In Praise of Inexpensive (relatively) (and GOOD) Liquor

[schindlerpiste]

Eagle Rare is excellent for around $35

[Skidog]

My $0.02: BH is overpriced, underproofed OGD. When someone tells me it’s their favorite bourbon, it’s likely they aren’t really into whiskey. Especially if they call it “smooth.”

It's far from my fav, but still a good bourbon.

Again everyone's tastes are different and every distiller has techniques. Comparing bh to ogd kinda makes me think you might not know your bourbon as well as you think though.

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[BmillsSkier]

How about Eagle Rare 10 year? Can we all agree that for $30, that is one fine bottle of whiskey?

Someone with better forum search skills than me can find my post where some jackass blocked me in the LLS and loaded up a shopping cart full of Eagle Rare during the Buffalo Trace shortage and then offered to sell me some in the parking lot.

He died in a fire so I feel better, but yeah, Eagle Rare is the best deal going in bourbon.

Don't tell anyone.

[evasive_MT]

It's far from my fav, but still a good bourbon.

Again everyone's tastes are different and every distiller has techniques. Comparing bh to ogd kinda makes me think you might not know your bourbon as well as you think though.

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They’re the same mashbill.

[Skidog]

They’re the same mashbill.

Ratios can be different. Mixes different, grains, rye, etc. All bourbon is not equal or anywhere near same. So the mash bill means very little or we would just have "bourbon" and no variety.

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[evasive_MT]

Ratios can be different. Mixes different, grains, rye, etc. All bourbon is not equal or anywhere near same. So the mash bill means very little or we would just have "bourbon" and no variety.

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Do you know what a mashbill is? It doesn’t sound like it, because all those variables you mention are unique to one.

Beam produces BH and OGD from the same high-rye mashbill: 63% corn, 27% rye, 10% barley. IFAIK those are the only brands from that one. The other Beam brands (Beam, Baker’s, Booker’s, KC) come from a high-corn mashbill: 77/13/10.

What’s in the bottle is heavily influenced by not just the mashbill, of course, but also age, temperature cycling (type of warehouse, location within it), cooperage, and the blending skill of the distiller, etc. A single mashbill can give quite a wide range of products: Blanton’s and Ancient Ancient Age share a mashbill, as do the Van Winkle bourbons and Weller. But saying that you can’t compare a quality midshelf like OGD to BH is just uninformed.

[ColMan]

Cheap? Here you go - Mellow Corn - $12. Purchased for cooking and found it to be fairly drinkable (if you like a shit-ton of corn in the mash).

[neufox47]

Seriously. And this is the drink to make with it:

http://imbibemagazine.com/vieux-ananas/

Rye whiskey, pineapple rum, sweet vermouth, benedictine. Or you can do daquiris with it as well. Or even manhattans. It's excellent.

Hmm, I may have to barrel age a batch of those.

[XXX-er]

Is that thread title loaded with oxymorans ?

How cheap do you wana drink ?

[schindlerpiste]

Totally agree. My Eagle Rare mention above is not cheap (to me), but Southern Comfort, Smirnoff and Yukon Jack would be.

[tgapp]

Totally agree. My Eagle Rare mention above is not cheap (to me), but Southern Comfort, Smirnoff and Yukon Jack would be.

Yeah, fair enough. I hang out around a bunch of scotch heads, whose idea of a cheap bottle will be a $90 single malt. That's their low end - and I'll spend a year or more thinking about and planning my next purchase in the $80-100 range. Hell, my bottle of Corryvreckan ($90) has been on my shelf now for 3+ years. I still have about a third of it left.

I figure the (relatively) cheap and (relatively) good is the ticket, but I know that means different things for different people. For me, a $30 bottle of Eagle Rare is fairly cheap (cost per drink of $2, which puts it on par with lower end microbrews), considering the quality of the bottle (I think it's better than Blanton's at $70/bottle). The EW BiB that I love is $11-14 a bottle, which is even closer to the true cheap level (75 cents a drink or so).

[tgapp]

Hmm, I may have to barrel age a batch of those.

If you do PM me! I'll pitch on supplies if I can get a cut of it - way into barrel aging cocktails at home!!

