while we talk about drinking down straight scotch or a dram or two with a "touch" of water I wonder.............. how much do you all drink by the weeks end. come now.... you can come clean here since you aren't hiding from your spouses or explaining to your parents.
do you drink every day seven days a week? since scotch can be such a pleasure there must be some type of self regulation or i am assuming one could get into trouble with it. what sets your limit and how do you set your control? will you only drink in the evening? only on weekends? only after 12 noon? only while traveling in Japan with your girlfriend? what is your life design in this respect?
I like to keep my drinking to Friday and Saturday nights because I have a busy schedule that includes fairly rigorous morning workouts during the week, and I'm not a fan of mixing athletics with hangovers.
I drink scotch most weekends, and generally have 1-3 jiggers worth, and usually no more than 4. I like to be able to really taste it, and I'm not usually a fan of getting "drunk." I prefer the effects to remain more mild, and also to still be able to hit the mountains on my bike or play a couple rounds of raquetball the next morning. However, after a rough week, all bets are off.
I guess to answer your question more directly, I drink about 1/4 - 1/2 of a fifth of scoth by the week's end. After a rough week, a fifth or more.
As I already implied, I try not to get "drunk." Further, I like to do something active every day, and if I drink too much the night before to enjoy it, I take it as an indication to cut back the next time.
Depends on the situation. Most of the time, only in the evenings, but its always 2PM somewhere in the world!
My problem is that I like scotch, bourbon, dark rums, and reposado/anejo tequilas almost equally. To indulge in all 4 at once would be somewhat detrimental to health and home.
A blended scotch over ice after work is a once or twice a week occurrence. A standard highball glass full of ice, then 1/2 full of scotch is about all I need. Really shitty days might take two. Single malts tend to be weekend drinks. Bourbon is excellent company for reading and rum & tequila are subbed every so often just to vary things a bit.
I drink scotch anywhere between zero and two times a week, though I might drink beer or wine on other nights. And I sometimes go weeks at time without touching my 'collection' at all.
One reason for this, is that I don't like drinking high-proof beverages that much--they are hard on the bod.
Another is that I find I can 'habituate' to the taste of malts so that they seem less flavorful if had too often. Though I have noted in the past, that if I really want to be sensitive to the taste of malts (say, for an organized tasting) it's good to have a dram or two the evening BEFORE the tasting--it seems to orient the palate to malt if I haven't had it for a while.
I agree, you can 'habituate' the taste. I'm drinking some of my remaining Lagavulin (shortage here) right now - damn!!, that's good scotch .
*** Had some Laifrog (spl?) today (football bar) because they were out of Lagavulin, has this scotch (Laifrog) "toned down"? Didn't seem the same "in your face" that I remembered..
out of Lagavulin, has this scotch (Laifrog) "toned down"? Didn't seem the same "in your face" that I remembered.
There's been talk of that, but my last Laphroaig purchase or two have been very fortuitous (and try the cask strength!). If I'm in a bar, by the way, I'll never order a malt if the bottle is less than three-quarters full. I want fresh stuff, not stuff that has been sitting on a shelf for 18 months oxidizing in stinky bar air.
My wife and I probably have a whisky after dinner three or four times a week. When a Scotch-drinking friend is over for dinner, we might sip all evening (3-6 drams; enough for a light buzz, but never more).
We have an after-dinner Calvados, anejo rum, or Armagnac the other evenings.
A before-dinner lowland or other lightweight about once a month when out.
Of course, the above schedule goes by the boards when we visit a bar with over 100 single malts, like Birds of a Feather in Baltimore. 8;)
I bought a bottle of the 10y.o. Laphroaig yesterday, and what struck me about it was how much more dry it is than the Cask Strength version. It's really almost Lagavulin-like in it's dryness, whereas the CS Laphroaig is quite sweet.
