/ck/ - Food & Cooking

I've never liked Johnny Walker.

My preferred way to drink whisky is with a splash of water. That that.

You drink it till you like it, pussy

that's what the rest of us did

>>6540183
JD, JB, and JW Red are for mixing, JW Black has gone downhill lately and is cut down with too much grain alcohol.

If you like gin stay the fuck away from Islay, if you're in Asia you're sure to find some Macallan or Glenmorangie. Both of those are very fruity smelling, with Glenmorangie more on the floral and citrus (orange peel) side while Macallan has more dark cooked fruit influence.

Don't go for Macallan unless it's the Sherry Oak, preferably 12 or 18. The Fine Oak is a cash grab and to me it's boring as shit because the dark fruit is muted behind a wall of vanillin.

The 1826 lineup using color descriptors is also a cash grab, and slightly, but not blatantly overpriced, I don't have experience with those but word is they're just harsher clones of their counterparts with age statements.

Glenmorangie is the best selling single-malt in Scotland, and their wine-finished 12 year olds are generally well-liked and inoffensive to new and seasoned scotch drinkers. If you can nut up and get a taste of the Nectar D'Or, that's the best I've had from them that isn't an awful status symbol like Signet or 18 year.

If you're on a strict budget then Glenlivet 12 (green apple) and Glenfiddich 12 (pear) will be standard fruit and oakiness at a price comparable to Bombay/Tanqueray. Somewhat boring though.

>>6540235
>drinking industrial mixer scotch that gets more vodka added every batch to make it cheaper until you like it
How about no.

>>6540239
>JW Black has gone downhill lately

Wut, this is relevant to my interests, should I pick fiddich 12 instead?

>>6540404
If you still like it, don't let it bother you.

If you do want a change, for the price I'd say Monkey Shoulder, you get a blend of three malts without any grain whisky.

>>6540419

If I were buying online, I'd get whatever, but since I'm doing it locally only shit I can really buy is chivas, black label, fiddich and knockando if I'm feeling spendy.

I would reccomend something in the fine category of the Single Malt Scotch Whiskey, which includes true gems like the Balvenie, the Macallan, the Glenlivet, or the Glenmorangie. These whiskeys each have their own distinct flavour to em, like youre smelling the breeze of the far isles of Scotland.

If you'd like to try something softer, try Irish Whisky. Jameson's is pretty good.

>>6540183
You're drinking mediocre blended scotch, which is a blend of malt whiskey with blander stuff from other grains. Go get a single malt that's at least 10 years old. Go get a Glenfiddich, or if you want to go right to something a little more characterful, a Highland Park.

>>6540235
Not all of us started off drinking shit.

>>6540443
The Yamazaki and the Hibiki are amazing Single Malts too.

>>6540437
Honestly out of all of those I'd stick with Black Label and Glenfiddich. Spain? France? Single malts are a PITA to find those places...

>>6540443
>activates maximum fedora mode
>but keeps spelling it whiskey
>mfw I can't tell if this is a troll or not

>>6540444
What worries me about recommeding HP is that OP might be reacting negatively to the peat in JW Black Label, so I pointed out more floral and fruity malts that transition easier from gin.

>>6540450
Hibiki is a blended Japanese whisky, there is grain and malt whisky from multiple distilleries.

Yamazaki is ridiculously difficult to track down since Jim Murray nutted all over it for this year's Whisky Bible.

>>6540455
Oh god, he spells it whisky when talking about Jameson. Trolldar pinging at maximum.

>>6540455
Okay, replace Highland Park with Glenfarclas. It has some herbal notes that I think a gin drinker might enjoy.

"Gin drinkers" are 20 year old assholes, you get that right?

>>6540183
I wold agree with most posts in this thread, I get most people into whiskey with scotch and specifically Glenfiddich and Glenlivet 12. In fact most scotch enthusiast consider them the beginners whiskey.

Monkey shoulder is a great blended scotch.

For American I would maybe start with Four Roses yellow label, or old Overholdt.

