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OT: Scotch drinkers opinions wanted


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6 hours ago, Sperm Edwards said:

Yeah we tasted stuff in middle school when I was younger, but no regular drinking. And that good behavior really paid off. I didn't know back then that it'd lead to a great career moderating a free web forum for fans of the worst team in football. 

Hahaha… on man.

I will say, I mostly ran with a different crew 80% of the time. The 20% was my older friends from elementary years, but they were in a different path… the booze quickly became other things. At that point, my presence in their circle was more about not wanting to lose friends, but I didn’t go past drinking. These guys used everything.

 

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12 hours ago, More Cowbell said:

I think Grey Goose is best for Vodka. 

There is no better example of a Rorschach Test than Vodka. Years ago there was great article in the New Yorker explaining how vodka was the epitome of pure marketing, because the product was completely neutral, by law. The aricle focused on Stolichnaya vs. Absolute. Here's a little piece on the origin of Grey Goose, which was essentially produced by a no name distiller in France and gussied up. But I appreciate that much of what we love is based on romance, not fact. It's perfectly human.

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/01/590022606/is-there-really-a-difference-between-expensive-vodka-and-cheap-vodka

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On 12/18/2021 at 6:37 AM, More Cowbell said:

I'm only putting this here because I would like as many opinions as possible. 

I have always drunk my scotch on the rocks but that was always something  like Johnny Walker Black that you can buy on sale for like $30 a bottle. Well a friend knowing I drink this stuff bought me a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue. Now I have had some expensive scotch in my time like McCallens or Glenlivet but I never had a bottle that costs $250. So am I committing a crime by drinking this on the rocks? I really don't  want to invest in whiskey  stones because so many people have told me they last a really short time. 

And yes, I will be drinking this during the remainder of Jets games. 

I drink good scotch.  I like it cold so I use ice.  There’s no sin in that if you like it.

I make large ice balls that don’t melt as quickly so less dilution but still cold

or you could put the bottle in the freezer and pour it pre chilled

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My story is similar…. First job, in World Trade Center, co-worker/ superior told me NO FUKKIN Gin and tonics.  Order a scotch like me.  He taught me to acquire a taste. Im a scotch guy today thanks to him. 
He drank Dewars.  He passed on 911 so every 911 since I do a straight Dewars thinking of him.  

Rip Mr Grouzalis


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28 minutes ago, Bowles Movement said:

I drink good scotch.  I like it cold so I use ice.  There’s no sin in that if you like it.

I make large ice balls that don’t melt as quickly so less dilution but still cold

or you could put the bottle in the freezer and pour it pre chilled

I love the ICE balls but the tray can be such a pain in the ass.  So I simply use the large block tray but yes, the large ball is superior.

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1 hour ago, Long Island Leprechaun said:

There is no better example of a Rorschach Test than Vodka. Years ago there was great article in the New Yorker explaining how vodka was the epitome of pure marketing, because the product was completely neutral, by law. The aricle focused on Stolichnaya vs. Absolute. Here's a little piece on the origin of Grey Goose, which was essentially produced by a no name distiller in France and gussied up. But I appreciate that much of what we love is based on romance, not fact. It's perfectly human.

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/01/590022606/is-there-really-a-difference-between-expensive-vodka-and-cheap-vodka

I'll read the article  later but essentially  what I look for in vodka is smoothness because there is no taste. I think Grey Goose has a pleasing finish I don't  find in Stoli, Kettle One, and I think Absolute is trash vodka and I drank a ton of that in my 20's. 

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10 hours ago, Sperm Edwards said:

Oh, also scotch is f***ing disgusting. It's referred to as the other whisky in the Sperm household. 

Maybe if Mr. & Mrs. Sperm were this desperate:

Barnish.jpg 

As far as whiskey  goes, scotch is not what I would call a beginners drink. Probably  bourbon would be the way to go in that vein. Most people I know started drinking scotch when others in their circle started to drink it. Nobody goes from beer to scotch. 

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3 hours ago, Long Island Leprechaun said:

There is no better example of a Rorschach Test than Vodka. Years ago there was great article in the New Yorker explaining how vodka was the epitome of pure marketing, because the product was completely neutral, by law. The aricle focused on Stolichnaya vs. Absolute. Here's a little piece on the origin of Grey Goose, which was essentially produced by a no name distiller in France and gussied up. But I appreciate that much of what we love is based on romance, not fact. It's perfectly human.

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/01/590022606/is-there-really-a-difference-between-expensive-vodka-and-cheap-vodka

Read the article.  Never knew you could make vodka like Tang by adding water to a concentrate.  I fully agree. I don't  think Grey Goose tastes better than even Georgi. It is how smooth it is that matters to me. 

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1 hour ago, More Cowbell said:

Read the article.  Never knew you could make vodka like Tang by adding water to a concentrate.  I fully agree. I don't  think Grey Goose tastes better than even Georgi. It is how smooth it is that matters to me. 

Not true of Gin and virtually all other spirits. Vodka is just this side of turpentine. Functional but one dimensional. 

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2 hours ago, More Cowbell said:

As far as whiskey  goes, scotch is not what I would call a beginners drink. Probably  bourbon would be the way to go in that vein. Most people I know started drinking scotch when others in their circle started to drink it. Nobody goes from beer to scotch. 

I think the arc for non-whiskey drinkers would be Irish whiskey then bourbon then scotch. 

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2 hours ago, More Cowbell said:

Read the article.  Never knew you could make vodka like Tang by adding water to a concentrate.  I fully agree. I don't  think Grey Goose tastes better than even Georgi. It is how smooth it is that matters to me. 

It’s really not about the taste but rather the smoothness. 

