I haven't had that cask strength version yet. They have it at the store so I'll definitely give it a whirl.


Picked up a mixed 12 of Magic Hat beers.. Good stuff. I like their Demo IPA. Hopefully they won't limit it to these mix packs.

Tried a bottle of Delirium Tremens two days ago. Not a fan! Sam told me it was better than Duvel so I bought it with high expectations, but i'd give it a 7/10, and that is being generous. I chilled the bottle for about 30 minutes in the beginning and left it in room temp as I drank the whole bottle, hoping to see a range of different flavors as it warmed up... I honestly liked it best at its coldest/most carbonated point.

I'll stick to Chimay blue or just a Duvel next time

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The first time I had DT (heh) I didn't like it at all. Like, not even a 3/10, but I'm pretty sure because that bottle was skunked. I've had it a couple times since and I like it. I'd also give it a 7/10.

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Hmm, there is a chance you had a bad bottle, but who knows. Not everyone likes the same shit. I think DT is pretty tasty, but I think I like Chimay Blue a lot more. Try and find some St. Bernardus Abt 12. That stuff is awesome! Very comparable to Chimay Blue.

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I couldn't imagine a beer that matches your avatar better.

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Man, still looking for some of that Abt 12. Can't find it!

I've seen that Delirium Nocturnum before.

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Brewed up my own Pale Ale. Took about two months to do it, but it turned out great, just finished conditioning some bottles in the frige two days ago. Past them out to some friends and they loved the stuff, I've yet to drink a bottle.

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Oh nice! Have you had any experience brewing before? I've read a book and some articles about it, but I've never invested the money into getting all the necessaries. Details!

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Rakia

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Actually bought a small starter kit with a malt extract. The kit allowed me to understand the fundamentals of temperature, cleanliness, carbonation, and the time involved with home brewing. It also provided information on different types of hops, different beers and how they ferment, and just gets you down right involved with the chemistry behind it all. Sort of like a kid set for the beginning brewer. The pale ale wort extract is already made, so the task of actually dealing with the barley, hops, and other ingredients is done for you.

However, around the next couple of weeks I'm heading to a home brew store. I'm going to pick up some yeast, hops, and other ingredients to make my own wort for an ale. I have a farmer whom is giving me a fresh 5lb bag of wheat(barley) within the next two weeks, which will approximately provide ample malt for two gallons of ale. So I'll Malt ->Wart->Ferment, each step listed contains multiple tasks, which can be time consuming.

I'm sticking with Ales at the moment because lagers are harder to maintain. Lagers need a lot more attention during fermentation especially temperature wise and take longer to ferment, has a lot to do with ingredients and the way the yeast works(Ales - yeast is top fermenting and works faster because of warmer fermentation temperatures, Lager - yeast is bottom fermenting and works slower due to colder fermenting temperatures. Since I'm starting out I'd rather wait a shorter period of time to see if I've screwed up or not, and it will come out a little cheaper of a screw up. I could tell when I was bottling/carbonating my batch a few weeks ago that I hadn't screwed up and no bacteria had gotten into the mix, and that was by the smell alone. It smelled so fresh coming out the tab, I could have took a drink then.

The starter kits are cool, a highly recommended buy you can keep reusing the equipment as well which is nice for a few test runs until you decide its for you and then you can make a decision to upgrade.

If I find in the next month or so things turn out well for this batch, I'll be please to send anyone a bottle in the mail.

By the way I finally got to try my brew today and it was great.

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That'd be awesome of you if it works out and you send over a bottle. How many bottles do you usually get out of a batch?

Yeah, I have looked into a couple kits. Not too expensive and it does not seem that time consuming, especially for the kits that come with the extract. Its something I'd like to try sometime in the future, though I don't really have the time or space for it right now. I think its something I'd really enjoy, though. I used to grow mushrooms and learning the science and methods behind that was the best part.

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I've grown fond of shitty Sangria in the last while. It tastes like somebody poured slightly carbonated juice in your wine and it gets you drunk. It also sounds better than saying you got drunk off of Mike's or Smirnoff Ice... a little better, at least.