Starting out by making your whiskey into an Old Fashioned cocktail also makes it easier while still enjoying the taste. An old fashion is simply a sugar cube enough water to dissolve it Angostura bitters and whiskey.

>>6540471
way to be a jerk for no reason. Gin drinkers are usually really big cocktail fans as it is the most important spirit for cocktail making.

>>6540455

Spain, there are a few dedicated online shops, but I'm not about to pick some laga, so by all means I'll stick to buy locally.

>>6540477
No, that's vodka you edgy faggot.

>>6540239
>Glenmorangie is the best selling single-malt in Scotland, and their wine-finished 12 year olds are generally well-liked and inoffensive to new and seasoned scotch drinkers. If you can nut up and get a taste of the Nectar D'Or, that's the best I've had from them that isn't an awful status symbol like Signet or 18 year.

Listen to this man and get Glenmorangie, if you don't like it you won't like any other whisky. You could try to get a tripple pack with small bottles to compare the taste.

>>6540626
I've had a lot of mini bottles with bad seals, from Glenmorangie, Glenlivet, and others wind up tasting like shit. I think they're meant for getting sauced on airplanes mixed with ginger ale.

Just a heads up that the contents of a full bottle may be radically different than a mini depending on luck, so try three mini bottles before relegating anything to the shit pile.

>>6540651
I think miniature bottles often have little cardboard caps in the lid that can cause problems, and I believe there is some other reason that they tend to deteriorate faster that I don't remember.

Glasses of scotch in bars are expensive as dicks (premium dicks, mind you) and the tiny bottles aren't that efficient either. I think the most overall cheap (per unit of booze received) way to approach decent scotch is to just get a Glenfiddich or Glenlivet. You ought to be able to find them in the low $30's, maybe less if you find a deal. Glenfiddich is so inoffensive that if that disgusts you, you probably don't need to bother going further, and if you hate it, keep the bottle around to please guests or something. If you don't outright hate it, with the full bottle you can have a few over time and see if you develop a taste for it.

>>6540663
Oh, and the speyburn 10 year old single malt is very inoffensive, decent quality, and cheap as hell right now, maybe $22 before tax in my area. That'd also be a good reasonably priced introductory bottle.

>>6540663
>Glenfiddich is so inoffensive

I'm not sure if chivas is even more inoffensive, but that's not a single malt.

im drinking glenlivet right now with coke

For what it's worth, gin is not pleb. Vodka is pleb.

Anyway, my favorite bourbon is Woodford Reserve. It's smooth as fuck, and almost sweet.

>>6540183
you know you don't like it so why are you doing it? why not get some fancy gin?

Sounds like you've pretty much just tried bourbon, try branching out to other styles like rye or Irish whiskey. Like another anon said, Jameson would be a good cheap option to check out. It's inexpensive, good for the price, and mild enough to give you an idea if you'll ever like the stuff.

>>6540771
>he actually likes Woodford Reserve
>after shitting on vodka
>even though Woodford Reserve is basically oak-infused corn vodka with caramel color added

#1 rule of the internet: anyone who uses the word "pleb" unironically is a real life pleb

Case in point: you

>>6540239
>If you're on a strict budget then Glenlivet 12 (green apple) and Glenfiddich 12 (pear) will be standard fruit and oakiness at a price comparable to Bombay/Tanqueray. Somewhat boring though.
don't go for the glenfiddich 12, choose the 15. it's like $5 more per bottle and it's a really, really good whisky (especially compared to the rather bland 12)

>>6540183
old crow. not kidding.

>>6541297
by law straight bourbon whiskey cannot contain artificial color.

Also:

>pleb likes ethanol distilled from fermented sugars
> not drinking the patricians choice methanol

what are you some kind of pussy?

>>6540183
In Japan they make excellent Scotch style whiskeys.
The suntory is their cheap but better than western cheap whiskey.
Yamazaki and Hibishu are both excellent

>>6541297
>caramel color added
0/10

>>6540664
I got a bottle of this over the weekend because I'd seen people recomend it on /ck/. I drank the whole thing over 3 days. I added ice or water to it to make it go down easier. I paid like $23 for it so I didn't really mind dropping that much. For something in the low $20s I'd rather get wild turkey 101 so I don't think I'll buy Speyburn again.

