Dregs at the bottom of the barrel - What to avoid

[Philos]

Bronzeage,

You have given a great account of workin' man's whiskey. I'll come back to it.

A.

 

[ZiprHead]

As we used to call it, "Sudden Discomfort".
Any form of Dutch Gin is to be avoided, although gin of any type is hardly an adolescent taste. By you description, I suspect Sloe Gin is sweet.
"The kids" used to drink Baby Duck instead of wine around here. A sweet, fizzy, alcoholic pop sold as wine. Good for laying down and avoiding.

dendrast,

I have an unopened Southern Comfort, bought just to have the fancy bottle in my spirits collection.

But, reading some posts on here about the said drop, I shall open and pour.

What's not to like??

A.

I like southern comfort for an occasional cocktail. It's basically spiced bourbon.

 

[Hermit]

But if you're looking for what to avoid when looking for actual enjoyable alcohol, a good rule of thumb is to avoid anything that a poor, alcoholic would drink . Or in other words, anything that's 'discount'.

Some cheap drinks are crap, some expensive ones are good. And vice versa. I quite enjoy the taste of Berri Estate's "Traditional Red" They call it that because it's illegal to call it a Claret. The wine comes packaged in five litre plastic bladders encased in a carton. Price? $ 4/litre, but if you bide your time you can buy it for a third less. I'm enjoying a glass right now as I type.

On the other hand I could shell out 50 bucks for a 700 ml bottle of Pernod. Pretty expensive torture of taste buds and the olfactory system, methinks.

 

[dendrast]

As we used to call it, "Sudden Discomfort".
Any form of Dutch Gin is to be avoided, although gin of any type is hardly an adolescent taste. By you description, I suspect Sloe Gin is sweet.
"The kids" used to drink Baby Duck instead of wine around here. A sweet, fizzy, alcoholic pop sold as wine. Good for laying down and avoiding.

dendrast,

I have an unopened Southern Comfort, bought just to have the fancy bottle in my spirits collection.

But, reading some posts on here about the said drop, I shall open and pour.

What's not to like??

A.

Nah, go ahead and drink it, while listening to Janis Joplin, who used to drink it on stage.

But once is cool. Twice....?

That's like Tequilas. I have not touched it in forty one years. Without going into a great deal of detail, it tastes like vomit since then.
My wife says I'm the perfect man. I make an immaculate Margarita and never drink any of it. Women love me.

 

[Philos]

That's like Tequilas. I have not touched it in forty one years. Without going into a great deal of detail, it tastes like vomit since then.
My wife says I'm the perfect man. I make an immaculate Margarita and never drink any of it. Women love me.

dendrast,

I have 75 bottles of spirits in my bar room and no Tequila.

Oh well. The tipple that will be unlikely to grace the glass top will be this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baileys_Irish_Cream

Not sure why. Maybe its because my Dad (a teetotaller) used to drink it.

A.

 

[Underseer]

Bourbon. All of it.

By rights, I should like bourbon. I mean, it's basically whiskey with corn added, plus it's the American variety of whiskey, but I really can't stand it.

 

[rousseau]

But if you're looking for what to avoid when looking for actual enjoyable alcohol, a good rule of thumb is to avoid anything that a poor, alcoholic would drink . Or in other words, anything that's 'discount'.

Some cheap drinks are crap, some expensive ones are good. And vice versa. I quite enjoy the taste of Berri Estate's "Traditional Red" They call it that because it's illegal to call it a Claret. The wine comes packaged in five litre plastic bladders encased in a carton. Price? $ 4/litre, but if you bide your time you can buy it for a third less. I'm enjoying a glass right now as I type.

On the other hand I could shell out 50 bucks for a 700 ml bottle of Pernod. Pretty expensive torture of taste buds and the olfactory system, methinks.

Wine is a weird one and breaks most rules.

I'm not even sure if the people selling wine know what their product is worth.

 

[Bronzeage]

Bourbon. All of it.

By rights, I should like bourbon. I mean, it's basically whiskey with corn added, plus it's the American variety of whiskey, but I really can't stand it.

Definitions of these things vary, depending on who is defining. Bourbon is an American whisky, which is distilled from fermented corn, and then aged in wooden barrels, which have been charred on the inside. This is the distinct flavor of bourbon. Some distillers are not content with the barrel flavoring and filter their whisky through activated charcoal, just to make sure none of the burned wood flavor is lost.

The reason the barrels are charred is simply a necessity which became a tradition. Used barrels are always cheaper than new barrels, and in the early days, barrels that were used to shipped salted fish were the cheapest of all. The wood was impregnated with salt and smelled like fish. Distillers put a pile of wood shavings in the barrel and set them on fire. The barrel was rolled around until the entire inner surface was charred. The charred wood was scraped away, and it was hoped the salt and fish smell, also.

 

[ZiprHead]

Bourbon. All of it.

