Post up your liquor/spirit talk ? | Page 4 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Post up your liquor/spirit talk ?

I'm mostly a sherry cask finished scotch drinker. Give Glendronach a shot (the 18yr is amazing but the 12yr is still one of my favs).
 
I'm mostly a sherry cask finished scotch drinker. Give Glendronach a shot (the 18yr is amazing but the 12yr is still one of my favs).
That's what I call a niche market, :). Nice. Are there many offerings and producers? Do you have a large collection or just go bottle to bottle? Have you tried the Glenmorangie sherry cask scotch? I've tried a few funky cask offerings from Glenmorangie (and others), it's good and definitely imparts some subtle to moderate flavors.
 
That's what I call a niche market, :). Nice. Are there many offerings and producers? Do you have a large collection or just go bottle to bottle? Have you tried the Glenmorangie sherry cask scotch? I've tried a few funky cask offerings from Glenmorangie (and others), it's good and definitely imparts some subtle to moderate flavors.
Sherry cask finishing is pretty common.
The Glenmorangie Lasanta (sherry cask) is pretty good. I enjoyed it. They have a bunch of other offerings finished in various casks I wasn't a fan of (one finished in bourbon and one finished in white wine cask).
I have the Glenmorangie 18yr and it's probably my favourite in my collection.
I have a couple MaCallan 12yr sherry casks. Always a favourite.
Glengoyne 10yr could be a solid try. It's one of my favourite reasonably priced scotch's. Has hints of both sherry and bourbon which actually works really well. LCBO jacked the price a while back but it's still reasonable.
Bowmore is another solid try off the top of my head.
 
I find Bowmore to peaty for my palate, I like the big ship on the label lol, but the love ends there. I've been leaning to Irish whiskys lately, less peaty , equally interesting
 
I picked up an Italian gin that was very citrus forward, hate it. Cant even bury it in a cocktail, its just odd to my palate. I've been on Hendricks for years and recently started drinking Dillons, feeling I should support Ontario. Its adequiet at best.
Want to give me some Gin suggestions? I have a bottle of Tanqueray and that's it.

Looking to pick up a bottle of Plymouth Gin since there is a crazy history and backstory to the brand and distillery.

I have some cocktails in my cocktail books that call for a Sloe Gin. So, I would like to pick up an example of that to add to my bar.

Got some Gins to recommend?

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Want to give me some Gin suggestions? U have a bottle of Tanqueray and that's it.

Looking to pick up a bottle of Plymouth Gin since there is a crazy history and backstory to the brand and distillery.

I have some cocktails in my cocktail books that call for a Sloe Gin. So, I would like to pick up an example of that to add to my bar.

Got some Gins to recommend?

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I think you can make sloe gin the same way you’d make flavoured vodkas by steeping the fruit in the vodka. The problem is getting your hands on sloe fruit.

 
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There is this stuff:

Was just wondering if there was an off the shelf solution that was recommended.

For a moderate collection are there some Gins that I should add to my cabinet? I do have a bottle of Tangueray and will snag a Plymouth Gin just to compare to the Tanqueray and also because of the interesting history.

Any Gins I should really try out? Some recommended because their flavor profile is really unique or stand out?

Any distinctions worth noting between Gins made in different countries? Jeesh, there are Italian ones, Japanese ones, Portugese ones, Scottish, British (Duh), American, Italian, Irish, Icelandic

Might be worth my while to try a Dillon's to support our Province and Steinhart for another quality Canadian option. Others I should snag?
 
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I keep Hendriks in the house, Dillons because he's local and a big bottle of Beefeater cheap gin for when there are 10 people standing around and you get an order for a round of G&T's .
I'm not sure when 10 people may stand around again LOL, but I'm ready.

Rum is my goto, and we also keep 60's of 'ok' rum so when things really get going , only the cheap booze is going along. I'm thrifty like that
 
I keep Hendriks in the house, Dillons because he's local and a big bottle of Beefeater cheap gin for when there are 10 people standing around and you get an order for a round of G&T's .
I'm not sure when 10 people may stand around again LOL, but I'm ready.

Rum is my goto, and we also keep 60's of 'ok' rum so when things really get going , only the cheap booze is going along. I'm thrifty like that
Got a list of Rums you recommend? We have a smattering of various Rums in our liquor cabinet. Another fun rabbit hole to fall into.