I've bought this $10 stotch called Highland Queen a few times and drank it with ice or mixed and if I wanted cheap scotch I'd probably just buy that crap instead.

>>6542538
Maybe in Japan they are cheap but I am seeing the 12 year old Yamazaki go for $88 recently. That is more than the most overpriced 10/12 year single malt from Scotland near me (Talisker 10 now over $70)

I guess I can blame Jim Murray for this.

>>6540183
>duty free

>d-u-t-y_f-r-e-e

Like, without taxes?

I call that, "Every single day at any of the three liquor stores within walking distance of my house, or the dozen within 30 minutes of driving" in New Hampshire.

>>6542700
Not all of us live in New England

Some of us live in Old England where there is a 20% baseline tax on everything, plus an additional tax for alcohol.

>>6542648

Well, if you're just drinking to be drunk which it seems like you're doing, there's no reason to not get the cheapest thing you can tolerate.

>>6542685

>Talisker 10 now over $70

That's dumb. The last bottle of that I got was about 45 and it'll be the last if the price leaps like that, but I do live in flyover town where things are a little cheaper than other parts of the country.

>>6542923
I live in NY about an hour and a half from the city, next to some rich neighborhoods, and I shop at the more upscale liquor stores because they have more variety. So basically my prices are bloated for a number of reasons. The average bottle of bourbon is $10 more than it should be.

JD JB JW???? Ew.

Get some Eagle Rare. Only about $30 and it's damn fine whiskey.

And btw, you don't want whisky, no "e" is not for me.

>>6542648

Speyburn is a solid whiskey for the money.

Crown Royal is tasty

whisky has become the fedora of the drinking world. no one gives a fuck what you drink, OP. i enjoy gin myself, and i love it.

>>6543126
Sad but true, people who were bullied all their lives and don't even enjoy the taste of alcohol force themselves to drink whisky because they figure it's the least likely to get them mocked by the bully in their head, and since they hate alcohol they just stick with whisky forever because branching out to other beverages is risky, frightening, and probably gay.

Whisky talk is extremely boring too

>do you like islay or highland better
>islay, highland is for pussies
>ok that's cool, I like ardbeg
>yeah ardbeg is great
>....
>what else do you like
>laphroaig
>cool man
>....
>ever try that blue label shit?
>nah brah shit's overpriced
>...
>...
>.........
>so uh, you do anything cool this weekend?
>...
>no not really
>etc...

>>6543161
>People were recommending Highland and Speyside single malts along with various bourbons
>thread had zero mentions of Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, etc.
>proceed to shitpost a bunch of strawmen MUH LAFROOG

>>6543161
I'm surprised that in your baitpost you didn't manage to fit in a reference to Lagavulin, people talk about that Islay all the time. Though since there have been no Islay mentions in this thread the premise of your shitpost falls pretty flat.

>>6540183
Deep down they don't actually give a shit what you like.
That is the truth of humanity.
Now don't drink yourself to death.

>>6540663
>>6540682
>>6540664
>inoffensive
Get outta here with that buzzword.

>>6540474
>shelf
>not cabinet
Enjoy your alcohol degrading.
I assume you don't intend to drink all that in the next few months.

>>6542648
>make it go down easier.
Why even then?
Just drink what you like if you're going to drink whole bottles of it over a weekend.

>>6543643
Not the guy you quoted, but are you that guy who went bananas when I called caviar inoffensive?

>>6543870
No, but caviar is quite offensive indeed.

Why does no one show there true love for me

>>6544168

I love you, Baz.

>>6544168
Because I've never heard of you.

>>6540239
>If you like gin stay the fuck away from Islay
>mfw I like both
Some days I'll mix up a gin tonic with some Cadenhead's Old Raj gin plus fevertree tonic water.
Other days I will sip the peaty goodness of a Laphroaig Quarter Cask.

>>6544931
You had to ease into it though, didn't you?
Nobody starts out with Islay and survives unharmed.

