/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>4129627
Aberlour A'bunadh, or one of the good Glenmorangies (nectar d'or, astar, or sonnalta px, especially the latter). If you can afford it, Balvenie's 21-year portwood and 17-year madeira cask are both excellent and seem like they'd be solidly within the range of flavors you like.

If you want to try a more balanced Islay, go for a good Ardbeg. They're not as peaty as Laphroaig and tend to have a bit more sweetness and such to add balance. Uigedail is my favorite by far of that range.

Get The Balvenie Doublewood. Aged in oak, then in sherry casks. My personal favorite

>>4129627
>scotch
>Yamazaki

wat

>>4129887

Adults are talking

For your tastes, I recommend avoiding anything with "Glen-" in the name if you want to avoid that 'smokey'/peaty flavour. (Not always accurate, but a decent rule of thumb)

And as much as I love scotch, your tastes tend to match my own almost perfectly, though I did like the Laphroaig personally, it's as peaty as i can stand, and only enjoy it on occasion when I am in that rare mood.

Point being....

Try some more 'off the beaten path' bourbons; you might be pleasantly surprised. Rowen's Creek, and Bulleit are really good; the later can actually be obtained at Trader Joes for a really good price. (before you poo-poo TJ's remember Lagavoulin use to be sold there for only 13 bucks, and was made popular, now you're lucky to find a bottle under 60.)

If you want to stay with scotch however, my favorite stil to this day is Balvenie's 15yr. single barrel.

Good luck anon.

new scotch-fag here with a general scotch question.

Scotch only ages while it is in the barrel correct? Like if i have a bottle of 12 year old scotch that has been sitting around 5 years, I just have a 5 year old bottle of 12 year old scotch, not a 17 year old bottle?

>>4129952

That is exactly right.

>>4129952
Yes, whiskey isn't like wine that ages in the bottle. I don't know the technical side of this, but you gain nothing by letting your whiskey sit in a glass/plastic bottle.

>>4129921
Any recommendations on higher-end bourbon? My go-to is Maker's Mark, and I liked Knob Creek when I tried it. Thoughts on Blanton's, Four Roses, and Woodford Reserve?

>>4129952
Yes. The reason is that when scotch is aging, it's in an oak barrel- the time it spends there alters its character through exposure to the wood and, to a limited extent, air. In the bottle it's only in contact with glass, which does essentially nothing to change the whiskey's character.

However, there are two ways that your bottle can be different because you've had it so long. The first, main one is that, because it's a process involving natural materials (wood, barley, etc), and thus prone to an essentially infinite list of variables (the exact wood of the barrel, how exactly the barley was grown and malted, the temperature and humidity during its time in the barrel etc), and due to gradual recipe changes over time, your 12-year old whiskey might be quite different from the same bottle released today. Even between bottles released the same year there can be a fair bit of difference at times. The second reason is that, once the bottle is opened (not sure if your bottle in question is or not, but it will be at some point), it is once again exposed to air (and the less whiskey remains in the bottle, the greater this exposure becomes). This oxidizes the whiskey, gradually altering its flavor. In many cases this is beneficial, at least for the first few months to few years- it allows the whiskey to open up. How much benefit this oxidation offers and how long it takes depends on the exact whiskey.

Hopefully that was somewhat helpful.

>>4129961
Some whiskey will benefit from decanting (aeration, either from physical agitation or partially empty bottles) and some will suffer from it though.

let me suggest the michel couvreur 12 year. fantastic drink.

>>4129968
I'd go with something by Four Roses or some Elmer T. Lee.

Elijah Craig 12 might also be a good choice if you haven't tried it.

>>4129968
Four Roses is meh unless you're going for the single barrel version. Woodford is better than Maker's imo but not fantastic. Blanton's is very good, especially the Gold Edition if you can find it.

I'd definitely recommend Jefferson's Reserve, Booker's, Elmer T. Lee, Rock Hill Farms, or Angel's Envy as well; and, if they're in your price range, things like William Larue Weller, George T. Stagg or the Parker's Heritage Collection.

>>4129979
I have a bottle of Elijah 12 in my cabinet. Surprisingly good for something that didn't break the bank.

>>4129981
>>4129979
Thanks gents

yes or no on whisky stones

>>4130014
No, i've always liked whiskey at room temperature. Just a personal opinion.

I would take stones over ice any day, though.

>>4130014
yes and no. If you want chilled whiskey all the time just stick it in the refrigerator. If you keep it warm for whatever reason and hate diluting it then get the stones.

>>4130014

Full blown crippling autism.

>>4130014
I'm not a big fan of cold whiskey, it dulls the nose. I also find them a bit inconvenient when you're trying to get the last sip.

They're great for keeping a cocktail cold that you don't want to dilute with any more water though. Shake it with ice and strain on the stones.

>>4130014
I generally think whiskey is better at room temperature. Cooling it cuts down on the amount of flavor and aroma you can get out of it. Ironically, whiskey stones 'fix' the part of adding ice that doesn't matter (adding water to whiskey, in the correct amount at least, is fine) and don't address the part that causes the flavor to be muted (the cold). Of course whiskey is something that's meant to be enjoyed, so if you like drinking it with whiskey stones you go right ahead, that's the whole point after all. But in my opinion whiskey is best room-temperature, with perhaps a small splash of water if it calls for it (which in my view it rarely does, my preference is to drink it neat).