The fact that the regular 10y.o. is bottled at 40% abv certainly doesn't help, either. It is smoky, peaty, and especially medicinal, but I get the feeling that it would be so much better at even 43% abv (and unchillfiltered). As is, knowing what the CS version is like, I probably wouldn't buy the regular 10y.o. Laphroaig again. I certainly don't dislike it, just indifferent.
I have a dram most evenings, though not always, before or after dinner pretty interchangably. My work schedule is variable, so I often find myself working nearly every available minute, and nearly just as often find myself with a day or two with nothing to do. Consequently, everything else in my life is equally irregularly scheduled. Frequently I skip the whisky. I'm not fond of many other alcoholic beverages; at least, not any more. I drink a beer now and then, but not too often - I like Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter. I used to like red Bordeaux, but it's become quite expensive in the last two decades. And a fifty dollar scotch is really cheaper than a fifty dollar wine, because the wine must be wholly consumed when it's opened, and the scotch will be quite good for days, weeks, even months after opening. And growing up on the Mexican border, the first high proof spirit I was accustomed to was tequila. I sipped the gold tequilas like I now drink scotch - salt and lime were entirely optional. The fancy anejos we see today were then unknown. I haven't had a tequila in 15 years.
But I don't like being drunk, and don't drink scotch to get inebriated - I crave the taste. If I feel the alcohol from what I've been drinking I figure I've had too much, or at least enough. When I was younger I drank with more gusto. But age does catch up with you.
This is an incredible time, in the history of the world, for beer. Truly great beers have more explosive and diverse flavors than the vast majority of wines--and they go great in the company of malt. Best are the Belgians--if you haven't explored these yeast and zest monsters then life is young. Astounding stuff. After that, the best of the craft beers in the U.S. are truly amazing. If you start exploring the top rank of beers at
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you cannot go wrong. Just don't waste your time on anything that is not truly bold, full, and incredible.
I've got a lot to learn. The only Belgian ales I've had are the widely available Chimay and Duvel - at least I think they're Belgian... What should I be looking for?
I've tried some of the more widely available craft-brewed porters and stouts. Nothing too esoteric. We had one excellent brewery with connections to Belgium here in Austin a few years ago, Celis, but as they became popular they were bought out by Anheiser-Busch (probably mispelled - the folks behind Budweiser), which promptly closed the brewery. Their pale bock was good, their grand cru was dangerous, and their fruity raspberry brew was weird.
We now have a local brewer making a beer from malted rye. Unusual, interesting stuff. And of course, the beer that defines Austin is Shiner Bock. Flows like water - no, like ice tea (not "iced tea"; Texans drink ice tea with every meal including breakfast) from every restaurant and bar in Austin.
I love Duvel, but it is deceptively plain in some ways. Over time, it proves that it is actually the champagne of bottled beers (Miller: please hide in shame). But Bells in Kalamazoo makes an angelic substance called "Bells Sparking Ale" that is Duvel, but with even more flavor and daresay charm. It's hard to imagine a substance more powerful, ethereal, and
4th-of-July than this one.
A zesty style like these--but with more hops bigtime--and still with a thunderous kick, is the Belgian beer Piraat (tacky label, pummeling brew). But a real bizarre twist on the zest & yeast is the grapefruity, extremely intriguingly hoppy Orval. Orval is WAY too expensive in the U.S. (it's cheap in spots in Europe--but over $4 in the U.S.). Anytime you buy a beer at a price like that, it is a ripoff, and it becomes hard to enjoy. But if you get it under $2, it is the most incredible mind-blasting palate-twisting substance ever devised by devilish monks.
These are bright, zesty, very strong, deceptively easy-to-drink brews. They typify Belgian "tripels" in style. I love this style.
But most Belgians or copies are more like 'dubbels'. They are darker, sweeter, and denser--but still a little bit yeasty/zesty. Ommegang in New York make some great brews--for a very good price in the big bottles. Their name-brew Ommegang is nice (just as good as Chimay) and their Hennepin is very enjoyable, in a rustic sort of way. Far better value than Chimay, really.
