OT: Anything Goes 40

[ChiHawks10]

Noice. How do you feel about your ice? Big cube or regular rocks?

If I'm not doing it neat, it has to be a big cube. Depends on my mood if I'm doing it on ice or neat. Type of whiskey depends on my mood too. Sometimes Scotch, sometimes Bourbon or American whiskey, and occasionally an Irish, but not often.

 

[ChiHawks10]

Whiskey snifter. Neat. 2 packets of Splenda.

kidding about the Splenda, bad Office joke

I have a bottle of Barrell finished in cognac casks that I haven't cracked, yet. Only barrel of it that came to Illinois, and my guy's store got it. Supposed to be fantastic.

Dovetail and Seagrass by Barrell are both fantastic bottles, if you see them. They didn't last long here.

 

[x Tame Impala]

FWIW in my bartending years i found the best way to ice your liquor isn't with the big cubes, but with the several larger rocks, if that makes sense. Regular rocks melt too fast, the big cube is nice but you need a wider glass to drink out of otherwise the big cube is still 90% covered and melting, which IMO waters your glass down too fast. The whiskey stones are completely useless from my experience

Something like this...

 

[RayP]

I have a bottle of Barrell finished in cognac casks that I haven't cracked, yet. Only barrel of it that came to Illinois, and my guy's store got it. Supposed to be fantastic.

Dovetail and Seagrass by Barrell are both fantastic bottles, if you see them. They didn't last long here.

Seagrass is great. I think I've had 3 bottles of it now. It's just sits on shelves here. Not sure why I've never gotten a bottle of Dovetail. I need to replenish a bottle though so maybe that's next.

FWIW in my bartending years i found the best way to ice your liquor isn't with the big cubes, but with the several larger rocks, if that makes sense. Regular rocks melt too fast, the big cube is nice but you need a wider glass to drink out of otherwise the big cube is still 90% covered and melting, which IMO waters your glass down too fast. The whiskey stones are completely useless from my experience

Something like this...

It does. I quickly learned that the spheres are terrible for say a vodka soda. Never really thought about it previously, but makes sense now that I've experienced it.

 

[madgoat33]

Picked up a bottle of blantons 2 weeks ago, too cowardly to drink it thus far. Stopped dabbling in liquor a few years ago and not sure i'm ready for that life again.

 

[RayP]

Picked up a bottle of blantons 2 weeks ago, too cowardly to drink it thus far. Stopped dabbling in liquor a few years ago and not sure i'm ready for that life again.

Send it my way. I can never find Blantons when I'm looking for it.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Picked up a bottle of blantons 2 weeks ago, too cowardly to drink it thus far. Stopped dabbling in liquor a few years ago and not sure i'm ready for that life again.

Blanton's is a nice bourbon. Not always easy to find.

I've been a huge fan of Weller the last few years. Sazerac Rye is a great cocktail whiskey as well

 

[RayP]

I like Weller a lot.

 

[ChiHawks10]

Seagrass is great. I think I've had 3 bottles of it now. It's just sits on shelves here. Not sure why I've never gotten a bottle of Dovetail. I need to replenish a bottle though so maybe that's next.



It does. I quickly learned that the spheres are terrible for say a vodka soda. Never really thought about it previously, but makes sense now that I've experienced it.

Oh I can go get a Dovetail or Seagrass right now. I meant they didn't last long in my house. Lol.

Blanton's is a nice bourbon. Not always easy to find.

I've been a huge fan of Weller the last few years. Sazerac Rye is a great cocktail whiskey as well

I like Weller a lot.

Even the green label from Weller is easy drinking stuff. I have 2 of them right now. It regularly hits shelves here in Chicago about once a month at Binny's.

Binny's just had a store pick Weller Full Proof drop, as well as Weller 12. Both went really fast... if you weren't there when they put it out, it was gone within an hour at most stores. Anything outside of the Weller SR is gone really fast, or gets held for the store's whiskey list, generally.

 

[RayP]

Oh I can go get a Dovetail or Seagrass right now. I meant they didn't last long in my house. Lol.





Even the green label from Weller is easy drinking stuff. I have 2 of them right now. It regularly hits shelves here in Chicago about once a month at Binny's.

Binny's just had a store pick Weller Full Proof drop, as well as Weller 12. Both went really fast... if you weren't there when they put it out, it was gone within an hour at most stores. Anything outside of the Weller SR is gone really fast, or gets held for the store's whiskey list, generally.

Oh haha obviously read that wrong. Seagrass is one of my favorite bottles I've ever had when you factor in price and ease of getting it. Hard to beat.

 

[ChiHawks10]

Oh haha obviously read that wrong. Seagrass is one of my favorite bottles I've ever had when you factor in price and ease of getting it. Hard to beat.

It's a fantastic bottle. Dovetail is just as good. I highly suggest you pick one up.

 

[ChiHawks10]

As far as Blanton's, it's not bad, but I think there are far better bottles out there for less, and they're far more accessible. I have one, but I don't go out of my way looking for it, and I would never pay over the retail price for it. Most places sell em for like $100-120, and I would never pay more than $60 for it.

 

[x Tame Impala]

As far as Blanton's, it's not bad, but I think there are far better bottles out there for less, and they're far more accessible. I have one, but I don't go out of my way looking for it, and I would never pay over the retail price for it. Most places sell em for like $100-120, and I would never pay more than $60 for it.

Blanton's is $100+????? Wow. It was priced a notch or so above things like Woodford and Basil Hayden when it was at the restaurant i was working at a few years ago. I definitely wouldn't pay that much for it now.

