Hot Take/ Musical Confession Thread!

Joe Mac said:
So for @Count_Vader here are 5 Irish whiskeys that I think give a good overview of what we do well over here. Before anyone starts wailing about Middleton Very Rare it’s a deliberate omission, yes it’s good but it’s not worth anything like what they charge for it...

Connemara 12 year old

This brand is a bit of an outlier in Irish whiskey in that it’s peated. It has all of that traditional Irish whiskey smoothness but with a smokey flavour more reminiscent of a good scotch.

Teeling Stout Cask

I rave about this one, I think it’s exceptional at its price! It’s a collaboration with the Galway Bay Brewing Company. Teelings send whiskey barrels west to them to age their 200 fathoms Stout in. When it’s done they send the barrels back and Teelings age this whiskey in it. Smooth, sweet, rich and with background hints of dark chocolate.

Bushmills Malt 10

This is the point at which Bushmills stars to get interesting! This is a nice and delicate whiskey that’s very drinkable.

Yellow Spot 12

A really nice medium bodied complex whiskey. This is where we start to get to the really good stuff.

Red Breast 15

This is about as full bodied as Irish whiskey gets. Full of flavour and complexity. As a multiple award winner this is the best, and accordingly most expensive, bottle on this list.
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Alright I'll start of with what I'm most biased with. I grew up in Loretto so I was always around Maker's Mark.
The Original Bottle is a sweeter Bourbon (not sickly sweet but pleasantly so.) If that's not to your taste I'd recommend Maker's Mark '46 or if your looking for something with kick Maker's Mark Cask Strength.

Bulleit Bourbon: is really great, smooth taste and a good body.

Woodford Reserve: A great all around liquor, nice bottle
Blanton's: A bit overpriced but a great whiskey, smooth taste but a bit on the stout side, an absolutely amazing bottle design too.
Knob Creek: A great everyday drinker. Nothing fancy but a good all around taste and general flavor. It's a very good beginner bourbon. I've been wasted many a time on this.
Jim Beam Black Label: A great budget bourbon warm taste with a smooth finish one of the most popular Bourbons worldwide. Much better than white label
And of course if you're looking for a pure American whiskey- Jack Daniel's is an amazing Tennessee style whiskey, smooth, smoky, with a hint of sweetness.
 
Joe Mac said:
Teeling Stout Cask

I rave about this one, I think it’s exceptional at its price! It’s a collaboration with the Galway Bay Brewing Company. Teelings send whiskey barrels west to them to age their 200 fathoms Stout in. When it’s done they send the barrels back and Teelings age this whiskey in it. Smooth, sweet, rich and with background hints of dark chocolate.
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Oh man, I want this :love:
 
Joe Mac said:
So for @Count_Vader here are 5 Irish whiskeys that I think give a good overview of what we do well over here. Before anyone starts wailing about Middleton Very Rare it’s a deliberate omission, yes it’s good but it’s not worth anything like what they charge for it...

Connemara 12 year old

This brand is a bit of an outlier in Irish whiskey in that it’s peated. It has all of that traditional Irish whiskey smoothness but with a smokey flavour more reminiscent of a good scotch.

Teeling Stout Cask

I rave about this one, I think it’s exceptional at its price! It’s a collaboration with the Galway Bay Brewing Company. Teelings send whiskey barrels west to them to age their 200 fathoms Stout in. When it’s done they send the barrels back and Teelings age this whiskey in it. Smooth, sweet, rich and with background hints of dark chocolate.

Bushmills Malt 10

This is the point at which Bushmills stars to get interesting! This is a nice and delicate whiskey that’s very drinkable.

Yellow Spot 12

A really nice medium bodied complex whiskey. This is where we start to get to the really good stuff.

Red Breast 15

This is about as full bodied as Irish whiskey gets. Full of flavour and complexity. As a multiple award winner this is the best, and accordingly most expensive, bottle on this list.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this, I'll see what my liquor store carries. The only liquor store in town that I can search the stock of actually has the Yellow Spot as more expensive than the Red Breast, but i'll probably be sticking to the cheaper ones anyway. I don't think I've ever had any Irish Whiskey other than Jameson.

