Duty Free Temptations

[foodie52]

You're allowed one bottle: your flight leaves in an hour.

What do you buy?

[Splificator]

If I'm at Heathrow, Woods' Navy Rum: at 116 proof (or 100% of proof according to the old British system, which measured alcohol by weight, not volume) and dark as a lawyer's heart, it's one of the most spectacular tipples in Christendom, and you can't get it here. For punch only, though.

Elsewhere, Havana Club 3-year-old (it's legal in England but Bacardi has the Heathrow franchise). For Daiquiris.

You?

[MiguelCardoso]

I agree with Splificator. If you're limited to one bottle (seems a bit harsh, it used to be two) then what I want is something that

a) can't easily be found elsewhere

and b) packs the maximum wallop per sip.

So I limit myself to the wonderful, esoteric world of "duty free bottlings". This always means high-proof versions of spirits I usually enjoy in the sad, castrated ghetto of 80 proof - and paltry 0,70 litre bottles - Europe.

It can be Beefeater's 101 proof gin (called "Crown Royal" like the Canadian whisky, I think) or Bacardi's 101 (which carries an endearing "highly flammable" label in Europe), Laphroaig Cask Strength (or any other good malt whisky or Irish or American whiskey, bottled as nature intended, which sometimes means just over 120 proof) or one of the many overproof rums, Wood's Navy is indeed the best and the over 140 proof Austrian Strohl is the worst but the most fun - you can't even swallow the thing, it's all absorbed by the roof of your mouth in vapour form!

There's a Finnish vodka - the extreme version of Finlandia - which is 142 proof. I still have the bottle I bought back in 1978 or something, though you have to use a laboratory device to seal the damn thing if you quite rightly want to deprive "the angels" of their evaporation share.

All in litre bottles, of course - or, in the case of Strohl, in two handy half-litre flasks. Each one lasts a lifetime if you drink it straight. ;)

The wine allowance also has to be considered for the best value-for-money deal but that's not the subject of the thread.

(I used American proof measures. Continental European measure, alcohol by volume, is precisely half.)

[MiguelCardoso]

On the plus side, the European Union is heaven. I used to fly to Ireland twice a year to buy cases of my favourite whiskies - which I would air-ship and pay duty on at enormous expense. Not to mention the eve's bare-chested all-nighter in my tape and cardboard-strewn hotel room just packing the bottles... Same with the cognacs, champagnes, grappas, Scotch whiskies and what have you.

It was still a lot cheaper than paying regular duty. Now regular duty no longer exists and booze has become, oh, still about 20% cheaper than it was 15 years ago.

I can stay at home and, thanks to the telephone (and the Internet) order anything from Spain, Italy, France, the UK and not pay a penny more. And that's if I don't simply order from one of the excellent Portuguese wine and spirits emporia.

But, you know what? What does your typical Freud-would-understand-used-to-his-pleasures-coming-with-an-appreciable-dose-of-difficulty-European do? Why, he develops a fondness for American straight whiskies, of course: in litre and 0.75 litre bottles and at least 90 proof. Natch! ;)

[PoorLawyer]

driving from Niagara Falls USA to Niagara Falls Canada they run specials all the time. Last year I got two 1.13 Liter bottles of grey goose for $40!

[bond]

most of my overseas travel has been to south east asia.. i try and pick up a bottle of good malt whisky. selection is typically limited to bowmore, laphroaig , glenfiddich and glenmorangie.. I try and alternate between bowmore and laphraoig.

the 2nd bottle (they allow 2 bottles in India) is JW Black. The most popular drink across bar-rooms in India and a drink most people across the country would kill for. Given the desire to be a good host, the obvious choice.

[KatieLoeb]

I usually buy some hard to find cognac or rum.

The Austrian Stroh 160 (at 80 proof) is interesting also because it's rum made from sugar beets, not sugar cane as most Caribbean rum is. A shot of that in your toddy will pretty much sew up the rest of the evening.