. Gotta get a bottle within the next week and would like your opinions.

The first thing that came to my mind, and nothing else was able to supplant it, was Blanton's.

Tim

[TimmyBoston]

I'd go with George T. Stagg, only thing that came to mind. It's bold, powerful, robust, and very, very good. Embodies a lot of what's wonderful about bourbon. Also I am both a Scotch and bourbon drinker and I don't know of any Scotches that you can drink neat and enjoy as much as Stagg with that high of a proof.

[TimmyBoston]

Also and I could be wrong here, but you can write Scotch around here. It's not a dirty word, just not our favorite. :cool:

[smokinjoe]

I always recommend and talk up George T. Stagg to the Scotch Drinkers. I find true scotch lovers to be pretty knowledgable of their product of choice, but quite frankly, find them a little too enamored with price, labels and magazine reviews. If they are even partially knowledgable of their product of choice, they know of Jim Murray. So, I tell them that for 3 years in a row, Murray has proclaimed Stagg his World Whiskey of the Year. And that, ahem, includes Scotches. And, I follow that up with his quote in the Whiskey Bible: "Along with a certain Ardbeg, this George T. Stagg is without any shadow of a doubt one of the two best whiskies it has ever been my luck and privilege to taste in nearly 30 years." This many times gets there interest raised, or at least squashes the scotch is superior thing.

JOE

[Dramiel McHinson]

Am I alone in enjoying both?? Bourbon is just so much less money than scotch. I can get so much more great bourbon for the price of great scotch. Hell I love whisk(e)y. Do the same bourbon drinkers who dont enjoy scotch like rye? Straight rye is not bourbon so do the same rules apply?? I'm just thinking out loud. I find that almost all whisk(e)y goes down nice a smooth to me.

JoeLuka,

You are not alone. I love whisk(e)y too! I truly enjoy single malt scotch and have a sizeable collection. I also have a sizeable collection of good ole Kentucky and Tennessee whiskey. My friends think I'm insane but my money went into top notch whisk(e)y instead of a Harley. I haven't fallen out of my man chair once and received a nasty road rash like a few of my friends.

[ej178]

I would recommend Bookers. It is the bourbon that got me hooked and several friends/aquantainces I have offered it too as well.

[lbacha]

I followed an odd route into bourbon. During college I did alot of shots of Jim Beam and Old Crow. This gave me a very harsh opinion of bourbon. On the other hand I drank Jameson's on the rocks for a long time and considered it to be the ultimate smooth whiskey. That was my drink of choice for almost 10 years. I would mix in some JW Black when there was extra money in the pocket book but that was it. I didn't touch bourbons for years. Last year I went to europe for work and had the pleasure of staying across the street from a great irish pub with over 250+ whiskies. During a tasting the owner poured a dram of old oveholt rye. It was great, I then tried some Jim Beam rye, even better. I finished the night off with a dram of Jim Beam black. I was hooked on bourbons and rye whiskey's. Since that day I have tried as much as I can. The ultimate so far is my bottle of WTRR 101. It is great and alot of scotch fans in europe agree with me on this. I have taken 6 bottles over so far.

In conclusion my recommendation is WTRR 101 if you can find it if not Rare Breed it is pretty good as well.

Len

[Jazzhead]

LIke JoeLuka and Crispy Critter, I enjoy both scotch and bourbon. Why not - it's all good! Different times, different moods call for different drams. Sometimes I'll start with an Ardbeg and follow it up with a Wild Turkey. Just like I'll start off listening to John Coltrane and follow it with Duke Ellington.

Variety is the spice of life!

[TnSquire]

Bourbon Supreme. Even our bottom shelf is better than Scotch. :cool:

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

GTS. of course. Elijah Craig 12 or 18 are also appreciated by Scotch drinkers, I think.

How about Old Grand Dad 114? Your buddy likes Booker's and they are both Beam products, both high proof, but clearly distinct from one an other. Oh, and they are both Great Bourbons!

Ed

[Chaz7]

Bourbon or Scotch for some of us is like asking Sourdough or Rye. They truly are both good, but different animals! I just recently had a good friend who was solely into Scotch try Buffalo Trace. He has since bought BT, Weller's Antique, Elijah Craig 18 year. As for my self, I have found Glenlivet 15 year old French Oak a great bargain and an easy transition to the sweeter expressions of bourbon like BT, ORVW or others. In other words, if the scotch drinker likes G15YOFO, (or Glenmorangie wood finishes) let him sample your BT. Making the jump to OGD 114 may be extreme though.

[mythrenegade]

The first thing that came to my mind, and nothing else was able to supplant it, was Blanton's.

Tim

I'll second that. My brother in law is a scotch drinker, and a fanatical one at that. He was there when we did a six bourbon tasting last time, and Blanton's was his favorite. I did get to try a very good scotch, MacAllan 18 yo, courtesy of him. Nice, nice stuff.

That said, Maker's Mark was the first bourbon I tried after drinking scotch for nearly ten years, and it brought me over, but I wasn't into scotch like he is.

So I would say Blantons first, Maker's Mark if you don't have access to Blantons.

Joel

[CrispyCritter]

Last year, I tried sharing some GTS with my brother-in-law. Even though he loves peaty Islays, not to mention Aberlour A'Bunadh (about 58-60% ABV depending on batch), his comment about the Stagg was "fire water."

In retrospect, I probably should have gone with a 43-45 percenter like BT, Weller 12, ERSB, ER17, or Beam Black.

When he was down for this Christmas, I stuck with Scotch. I finally had an occasion to open the Ardbeg 1977 that I've had for almost two years - and it was just sublime. :bowdown: Also shared during the visit were Ardbeg 17yo (in mini bottles), some A'Bunadh, and some Compass Box Orangerie (a Scotch infused with orange peel - a very nice pour, too).

The irreplaceable Ardbeg '77 goes back into the bunker to await another special occasion.