What did you buy at the liquor store today? (2016 - )

[mkayahara]

Guess where I just came back from?

 

As everyone says, the age-statement versions of the Suntory whiskies are difficult to find (though far from impossible, especially as 50-ml. bottles). The Nikka ones are impossible, except for the 12-year "The Nikka" blend. I lucked out on the Hakushu, which I got for a quite reasonable price in a town with fewer tourists. It was pretty common to see the 17-year Hibiki, but it was a lot more expensive than the no-age-statement version. Rarest of all was the 12-year Yamazaki, but it could still be found. And, of course, the new NAS versions of all were widely available; I had a 180-ml. bottle each of the NAS Hakushu and Yamazaki while I was there. I liked the Hakushu, but was unmoved by the NAS Yamazaki. I'll be curious to open the 12-year Hakushu and see how it compares. I opened the Hibiki last night, and enjoyed it quite a lot. It's quite rich and sweet, very accessible. I'm definitely pleased with my selections.

[blue_dolphin]

Just unboxed an order from Hi-Time.  Nothing super exciting:

 

A non-St.Germain elderflower in a bottle I can save even if I don't like the stuff.  A coconut rum to play with for some summer drinks, a restock of Montenegro plus 2 more amari that I haven't tried yet and 3 more restocks.

Can't beat the 10 buck shipping to CA, AZ & NV.  Nice service as well - I'd added 2 bottles of wine and they rang me up to caution about the heat (it was 108 here at the time) and ask if I wanted them to hold the wine instead of shipping.

Several of these items are available at my local Total Wine but Hi-Time had lower prices that more than covered the shipping.

 

 

[PassionateAmateur]

Krogstad Aquavit

Kiuchi No Shizuku

Groult Pays d'Auge Reserve Calvados

Herbsaint Original 100 proof

Luxardo Sangue Morlacco Cherry Liqueur

Fernet Branca

and a Rittenhouse restock

 

Sigh.  I've now crossed the line into needing to move two bookshelves into the bedroom and buy a major piece of furniture to house the collection. 

[Quadriga]

Some new alcoholic as well as non-alcoholic toys:

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

That's quite a collection of tonic, @Quadriga!   Must be the season for G&T!

[Quadriga]

I'm having some friends over tonight and hopefully, we'll be having a great time combining different gins with these tonics.

Truth is, however, I never really was that much of a G&T fan, but it has grown on me.

[scubadoo97]

Recent aquisitions 

 

[tanstaafl2]

With all that Hamilton 151 and other rum it must be tiki time! The poor Teeling looks very out of place.

[tanstaafl2]

A few new additions for my birthday from my favorite person to pick out spirits for me. That would be me!

 

 

A little bit of rhum agricole including the Rhum JM 15yo 1996 vintage (which I confess was the big splurge). I love the 1994 and wanted the 1995 but couldn't find that one. Hoping the 1996 is just as good. The last one is another Liberation rhum from Marie Gallant but this was "liberated" in 2010 rather than 2015.

 

 

Double Zero Eau de Vie de Cidre which is distilled from Cyril Zangs French cidre. A rather minimalist package right down to the clear plastic "cork"! A review from a blog I follow had a decent review of it so I thought what the heck! Apparently the cidre is quite trendy but very uncommon in the states.

 

Didn't seem likely this was going to show up locally so I picked one up online.

 

 

And finally a bit more rum to see if it works well in my Hurricane's. I usually use Coruba but that is more difficult to find locally and I am hoping this is a bit more feisty than the Coruba anyway.

[rotuts]

Wow  ! I would not refuse a small taste of the "00"

 

just saying.

 

[scubadoo97]

2 hours ago, tanstaafl2 said:

With all that Hamilton 151 and other rum it must be tiki time! The poor Teeling looks very out of place.

Every once in a while I have to drink something other than bourbon.   The Hamilton 86 was delicious neat.  Had to try the 151 neat.   It could use a little water but the nose is lovely 

[rustwood]

On 6/29/2016 at 11:08 AM, Quadriga said:

I'm having some friends over tonight and hopefully, we'll be having a great time combining different gins with these tonics.

Truth is, however, I never really was that much of a G&T fan, but it has grown on me.

 

You might be interested in comparing your results with this article - http://www.cocktailians.com/2012/08/tonic-water-shootout-part-2-the-results.html

I can't find it now, but I saw another article where they did a bunch of pairings between high and low end gins and tonic waters.  The overall consensus seemed to be to either go with a high end gin and cheap tonic water or the reverse.  Using both was apparently too much of a good thing.  I've been going with the high end tonic water route, but I am thinking it might be cheaper and easier to do the reverse.  FWIW, I am also using Bittermens Hopped Grapefruit bitters - because I have them.  I think they are probably sufficient to "dress up"  garden variety tonic water.

 

[tanstaafl2]

On ‎6‎/‎30‎/‎2016 at 4:25 PM, rotuts said:

Wow  ! I would not refuse a small taste of the "00"

 

just saying.

 

 

The nose was quite nice with a nice dominant apple character. Sadly, I did not have quite the same appreciation for the palate that the reviewer had. It brought little of the apple promised by the nose, crisp or otherwise, and I got little or no spice and cinnamon. I got a bit of heat that passed for spice and the yeasty character and a more typical raw edge one tends to get with new make spirit. A touch of water helped but not enough to make me want to seek out another. Kind of sad as I had fairly high expectations. I will try it again to see if it is improved with a bit of time but I am not overly hopeful.