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Pr0az, just so you know and don't get in trouble or have it confiscated after your hard work brewing, USPS doesn't allow shipping of alcoholic beverages or even use of boxes that have been used for alcohol. I think UPS might or another shipper.

I've looked around my backyard where my grandmother told me they used to grow hops here, but it may be a futile search. I've had other old timers pop up in the yard so I'm still hopeful. It was probably easier and cheaper to acquire for them to use it in baking than yeast, but I think my great uncle might have had a little brewing going on. I've got an antique bottler in the basement and I don't think it was just used for ketchup.

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I'm a bitch for drinking so much Wood Chuck cider.

No, you're just a bitch, req'. Cider has nothing to do with it. amirite?

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OH! LBs getting in on the smack down. Don't worry, he won't reply to anything. He just comes in and updates us on his life and then leaves.

I can't get into sangria. Maybe its because I don't like things other than ice floating around in my drink, but also I'm just not a fan of overly-sweet alcoholic drinks. Maybe a glass is nice, but I could never see myself drinking enough to get drunk. 'Course, I've only had sangria maybe two times in my life so maybe it is nice.

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This man knows what's good

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I'll get approximately two gallons of brew with the current fermenter I have, due to its size. So with the five pounds of wheat(barley) I'll be receiving I'll have enough to malt and use in the wart to meet the two gallon capacity. The average beer bottle is around twelve ounces, so I'll get around twenty one twelve ounce bottles.

The wart only makes up about fifteen percent of the actual beer, the other eighty five percent is pure water. I have to carbon filter the water I use which I'm sure will keep me around two gallons for awhile because a Brita takes a long time to filtrate a gallon of water.

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lol I have my moments. The best way to drink sangria is not from a darn punchbowl with a bunch of fruit in it, but around a campfire complete with skeeters and just pass the bottle around.

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I like sweet drinks, and smirnoff ice is pretty cool.

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This is why I don't check back.

I miss you Req, post something more substantial!

Req', I love ya, man. That was just a rare opportunity I had to take advantage of.

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Well maybe if you tried Carlo Rossi sangria haha. That stuff doesn't taste like what they serve in nice restaurants, and it is best served cold. However, it is still pretty dang sweet. Also it is $10 for 4 liters lol.

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But this is why its annoying.

Hahaha, I think this is a good example as to why more isn't always better.

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I had an IPA today brewed by my old brewmaster Greg Nash. He now works at a local brew pub. It was called Hop Mess v. 2..with 1066(theoretical) IBU's, making it the perhaps the hoppiest beer in the world. It was 9.2% and was fucking delicious. Extremely well-balanced for the extreme flavour. It tasted so much like grapefruit that it makes your face pucker up. lol.

Here's his blog with a write-up about some of his beers. Amazing guy. He is fairly renown in Canada but deserves more recognition.

http://hartandthistle.blogspot.com/


Edit - Greg has made all of these beers(and many more)..the ratings speak for themselves.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/20729

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I like the sound of that Hurrican Harvest Double IPA!!

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Further proof that you should always support local brewers

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I need to make it down to San Diego where they brew the Arrogant Bastard stuff. I think in San Diego.. somewhere around there. Maybe a bit higher. I think. I don't know.

Why'd you stop brewing, BB?

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How was brewmaster school?

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I never ended up pursuing it..my dream was cut short when I got laid off at the brewery after only 2 months! I worked my ass off(didn't take breaks) and the owner fucked me over.

It's probably a good thing because excessive beer drinking does NOT help with bodybuilding.

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Escondido, CA. Just went there April, it was the garden of the gods for me. They said that they were going to have a celebration sometime in August commemorating 15 years in business. I think the missus and I may have to pay it a visit along with getting a room out there since we got so trashed last time we went.