[evasive_MT]

Yeah, fair enough. I hang out around a bunch of scotch heads, whose idea of a cheap bottle will be a $90 single malt. That's their low end - and I'll spend a year or more thinking about and planning my next purchase in the $80-100 range. Hell, my bottle of Corryvreckan ($90) has been on my shelf now for 3+ years. I still have about a third of it left.

I figure the (relatively) cheap and (relatively) good is the ticket, but I know that means different things for different people. For me, a $30 bottle of Eagle Rare is fairly cheap (cost per drink of $2, which puts it on par with lower end microbrews), considering the quality of the bottle (I think it's better than Blanton's at $70/bottle). The EW BiB that I love is $11-14 a bottle, which is even closer to the true cheap level (75 cents a drink or so).

Bowmore Legend used to be my cheap-and-cheerful standard. I think it was ~$25. I like the 12yr much better, but it wasn’t available locally for years.

[Skidog]

Do you know what a mashbill is? It doesn’t sound like it, because all those variables you mention are unique to one.

Beam produces BH and OGD from the same high-rye mashbill: 63% corn, 27% rye, 10% barley. IFAIK those are the only brands from that one. The other Beam brands (Beam, Baker’s, Booker’s, KC) come from a high-corn mashbill: 77/13/10.

What’s in the bottle is heavily influenced by not just the mashbill, of course, but also age, temperature cycling (type of warehouse, location within it), cooperage, and the blending skill of the distiller, etc. A single mashbill can give quite a wide range of products: Blanton’s and Ancient Ancient Age share a mashbill, as do the Van Winkle bourbons and Weller. But saying that you can’t compare a quality midshelf like OGD to BH is just uninformed.

Yep all those things..so how can you claim bh is just weak ogd? It's not even in the same ballpark.

Im a brewer, so pretty familiar with a mashbill, just not directly related to distilling. I'm pretty familiar with how it all works.

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[MontuckyFried]

How about brandy/cognac? My go-to for the past year or two has been Shevkoff. It's a Ukranian brandy that's aged 11 years and I spend around $19/bottle. I DARE you to find a better one for less than $300+. Let me put it this way. Best bottle of cognac I ever splurged on was Louis XIII. What's that go for these days? Like $3500? Shevkoff is like 95% of the way there on flavor for like 0.005% the price.

Of all the liquors I've run across, if you want to talk value as far as the quality or flavor:dollar ratio I've never found a better deal. Hmmm... Now that I think about it, I should probably start re-filling my fancy crystal (and long since empty) Louis decanter with the cheap Shevkoff. I doubt any of my non-cognac aficionado friends would ever know the difference. Haha.



Seriously. Try this stuff if you ever encounter it in the wild. It's tough to find but it's outstanding. And at $19? Woh!

[evasive_MT]

Yep all those things..so how can you claim bh is just weak ogd? It's not even in the same ballpark.

Im a brewer, so pretty familiar with a mashbill, just not directly related to distilling. I'm pretty familiar with how it all works.

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You keep saying this, and undermine yourself in each post. If you know what a mashbill is, why would you say that two whiskeys could share one but have different grains and ratios?

In case it’s not clear- Beam uses their high-rye distillate for two things: OGD and BH. It’s the same juice. They’re even the same person. Basil Haydon was “Old Grand-Dad.”

[tgapp]

How about brandy/cognac? My go-to for the past year or two has been Shevkoff. It's a Ukranian brandy that's aged 11 years and I spend around $19/bottle. I DARE you to find a better one for less than $300+. Let me put it this way. Best bottle of cognac I ever splurged on was Louis XIII. What's that go for these days? Like $3500? Shevkoff is like 95% of the way there on flavor for like 0.005% the price.

Of all the liquors I've run across, if you want to talk value as far as the quality or flavor:dollar ratio I've never found a better deal. Hmmm... Now that I think about it, I should probably start re-filling my fancy crystal (and long since empty) Louis decanter with the cheap Shevkoff. I doubt any of my non-cognac aficionado friends would ever know the difference. Haha.



Seriously. Try this stuff if you ever encounter it in the wild. It's tough to find but it's outstanding. And at $19? Woh!

Man I hate living in Utah. I would LOVE to try that - but fat chance here.

Semi-related; any mags want to set up a bottle exchange? I'd start a new thread for this, but we could publish our liquor lists and send out little 50-100ml bottles. It's a popular idea on Reddit and elsewhere. I'd send out some samples for a few things back.