Lower end vodkas have a harsh burn. 

I’m a fan of Belvedere. Very very smooth. 

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11 hours ago, Long Island Leprechaun said:

There is no better example of a Rorschach Test than Vodka. Years ago there was great article in the New Yorker explaining how vodka was the epitome of pure marketing, because the product was completely neutral, by law. The aricle focused on Stolichnaya vs. Absolute. Here's a little piece on the origin of Grey Goose, which was essentially produced by a no name distiller in France and gussied up. But I appreciate that much of what we love is based on romance, not fact. It's perfectly human.

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/01/590022606/is-there-really-a-difference-between-expensive-vodka-and-cheap-vodka

This isn't entirely accurate. Vodka can range in purity or neutrality quite a bit depending upon the distillation method, how aggressively they cut out the less pure parts of the distilled spirit and how it is (or isn't) filtered. Cheap ass vodka generally uses more of the less desirable distillation products and filtered less than more expensive brands. Higher end brands use more selective distillation and aggressive filtration. You can also get into pot distilled vodkas which carry flavor from the underlying fermentation similar to brandies and some whisk(e)y. Vodka can also be "corrected" after distillation or at bottling which can add acid, glycerin, minerals and sugar which will create flavor and mouthfeel differences between brands. There isn't generally a huge difference between a $30 and $60 bottle of vodka--especially if you aren't drinking it neat--but a $10 bottle is likely a dirtier vodka. 

FWIW my vodka of choice is Monopolowa which runs $15-20 and has character. It isn't a smoothly polished as expensive bottles but I don't necessarily want that if I'm drinking vodka. 

 

8 hours ago, More Cowbell said:

Read the article.  Never knew you could make vodka like Tang by adding water to a concentrate.  I fully agree. I don't  think Grey Goose tastes better than even Georgi. It is how smooth it is that matters to me. 

Most spirits are diluted after distillation/aging to bottle strength. Neutral spirits can be distilled to near pure ethanol which is diluted with water down to normal vodka proof. "Concentrate" is just undiluted spirit. If you're shipping spirit to a bottler you might as well ship it undiluted and not pay shipping costs for water.

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37 minutes ago, rex-n-effect said:

This isn't entirely accurate. Vodka can range in purity or neutrality quite a bit depending upon the distillation method, how aggressively they cut out the less pure parts of the distilled spirit and how it is (or isn't) filtered. Cheap ass vodka generally uses more of the less desirable distillation products and filtered less than more expensive brands. Higher end brands use more selective distillation and aggressive filtration. You can also get into pot distilled vodkas which carry flavor from the underlying fermentation similar to brandies and some whisk(e)y. Vodka can also be "corrected" after distillation or at bottling which can add acid, glycerin, minerals and sugar which will create flavor and mouthfeel differences between brands. There isn't generally a huge difference between a $30 and $60 bottle of vodka--especially if you aren't drinking it neat--but a $10 bottle is likely a dirtier vodka. 

FWIW my vodka of choice is Monopolowa which runs $15-20 and has character. It isn't a smoothly polished as expensive bottles but I don't necessarily want that if I'm drinking vodka. 

 

Most spirits are diluted after distillation/aging to bottle strength. Neutral spirits can be distilled to near pure ethanol which is diluted with water down to normal vodka proof. "Concentrate" is just undiluted spirit. If you're shipping spirit to a bottler you might as well ship it undiluted and not pay shipping costs for water.

Perhaps. We can quibble over the variance in water used to dilute the ethanol, but in the end, its neutral and essentially tasteless. I would be interested to do a simple taste test. Switch the contents of various labels of vodka and see if anyone can actually tell which is which. 70 years ago, there were Russian vodka makers that produced dirty product. Stolli was one of them. But I doubt very much if the makers of vodka today differ at all. Fleishman's, or Gordon is, I'm betting indistinguishable from Absolut or Grey Goose. Unless you get into different sources for the ethanol, they're really the same. Packaging does wonders for the imagination.

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12 hours ago, Long Island Leprechaun said:

Perhaps. We can quibble over the variance in water used to dilute the ethanol, but in the end, its neutral and essentially tasteless. I would be interested to do a simple taste test. Switch the contents of various labels of vodka and see if anyone can actually tell which is which. 70 years ago, there were Russian vodka makers that produced dirty product. Stolli was one of them. But I doubt very much if the makers of vodka today differ at all. Fleishman's, or Gordon is, I'm betting indistinguishable from Absolut or Grey Goose. Unless you get into different sources for the ethanol, they're really the same. Packaging does wonders for the imagination.

To be fair, some different vodkas DO have different tastes.  My mother-in-law bought me a bottle of Chopin and the taste was very off-putting.  

But agin, it's not the taste, it's how smooth they are.  No way Gordon's is as smooth as Belvedere.  I drink very very dry Belvedere Martini's--no way I'm drinking a Popov martini.  Fine in a mixed drink but the burn stright up?  No way.

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6 minutes ago, Peace Frog said:

To be fair, some different vodkas DO have different tastes.  My mother-in-law bought me a bottle of Chopin and the taste was very off-putting.  

But agin, it's not the taste, it's how smooth they are.  No way Gordon's is as smooth as Belvedere.  I drink very very dry Belvedere Martini's--no way I'm drinking a Popov martini.  Fine in a mixed drink but the burn stright up?  No way.

You're correct, but that's because of the source of the ethanol. Chopin is made with a mix of potato, wheat and rye. Belvedere is strictly rye. Absolute is strictly wheat. They all impart different tones to the ethanol as well as texture. But vodka made from the identical source is indistinguishable. That's why I said the source matters. Water probably makes a tiny difference, but unlikely.

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