Bourbon

[RunForTheHills]

So I am a big fan of Knob Creek 9. That's my go to bourbon. I decided to try Knob Creek Single Barrel tonight, also aged 9 years. 120 proof and I can't taste anything except the spice of the alcohol. I poured it on the rocks, so it is diluted a little. It's okay, but I think I prefer the regular Knob Creek.

 

[spokewrench]

In fifth grade I had a still in the basement. I wanted to take some to school to share, but the teacher was kind of nosey, and she was bad enough sober. I don't know what proof I produced, but it caught fire easily, and the flame was nearly invisible. That was scary. I quit making it.

At Christmas break in 7th grade, a boy my age moved to town. His mother was very fussy about keeping him away from bad influences. My mother assured her that she felt the same, so I became his only approved playmate. In the autumn, my mother had bought a gallon of cider, with so much apple that it was opaque. She put it in the back entry to stay cool. In January, I discovered that she'd put it by the freezer's condensor, which had kept it warm. It fizzed and burned my tummy. I would invite my new friend home after school. I'd pour him a glass, and we'd drink at the dining-room table, in front of my mother. He said he'd never drunk anything so delicious. After a couple of sips, he'd begin laughing prodigiously at everything I said. I'm glad my mother never caught on. She would have been heartbroken to know she'd allowed perfectly good cider to spoil.

Later, aboard ship, I'd keep several flat pint bottles of Southern Comfort under my mattress. Once I drank a pint out of a coffee mug as I played chess with the officer of the deck. I was smoking my pipe, and he never realized I wasn't sipping Pepsi.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I perceive any type of whiskey as hooch, and my engineering background tells me to stay with good rum Or, clear vodka for that matter. Or, craft beer.

While visiting a whiskey distillery in Ardara, Donegal, Ireland, I could understand how primitive the process actually was

Compared to, the craft beer brewing is totally sophisticated. (Artezan Brewery, Błonie, Poland).

Once, a friend came in and brought Tequila. As we were drinking, I missed the fact he was sipping a half of each portion he poured for himself. So, I got six big glasses of that poison. It was the single occasion I lost my consciousness since my youth

 

[spokewrench]

My mother's uncle was a railroad engineer and noted moonshiner. He was busted for his mountain still and served 2 years on a road gang. He ran the road grader. Every Sunday my grandparents had a fried-chicken picnic lunch with him in the prison yard. Every Wednesday, the warden gave him a 24-hour pass to tend the still in his basement in town.

 

[RunForTheHills]

Well, I didn't expect this thread to go from good bourbon to hooch. I can't say I have ever tried moonshine. I did once get blackout drunk on tequila in college and haven't drank it since. I haven't blacked out again either.

 

[Darth_Vado]

i for one will take one bourbon, one scotch and one beer...

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I can't say I have ever tried moonshine.

I was negative to any moonshine for years. However... My riding buddy (who is an angler, too) met a person in our province of Podlachia (which is famous of her hooch!); the man turned out to be a master class moonshiner! I couldn't believe how delicate the high quality hooch could be!

 

[Chazmo]

Bourbon == hooch? I think you have a very different definition than I do, Stefan.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Bourbon == hooch? I think you have a very different definition than I do, Stefan.

The bourbon manufacturing process is as simple as moonshining... Only people have grown up with it and think it is harmless and tasty. (The aging process improves the whiskey properties, of course).
On contrary, rum is distilled in a pretty sophisticated way; I'm talking the white and golden varieties. (Fermentation of sugars never produces any poisonous methanol).
Distillation of vodka is a miracle of engineering, leaving almost totally pure alcohol and water and removing nearly all poisonous chemical compounds. The traces of the impurities define the vodka character. For instance, Absolut is the clearest vodka known to me, just pure ethanol and water. It can be drunk by big glasses before you drop

 

[stompandgo]

i for one will take one bourbon, one scotch and one beer...

I saw him at the Orpheum in Boston after a proper party beforehand. The place was rocking.

 

[Darth_Vado]

that must have been a great show!

 

[stompandgo]

that must have been a great show!

It was. I'm surprised that I remembered it.

 

[spokewrench]

The bourbon manufacturing process is as simple as moonshining... Only people have grown up with it and think it is harmless and tasty. (The aging process improves the whiskey properties, of course).
On contrary, rum is distilled in a pretty sophisticated way; I'm talking the white and golden varieties. (Fermentation of sugars never produces any poisonous methanol).
Distillation of vodka is a miracle of engineering, leaving almost totally pure alcohol and water and removing nearly all poisonous chemical compounds. The traces of the impurities define the vodka character. For instance, Absolut is the clearest vodka known to me, just pure ethanol and water. It can be drunk by big glasses before you drop

How about gin? It started as brandy with juniper flavoring, but in England it devolved into liquor made from inferior barley with turpentine to make it taste better. England's Industrial Revolution depended on cheap labor, provided by a large starving segment of the population. Gin was provided to keep the starving segment from growing too large.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

How about gin?

Even worse than whiskey (which is at least barrel aged). Adding juniper berries and other herbs was (and is) the way to hide the bad taste of the distilled poisonous impurities.

 

[RunForTheHills]

Even worse than whiskey (which is at least barrel aged). Adding juniper berries and other herbs was (and is) the way to hide the bad taste of the distilled poisonous impurities.

You should probably just stick to water since you prefer bland with no flavor.

 

[Nvreloader]

My favorite is JD, straight out of the jug and over the rocks once in a while,
or Canadian Mist.
If I am not going to do anything after darkness, a good shot in a cup of Jo before sack time. yrmv

 

[Darth_Vado]

Even worse than whiskey (which is at least barrel aged). Adding juniper berries and other herbs was (and is) the way to hide the bad taste of the distilled poisonous impurities.

I have an alcohol intolerance, it's a common japanese thing, so I don't drink often. but when i do (no it is not Dos Equis), I'd usually order a gin and tonic. Although my new preference these days would be a Moscow mule.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

You should probably just stick to water since you prefer bland with no flavor.

If I want the looks, aroma, flavour and aftertaste then I settle on a style of craft beer. No distillate can beat it both in terms of the health and the manufacturing sophistication.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I have an alcohol intolerance, it's a common japanese thing, so I don't drink often. but when i do (no it is not Dos Equis), I'd usually order a gin and tonic. Although my new preference these days would be a Moscow mule.

You would be well off with White Russian minus vodka

 

[RunForTheHills]

I get it, you don't like whiskey, but you also don't understand what makes a good bourbon taste like a good bourbon to those who appreciate them. It is not just where and how it is aged, but also the mash bill. That said, I don't like IPAs. They are way too bitter (for me) to taste anything else about the brew. Hops were originally added to ales and beer as a preservative to extend the shelf life of the product.