Have you guys heard of the legend of Pappy's?

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6667949/pappy-van-winkle

>>4129971

Thank you and all the others for your replies.

I have another question too. I have a bottle of 100% rye white whiskey from a micro distillery in my area. They sell these little over priced oak barrels that you can put the white whiskey in to age it. If I get a bottle and some oak wood and then burn the oak and put it in the bottle with the whiskey will this do the same thing? I know I will have to be sure that the wood is untreated and dry of course, but has anyone ever done this before?

>>4130030
Fuck that stuff is so good but it's such a massive pain in the ass to find it. Ah well, makes it all the sweeter when you do find a bottle. I've got one of the 20 in my cabinet waiting for an occasion to be opened.

>>4130042
Invest in toasted oak chips instead. They sell them for making wine oakier.

yes or no on the Glencairn whisky glass

>>4130050
Glencairn is too small, the Glencairn Canadian is just the right size.

>>4130052

Too small?

With ice maybe. Otherwise I would just refill the glass if it's too little for you.

>>4130072
It isn't quite enough for one glass to be good enough, I like to let a glass sit around and air out for a while, so it's better to be able to do it all at once.

>>4130082
>It isn't quite enough for one glass to be good enough

alcoholism.7z

>>4130085
I don't think many people could catch a buzz and keep it for a night with one normal glencairn glass, especially without filling it up past the taper and hence defeating the whole purpose.

>>4130087

You don't drink single malts for the buzz.

>>4130089
Good thing bourbon can be affordable and taste good too. If I'm going to catch a buzz I'm going to drink the best stuff I can to do so, I won't consume anything lesser.

>>4130089
dont drink for the buzz are you crazy?

Size reference for a Glencairn whisky glass.

>>4130096

If I didn't know the size of a Glencairn glass, I wouldn't know the size of "Kountry Boy's OLE NO. 1" all purpose seasoning.

>>4130099
Like you haven't seen a thousand other spices in a container like that. The basic glencairn is about a glorified shot glass though.

>>4130099

It's a pretty standard sized spice bottle.

>>4130101

You're supposed fill all those glasses with about the same volume of spirit though.

>>4130114
All of the glasses in the picture are comparable, but the Glencairn canadian has almost twice as much volume.

>start thread
>go do other stuff
>leave on autoupdate
>39 replies
>37 actually useful

Thanks /ck/, I'm stunned at the response. I'm used to /a/.

What are thoughts on Suntory Hibiki? I have yet to become a single region scotch person so I'm okay with continuing experimenting with Japanese scotches, or any others.

Failing that I may keep my eyes out for some Balvenie 15 or even 21 if I end up doing something worth recognizing and I have a few hundred bucks to spare.

Thanks again for the advice, keep 'em coming.

>>4129921
>Balvenie's 15yr. single barrel

>>4129905

You missed the joke, but keep stoking that superiority complex.

>>4130299
>the joke

This isn't /b/

>>4130014

Whisky stones make a poor substitute for an ice cube in terms of cooling power. If you want cold whisky, keep it in the fridge.

Almost all of an ice cube's cooling power comes from the latent heat of fusion. In addition to that, water also has a very high specific heat (amount of heat required to change the temperature of 1g of material by 1 degree Celcius). Unfortunately, they also dilute the drink.

Whisky stones don't change phase, so the drink doesn't give up heat to overcome an latent heat of fusion, and the material the stones are made of has a relatively low specific heat, which makes them pretty much useless for keeping a drink cool. They simply look neat.

>>4130326

> scotch - serious business.

People outside of /b/ tell jokes on occasion. Enjoy your Scotch whisky made by a Japanese guy.

>>4130335
Couldn't you just freeze an integral part of the drink into cube form and add that?

>>4130377
Very hard to freeze liquor.

>>4130377

Alcoholic drinks tend to freeze unevenly. I.e. different components of the drink freeze faster than others. You usually don't want that.

>>4130345

If you were actually trying to make a sophisticated joke that's just sad. At least it was forgettable as a /b/ style "joke"

>>4130383
>>4130387

I suppose you could distill it further, and turn it into like 160 proof Scotch, and then add an ice cube to dilute it back down to 80.

The drink would kick your ass until that ice cube was completely melted, though. It'd still be easier to simply keep it in the fridge.

>>4130397

Or you use a heavy glass and put that in the freezer.

>>4130397
The issue is that alcohol evaporates faster than water, and distilling a beverage again is going to totally fuck up the aging and leave behind essential compounds that don't turn to vapor. For every given second of exposure to the open air you're losing slightly more ethanol than water (up to a point, you're definitely never going to get anything over 50% alcohol though).

>>4130402
>>4130397
>>4130377

Anyway, you're trying to solve a non-problem. Water in whisky is okay and sometimes even necessary like in cast-strength whiskys for instance.

If you want your whisky chilled or not is up to you. Room temperature is better for nosing and tasting.

I bought this with a gift card. It's an interesting read, but I'm surprised Balvenie 15 year isn't in it.

>>4130518
I don't suppose anyone knows where I could download that book?

>>4130573
I'll sum it up for you: price doesn't necessarily mean anything and caramel is bad.

Scapa 16