Post by Tony CooperPost by bill vanPost by occamPost by bill vanPost by Athel Cornish-BowdenChecking, I find that more than 25 countries produce the stuff, of
which some spell it whisky and some spell it whiskey, and some of
those who now spell it one way spelt it the other way in the past (the
USA, for example). Why should anyone apart from advertisers care?
I used to care when I was a whisk(e)y collector, albeit a minor one. If
you're interested in a subject,
you want to know all about it, and to get the details right should you
go on to write or talk about it.
Not so much now.
[Aside] You have stopped collecting, or drinking? If the latter, is your
collection open to offers? (I'm interested in most, except those
labelled Irish Whisky.)
Stopped collecting. My pension is somewhat less than my salary was
when I was working, and now I buy just a couple or three bottles of single malt
a year.
Before I retired, I'd have maybe 12 to 15 malts on hand at a given time,
at least half of them from south Islay, plus a few Canadian, Irish and
American whisk(e)ys.
I've been retired for something nearly eight years, and the collection has gone
the way of all single malts. Sláinte.
I am not a drinker. I imbibe occasionally, but often go weeks without
a drink. When I do drink, I'll have one beer, two glasses of wine, or
one Southern Comfort on the rocks.
Having established that, I have to admit that I do not understand
buying a bottle of hooch that is not to be consumed before buying
another bottle of the same type.
Identical bottles? Or just "all gin is the same" bottles?
Post by Tony CooperWe have a wet bar, and a some cabinets that contain various bottles of
different types of alcoholic beverages. A bottle of gin, a bottle of
vodka, and so forth. The standards like this are kept for
entertaining.
That's fine, but anyone who drinks whiskey or gin or rum probably has
several varieties, simetimes just for the different flavors, and
sometimes for the quality.
For example, I often have a bottle of 15-20 year old port, which is
decent and not terrible expensive (around $20 or so), but I also will
have a bottle of 30yo port, which is generally much more expensive
($80-100). I ration that stuff carefully and keep it in the back.
It's not uncommon for me to have a cheap whiskey for cocktails and a good
whiskey for drinking straight. Southern Comfort is a cheap whiskey on
this scale, though it has some added flavors that make it a smoother and
sweeter drink than straight whiskey. I am not a fan, but then I tend to
not like sweet liquors.
So, I might have a bottle of whiskey that is under $20 for 1.75l, and
another bottle that is $60-70 for 750ml.
I'm the same with gin, where I buy whatever is on sale of the "usual"
stuff, and then get 375ml bottles of a really good craft gin from my
friend's distillery.
Post by Tony CooperSome of the bottles up there were brought to this house from our last
house, and we've been in this house for over 30 years. Some were
gifts or odd purchases. There's an unopened, still-sealed, bottle of
Curacao that may have come down here with us from Chicago. I don't
know how it's served. There's a bottle of something called Frungelico
that's in an interesting bottle, but almost full.
I had a similar story until we moved the last time, about 6 ½ years
ago. We moved several bottle from our house which were years old, and
many more from my in-law's house that were many more years old (One
bottle of Johnny Walker might have been bought in the 70s). Since moving
into this house, however, I've taken up the habit of drinking.
Where before a bottle of tequila would last me a few years, now it lasts
a few months.
For your bottles, I'd have to look them up. Curaçao is an orange liqueur
which I've only ever used in baking. I assume you would mix it with rum
in some tropical drink with a wedge o pineapple? Never heard of
Frungelico, but it sounds Italian? Frangelico? Google says it's a
hazelnut liqueur. ?shrug?
Rums are very different, and come in at least three main varieties,
silver, dark, and spiced. Some of the spiced rums are "black" and I
would put these in their own category from the usual Cpt Morgan spiced
rum (which I find too sweet, see above).
Post by Tony CooperThe only repeat item is several bottles of akvavit. Every time my
brother visits, he brings a bottle. We make a show of serving it
once, and then it goes back to the cabinet. He's coming again next
week, so I guess we'll have another bottle.
Never heard of that. The definition makes it sound like vodka.
But, like anything, if you have no interest in it, then variety isn't
important to you. If you only have chocolate around for your grandkids,
you're not going to go to Godiva and you might wonder why there's milk
chocolate and dark chocolate and different levels of cocoa. And what is
semi-sweet anyway?
Or me with cars. Does it have 4 wheels and seatbelts and does it go?
That's about all I care about. I can't imagine why anyone would spend
$50,000 on a car, much less $250,000.
--
'Can't argue with the truth, sir.' 'In my experience, Vimes, you can
argue with anything.'