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not an Islay fan
smells like a dirty band aid that's been left on too long

Jura is thoroughly decent starter scotch
Dalwhinnie is one of my faves
and MacAllan 18 is pure sex in a bottle

I don't buy into the premium vodka thing
Stoli still works well for me in mixed drinks

Plus 1


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The Sheridan Hotel on Dixon and Skyway by the airport served me this in their lobby bar and really enjoyed it. Can be found at select LCBO locations around the GTA.

Highly recommend.

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Got a list of Rums you recommend? We have a smattering of various Rums in our liquor cabinet. Another fun rabbit hole to fall into.
I'm a fan of Flor de Cana. The 7yr is excellent and amazing for the price. 12, 18, 25 are all excellent but very different as I've tried them back to back. It'll be personal preference which you prefer. The 25 has an almost cognac property to it for example.
 
Sherry cask finishing is pretty common.
The Glenmorangie Lasanta (sherry cask) is pretty good. I enjoyed it. They have a bunch of other offerings finished in various casks I wasn't a fan of (one finished in bourbon and one finished in white wine cask).
I have the Glenmorangie 18yr and it's probably my favourite in my collection.
I have a couple MaCallan 12yr sherry casks. Always a favourite.
Glengoyne 10yr could be a solid try. It's one of my favourite reasonably priced scotch's. Has hints of both sherry and bourbon which actually works really well. LCBO jacked the price a while back but it's still reasonable.
Bowmore is another solid try off the top of my head.
I have 15-20 bottles of scotch, they're all across the spectrum. Here's a bottle you may like. It's Glenmorangie from before the current Quinta Ruban offering... supposedly smoother and better.
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I started off loving non-peaty scotch and only in the last 8 years or so did I begin to enjoy a few peaty options (and it's only a few offerings). This talk made me poke around the liquor cabinet and I found an unopened bottle of Laphroaig 18 yr old that I still need to try
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. Note it's not your standard peat monster Laphroaig...





Want to give me some Gin suggestions? I have a bottle of Tanqueray and that's it... Got some Gins to recommend?
There's a lot of variety in Gin. I found this a good read and start.

I did a bunch of reading on Gin when I went alternate bottle shopping some years back and Beefeater was much more impressively described than I was expecting. It's an easy try at its price. I like it and Beefeater has been my dominant gin choice for the last 5 years or so because of the value and savings; I always keep one in the cabinet now. Some good gin and Beefeater reads here.
Beefeater London Dry has its own Wikipedia page too... with impressive awards listed.

I recently picked up a bottle of Hendrick's as well, for a change. It's been mentioned here already and has many fans. And a Wikipedia page...

For G&T fans
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...

I look forward to other gin recommendations. That Empress looks good @nakkers. I need a bigger budget ;).

Spirits and liquors... such a huge topic.
 
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Any feedback on less expensive Lagavulin options? Scotch prices are how I found Bourbon, lol.

If you don't like Laphroig you definitely won't like Lagavulin.
 
Got a nice surprise at the LCBO in Hamilton on Upper James. A fellow tequila nut gave me this tip that Tierra Noble Anejo was on the shelf. Oddly enough it is not on the main LCBO website. However, if you search under Tierra Noble you can find the Anejo and then an all store search will show a surprising number of bottles sprinkled around the province. The Tierra Noble distillery is actually at the highest elevation of any tequila distillery. Yet, the Agave they use comes from the Valley. They use some interesting yeast as well. All of their expressions rate well. It is also a very good price here in Ontario. The Anejo sells for $105 in Alberta. Very rare when a spirit is cheaper here than Alberta.


I snagged a bottle of the Tierra Noble Anejo and also a bottle of Stoli Vodka, and a Tromba Blanco to replace the mini bottle I polished off a few weeks ago.


An interesting tequila for my fellow Ontarians to try is Cenote. There is a relationship to the Stoli Vodka I bought since the Stoli group wanted a tequila in their product portfolio. Instead of buying an existing brand like a lot of congolemerates have done they chose to make their own brand from scratch. Their master distiller had made tequila in the past but had been making bourbon in France in the recent past. Perhaps this is why their reviews are better for their more aged products. Both the Reposado and Anejo are available in Ontario and are recommended by me. Unlike some tequilas which come in a beautiful bottle but have crappy juice this is good tequila.


