I had a shot of drambuie once. It was so sweet it made me sick to my stomach for the rest of the night. Ugh :/ Not a fan of sweet + alcohol unless we’re talking about something fruity like a margarita or a screwdriver, etc.
After that last post I looked it up and was surprised to find it’s like $120-$150 a bottle. I thought it was far more than that. Like at least $250-$300 if not a whole bunch more. $150 is definitely well outside of “so expensive you only get one chance in your whole life to try it” don’t you think? :) Hell if you lived nearby I’d split a bottle with you haha
My father’s wife owns a liquor store, so I’ve had a few bottles of JW Blue. It really is super-smooth. So smooth it’s hardly even whiskey anymore… But it certainly isn’t worth the money. You might as well just get Chivas Regal and imagine it smoother even than that.
Balvenie is an excellent starter scotch. Oban comes to mind as well.
On the other end of the spectrum is Lagavulin. It would be fun to pick up one of the starter scotches and a bottle of it as well. Then you can try the Lagavulin, gag*, and go back to tasting other scotches.
One day in the future you will try it again, maybe years later, and decide it’s not so bad. Eventually it will become your favorite, and by then you can declare your journey through the world of scotch to be at its end.
* Did I mention my wife won’t even let me drink the stuff in the same room as her because of the smell?
Also when I say ‘starter’ scotch I do not mean that as pejorative at all. I just mean its less likely to be considered offensive to the newcomers.
I shared a bottle of JW Blue with a coworker recently and I have to say I was unimpressed. I mean, it was… fine, I guess. Incredibly smooth, but to the point of just being bland without much flavor at all. It made for a great evening, but I’m glad I didn’t pay for it.
In contrast, we also had some of a bottle of Oban which is about perfect in my estimation. Not super sweet, but it also doesn’t taste like the ashes of a leather couch burnt in a camp fire. Complex, but not overpowering.
If any ever fall off the back of their truck let me know :P
This is my girlfriend and I with bourbon. She hates the smell of it.
Drink Tequila while it’s still less popular than Scotch. You can get equivalent quality for a fraction of the price. It’s becoming more popular, which is good because it’s easier to get more varieties, but bad because it’s becoming more expensive.
The one time I had JW Blue was in Vegas, when a drunk who had just won big at the tables bought shots for the entire bar. It was amazingly smooth. You don’t notice you are drinking alcohol at all.
Is nothing like scotch at all. Like saying cats and dogs are both mammals. Yeah, but that doesn’t mean they have anything else in common.
My first and last experience with Scotch was my 21st birthday. I bought myself a bottle of JB Rare that was recommended by a guy that loved Scotch. I proceeded to crack it open with this “friend” and we drank together. He and I and his two roomates were all hanging out, but only he and I were drinking, and later I found out he was nursing the same drink while I was drinking so much I at some point thought it would be cool to fill a bowl of Cap’n Crunch with straight scotch, where I ate all the cereal as well as drank most of the damned bottle. I have never to this day been so drunk (I was later told I insisted on tipping the pizza guy $20 for a $7 order from Dominoes). I’ll never touch the stuff again. I did try it just a few years ago at a party on my father-in-law’s insistence. It was … not a good idea.
Can confirm, was present. Also the missing details:
Nothing is as disgusting as watching Scott eat Cap’n Crunch and scotch. Oh wait, there is. When the Dominoes pizza came, Scott tipped the guy a $20 (he got that right) and then opened the pizza and vomited all the cereal and scotch onto about half of it, ate the other half, and spent the rest of the night puking scotch/pizza mixture all over the fucking place. It might be the worst smell I’ve ever encountered. There were some people that were not happy, I spent most of the night outside in a safe place laughing. /eyewitness account
Can also confirm he no longer will touch the stuff. To be fair, I wouldn’t either.
Now THAT is a story for the I’m drunk thread. Sounds like a fun night, Scott. Glad you made it through. On my 21st, a very good friend who was older than me was my babysitter for the evening. He made sure I didn’t mix alcohols, kept mixers on the light side, and when I got way out of it, forced me to puke early. I was relatively okay the next day.
It is a story for another thread, but he posted it here without all the important bits. I had to fill it in.
Thanks. I think.
On my 21st I bought a bottle of rum and someone else brought vodka. We went to my private downstairs dorm floor (it was a divided brownstown; my room was the only one in the basement,so we had run of the whole place) and about 6 of us polished off the rum and half the vodka. It tasted awful, I did not get drunk (I had like 2 rum-n-diet-cokes). We ordered out from Ankara Cafe, including tasty frozen yogurt mix-in stuff for dessert. My best friend’s creepy oversexed roommate rolled around the floor and talked about her masturbation strategies until we kicked her out; my said best buddy stuck around till dawn swirling the last drops of rum around the bottle and talking about the mysteries of life itself. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen her drunk.
I think I suck at turning 21.
I’ve served drinks for quite a few years. I would suggest Dalwhinnie, its delicious with subtle floral notes. Not peaty at all so a very delicious beginner scotch.
Always look at the label on a scotch bottle. If you do not like very smokey or peaty scotches, do not buy any from ISLAY (pronounced “eye-lay”) Different regions don’t typically define specific flavors, but the island scotches always use peat to smoke the malt giving it that flavor. Laiphroig and Ardbeg being the more popular ones in my area of the world.
Oban (pronounced “oh-bin”) is also one of my favorites. I find that every time I drink it I discover a new flavor!
One of my “Alex is wasted end-of-the night” drinks is scotch and soda. A lemon twist is nice as well. Chivas typically.
Cheers and have fun!
If you like cigars Scott, you should definitely try scotch again in a more controlled setting. Those smoky/peaty Islay scotched are perfect. Some people even ash the tiniest bits into their drinks for added flavor. I call bullshit on this, but whatever, they do pair nicely.
Thanks! Especially for the pronunciation stuff. I’d like to not sound like an ass at the liquor store ;)
Uhh, my experience with scotch has been very limited. I don’t know if I’ve ever tried one that’s smokey or peaty. Those SOUND appealing, but that’s only based on the idea my brain is forming of what this might taste like in the absence of any other information. I like smoke meat/cheese, so smoked whisky must be good too right? Haha.
Apparently my Dewar’s should be arriving soon. Co-worker told me today that “the big bottle” is on its way from South Carolina soon. Ha!
I need to find a cool tumbler before then :D
Be mindful that (if I’m not mistaken) alcohol will get metabolized before carbs. Not sure, but might delay/fuss with ketosis if you have a lot. Not that you shouldn’t give it a go, just be aware in case you suddenly drop out of ketosis and don’t know why.
Yep. I know :) From what I understand it won’t really knock you out, but your body basically says “hey maybe we should get this stuff we perceive as a toxin out of here before we get back to burning fat”