[Grange]

Bowmore Legend used to be my cheap-and-cheerful standard. I think it was ~$25. I like the 12yr much better, but it wasn’t available locally for years.

I have yet to find a cheap scotch that is as good as cheap bourbon. I prefer scotch over bourbon and my collection reflects that. I find bourbon much sweeter than scotch and the variety I find in taste with scotch is fantastic. But I've tried the inexpensive blended scotch and as I mentioned earlier in the thread J&B is the best cheap scotch for me. Like others, I mentioned Eagle Rare which I can get for $23 when available and I like it much better than J&B. Kirkland blended scotch is cheap and good for mixers and occasionally drinking neat, but for sipping EW 1783 is better for around the same price. I've read posts that said Monkey Shoulder, which I've have a few bottles, but that was $30 when it was cheap and now it's about $35 around here so I don't think it would qualify as cheap.

If you move the "cheap" price point to around $40 then there are a number of scotch whiskys that I find better than the bourbons at that price point, but for actually cheap whisk(e)y's I think scotch has a hard time competing with bourbon. I think there are some cheap Irish whiskeys that can compete with cheap bourbons.

I picked up a bottle of J. Rieger Kansas City Whiskey this past fall for under $20 and it was good whiskey.

[Grange]

How about brandy/cognac? My go-to for the past year or two has been Shevkoff. It's a Ukranian brandy that's aged 11 years and I spend around $19/bottle. I DARE you to find a better one for less than $300+. Let me put it this way. Best bottle of cognac I ever splurged on was Louis XIII. What's that go for these days? Like $3500? Shevkoff is like 95% of the way there on flavor for like 0.005% the price.

Of all the liquors I've run across, if you want to talk value as far as the quality or flavor:dollar ratio I've never found a better deal. Hmmm... Now that I think about it, I should probably start re-filling my fancy crystal (and long since empty) Louis decanter with the cheap Shevkoff. I doubt any of my non-cognac aficionado friends would ever know the difference. Haha.



Seriously. Try this stuff if you ever encounter it in the wild. It's tough to find but it's outstanding. And at $19? Woh!

I'm going to stop at a liquor store on the way home look for that bottle. I like a good cognac, but really only drink it at a restaurant for an after dinner drink.

[MontuckyFried]

I have yet to find a cheap scotch that is as good as cheap bourbon.

That's kind of my main reason for not being a regular scotch drinker. I really do love a good scotch, but it's one of those things where you (typically) really do get what you pay for. Bummer because it's a category I'd like to explore more but my wallet won't allow it.

[MontuckyFried]

Man I hate living in Utah. I would LOVE to try that - but fat chance here.

Next time I swing through SLC, I'll make sure and hook you up with a bottle.

[MontuckyFried]

I'm going to stop at a liquor store on the way home look for that bottle. I like a good cognac, but really only drink it at a restaurant for an after dinner drink.

Good luck! If your favorite shop doesn't carry it, see if they can place an order for you. It's pretty rare from what I've seen and I can't really find ANYTHING out about online for some reason. Peculiar brand I guess? Local store "Spec's" is who carries it here. $19 is what my cash price in store is, but seems pretty cheap online too ($24). Case price brings it down a few bucks. I go through a bottle a month so could be worth it. Haha.
https://specsonline.com/shop/spirits...f-xo-brandy-2/

[tgapp]

Next time I swing through SLC, I'll make sure and hook you up with a bottle.

Dude I will 100% find a super meaningful trade for that.

[Grange]

Good luck! If your favorite shop doesn't carry it, see if they can place an order for you. It's pretty rare from what I've seen and I can't really find ANYTHING out about online for some reason. Peculiar brand I guess? Local store "Spec's" is who carries it here. $19 is what my cash price in store is, but seems pretty cheap online too ($24). Case price brings it down a few bucks. I go through a bottle a month so could be worth it. Haha.
https://specsonline.com/shop/spirits...f-xo-brandy-2/

I just checked and there is no distribution within 100 miles of my area. I'll have to find out if liquor can be delivered through the mail in WI.

[Woodsy]

picked up Evan Williams BIB 100 proof, $19.99 for 750 ml
tasty