Not much of a whiskey/scotch guy but I just discovered the Spirit of Texas distillery is in nearby Pflugerville. They locally produce a single malt scotch and two types of rum. Anybody ever taste it? Review? Online reviews seem promising.
I bought the Hibiki 21 limited edition 2 years ago and now its going for 1500 at auction house. It's nuts on how much they are going for
cooking dinner, trying a new recipe that was in the NY Times last week, beef and onions with beer: https://nyti.ms/2Gj1ZtJ Enjoying a nice GlenDronach 12 while stirring the pot May just keep taking pictures of pictures within pictures until it looks like one of those funhouse mirrors
I saw that recipe and would like a review on that as well if you still remember after sufficiently sampling the scotch!
I will be picking a bottle of Springbank 14 years aged in Oloroso this weekend when I drive down to Buffalo. very excited
I'm having it for lunch as we speak, and I can report that it is EXCELLENT. Tried it last night before the flavors really had a chance to meld, and the cinnamon was a little overpowering. But 24 hours of sitting in the pot has really mellowed it, absolutely delicious. The recipe calls for adding dijon to the dish but honestly I'm not sure that's needed. For what it's worth I made this with a chuck steak and a chuck roast that we had in the freezer. Definitely give this recipe a try. In honor of this thread I decided to break out a dram of a relatively tame scotch that would go well with beef.
well now I take it back, just tried it with some of the dijon and must say I like it--seems to cut some of the sweetness from the tomato, cinnamon, and beer. if you should make this definitely try it both ways.
Friday afternoon, came home early in the snowstorm for lunch, have already devoured a plateful of venison enchiladas (they were good), but here's the scotch choice. This is the Glenmorangie 18 I mentioned earlier in this thread, this is really quite good if you're not a exclusively a peat head.
Not to hijack the thread, but I was recently looking into getting chilling soap stone cubes and was wondering what you guys thought of them? Getting tired of the ice melting and diluting my brew.
here's a hidden gem, I had read some reviews of the Deanston 12 online and it sounded like an excellent value in the $50-ish range. Got a bottle last week and opened it up--was very very good on the first glass. Sometimes a bottle needs to settle down for a couple of weeks after first opening but this was excellent right at the start. Sweet, on the palate there's lots going on, very nice finish, a terrific oily mouth feel. Not a very big distillery I understand, so not a brand that is widely known. Really enjoyed this.
haven't done one of these in a while. Friday afternoon, sitting down to lunch with a dram of Bunnahabhain 12. This is one of those whiskies that for some reason seem to get overlooked, but I think it's a really nice whisky at that $50-ish price point. Pretty sweet, but a lot going on to make it interesting. Speaking of sweet, I picked up a bottle of the Deanston Pedro Ximenez a couple of weeks ago--wow, talk about sweet. Almost undrinkably sweet. But I think that's one of those that need a bit of time to open up in the bottle. Plus it's at cask strength, something like 56 or 57% apv. I'll taste it soon and include a pic.
okay, here's the Deanston PX report. This stuff is THE BOMB. Gave it a couple of weeks to open up in the bottle, added two full spoonfuls of water (prob 1/2 actual tsp), and let it sit a bit. My new favorite. Not quite as overly sweet as it was when I first opened the bottle, and the alcohol bite is quite a bit tamed. Really, really good stuff. Enjoying it tonight during the Pelicans game. Go Rockets.
actually I'm a pretty big fan of the Balvenie 12 double cask, and the Craigellachie 12 is pretty interesting.
Here's something different . . . Lagavulin 8 year old. Originally released as a 200th anniversary commemorative, apparently it sold out everywhere before people even know it was out there. So Lagavulin has bottled it again and it is in wider circulation now. I was a little skeptical in the liquor store, more because it's an 8 year old but also I've got Lagavulin 16 in the cabinet . . . but the owner is really knowledgeable and hasn't steered me wrong yet, so I picked up a bottle. Just cracked it open, and I have to say it's very nice so far. At 2/3 the price of the 16yo, this may be a nice compromise for those times when Lagavulin 16 can't be found anywhere. ahh hell, it occurs to me to try them side-by-side. The 16 is darker, believe it or not it's not quite as peaty on the nose as the 8yo, although that could be function of the fact the 8yo is a new bottle. The 16 has a bit more depth to the mouth feel on the palate, the 8yo is very much sweeter on the palate. The 8yo is bottled at 48%apv whereas the 16yo that I have is 43%. There's very much more an "earthy" element to the finish of the 8yo, the 16 is much more subdued in that respect, which makes sense given it's had more time to mature. Gotta say I like them both! and I'm glad the guy talked me into the 8 year old, it's just different enough to make the comparison really worthwhile.