The entire range of Unibroue beers (out of Canada) are all brilliant Belgian clones. The Trois Pistoles is a burst of sweet dark yeast in the style of Chimay. The Don de Dieu is a potent dark wheat, and the Le Fin de Monde is an almost-Duvel. All of them are good, but I am also tired of them, personally--they tend to be a touch too sweet, or a touch too light, I'm afraid, if you have them over and over. But is certainly worth having them over and over, until you might get tired of them.
Anheiser-Busch (probably mispelled - the folks behind Budweiser), which promptly closed the brewery. Their pale bock was good, their grand cru was dangerous, and their fruity raspberry brew was weird.
A Michigan brewery has acquired the rights to the Celis recipes, after Miller (not A-B) bought them without having any concept, and then subsequently killed the label. They are brewing the White (which was too light for me). The only one I really loved was the Grand Cru, and some of the beers above (in the 'tripel' style) come close to it. Pierre Celis has since moved back to Belgium, and is brewing again there!
like ice tea (not "iced tea"; Texans drink ice tea with every meal including breakfast) from every restaurant and bar in Austin.
I had Shiner Bock for the first time also at the first time that I had my first frog's legs and alligator last February in Lafayette, LA. It is a slight beer--a touch of caramel sweet flavor over the top of the main flavor component: water.
I think it's worth having a look at
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for Shiner Bock, and some of these others. The ratings tend to prefer the really big-flavored styles (big, dense porters and stouts), but if you dapple around in the different styles you can easily find the most highly rated brews in the styles of brew you most really enjoy.
Westvleteren Blond Westvleteren "12" De Dool Ter Dolen Van Eeke Hetkapittel Watou Prior Orval Die Bie Helleketelbier Lefebvre Meilleure Floreffe Lefebvre Barbar Du Bock-Purnode Corsendonk
Thanks for the recommendations. I'm not a frequent beer-drinker, but (sort of like with scotch) I tend to choose the big powerful flavors over the light balanced delicate ones.
I'll keep your list(s) >
And "Brett..." adds...
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Thanks for the correction. I learned something.
So Miller's to blame. One can forgive a company buying out a smaller company - that's just business. But when one company buys a competitor and closes it, it smells like predatory practices even if it is in fact just bad management.
I never cared for the White Celis either. For the little beer I drink, I've never come to appreciate the white beers. The Grand Cru is missed, and their Pale Bock was one of four mass marketed bocks available in every gas station and convenience store a few years ago (along with Shiner, Ziegenbock - a A-B beer designed as a Shiner-killer for the Texas market, and Natural Bock which was a nice beer from Lone Star - typically makers of awful stuff).
I wouldn't claim it's a great beer; I'm not really competent to judge. And anything that is widely popular is likely to conform to the lowest common denominator, just as Glenfiddich outsells Laphroaig. But it is certainly part of the flavor of Cen-Tex.
With your posts tucked into my drinks cabinet for future reference, it's back to whisky for me...
I'm sure you made that last one up just to devastate and amuse us. But please--how does one manage a tasting of them all? The Westvleteren is notoriously unavailable anywhere. And many of the others--if you DIDN'T just make them up--please chart an itinerary and I will be off on it next June!
I just have to add my favorite EXTREME brew as well. It is Bell's (of Kalamazoo) Expedition Stout. I usually don't really enjoy stouts or porters (Guiness is refreshing on a summer day) but the Bell's Expedition Stout is the biggest, most sumptious, leviathan. It is like motor oil and molasses. It is thick as a brick. It is a massive wall of burnt, black, viscous flavor. The first six I bought of it had no bubbles--it was completely FLAT. I still relished the whole six. The one I just got has a great head--it is the most holy wall of black death terror joy explosion that comes in a beer bottle that I know of, but I'm looking forward to trying Die Bie Plokkersbier.
No it is a gorgeous beer best sampled at the barn of a pub owned by the brewery and located near Watou. The name means "Hop Picker's Beer". I recommend a copy of the CAMRA Guide to Belgium and Holland available from
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