Whenever we dine at my eldest sister's, dinner always end with a whisky session as both my brother in law and hubby are whisky lovers. My brother in law always has a few bottles at home and calls hubby his idol as he always enjoys a few drams with this drinking buddy. Actually, the idolisation is very much mutual as brother in law always does amazing food we go round.😂
So back to the whisky session. This time my other sister and brother in law were there as well. My other brother in law, Henry is more of a red wine guy, and the other two guys were trying to introduce him to whisky, hence the all out.
Bowmore
The first whisky the guys introduced to Henry is the Bowmore single malt. In hindsight it probably wasn't the best one for him to try first as it was a bit strong on the peaty side. Hubby has never been a fan of it. First strike, Henry was a bit undecided.
Woodsman
Next up was the Woodsman blended scotch. Hubby said this was rather mild, other than that he doesn't have much recollection of it. I take it it's a no from him. For me, I like this purely due to its bottle. The proportion of the main bottle height (nice and plump) to its neck length is very pleasing to the eye. And my favourite part are the groves on the bottle. I think it's very mesmerising to look at.
Wild Turkey 101
Hubby is not big into bourbon and he tried two this evening. The first, the Wild Turkey 101, apparently is American's biggest selling bourbon. Actually, I'll tell you a funny story about the Wild Turkey. You know when you study a new course at college, the basic entry course is usually numbered course 101? Well, since hubby doesn't drink bourbon, but he knew this was a popular brand, he thought the 101 was to denote it being a basic starter bottle 😂 It wasn't until we saw the bit about proving on the bottle, googled to see what that was all about, did we realise what the 101 really meant. I mean you can't really blame us, as the term proving isn't used in scotchs.
Makers Mark
The second bourbon of the evening was Marker Mark. Hubby was actually quite ok with this, and the Wild Turkey in fact. According to him (and he hasn't tasted that many bourbons compared to scotch) based on the few he has tasted, he reckons the taste difference isn't is that great between normal price bourbon vs the higher price range ones. Whereas, the taste difference between say a £30 bottle of scotch and a £60 one is quite big. Hence at that 'lower' price range, hubby said bourbon is a good value drink compared to scotch.
Henry's verdict?
Anyway, back to Henry. Having tasted 5 different whiskys that evening, we think he's gotten a not bad impression of whisky. Not sure we can say he loves it, but he definitely doesn't dislike it. At least the guys will have another whisky drinking buddy now
I quite like Black Label too, @sanjeevm!
I never liked whiskey until I met the hubs. I do like them quite smokey.
I still can't get into them even though hubby likes them, think they smell like petrol 😆. I pick up bits and pieces of info from him and pretend to write a whisky post when I don't touch the stuff at all
Did not test my choice - Black Label ? After drinking so many brands my entire life, now I am settled at two brands - Chivas Regal ( 21 yrs the best - 18 also good - 12 is ok) and then Black Label. Difficult to get them everywhere, so have some low budget brands also in list - VAT69. And if a very quick punch is needed then go for Bacardi 😀
Recently we did a party and I realized why Johny said to walk only😀
Ahaha - walk only! That made me laugh. I'm going to use that as a joke next time I drink it with others :P
The guys did try the Black Label but they're more into the smaller brands rather than 'mass production'. Is it sold out in most places in India, or just getting ridiculously expensive like a lot of the other whiskeys nowadays?
It has been expensive for sure - but we have a trick to get it cheap from military canteens or duty free 😀
I like the Maker's Mark, the bottle and the cap looks great! Just don't make me taste it 😂
By the way, have I missed the announcement of the potato game? 🤔
Yeah,I like the effect on that bottle as well, like it's sealed with candle wax, very clever. I'm with you, not into the taste. The other evening hubby placed his empty glass on the table next to me, then after a while I smelled a whiff of whisky, must have been the warmth of the room and maybe my computer. I think I'll stick with aromatherapy oils.
Wow.... I'm adding this kind of session to my bucket list !LOLZ
I guess if you're into whisky, it's a nice get together with friends and family
Sounds like a fun way to spend an evening. I need to increase my collection and get some friends over. I have drunk some bourbons, including a pretty expensive one, but I am no expert.
!BEER (no whisky token yet)
or get each friend to bring a bottle over!!!
I wouldn't know the taste difference between an expensive or cheap bourbon, they all smell the same to me 😄
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BEER.In general it can be a bit of a risk buying imported liquor. They are often very expensive and not always the greatest quality. Popular brands in a given country are often "high output low quality" brands that are cheap in the home country but sold very expensive overseas. This is my impression of wild turkey. Canada has a whiskey called Crown Royal. It's probably our most famous whiskey (a blend not single malt) but it's absolute crap compared to most Irish or Scottish whiskeys. I saw it here at a store in France being sold for 35 euros which was much higher in price than some of the single malts being sold, which was shocking to me. I would call Crown Royal an "everyday" sort of whiskey like Jamesons, except Jamesons is significantly better. So anyway, if you see C.R. in stores don't waste your money - fancy bottle but not good whiskey.
Sorry I got to this so late. Nice review! I love me some Wild Turkey 101. You can get some different tastes when you jump price ranges, but it likely isn't like what you get with scotch. I have some $70 bottles of bourbon that are definitely better than my $20 bottles.
I shall let hubby now, I think he's exploring a bit more beyond scotch now. thanks for dropping by!!