You said that bourbon wasn't popular in Ireland. Does that mean that classic cocktails aren't common either? They are pretty huge over here at the moment, or at least variations of them. Many of them use bourbon or rye as the main spirit.
 
dhodo said:
Thanks for this, I'll see what my liquor store carries. The only liquor store in town that I can search the stock of actually has the Yellow Spot as more expensive than the Red Breast, but i'll probably be sticking to the cheaper ones anyway. I don't think I've ever had any Irish Whiskey other than Jameson.

You said that bourbon wasn't popular in Ireland. Does that mean that classic cocktails aren't common either? They are pretty huge over here at the moment. Or at least variations of them; many of which, bourbon or rye are the main spirit.
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So bourbon isn’t popular for home drinking. So if I go into my supermarket there’s Jack Daniels etc but it doesn’t go too deep selection wise. There is tones of local whiskey.

Cocktail bars are becoming very popular in Dublin. There are loads of cool and trendy ones popping up. They all carry a large selection of bourbon because they use specific bourbons that they feel are suited to a specific cocktail. Go into an old school Irish pub and ask for a cocktail though and see the reaction 😂😂😂
 
dhodo said:
Thanks for this, I'll see what my liquor store carries. The only liquor store in town that I can search the stock of actually has the Yellow Spot as more expensive than the Red Breast, but i'll probably be sticking to the cheaper ones anyway. I don't think I've ever had any Irish Whiskey other than Jameson.

You said that bourbon wasn't popular in Ireland. Does that mean that classic cocktails aren't common either? They are pretty huge over here at the moment, or at least variations of them. Many of them use bourbon or rye as the main spirit.
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That’s steep for the yellow spot. I based the recommendations on the following rough local pieces per bottle

Teelings Stout and Bushmills Malt 10 €50
Yellow Spot as Connemara 12 €80
Red Breast 15 €100
 
Joe Mac said:
So bourbon isn’t popular for home drinking. So if I go into my supermarket there’s Jack Daniels etc but it doesn’t go too deep selection wise. There is tones of local whiskey.

Cocktail bars are becoming very popular in Dublin. There are loads of cool and trendy ones popping up. They all carry a large selection of bourbon because they use specific bourbons that they feel are suited to a specific cocktail. Go into an old school Irish pub and ask for a cocktail though and see the reaction 😂😂😂
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That's kinda what I figured. It's the same here, if you're at a locals/dive bar you can get mixed drinks, but I wouldn't order a real cocktail. Prices are getting a little nuts at the fancy cocktail bars though, at like $13-15 a drink.

Not that you need any more for the list, but if you come across any Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, I'd pick that up, although it seems like it has gone the way of all the Buffalo Trace bourbons (all good, you might have heard of the various Van Winkles) in that it would be great to recommend to you at their real retail price, but at least here the retailers like to mark them waaay up if they can even keep them in stock. Big run on the bourbon market the last decade or so.
 
Joe Mac said:
That’s steep for the yellow spot. I based the recommendations on the following rough local pieces per bottle

Teelings Stout and Bushmills Malt 10 €50
Yellow Spot as Connemara 12 €80
Red Breast 15 €100
Click to expand...
I figured it was something like that based on the ages. For whatever reason, at that store here the Red Breast is $110, Yellow Spot is $120, Bushmills 10 $38.50. Don't have the other two. I'll see what the one close to me has, they get some interesting stuff sometimes.

Edit: they do have Red Breast 21 for $300 😮

I feel guilty not having a hot take. Vodka sucks except in bloody marys? Somehow I don't think that's the hottest take.
 
dhodo said:
That's kinda what I figured. It's the same here, if you're at a locals/dive bar you can get mixed drinks, but I wouldn't order a real cocktail. Prices are getting a little nuts at the fancy cocktail bars though, at like $13-15 a drink.

Not that you need any more for the list, but if you come across any Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, I'd pick that up, although it seems like it has gone the way of all the Buffalo Trace bourbons (all good, you might have heard of the various Van Winkles) in that it would be great to recommend to you at their real retail price, but at least here the retailers like to mark them waaay up if they can even keep them in stock. Big run on the bourbon market the last decade or so.
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Yeah my local off license stocks Buffalo Trace cheap (€37 which is the price of standard Jameson’s, our alcohol duty is insane) and I’ve been meaning to buy a bottle on @Lee Newman’s recommendation for at least a year now...

Yeah the cocktail places here are very expensive too but then equally they’re like rocket fuel, I wouldn’t want them to be too cheap or I’d be on the floor very early on in the night...
 