By rights, I should like bourbon. I mean, it's basically whiskey with corn added, plus it's the American variety of whiskey, but I really can't stand it.

Shut your mouth!

 

[Philos]

Definitions of these things vary, depending on who is defining. Bourbon is an American whisky, which is distilled from fermented corn, and then aged in wooden barrels, which have been charred on the inside. This is the distinct flavor of bourbon. Some distillers are not content with the barrel flavoring and filter their whisky through activated charcoal, just to make sure none of the burned wood flavor is lost.

Bronzeage,

Hence the 'bananas and glue' of JD. Usually I don't get half the nosey stuff whiskey reviewers talk about, but JD I do get.

A.

 

[Bronzeage]

Definitions of these things vary, depending on who is defining. Bourbon is an American whisky, which is distilled from fermented corn, and then aged in wooden barrels, which have been charred on the inside. This is the distinct flavor of bourbon. Some distillers are not content with the barrel flavoring and filter their whisky through activated charcoal, just to make sure none of the burned wood flavor is lost.

Bronzeage,

Hence the 'bananas and glue' of JD. Usually I don't get half the nosey stuff whiskey reviewers talk about, but JD I do get.

A.

If alcoholic beverages were not intoxicating, no one would put the stuff in their mouth.

What is this stuff?
It's cold barley soup.
This is awful. What did you put in it?
I added hops to make it bitter?
Are you crazy? Nobody can eat this shit.


What a beer, wine, or hard liquor tastes like, is pretty much irrelevant. Arguing whether one tastes better than another, is pretty silly, but it's really all we have when it comes to talking about the stuff.

 

[Philos]

What a beer, wine, or hard liquor tastes like, is pretty much irrelevant. Arguing whether one tastes better than another, is pretty silly, but it's really all we have when it comes to talking about the stuff.

Bronzeage,

OK, ethanol is what it is, but I like it to be dressed up nice. I could do 150 mph in a Mustang but it feels much sweeter on my R1. Form and content?

A.

 

[rousseau]

Definitions of these things vary, depending on who is defining. Bourbon is an American whisky, which is distilled from fermented corn, and then aged in wooden barrels, which have been charred on the inside. This is the distinct flavor of bourbon. Some distillers are not content with the barrel flavoring and filter their whisky through activated charcoal, just to make sure none of the burned wood flavor is lost.

Bronzeage,

Hence the 'bananas and glue' of JD. Usually I don't get half the nosey stuff whiskey reviewers talk about, but JD I do get.

A.

If alcoholic beverages were not intoxicating, no one would put the stuff in their mouth.

What is this stuff?
It's cold barley soup.
This is awful. What did you put in it?
I added hops to make it bitter?
Are you crazy? Nobody can eat this shit.


What a beer, wine, or hard liquor tastes like, is pretty much irrelevant. Arguing whether one tastes better than another, is pretty silly, but it's really all we have when it comes to talking about the stuff.

I dunno. That's what I've been doing for the past two or three years.

I can think of plenty of beers and whiskies that I enjoy purely as a drink, and as a matter of fact I'm drinking one right now with no intention of getting drunk.

 

[Hermit]

If alcoholic beverages were not intoxicating, no one would put the stuff in their mouth.

What is this stuff?
It's cold barley soup.
This is awful. What did you put in it?
I added hops to make it bitter?
Are you crazy? Nobody can eat this shit.


What a beer, wine, or hard liquor tastes like, is pretty much irrelevant. Arguing whether one tastes better than another, is pretty silly, but it's really all we have when it comes to talking about the stuff.

That is not my experience.

At one stage in my twenties a company I worked for had a contract to pick up 2000 tons of graphite from a wharf at Darling Harbour. It came in long-hundredweight (112 lb/50.8 kg bags stacked on 4 x 8 foot ship-pallets. They had to be repalletised on to 4 x 4 foot pallets before transport and warehousing. The company sent a foreman down to oversee the job. Although everyone had offsiders, drivers were required to participate in the repalletising. On the hot, sticky January days in Sydney it was hard and sweaty work.

At 12 o clock the foreman called lunch. We went to "the Big House", a pub just across the road from the gate. I ordered a lemon squash. The barmaid went a little pale in her face and her jaw muscles tightened: "A what?" she hissed. Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed a schooner glass, tossed ice blocks into it with such vehemence that a few of them bounced straight out again, plonked a bottle of cordial and a bottle of soda onto the bar and continued: "We don't serve that kind of drink around here. Make it yourself."

The foreman confronted me next: "You have 45 minutes for lunch. If you don't drink three schooners of beer, don't bother fronting up for work tomorrow." I hated the taste of beer, but I needed the job. It was my first week driving a 12 tonner there, and being employed on a casual basis I could have been fired any time simply via a boss saying "You're fired".

