Ways of Drinkin'

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

G'day all

I've read many many interesting and insightful posts here at Straight Bourbon. Recently I read stuff about drinkin' bourbon straight v on ice and similar. I think it was you Mr Cowdrey who stated that some drink their bourbon neat over ice and having allowed the ice to melt have a substantially diluted bourbon. I myself always drink my bourbon on ice yet I hate the ice melting to the point that my bourbon becomes watered. Naturally ones cannot sit on such a drink for too long if one dislikes the presence of too much water in the bourbon of thier choosing. SO what works for me ? well to reasonable degrees, is this. Firstly, as I hate bourbon is cheap glasses and insist on tumblers, my preference for glasses are Krosno whiskey tumblers. These exceptional (Polish manufactured) glasses have very very thick bases accounting for two thirds of the glass height. Secondly I place these in the freezer when not in use to freeze them. When removing these glasses from the freezer they immediately ice up wonderfully. In goes the ice and in goes the bourbon. I find that the drink stays cold, the ice don't melt (too quickly) and I'm real happy. Recently, keep in mind its Winter here, my glass actually formed a thin layer of ice on the outer. I did say you can't sit on such a drink for Too long, well you can't hang on to it for too long either :-) I ain't in the habit if keepin' me bourbon in the 'fridge but considerin' advice found here to do so I think I will, especially during summer.

So my advice is get yourself some super heavy thick based glasses an give it a go of you like ice bit don't much like the water - Glenn :-)

Now I reckon thats Great Mate - woof!

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

You can also keep your bottle of bourbon in the freezer as well. I learned to do this with vodka years ago, and it works just as well with bourbon. Since its around a 50% antifreeze solution it stays liquid, although it thickens up a lot. But it's the COLDest drink you'll ever experience! Ice only gets to down to 32 degrees F (zero C) but this will be whatever your freezer gets down to (probably around zero F). It won't have much flavor, but it SURE will cool you off. This is probably a good thing to do with bourbon you wish you hadn't bought :-)

-John Lipman-

http://w3.one.net/~jeffelle/whiskey

[cowdery]

Whatever you like is fine, but you can't taste as much with cold bourbon as you can when it is at room temperature or even a little warmer. The best bourbons are best enjoyed straight and at room temperature (or warmer) in my opinion. When I do want the whiskey a little cooler, I will use one or two ice cubes so even if they do melt before I've finished, the dilution isn't too great.

--Chuck Cowdery

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

I agree. I don't drink bourbon this way (except as an experiment). It's more a novelty than anything else (just hold cold can you get???). That's why I recommended it as something to do with that bottle of chewing gum remover taking up space in the back of your cupboard :-)

-John Lipman-

http://w3.one.net/~jeffelle/whiskey

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

Chuck, I've recently been pondering Ice. With water being such an important element and playing such a major role in the production of quality whiskey, is it not possible that ice made from a less than ideal water source could taint / pollute your glass of freshly poured bourbon adversely affecting the taste ? I know you can purchase bagged ice which is supposed to be relatively Clean but I have found that these melt much too fast resulting in either an overly diluted bourbon or a much too quickly comsumed drink - Glenn.

Now I reckon thats Great Mate - woof!

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

Odd that I read this today. In preparation for a road trip tomorrow, I was looking through my liquor cabinet and found about a third of a bottle of IW Harper Gold (dreadful stuff) and maybe three fingers full of Old Forester (not-bad bourbon with some grainy character, although I would've preferred more of it). Anyhow, it suddenly occurred to me -- why not combine the two? Which is just what I did. I tasted the result and, to tell you the truth, it's not half-bad. The Forester gives the Harper some flavor, and the Harper gives the Forester some sweetness.

Anyone else try experimenting with bourbon blends? I think I may have stumbled onto something here!

doug

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

Our house well-bourbon is a (roughly) 60-40 mix of Old Grand Dad 100 and Evan Williams black label. For pretty much the same reasons you mentioned.

-John Lipman-

http://w3.one.net/~jeffelle/whiskey

[jbare]

You are right, ice is crucial to a good glass of bourbon. I used to live in an area with a high lime content in the water and the ice from it just ruined whatever I put it in. Ever since then I try to freeze distilled water or try to keep a bag of glacier ice in my freezer.

[jvanwinkle]

Down here in Kentucky, we're pretty picky about our ice & whiskey. When I hooked up my ice machine a few years ago, I ran the water supply thru my water filter first. When your water comes from the Ohio River, you have to do things like that.

Julian

[cowdery]

Yes, the quality of the water used to make your ice is a factor. Another often overlooked factor is your own hand. If, for example, you are slicing onions and then make yourself a drink, handling the ice with your hands, your drink will be unpleasantly affected. Tongs are recommended.

--Chuck Cowdery

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

I agree with Chuck, there are a lot of things that have an effect on how bourbon tastes. When I was at United Distillers I participated in many tastings, both competition bourbons and our own. One thing I learned was that simple things such as time of the day or the weather outside can effect your taste. I always think of Weller Centennial as a winter bourbon because the first time I ever drank the bourbon that was chosen for this product was on a cold crisp winter day and it does not seem to taste as good to me in the summer as it does in the winter. Food also will have an effect on your bourbon tasting. The same bourbon will taste different to you if you eat a pepperoni pizza for lunch one day or a fish sandwhich the next. That is one reason why I am reluctant to read tasting notes. Maybe there should be added information in these note stating what time of day the tasting was done and what the weather outside was like.

Mike Veach

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

I have tried the Bourbon Mixture that John suggests and found the result to be better than either componet taken alone.

A word of warning, though, I tried to mix a bourbon with straight rye whiskey and was very disappointed by the resultant mixutre. In this case, the flavors clashed rather than blended/complimented. Experiment and learn I guess.

Mark A. Mason, El Dorado, Arkansas