For the whiskey drinkers

Dave

Dave is a part-time blogger that writes about whatever suits him at the time.

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18 Responses

  1. Ethan Gach says:

    I don’t think we’ve been introduced Dave, but I’m sure as hell glad one of your first posts back is about Whiskey.Report

  2. Dave says:

    I don’t think we have either. Nice to meet you.Report

  3. Ethan Gach says:

    Also, I’m almost inspired to give up on Old Crow and Ten High, and buy something better than Single Barrel Jack next time.Report

    • Dave in reply to Ethan Gach says:

      Single Barrel Jack isn’t bad, but like other JD products, it’s extremely overpriced. I think that every whiskey I mentioned in this post is better than the Single Barrel Jack and there are several others as well.

      Heck, if you want to stay within the realm of Tennessee Whisk(e)y, you can always go with George Dickel Superior No. 12. My wife brought a bottle back from Ohio (it’s not available for sale in NJ). I’ve been exploring that and may write a review for the League.Report

  4. Plinko says:

    I’ve never tried any of the white dogs, I’m by no means a snob for long aged bourbons.
    I just got a bottle of the Evan Williams 10 year single barrel a few weeks ago – sorely disappointing, much too sour for my taste.

    I do really want to try the Elijah Craig 22 year, if I ever can convince myself to spend that kind of money on a bottle.Report

  5. A. Nonny Moose says:

    I’ve never had a white dog other than my own moonshine, so I can’t speak to what the commercial distillers are doing. But every time I have some, I am reminded that I don’t set aside enough of my own product to drink white. So smooth, so easy to have another…

    Unfortunately, here in Canada, white dog is impossible to buy legally – our law says anything called “whiskey” must be barrel aged three years. There’s a terrible distiller in Canada that is trying to jump on the white whiskey bandwagon, but they achieve it by means of aging in barrels and then filtering through a fine enough filter to remove all the colour – completely defeating the point IMO.Report

    • A. Nonny Moose in reply to A. Nonny Moose says:

      Actually, I’d draw a distinction between “white dog” – cut for barrel aging, but not yet aged – and “white lightning” – cut for drinking white.

      White lightning is a very pleasant drink. White dog is not – it tastes unfinished.Report

      • Dave in reply to A. Nonny Moose says:

        I would assume that the stuff that I had was white lightning per your definition. It matches your description of your own moonshine. There’s nothing harsh about it.

        What in your mind distinguishes white dog from white lightning?

        One of the big issues I have with the companies selling white whiskey is the cost. Hudson makes a 100% corn whiskey that costs $30 for a 375 ml bottle. Death’s Door White Whiskey costs around $40 where I live. Jack Daniel’s just released a $50 unaged rye whiskey (by comparison, Whistlepig is $55).

        There’s a terrible distiller in Canada that is trying to jump on the white whiskey bandwagon, but they achieve it by means of aging in barrels and then filtering through a fine enough filter to remove all the colour – completely defeating the point IMO

        Jim Beam already does that with its Jacob’s Ghost product. It’s aged for one year and then the color is filtered out. I’m not sure how it tastes, and I’m not sure that I want to spend $25 on a bottle of something that I may not like.

        I agree that it defeats the point, but in another way, it’s a signal in the marketplace. Beam thinks it can make a better product by its method. Time will tell whether or not that turns out to be the case, but I thought the idea was an interesting one.Report

        • A. Nonny Moose in reply to Dave says:

          What in your mind distinguishes white dog from white lightning?

          It’s all in the points at which you make the cuts
          – the first thing off the still is foreshots – discard them, use them as antiseptic or charcoal grill lighter fluid or something
          – the next thing off is heads – some discard them as above, some keep them to add to later spirit runs
          – the next thing off is hearts – this is what you’ll end up drinking
          – the next thing is tails – as with heads, some discard, some keep to re-run later.

          For something you’ll drink white, you want to make a pretty narrow hearts cut. If you aged something that mellow, you’d get the world’s most boring aged whiskey.

          For something that will be aged, I personally widen the hearts cut mostly in the direction of tails, and only slightly toward heads. Tasting that stuff before it goes into barrels, it gets a bit of sharpness from the heads side, and some funky, musty, bitter, sort of flavours from the tails side. These largely unpleasant tastes develop into some pleasant complexity with age.

          Incidentally, there’s also a Brazilian cachaca (agricultural rum) from Ypioca that is aged in barrels made of freijo wood, which adds no colour. I find it quite nice…Report

        • A. Nonny Moose in reply to Dave says:

          I guess I can see some reason behind the higher cost – aside from its being a niche product, it means throwing away more of the alcohol yield, so the same volume of whiskey requires more grain to produce.Report

  6. Ethan Gach says:

    Dave, any books you can recommend for whiskey lovers?Report

  7. NoPublic says:

    The folks at New Holland are producing a respectable short-aged malt whiskey (Zeppelin Blend) for those who believe in whiskey sans corn or rye.Report

  8. Burt Likko says:

    Has anyone had St. George Spirit’s Breaking and Entering Bourbon? Bourbon does not necessarily need to come from Kentucky (although lots of really good Bourbons do, and the underlying spirits here were harvested from Kentucky distillers).Report