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I used to love driving through Escondido and La Jolla when the oranges were ripening. The hillsides looked like they had Christmas trees with orange ornaments. Really pretty for a back east girl. Northern San D. was pretty anyways. Lots of San D. was for that matter. Have you and your Mrs. gone to Black's beach? I never did, but I knew some sailors that did. lol

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Nice! I will have to go check it out then, too.

LB, isn't Black's the nude beach in SD? I've been there on accident. When I was 10 or 11 me and a friend were walking around the normal beach and walked a good mile out around this bend and came across hundreds of naked men. It was awesome.

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I hope you were polite enough to wipe it off and apologize

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haha

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Yeah, that's the one. A few sailors I knew got adventurous and went there only just the opposite happened. They wandered out of that area and into the non-nude place. They were politely showed their error. lol That's pretty funny. Good thing it wasn't a NAMBLA group or they would have been fighting over you!

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They lined up for us!

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Skittle bombs fuckers...

Is that the shit you make by diluting a bunch of skittles in vodka or something?

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Na, it is like a jager bomb but instead of jager you use cointreau.

Heh, I just found an old bottle of Cointreau the other day while cleaning. I don't remember enjoying it.

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Been drinking ruby ports almost exclusively. Red wine with 20% alcohol? Yes please!

Better watch out. Port will put hair on your chest. Do you drink it room temp or cold? I prefer it room temp for the full aroma. It's been a long time though.

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Oh nice, chicks with chest hair

Drinking johnny and coke at the moment.

LB has ball hair so no surprise here.

Pass one over, Agent.

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Well, that's a first.

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Drank a "Double Bastard" the other night, 11.2% alc by vol. Said beer was a good regular ale, but you could taste the higher alcohol content going down it was very warm.

Also had Blue Berry Lager by Magic Hat it was very good. Its not an initial Kool Aid man busting through the wall blue berry taste more of a sharp lager at first.The blue berry after taste goes over well with the tongue.

O and fuck Red Stripe, damn Jamaican Lagers. Piss on them.

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Yeah, her husband's.

4 Pints of Guinness.

btw WTF is a pint? Nobody seems to agree on this. I thought it was 16 oz?

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It is 16 oz only in the United States. The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (and any other commonwealth countries) use the imperial pint, which is 20 oz.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint

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Oh, so the U.S. is being a little bitch. Great.

I once ate at this burger place here in the U.S. and ordered a pint. The girl pulled out a can, opened it, and poured it into a glass for me. I paid $6 for that, I believe. What a whore.

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Holy shit... for a CAN?!?

I could understand $6 if it was a top quality pint of beer poured from a bottle, but if I was charged $6 for something out of a can I'd expect a handjob and a cigar to enjoy with it.

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Beer price's are outrageous at restaurants here in the U.S. I went to Outback last night and paid like 4-6 Dollars a piece for Amstel Light. They get you on the menus because they do not list price's for the beers at most middle range and high end places.

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Once I was drunk and bought a jack and coke in a smaller than normal plastic cup. for $12 dollars. next time that happens im just taking my drink and walking away lol

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Haha yea seriously I don't understand the prices. Are you being charged for convenience? I doubt that having them bring me a beer demands a 500% convenience tax. That is why I don't understand why some people always go to bars. If you seriously want to enjoy some drinks then call up a couple friends and buy a 12 pack for the same price as two drinks at the bar.

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I bought a whole bunch of special herbal liquors at this festival where I was over the weekend. Only 15ml per bottle. It says they will have special effects on your body like make you hyperactive or high or make you horny.
Gonna spread my experience if it was bullshit or not

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It was at a show, I guess that's why. Still outrageously dumb

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The prices at the major league ballparks are crazy from what I understand. Even weinies are very expensive. Beer is a $1.25 at the Am. Legion so if you're a vet or friends with a vet go there. When I worked at a hotel that had a restaurant and bar I think the mark-up was 200%.

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We have this soda here in new york that is supposed to make you smarter or hornier or sleepier.... They trick you into thinking it's legit by calling it "neuroscientific hydration mechanics"... Nasties.

HAHAHA - reading that made my night. The shit people will say and believe.