[rotuts]

@tanstaafl2   

 

sadly, no oz. of the ' 00 ' showed up as an e-mail attachment to me   

 

 

$ or $ what are the expectations for the ' 00 ' vs a similarly priced Calvados ?

[cakewalk]

I dunno. I see "00" and I think "flour." I like looking through this thread because I learn a lot, but sheesh, that's a lot of liquor! Have fun with it.

[campus five]

On 6/30/2016 at 0:56 PM, tanstaafl2 said:

 

 

 

And finally a bit more rum to see if it works well in my Hurricane's. I usually use Coruba but that is more difficult to find locally and I am hoping this is a bit more feisty than the Coruba anyway.

 

Yeah, I'd guess this would be more like combining Coruba and Smith and Cross, and the 86pf Hamilton Demerara would be closer to the Coruba. 

[tanstaafl2]

On ‎7‎/‎6‎/‎2016 at 10:42 PM, campus five said:

 

Yeah, I'd guess this would be more like combining Coruba and Smith and Cross, and the 86pf Hamilton Demerara would be closer to the Coruba. 

 

It definitely shares more in common with the Smith & Cross but at a lower proof (unfortunately, although at 93 proof it is still a good bit higher than the basic 80 proof of Coruba). The Coruba makes a lovely little Category 1 Hurricane that can please a crowd. The Hamilton adds some punch to the storm that makes you realize you might want to close the storm shutters!

 

I don't have Hamilton 86 proof Demerara on hand (I typically just keep the overproof version) but most reviews describe it as having more smoky woody character than either of these two. That seems consistent with what I get from the overproof version.

[Craig E]

4 minutes ago, tanstaafl2 said:

 

I don't have Hamilton 86 proof Demerara on hand (I typically just keep the overproof version) but most reviews describe it as having more smoky woody character than either of these two. That seems consistent with what I get from the overproof version.

 

I've been wondering for a while now: As I understand it, Hamilton imports high proof rum from Guyana and dilutes it to bottle the 86. Am I getting essentially the same rum by adding water to my 151 (online ABV calculators tell me to use 1:1)? I've tried it in recipes that call for a regular-proof demerara rum, and it seems to work, though I'm not a pro taster and I haven't had the bottled lower-proof stuff to compare. But this home dilution scheme greatly appeals to the cheapskate in me.

[tanstaafl2]

On ‎7‎/‎5‎/‎2016 at 3:52 PM, rotuts said:

@tanstaafl2   

 

sadly, no oz. of the ' 00 ' showed up as an e-mail attachment to me   

 

 

$ or $ what are the expectations for the ' 00 ' vs a similarly priced Calvados ?

 

If I could figure out how to send whiskey as an email attachment I could probably make a fortune!

 

A calvados of in the price range of the fairly spendy 00 would likely be pretty well aged. I find as it gets more age it loses some of the apple character and gets more brandy character from the barrel. They would likely be quite different from one another.

[tanstaafl2]

18 minutes ago, Craig E said:

 

I've been wondering for a while now: As I understand it, Hamilton imports high proof rum from Guyana and dilutes it to bottle the 86. Am I getting essentially the same rum by adding water to my 151 (online ABV calculators tell me to use 1:1)? I've tried it in recipes that call for a regular-proof demerara rum, and it seems to work, though I'm not a pro taster and I haven't had the bottled lower-proof stuff to compare. But this home dilution scheme greatly appeals to the cheapskate in me.

 

I would presume it is similar as long as you are using a good quality water. Might want to let it "marry" together for a bit I suppose.

 

By my calculation you would add 7.56 ounces of water for every 10 ounces of the 151 to get it to 86 proof. Were I to do that I probably wouldn't go below 100 proof though!.

 

Volume of product x ((current proof/desired proof)-1) = Amount of water to add

Edited July 8, 2016 by tanstaafl2 (log)

[Craig E]

Here's the calculator I was using. Handy because you can specify the target volume (e.g. how to make 1 oz. of 86-proof rum). I think I'd put in 80 proof (rather than 86) which is where my ~1:1 ratio came from. You're right though, 4:3 rum:water would match the Hamilton rum more closely.

Edited July 8, 2016 by Craig E (log)

[Craig E]

Wine sale at the local shop meant sherry/vermouth restocking. Both sherries are new to me. (I've been on the lookout for a PX sherry for a while now.)

[tanstaafl2]

On ‎7‎/‎5‎/‎2016 at 3:30 PM, tanstaafl2 said:

 

The nose was quite nice with a nice dominant apple character. Sadly, I did not have quite the same appreciation for the palate that the reviewer had. It brought little of the apple promised by the nose, crisp or otherwise, and I got little or no spice and cinnamon. I got a bit of heat that passed for spice and the yeasty character and a more typical raw edge one tends to get with new make spirit. A touch of water helped but not enough to make me want to seek out another. Kind of sad as I had fairly high expectations. I will try it again to see if it is improved with a bit of time but I am not overly hopeful.

 

A retaste of the 00 Eau de Vie cidre a couple of days ago found that it had improved a bit with time after being opened as some spirits seem to do. Perhaps still not quite what the reviewer found but definitely more enjoyable. I was sharing a taste with a few industry pros at one of my local bars and they also seemed to enjoy it. Then again they may have been humoring me...

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Interesting.  The first few times I tasted my bottle of Whistlepig I found it thin, sour, and disappointing.  Now it is almost empty.

 

I don't claim to understand what is going on.  But I wish I had more.

 

[scubadoo97]

Oxidation can be a very good thing for whiskey  up to a point