Scotch or Bourbon?

I used to prefer Bourbon over Scotch, but I’ve had some pretty awesome Scotches in the past year that drink as smooth and sweet as a Bourbon. With premium Bourbon prices getting silly, it’s making me take a closer look at some Irish Whiskies and Ryes. With all of them, at 15 years or older they get quite interesting if not a bit pricey. 
 

I am currently drinking a Hazelwood 25 and an Aultmore 18 that are pretty special. But the 1910 12 year Rye is good too.

Okay, there is a new  member of my top ten five brands of whisky.  Macallan 12 Scotch.  Goooood.....

Pterodactyl said:

Okay, there is a new  member of my top ten five brands of whisky.  Macallan 12 Scotch.  Goooood.....

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That’s the double cask. Great scotch for the price.

Bourbon first. After visiting Scotland I developed a taste for GOOD scotch, so I drink that from time to time. 

Been on a bourbon kick for the last year or so but before that it was Scotch and I still enjoy Scotch.  Specifically Glenfiddich, MacAllan, the Speysides mostly.  Balvenie Double Wood is great.  Bourbons I like are Elijah Craig, Woodford Double Oak, Stagg Jr., Blantons, Eagle Rare, Buffalo Trace, 1792...  

Just opened a Willet Pot Still... blech... also didn’t like the Four Roses small batch much.

Well the wife just got back from a trip to Ireland and Scotland. Brought me some sample bottles of Irish whiskey and Scotch.
Along with a few of these:

Evidence.

Evidence has been, uh, destroyed..

Knifemaker, great resurrection of this thread.

Not much has changed in my opinions, except... Holy Smokes (pun intended)! McCallan's is now $85 a 750ml. I can't afford to drink it any more. I was buying at $47 dollars a 750 and complaining years ago. Buffalo Trace still my go to Bourbon. I still have a little 18 YO SM Kirkland scotch, excellent! I also had their 20 YO SM, but I liked the 18YO better. That was years ago, and now it's only blended scotch from Costco and I haven't tried it.

New note: Glenfiddich 14 YO SM scotch aged in bourbon barrels is also excellent and reasonably priced. Just enough peat to let you know you're drinking scotch.

Next time we'll have to start a gin thread, but that really doesn't go well with cigars...

Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond 7 year old bourbon

Knifemaker said:

I think I had a thread on cigars/whiskey awhile back, but was just curious here...

Do you prefer Scotch or Bourbon? The reason I ask is I've been a Scotch guy since high school (yep even underage) My brother in law is a Bourbon guy. He sent me a bottle of a Kentucky Bourbon he really likes, and I just can't drink it. I can recognize it's pretty smooth, but other than adding it to a sauce I just can't drink it straight.

So, are there those that can do both, or are you just a follower of one team here?

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Tequila.
Tequila Matchmaker is a great resource for finding quality, additive free product.

Bourbon drinkers are more likely to appreciate aged tequila (anejo & extra anejo) due to the oakiness and other barrel associated flavors and aromas

Like some others on here, I too had an unfortunate tequila experience 50 years ago. I've only gotten over it in the past year or so and while I enjoy my bourbon neat, I can only handle tequila in mixed cocktails.

I'm not a tequila drinker, but... When someone has a real good tequila, I like it! It's pretty good, but go easy. I rarely drink it though, but I greatly appreciate it.

FJRBluesman said:

Knifemaker, great resurrection of this thread.

Not much has changed in my opinions, except... Holy Smokes (pun intended)! McCallan's is now $85 a 750ml. I can't afford to drink it any more. I was buying at $47 dollars a 750 and complaining years ago. Buffalo Trace still my go to Bourbon. I still have a little 18 YO SM Kirkland scotch, excellent! I also had their 20 YO SM, but I liked the 18YO better. That was years ago, and now it's only blended scotch from Costco and I haven't tried it.

New note: Glenfiddich 14 YO SM scotch aged in bourbon barrels is also excellent and reasonably priced. Just enough peat to let you know you're drinking scotch.

Next time we'll have to start a gin thread, but that really doesn't go well with cigars...

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I'm with you about the Macallan, Simon. It took off a few years ago, at least the Costco pricing did. The 12 year Macallan double cask has been $84 and change in Costco with absolutely no fluctuation for at least the last couple years. Anyway, I like most of the single malts in different ways for different experiences, and I like to have a selection of them in the cabinet, but I've really been hoarding my last half bottle of this stuff for a long time.

Well, my wife just came back from Kentucky and just had to visit the Maker's Mark distillery (I just don't drink bourbon, myself). So now she likes old fashioneds, so I had to stop at Total Wine to pick her up a bottle of Maker's Mark no. 46, whatever the number signifies. I guess they told her that was the right one to make an old fashioned out of. (They also told her not to use maraschino cherries, and recommended some exotic other cherry. She came back from the store the other day and had seen these things for sale--a bottle of about two dozen cherries for $26! She didn't buy them.) But while she was at the Maker's Mark distillery she did buy a couple bottles and brought them home. Why? Because they let the customers (after they buy the bottles there, of course) put on gloves and an apron and dip their own bottles in the tub of hot red wax! In fact, she did it so well that they offered her a full-time job.

Anyway, and the point of all this, is when I went into the Total Wine store yesterday to buy the MM, they had the Macallan 12-year old double cask for $71! Yeah, I'm cheesed at Costco! But at least now I've got a new bottle in my cabinet!

Probably Luxardo cherries. They are expensive, but they taste completely different from run-of-the-mill maraschino cherries and make a real difference in Old Fashioneds and Manhattans.

Those sound like 'em, Baron S. But when the garnish costs more than the spirits, time for me to find a new cocktail!