Would like some advice various spirits (brandy,

[DunKhan]

Heya, I'm new here (not new to booze by a long shot) and I was hoping to pick the brains of a few people with some experience with certain kinds of spirits. My comfort zone with alcohol is beer (I'm a fan of Czech lagers, Belgian beer (especially abbey beers) and British and Irish ales) and whisky (mostly single malt Scotch, though the single Japanese whisky I tried was lovely and some Irish ones can be amazing). I've dipped my toe a bit into premium rum and intend to do so with premium vodka too.

Essentially I was just wondering if anyone could give me some advice on brandies - namely what is the difference in terms of taste/texture between armagnac and cognac (I know they're from different regions of France but not that much beyond that, I've tried both but three months apart) and what are some recommendations you guys'd make for each of them?

As most of you blokes seem to be Americans I suppose that this is probably the right occasion to ask about American whiskey - my experiences so far have been ... not good ... so if anyone can educate me on the different styles of American whiskey and give some recommendations it would be appreciated

Anyway, good to be here!

[Joey]

Originally Posted by DunKhan

As most of you blokes seem to be Americans I suppose that this is probably the right occasion to ask about American whiskey - my experiences so far have been ... not good ... so if anyone can educate me on the different styles of American whiskey and give some recommendations it would be appreciated

Anyway, good to be here!

Welcome to the site man. Pretty much the two main styles of American whiskey you will find are bourbon and Tennessee whiskey, both made mainly from corn, there are also some made with rye.

To avoid complicating the issue too much, the two are basically comprised of the same things, the difference is, Tennessee whiskey includes an extra process before being put in a cask to age. The process is known as the Lincoln county process, and its simply filtering the whiskey through charcoal. A few examples of Tenn Whiskey are Jack Daniels, and George d***el (which I prefer over Jack Daniels).

Now the debate goes on and on about which is better. I personally prefer regular bourbon. I'm not sure what you can get over there, but some good top-shelf names are Jim Beam Black, Makers Mark, Knob Creek, Evan Williams, Elijah Craig, Bulleit, Eagle Rare, Bookers and more....

What did you try that gave you a bad experience?

[DunKhan]

Originally Posted by Joey

Welcome to the site man. Pretty much the two main styles of American whiskey you will find are bourbon and Tennessee whiskey, both made mainly from corn, there are also some made with rye.

To avoid complicating the issue too much, the two are basically comprised of the same things, the difference is, Tennessee whiskey includes an extra process before being put in a cask to age. The process is known as the Lincoln county process, and its simply filtering the whiskey through charcoal. A few examples of Tenn Whiskey are Jack Daniels, and George d***el (which I prefer over Jack Daniels).

Now the debate goes on and on about which is better. I personally prefer regular bourbon. I'm not sure what you can get over there, but some good top-shelf names are Jim Beam Black, Makers Mark, Knob Creek, Evan Williams, Elijah Craig, Bulleit, Eagle Rare, Bookers and more....

What did you try that gave you a bad experience?

Okay, thanks very much Any other major differences aside from the charcoal filtering? From the examples given I think that out of the two I'd probably much prefer bourbon to Tennessee whiskey.

I've seen Makers Mark around occasionally (I think Knob Creek too) but generally aside from Jack Daniels (blegh), Southern Comfort and to a lesser extent Jim Beam American whiskies tend to be quite uncommon - I think they're seen largely as drinks to mix so the variety just isn't there. That said, I've found an online shop that has all of the brands you'd mentioned aside from Bookers - so ... which one out those would you recommend most highly?

Also, is there a big jump in quality between ordinary Jim Beam and Jim Beam Black? Ordinary Jim Beam was okay but I've found distilleries where the "standard" brand is quite significantly worse than other ones (Bushmills Original, for instance, I dislike, but I like their 12 year single malt and Black Bush).

Post is getting too long now but stuff such as Jack Daniels put me off quite significantly - SoCo was drinkable but seemed the least authentic whisk(e)y I've ever drunk. Unlike Scotch whiskies there's not really much of a fanclub around here to get you off the bad mass market brands and onto actually good stuff.

[Joey]

Originally Posted by DunKhan

Okay, thanks very much Any other major differences aside from the charcoal filtering? From the examples given I think that out of the two I'd probably much prefer bourbon to Tennessee whiskey.

I've seen Makers Mark around occasionally (I think Knob Creek too) but generally aside from Jack Daniels (blegh), Southern Comfort and to a lesser extent Jim Beam American whiskies tend to be quite uncommon - I think they're seen largely as drinks to mix so the variety just isn't there. That said, I've found an online shop that has all of the brands you'd mentioned aside from Bookers - so ... which one out those would you recommend most highly?

Also, is there a big jump in quality between ordinary Jim Beam and Jim Beam Black? Ordinary Jim Beam was okay but I've found distilleries where the "standard" brand is quite significantly worse than other ones (Bushmills Original, for instance, I dislike, but I like their 12 year single malt and Black Bush).

Post is getting too long now but stuff such as Jack Daniels put me off quite significantly - SoCo was drinkable but seemed the least authentic whisk(e)y I've ever drunk. Unlike Scotch whiskies there's not really much of a fanclub around here to get you off the bad mass market brands and onto actually good stuff.

Nah, not really any other significant differences between the two styles that I have read about, after that it just comes down to the individual distillers.

Lol, it's difficult to pick just one of them, I would say just try any of the first three I mentioned.

Regular Beam is good, it makes a nice staple in any liquor cabinet. But Black is very noticeably better than regular. It's smoother, more flavorful, higher alcohol content, and aged longer. Jim Beam also makes a rye whiskey, aptly named Jim Beam Rye. It's worth a try if your are into tasting different things.