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dhodo said:
I figured it was something like that based on the ages. For whatever reason, at that store here the Red Breast is $110, Yellow Spot is $120, Bushmills 10 $38.50. Don't have the other two. I'll see what the one close to me has, they get some interesting stuff sometimes.

I feel guilty not having a hot take. Vodka sucks except in bloody marys? Somehow I don't think that's the hottest take.
Click to expand...

Vodka gives me Napoleon syndrome, it’s messy, I’m not allowed it...
 
dhodo said:
I figured it was something like that based on the ages. For whatever reason, at that store here the Red Breast is $110, Yellow Spot is $120, Bushmills 10 $38.50. Don't have the other two. I'll see what the one close to me has, they get some interesting stuff sometimes.

Edit: they do have Red Breast 21 for $300 😮

I feel guilty not having a hot take. Vodka sucks except in bloody marys? Somehow I don't think that's the hottest take.
Click to expand...

To be honest $300 probably is fair for a 21 year old imported whiskey by a premium label given both how long it’s has to sit there and the sheer amount of angels share in a whiskey that old!

EDIT: It’s €190 here...
 
Joe Mac said:
Yeah my local off license stocks Buffalo Trace cheap (€37 which is the price of standard Jameson’s, our alcohol duty is insane) and I’ve been meaning to buy a bottle on @Lee Newman recommendation for at least a year now...

Yeah the cocktail places here are very expensive too but then equally they’re like rocket fuel, I wouldn’t want them to be too cheap or I’d be on the floor very early on in the night...
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I was mostly talking about the other ones further up like Col. E.H. Taylor, Eagle Rare, George T. Stagg (of which I actually haven't had because they are really marked up here, if I can find them). Personally, I wouldn't spend that much on the base Buffalo Trace, but it's hard to say since I don't know your normal mark-ups. When it blew up with a good reputation here it was because it was under $30 I think. I'd take Elijah Craig Small Batch or Four Roses Small Batch if I can get them cheaper. They are just as good, I think. The Single Barrels of those two are better for sipping, but more expensive. Whichever of those three I can get cheaper is what I use for Egg Nog 🎅.

Edit: Missed that you said it is the same as Jamesons, that seems right. But, if you are comparing base level decent bourbon at 40 euros to decent single malt at 50 euros, you might have a hard time thinking that bourbon is worth it value wise.
 
Count_Vader said:
@Joe Mac Thoughts on Red Bush?
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Joe Mac said:
I’ve never had it. I’ve tried four of theirs. Standard which is an ok mixer but nothing special. I don’t like Black Bush, I like the Malt 10 and I love the 400th anniversary special one, but that’s not around any more 🙁
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If you’re talking the Jameys/Bushmill’s realm of standard blends, I’m a big fan of Tullamore D.E.W. as it’s way smoother than it has any right to be. Joe would probably call it a mixer, but it’s a shooter to me.
 
Chucktshoes said:
If you’re talking the Jameys/Bushmill’s realm of standard blends, I’m a big fan of Tullamore D.E.W. as it’s way smoother than it has any right to be. Joe would probably call it a mixer, but it’s a shooter to me.
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Yeah I don’t do shots like that any more, I’m only short so I’d get smashed far too quickly!

I tend to either sip the good stuff or mix the cheaper stuff. Tullamore Dew is ok too, I’ve had it in hot toddies before. Much like Powers or Paddy's it’s a cheap whiskey that’s smooth and not harsh but isn’t particularly anything special either.
 
Joe Mac said:
Yeah I don’t do shots like that any more, I’m only short so I’d get smashed far too quickly!

I tend to either sip the good stuff or mix the cheaper stuff. Tullamore Dew is ok too, I’ve had it in hot toddies before. Much like Powers or Paddy's it’s a cheap whiskey that’s smooth and not harsh but isn’t particularly anything special either.
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I shouldn’t do shots like that anymore. I can’t drink like I did in my 20s, but that doesn’t stop me from trying. 🤣🤣🥴🤢🤮😵
 
Count_Vader said:
Not a hot take but why does Chris Brown still have a career? I read the police report and when it was posted on Reddit, he should be rotting in a one man cell.
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Because people believe in forgiveness and enjoy his music.

Also - a lot of people separate the person and the music. Such as many have done with MJ and many others.
 
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