As I mentioned, it was a hot day. The beer went down surprisingly well right from the first sip. Ice cold, and the slightly bitter taste added to its refreshing effect. Before getting through the first quarter of the first schooner (425 ml/15 fl oz) I knew drinking my allocated amount was going to be totally enjoyable, and I've liked beer ever since.

That was in the mid-1970s. Today's transport companies, and I guess the vast majority of all others, will sack you for drinking alcohol while at work.

Oh, and don't get me started on port. I can spend a couple of hours sniffing a single copita's worth and letting it do its stuff on my taste buds. The last bottle (750ml/25 US fl.oz.) of 20 year old port took four years to empty. I had to rush it a little toward the end, for the port was threatening to go stale.

Now, would you like me to tell you about red wine?

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Definitions of these things vary, depending on who is defining. Bourbon is an American whisky, which is distilled from fermented corn, and then aged in wooden barrels, which have been charred on the inside. This is the distinct flavor of bourbon. Some distillers are not content with the barrel flavoring and filter their whisky through activated charcoal, just to make sure none of the burned wood flavor is lost.

Bronzeage,

Hence the 'bananas and glue' of JD. Usually I don't get half the nosey stuff whiskey reviewers talk about, but JD I do get.

A.

If alcoholic beverages were not intoxicating, no one would put the stuff in their mouth.

What is this stuff?
It's cold barley soup.
This is awful. What did you put in it?
I added hops to make it bitter?
Are you crazy? Nobody can eat this shit.


What a beer, wine, or hard liquor tastes like, is pretty much irrelevant. Arguing whether one tastes better than another, is pretty silly, but it's really all we have when it comes to talking about the stuff.

I'll have to disagree that taste is irrelevant. The aroma, taste, mouthfeel, all matter in a good alcoholic beverage.

Maybe the truth really is that it's just a delivery vehicle for the intoxicant, but the taste does matter, and people prefer different tastes.

 

[rousseau]

If alcoholic beverages were not intoxicating, no one would put the stuff in their mouth.

What is this stuff?
It's cold barley soup.
This is awful. What did you put in it?
I added hops to make it bitter?
Are you crazy? Nobody can eat this shit.


What a beer, wine, or hard liquor tastes like, is pretty much irrelevant. Arguing whether one tastes better than another, is pretty silly, but it's really all we have when it comes to talking about the stuff.

I'll have to disagree that taste is irrelevant. The aroma, taste, mouthfeel, all matter in a good alcoholic beverage.

Maybe the truth really is that it's just a delivery vehicle for the intoxicant, but the taste does matter, and people prefer different tastes.

I don't see a reason why one would centre out alcohol. Would you drink coffee as regularly if it had no caffeine? Would you drink a chamomile tea if it didn't put you to sleep? Would you drink juice if it didn't provide nutrition?

Maybe you would, maybe you wouldn't, but in practice these things are package deals. We don't drink a Trappist beer purely to get drunk. We spend 4.50 on a Trappist beer over a low-grade domestic because it's an enjoyable beverage, along with the sedating effects. In the same way we would buy a high-end tea or juice because it offers a better experience.

Either Bronzeage is trolling or the craft beer market is yet to come to Louisiana.

 

[4321lynx]

But if you're looking for what to avoid when looking for actual enjoyable alcohol, a good rule of thumb is to avoid anything that a poor, alcoholic would drink . Or in other words, anything that's 'discount'.

Some cheap drinks are crap, some expensive ones are good. And vice versa. I quite enjoy the taste of Berri Estate's "Traditional Red" They call it that because it's illegal to call it a Claret. The wine comes packaged in five litre plastic bladders encased in a carton. Price? $ 4/litre, but if you bide your time you can buy it for a third less. I'm enjoying a glass right now as I type.

On the other hand I could shell out 50 bucks for a 700 ml bottle of Pernod. Pretty expensive torture of taste buds and the olfactory system, methinks.

Wine is a weird one and breaks most rules.

I'm not even sure if the people selling wine know what their product is worth.

? Unconcious plagiarism of Fitzgerald's

*I often wonder what the Vintners buy
One half so precious as the Goods they sell.*

 

[Tharmas]

When I was a drinker, I drank for the effect. There was one beer however that even I drew the line at, unless it was an emergency. It was a local Texas beer, and really cheap, called Texas Pride.

I swear you had to evolve special enzymes to digest the stuff.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

When I was a drinker, I drank for the effect. There was one beer however that even I drew the line at, unless it was an emergency. It was a local Texas beer, and really cheap, called Texas Pride.

I swear you had to evolve special enzymes to digest the stuff.

Buckhorn beer! Remember that one? Wretched beer. But cheap. An old term I heard used a bit many years ago in Texas. Monkey juice. Whatever was the cheapest beer on sale at a given store. No matter how bad it was otherwise.

 

[Philos]

Folks,

The answer to this interesting question is - - Kaliber!

https://www.alcoholfree.co.uk/kaliber-alcoholfree-beer-440ml-cans-p-172.html?cPath=2_65_12

A.