The thing about SoCo is that it's actually a whiskey based liqueur, rather than a true spirit. I don't care for it much any more, but when I did drink it, I liked the 100 proof version. It just had a cleaner taste to it, it was less....syrupy. I wish I could get into single malt scotch, but the stuff is just too damn expensive for me.

[DunKhan]

Originally Posted by Joey

Nah, not really any other significant differences between the two styles that I have read about, after that it just comes down to the individual distillers.

Lol, it's difficult to pick just one of them, I would say just try any of the first three I mentioned.

Regular Beam is good, it makes a nice staple in any liquor cabinet. But Black is very noticeably better than regular. It's smoother, more flavorful, higher alcohol content, and aged longer. Jim Beam also makes a rye whiskey, aptly named Jim Beam Rye. It's worth a try if your are into tasting different things.

The thing about SoCo is that it's actually a whiskey based liqueur, rather than a true spirit. I don't care for it much any more, but when I did drink it, I liked the 100 proof version. It just had a cleaner taste to it, it was less....syrupy. I wish I could get into single malt scotch, but the stuff is just too damn expensive for me.

Okay, noted , I think I'll opt for grabbing a Jim Beam Black alongside one of my more usual choices next time I have the funds for a whisk(e)y run. On the online shop I'm on they also have Green and White varieties, are these any good? The rye one will have to wait for a while I think (I think after the next couple of batches I'll have too many spirits at one time to really be able to justify) but I'll keep it mind for the future

That SoCo is a liqueur most definitely explains a lot - I'm not entirely sure that I'll ever really have any particular desire or reason to buy a bottle of it but I appreciate the suggestion nevertheless. Plus I don't know which one I had initially and I sure as hell won't find an occassion to buy two of them! :P

I'm not quite sure how much bourbon costs in America - a search for "whisky usa" brought up some sites that sell single malts for more-or-less the same cost as in the UK but they didn't really have any American whiskeys for price comparison. If you want I can give you some info on single malts and some recommendations for if you do have the funds at some point or try and recommend some nice ones at the bottom end of the price scale. I feel as though I should probably know how much American whiskey costs in America before making a suggestion though, if the bottom end of the price range for single malts is double the price of an average bourbon I don't think it'd be worth my suggesting anything!

[Joey]

Originally Posted by DunKhan

Okay, noted , I think I'll opt for grabbing a Jim Beam Black alongside one of my more usual choices next time I have the funds for a whisk(e)y run. On the online shop I'm on they also have Green and White varieties, are these any good? The rye one will have to wait for a while I think (I think after the next couple of batches I'll have too many spirits at one time to really be able to justify) but I'll keep it mind for the future

That SoCo is a liqueur most definitely explains a lot - I'm not entirely sure that I'll ever really have any particular desire or reason to buy a bottle of it but I appreciate the suggestion nevertheless. Plus I don't know which one I had initially and I sure as hell won't find an occassion to buy two of them! :P

I'm not quite sure how much bourbon costs in America - a search for "whisky usa" brought up some sites that sell single malts for more-or-less the same cost as in the UK but they didn't really have any American whiskeys for price comparison. If you want I can give you some info on single malts and some recommendations for if you do have the funds at some point or try and recommend some nice ones at the bottom end of the price scale. I feel as though I should probably know how much American whiskey costs in America before making a suggestion though, if the bottom end of the price range for single malts is double the price of an average bourbon I don't think it'd be worth my suggesting anything!

The regular Beam is what comes in the white label. The green label is called Beam's Choice, it's aged for like an additional year than regular, and they put it through a charcoal filter. I've never had it, they don't sell it around here, and it's reportedly somewhat rare.

Most single malt scotch around here start at about forty dollars. Whereas you can get most top shelf bourbons for mid-high twenties. There are exceptions of course, a bottle of Bookers bourbon will run you sixty dollars. Go ahead and suggest away, if I don't try them someone else might.

[DunKhan]

Originally Posted by Joey

The regular Beam is what comes in the white label. The green label is called Beam's Choice, it's aged for like an additional year than regular, and they put it through a charcoal filter. I've never had it, they don't sell it around here, and it's reportedly somewhat rare.

Most single malt scotch around here start at about forty dollars. Whereas you can get most top shelf bourbons for mid-high twenties. There are exceptions of course, a bottle of Bookers bourbon will run you sixty dollars. Go ahead and suggest away, if I don't try them someone else might.

Thanks

That's a really steep difference, it's nowhere near that big here (though doing a direct currency conversion it's more that the bourbon's way more expensive here than the scotch is cheaper here). Erm ... I don't know how much is known about the regions for you guys so - Lowland's smooth, Highland's harsher, Islay's very peaty, I haven't tried any Campbeltown ones but I've heard them referred to as very slightly salty, Islands are sort of in between Islay and Highland whiskies in taste and Speyside's smoother than a Highland malt but harsher than a Lowland one usually. (these last two are subregions of the Highland region)

For beginners to scotch whisky I would say that Balvenie and Auschetoshan are relatively smooth and good for beginners - not that they're no good for more experienced hands (Balvenie in particular is excellent). Glenmorangie's another good beginners' one but I feel it's not that characterful - not bad though. BenRiach is one that's quite beginner-friendly that's very highly rated (perhaps a bit over-rated imo) but is nevertheless good.

Laphroaig, Ardbeg, Highland Park etc. are harsher or peatier and less good for beginners but very good. I am a fan of Laphroaig in particular.