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Lol like the power bracelet craze. You were lucky if that rubber band actually had a magnet inside of it so you could stick it to the frige and remind your self every time you opened the door how much of an idiot you are.

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The Power Bracelet shit was so beyond retarded I really can't believe more than 2 people bought into that. I still see them on people once in awhile.

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My mom's doc was talking about copper bracelets having placebo effects and he said that if it isn't hurting you and there's a co-incidence of it seeming to help then what the heck.

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No, no, no. It is not okay to promote psuedoscience.

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Okay, how about one of her doc's says to take glucosamine chondroitin for bad joints, but another says there's no way that it can help you. Personally, if you ingest something I'd think it would have some absorption into the system otherwise food would make no diffence, but I don't know if there's valid evidence it does do what it claims. Topical treatments wouldn't work either. I think the first doc is correct.

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In the end our mind is the most effective medicine. Namaste.

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I've been drinking Foster's recently. Its like a single beer that is actually slightly more than 2 beers.

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WAS HE GRATEFUL? HAAAAAAAAALOLOLO!

I was going to make a rain chain out of Foster's cans, but after a couple years went by and I hadn't done it yet I pitched them. I also thought of using them for shingles on my barn, but decided I'd have to take up a can collection to do that.

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nice one... paddy...

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Fosters is like one of the worst beers I've tried in my whole life. Even the 25ct beers are better than that

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I like fosters.

Definitely not the worst, but I wouldn't ever buy it. Plus, I hate it when huge things make my hands look tiny. I usually have to jack-off with my eyes closed.

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Clutch makes a beer with New Belgium!

So awesome.

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Yea its pretty shitty. I still will buy it occasionally when I don't want to spend much and want to get something better than Caguama. Also you get that extra fluid ounce or so compared to other "24 oz" cans haha.

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Does anyone know and good, available vanilla beer? I've been wanting to try this Vanilla Dark Lord beer but its impossible to procure. I fucking love vanilla, I needs it.

And I totally fell for Jester King's Black Metal beer. Its gimmicke but I had to try it and it turned out to be excellent. Its pitch black (naturally) and explodes the palate with coffee, caramel, and all that dark goodness. The restaurant I got it at a few months ago has 3 more, and one of the dudes was nice enough to reserve one for me to pick up later this week (I'm that good looking). They also have a 'Thrash Metal' beer but I haven't tried it yet.

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I've never tried vanilla beer, but I would love to.

Not sure if you're a porter fan or not, but this stuff looks good.

Things like that are usually all in the mind. If you've ever heard of that book by Rhonda Byrne called The Secret you'll know what I mean. If people truly believe something will help, then sometimes it actually will help.

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I have been unable to find that black metal beer anywhere! I'll trade you some east coasty beers (dogfish, victory, founder's or troeg's) for one of those. What's the thrash metal beer supposed to be like? I can only imagine something fruity and german.

God all vanilla beers sound so good to me. Unfortunately that one isn't available near me, according to their beer locator.


When I go to pick up mine I'd be willing to get another to send out to you for a trade of equal value (its $20 [the restaurant marks it up of course, but they're cool enough to let me take it out] and about the size of a wine bottle) if they have any others left (they only had 3 as of Saturday). If they're out, would you want the Thrash Metal beer? They have that too and its a bit cheaper (its a strong Belgian. Here it is on Beer Advocate) and I'd be willing to do the same.

I get most Dogfish Head out here, though I haven't heard of those others. I'll check 'em out and see IF THEY ARE WORTHY!

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blavod

Vodka is really the only alcoholic substance I drink, so it was inevitable that I try this.. Would be a waste to drink this straight since you can get wasted with stuff nearly as good for much cheaper, but it's one of the better brands that I've tried so far.

actually, this is the only "premium" vodka I've tried to date. I have doubts that things get better the more you pay with this stuff.

Somewhere in Germany, Gerre from Tankard just shed a tear of pride. If it was named "Chemical Invasion", I'd try it.