It...changes people...

>>6540474
>>6540183
Alright, /ck/.

Not OP, but similar situation. I'm a gin drinker.

As per the recommendations in this thread, bought a Glenlivit 12. I probably paid too much for it, but meh.

I'm going to sit here with a glass and taste it a bit, and see where that goes.

Picture related; took it just now.

Any tips? I think I prefer neat, but will try with ice/water if recommended.

>>6545144
Try it with a splash of water. Also worth trying once or twice is diluting it 4:1 with club soda

Ice mostly kills it for me, usually I take it neat unless I'm feeling exceptionally lazy and impatient.

>>6540183
Glenlivet 15

It will be smooth and not too peaty.

>>6540430
If he's a gin drinker, he should stay away from irish whiskey.

>>6545144
One of my go-to cheap single malts. Good choice.

Should have gotten the 15, but I came in too late. >>6545188 is right, dilute it a bit. I personally don't mind a cube of ice in my single malt, but I know it makes it harder for some to enjoy the complexities. Just try not to drink it warm.

>gin drinker

>they think I'm a pleb.

do these guys look like plebs to you?

>>6545205
Well, the 15 was almost twice the price.

I'm not poor, but I'm a scotch noob, so didn't want to spend more than I needed to for an entry level.

It's really nice, enjoying it neat.

Scotch + Food: Yay or Nay? Seems like this would go really well with just fresh cooked meats with peppery seasonings.

>>6545226
Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie, and Balvenie are soft enough to not overpower too many flavors in food. I've seen it mixed with plenty of club soda to make an almost-beer like highball dinner drink in Asia.

I'd recommend saving smoke grenades like Ardbeg for after dessert...

>>6545226
Fair enough. I started my journey on the 12 and it continues to be a staple of mine.

>>6545239
Ardbeg is really peaty, right? Like Highland Park?

>>6545144 here.

I've actually had all of the Macallens up to the 24.

I've had Highland Park 12 and 18, I think. Very peaty, or 'earthy' if I had to give it a flavor I recognize.

That was all in one night, though. I am thoroughly enjoying this Glenlivit 12, will buy again, most likely.

I'll worry about the upper Macallens when I get a better job.

>>6545115
>mfw one of the things I had to get used to with whiskey was the smokey aspect of some of them
>mfw Lagavulin was the whiskey that made me really enjoy whiskey in general for the first time and is now my favorite
I don't know why. It was really unexpected.

>>6541297
>oak-infused corn vodka

You realize bourbon is majority corn, right?

>>6544168
Basil barely sells in its state of origin.

>>6545115
Don't be dramatic. If you like smoked foods it's pretty easy to like Islay immediately, and people who talk about it in stupid exaggerations as you're doing sound stupid and makes people who enjoy it seem stupid by association.

>>6545280
HP is medium peat. Ardbeg is quite high. I think it might go well with smoked meats, but it would probably pair weirdly with most food.

>>6545382
Honestly, even as a big fan of smoked fish I found the medicinal phenolic/carbolic smell to be intolerable until halfway through a bottle when it warped my olfactory nerves into not being able to taste or smell it it.

I was being quite facetious in that post but I still get reactions from housemates "are you drinking wound cleanser?" "OH GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THAT DRINK IT OUTSIDE" etc.

The disturbing part is I know exactly what they're smelling but can no longer detect it myself.

>>6543643

the hell is this slut saying?

It's lingo we use, accept it.

>>6545704
>we

>>6540183
All of those are redneck-tier whiskeys.

Balvenie Doublewood 12 will run you about $70 but will leave you hooked.

>>6545735
>it was $38 a year ago over here
>still $44 right now
http://www.liquors-hasegawa.com/SHOP/7452.html

I'm sorry you live in a tax-ridden shithole Anon...

>whiskey
>mfw it's even spelled right in the pic you posted

>>6545753
>tax-ridden shithole

>>6545691
Seems odd to buy it (since the wording sounds like you continue to get it) if you aren't tasting half of it. I detect and enjoy those flavors, but if I didn't, I think I'd just buy something else that I enjoy all the components of.