The Tromba Blanco I bought has a Canadian connection. The CEO, Eric Brass, is Canadian and he has 3 business partners. 2 are Austrailian and the third, Marco Cedeno, was the master distiller previously at Don Julio. The Resposado is the star of their lineup but the Blaco and Anejo are good as well (and also a great value).


There are 3 other tequila brands with Canadian connections. One is Aquamiel which only makes a blanco which is available at the LCBO.


Then there is Siempre which has a Blanco and Anejo which are both available at the LCBO. The Siempre head office is actually in Toronto. The Blanco is good; I cannot comment on the Anejo as I have not had it.


Then there is El Tequileno which has Blancos and Reposados which sadly is not available here; although available in Alberta and B.C. The Reposado I have is... Wow... Incredible tequila. I have a bottle of their "Platino", aka Blanco, on route from Alberta. They have 3 Reposados actually. One is the bottle you see pictured here which is around $40 in other provinces and is aged 3 months. Then they have 2 other Reposados which are sort of not Reposados in a sense. The next one up in the line is a Grand Reserva one which is aged 8 months. Fair enough, less than a year which is the cutoff which is one year less a day, after that it becomes an Anejo (although Anejos are made with smaller barrels than Reposados). The Grand Reserva also is a blend. 80% 8 month aged Reposado and the other 20% is Anejo juice. So, a blend which is more common in the whisky world but which is not that common in the tequila world. Their other Reposado expression is their "Rare" Reposado. This is expensive juice. Even more expensive than the Clase Azul Reposado which is an expensive Reposado. The "Rare" is indeed rare. It was sort of an experiment with the master distiller and his son. They wanted to see what sort of tequila would transpire if they made a longer aged tequila in a larger Reposado barrel but leave it longer than a year. Apparently they kind of forgot about the stuff. Long store kind of short... When they got around to rediscovering the barrels they had set aside 6 years had transpired. To put that into perspective... Anejos are 1 year to 3 years less a day. After 3 years a tequila is considered an Extra Anejo which is a fairly new classification. However, the barrels used to make Anejos and Extra Anejos are smaller. So, this "Rare" Reposado is a very unique tequila. It aged in the larger Reposado barrrels but blew past the age limitations of a Reposado. Yet, the barrel influence being in a larger barrel would be different than being aged that long in a smaller barrel. The longest Extra Anejos I know of are a couple of very limited batches of Reysol and another brand at 10 years. "Regular" Reysol is kind of the kind of the extra anejo world and that is aged 6 years. Most extra Anejos are 3 or 4 years. So, a 6 year aged Reposado is both unique and special. I think there are 500 bottles? There are some out there and when I see one on special again I will snag one. Platino Blanco on the way to me and I will be grabbing one of the Grand Reserva Repos before the year is out. Fantasic brand. One of the owners also owns a liquor store in Calgary BTW...


So many wonderful tequilas out there to enjoy and explore. If and when this damn Covid 19 thing ends I am going to make a pilgrimage to the town of Tequila and do some distillery tours from there and meet some of these master distillers that make this wonderful spirit.
 
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Mmmm Dillions unfiltered Gin and Fever Tree Elder flower tonic. ?
My other go to Gins are Seaweed Gin from The Newfoundland Distillery & The Collective Arts Rhubarb & Hibiscus Gin
 
Well... I will be going from one Gin in the cabinet to 3. LCBO showed Plymouth Gin as being available to ship to store again so I ordered a bottle and also a bottle of the Hayman's Sloe Gin since I have a few cocktail recipes that I want to try that call for a Sloe Gin.

I may try a Ford's Gin in the old 86 co bottle since those can still be found out of province. I may order some gins that I cannot get through the LCBO and add them to my tequila orders.

For you gin enthusiasts... Are there certain flavor profiles you are looking for? Keep certain gins for certain cocktails because the botanicals are different? Do you enjoy your gins neat and if so what glassware do you utilize? How do you enjoy your gins?
 
I’d like to pretend I knew enough about flavour profiles to lend a position on this LOL. I find it’s my taste buds that dictate, I like more botanical flavour in the summer and cleaner in the winter. It makes no sense but it’s what I do


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For G&T and classic martini I prefer a simple gin with some bite (Gordons, Tanqueray, etc) but for anything fancier a more botanical gin works (Bombay, etc).
 

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