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Buffalo Trace

I just ran out of this and I'm fucking pissed.. Got some cheap rye sitting around, but it just isn't the same

Recently I went to the Yokohama Oktoberfest...here's a few crappy pics.

http://i.imgur.com/PMYAd.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/VF16v.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ulORd.jpg

It was a great time and nice to see some beers available that usually aren't. It was expensive as hell though because with each beer you paid a deposit for the glass. You could turn it in and get another beer (had to pay for the beer itself obviously) or you could just keep the glass. I wound up with 4 or 5 glasses in my backpack by the end of the night. Luckily, none broke on the train ride home.

Cool. Glad you had some fun. It looks like they had a great turnout for it.

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A bit too great of a turnout I'd say. It was very crowded, tough to get a seat. Definitely a good time though, we went there after watching a Japanese baseball game. Also a good time. They definitely know how to do baseball. Beer girls walk buy every other minute it seems. If you are drinking several beers at the game, there is no reason you would be empty handed unless you ran out of yen.

Awww yea! Just got home from a friends house, who was able to pick up a gift box set of Westvleteren 12. http://i.imgur.com/9xfMa.jpg

Number 1 on the RB list: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/top-50/
Number 2 on the BA list, which it used to be #1 when I lived in FL: http://beeradvocate.com/lists/popular

Needless to say, I've been dying to try this stuff since I first heard about it, which was maybe 2005 or 2006.

Well it was pretty damn good to say the least! If you've had St Bernardus 12, it's VERY similar. I'd say it's a bit of a toss up as to which is better. The fact that it's hard to get this stuff probably makes people lean more towards it but I'd rather try them side by side. Either way it's really delicious!

The bad news is, no telling when I'll ever get to try it again.

You lucky son of a bitch! Did your friend get them off ebay or did he bring them back from Europe or what? Give me some nice details of how tasty I'm sure it was.

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Sorry it took me a minute to respond. There was a small beer shop right near the base in Yokosuka that had some good stuff and the owner would randomly get different things which if you didn't get during that time, he probably won't have again for a while. Westvleteren decided to export the beer one time, probably due to popular demand, and the guy at the shop happened to receive a few boxes of it (gift boxes with the glasses and a 6 pack).

It was pretty damn good. Similar to the St. Bernardus Abt 12. If you haven't had that, I highly recommend it.

Someone just posted this http://i.imgur.com/9waCsLK.jpg and now I must find this beer!

taking a break from all the Dogfish head and Deadguy products to experiment with whiskeys!

so far I've tried Buffalo Trace and really enjoyed it. thinking a nice single malt will be next.

Try Laphroaig or Talisker, they aren't the cheapest but they're damn good.

ending up going with glenlivet 12. simple amazing.

Haven't really tried too much, but Buffalo Trace and Four Roses single barrel are both really good bourbons.. I've also tried a couple ryes and ended up really liking Rittenhouse 100 (still prefer the bourbons). Haven't gotten around to trying any European whiskeys yet.

The whiskey market seems to have really amazing stuff at affordable prices.. The same deal goes for Gins and aged Rums. Brandys/Cognacs have been the least reliable in my experience. I've tried a couple Cognacs at the $35-$50 mark, and they were astounding, but the stuff below that (including american brandy's) have ranged from satisfactory to unusable.

Everyone has different tastes, but I much prefer Laphroaig. Check it out some time.



Heh I used to drink the shit out of some Four Roses when I was in Japan. Prior to that, I had never even seen it on sale.

Picked up some Glenfiddich 12 yro since it was relatively cheap compared to other single malts.. It's pretty damn good if you can find it for a reasonable price ($27), but most places charge $10 more than that. I'll probably shell out for something higher-end at some point.

I doubt anyone is interested in aged rums, but I picked up my second one. Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva.. The stuff is pretty amazing for sipping at $29-$35.. Other one I've had is El Dorado 12, and I still prefer it for the less sweet and drier profile (it's also cheaper).

If you're into islays.. heavy stuff! (though I can't fault it)