>>6545735
Where do you live? That's really expensive for that.

OP - have you considered barrel-aged gins?
There are dozens out there now, and they're really the perfect transition. I love Smooth Ambler, and Barr Hill's Tom Cat, but any decent shop should have a selection to choose from.

>>6545996
I buy a bottle every few months as a change of pace but my staples continue to be Highland/Speyside.

If I abstain from it for a month or two I can feel a tingle of it at the back of my nose, but nothing like the face-melting medicinal reek I got when I poured my first glass.

Now all I get is campfire/barbecue smoke.

cheap and misty drunk

get on my level plebs. cheap american bourbon. tastes good and no hangovers.

>>6540183
evan williams single barrel, woodford reserve

just mix with coke and use less coke next shot until you can drink it straight

i found myself being able to drink pretty much anything straight after drinking whiskey neat for a while

>>6546102
>evan Williams
>no hangovers
know how I know you're lying?

>>6546052
got blackout drunk mixing mist & mtn dew

>>6542700
The downside is you live in New Hampshire. I'd much rather pay my taxes and have a better liquor selection at better prices and NOT live in NH, then get away with no sales tax.

>>6540474
that StaggJr is p good

I like to pour it straight down my throat because 66.5% is outrageous

>>6545207
Yes. Why?

>>6540183
You've already tried wide range of base-level whiskies, so I'd just say whisky ain't your thang, and that's ok.

Are you over 50 years old? Because those are the true whisky drinkers. If you're 20-35 just chill with the social stigma of whiskey and have a beer.

I'd say Wild Turkey is at least worth a try. Frankly it doesn't really matter what you drink as long as you actually enjoy it.
I for one fucking love Mojos.

>>6540183
I've mostly only stuck the the basics like you mixed with cola. I usually prefer frangelico mixed with coke because fuck it.

On a whim I picked up this to try a proper grown ups whiskey and my goodness it smells and tastes wonderful.

Takes a bit to get used to it without mixers but I've been really enjoying it over a big chunk of ice.

>>6546778

>being around people so petty they judge people based on what they drink

>>6546246
>mtn dew
are you a child. you know this site is 18+, right?

>>6547575
>not mixing doritos flavoured whisky and mountain dew

>>6546983
good whisky only needs water/ice or more whisky

What I'm drinking tonight

Should I bother buying something pricier than Jack Daniels for mixers?

>>6546817
101 is my go-to, although, I just started giving whiskey a shot last year(im 23). Is Rare Breed worth it?

>>6546402
damn millennials...

Gin is not for plebs.
Gin is for officers.
Anyway pic is my recommendation for a guy not sure if they like whisky, barring glenlivet and a few other staples already mentioned.
It's pretty sweet, mild, and un-offensive. A bit overpriced for being as bland as it is, but if you don't like it, you probably just don't like whisky.

Did someone say whiskey?

>>6548945
fix'd

>>6548953
is this the meme whiskey?

>>6548959
It delicious whiskey.

In my time I've have had quite a few whiskeys but goddamn is Maker's Mark awesome.

>they think I'm a pleb.

Nah, dude, they're totally mystified.

A bit strange though, people who like gin usually like whiskey and vice versa. Unless you drink Bombay Sapphire exclusively, then you are definitely a pleb.

>>6540183
>red JW
literally horse piss mixed with gasoline

>>6548088
I'm no expert, but I'd guess mixing anything fancier than JD would likely just ruin the entire reason it's pricier.

If you did want to experiment with other flavours though you could try branching away from bourbon.

>>6545735
Two<Three

Get on my level

>>6548982
Bombay makes a really interesting amber gin that tastes good as fuck

>>6549061
>Availability: Toronto, Singapore, Sydney and Las Vegas’ major international airports.

Shit.

>>6540183
You are not 'deep down' a pleb. It is on the surface. Try Glenfiddich 15, Ardbeg, Talisker. Honestly just stick with Plymouth gin or whatever.

>>6548945
>>6548953
>bottle says whisky
>spells it whiskey