I like Weller a lot but do get annoyed with it's limited availability. I never dug into the reasons why. Is it actually that difficult to make or do they just choose to make so little of it? Artificial scarcity is a consumer turn off.

 

[ChiHawks10]

Blanton's is $100+????? Wow. It was priced a notch or so above things like Woodford and Basil Hayden when it was at the restaurant i was working at a few years ago. I definitely wouldn't pay that much for it now.

I like Weller a lot but do get annoyed with it's limited availability. I never dug into the reasons why. Is it actually that difficult to make or do they just choose to make so little of it? Artificial scarcity is a consumer turn off.

Yeah, it's ridiculous. The whiskey world has gone nuts bro. It's why I got out of messing with it. Too much chasing and bullshit, and tons of asskissing to get anything allocated.

What happens is the demand has exploded for it. High demand, plus lower supply, creates outrageous prices. Not only has the retail market gone up, but the secondary market, also. Now you also have retailers(small liquor stores) that are charging secondary prices for these bottles when they do get them, because they don't want to sell em for retail, and have someone turn around and flip them for 10-20x what they sold it for.

When you figure the best of them take 8, 10, 12, 14+ years in barrels... they do make limited amounts. There's nothing artificial about scarcity right now, it's just everyone got into whiskey. Companies are still producing the same amounts, but you have 100x the people looking for all the same shit.

So high demand whiskey goes "allocated" at which point the distributors get to allocate the product where they want. Most the time it's the stores that sell a bunch of their bullshit products get the most of the allocated stuff. Then the stores turn around, and instead of putting it on shelves, they build a whiskey list, and you get higher on the list by spending more money at the store... That's how Binny's does it.

So all of this has created a massive secondary market for whiskey. Like... bottles that retail for $45 like Weller 107(red label) go for $100+ because you have a bunch of boners with FOMO that are willing to spend that. Then you take the really high-end rare stuff, like the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, and those bottles see such limited production, that they retail for like $100-150. Now those bottles go for $1000-2000 or more on the secondary market. It's the same with all the Van Winkle lineup of bottles. You have the Pappy Van Winkle 23 year aged going for like $5000+ on the secondary market... when it retails for like $199.

It's pretty f***ing outrageous, honestly. All of this is why I stopped chasing shit. I can go and find a LOT of very good whiskey sitting on the shelf for $50-100, and it blows many of those bottles away. It's just hype and rarity driving prices way up.

I have a few rare bottles of stuff. But I'm done chasing after it all. It's not worth my time, and I'm not paying secondary prices...

 

[x Tame Impala]

Yeah, it's ridiculous. The whiskey world has gone nuts bro. It's why I got out of messing with it. Too much chasing and bullshit, and tons of asskissing to get anything allocated.

What happens is the demand has exploded for it. High demand, plus lower supply, creates outrageous prices. Not only has the retail market gone up, but the secondary market, also. Now you also have retailers(small liquor stores) that are charging secondary prices for these bottles when they do get them, because they don't want to sell em for retail, and have someone turn around and flip them for 10-20x what they sold it for.

When you figure the best of them take 8, 10, 12, 14+ years in barrels... they do make limited amounts. There's nothing artificial about scarcity right now, it's just everyone got into whiskey. Companies are still producing the same amounts, but you have 100x the people looking for all the same shit.

So high demand whiskey goes "allocated" at which point the distributors get to allocate the product where they want. Most the time it's the stores that sell a bunch of their bullshit products get the most of the allocated stuff. Then the stores turn around, and instead of putting it on shelves, they build a whiskey list, and you get higher on the list by spending more money at the store... That's how Binny's does it.

So all of this has created a massive secondary market for whiskey. Like... bottles that retail for $45 like Weller 107(red label) go for $100+ because you have a bunch of boners with FOMO that are willing to spend that. Then you take the really high-end rare stuff, like the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, and those bottles see such limited production, that they retail for like $100-150. Now those bottles go for $1000-2000 or more on the secondary market. It's the same with all the Van Winkle lineup of bottles. You have the Pappy Van Winkle 23 year aged going for like $5000+ on the secondary market... when it retails for like $199.

It's pretty f***ing outrageous, honestly. All of this is why I stopped chasing shit. I can go and find a LOT of very good whiskey sitting on the shelf for $50-100, and it blows many of those bottles away. It's just hype and rarity driving prices way up.

My restaurant only carried Weller because they wanted to be able to start selling Papi. It was a nation wide restaurant and there was some glitch in the system too where we'd sell Weller manhattan's for $9. It was our "well" bourbon for a while if you can believe it.

Ok that makes sense. It's the same reason i got out of craft beer. I remember waiting outside a binny's for some rare Pipeworks release 5 or so years ago because a buddy of mine was really into beer and i wanted to get it as a christmas gift. I felt like a total chump waiting in a line for 45 minutes to get a $30 4 pack (or whatever it was). The quality and precision that goes into making some of these spirits/wines/beers is sometimes very impressive and the end product is spectacular, but i'm not a patient person and if i have to make a serious effort just for booze i'd rather just get something else.

You all should start getting into Mezcal. There are a lot of great ones out there and they're not terribly pricey. Lots of complex flavors that are totally unique to the region they're made in.

 

[madgoat33]

As far as Blanton's, it's not bad, but I think there are far better bottles out there for less, and they're far more accessible. I have one, but I don't go out of my way looking for it, and I would never pay over the retail price for it. Most places sell em for like $100-120, and I would never pay more than $60 for it.

I paid 60.

 

[ChiHawks10]

My restaurant only carried Weller because they wanted to be able to start selling Papi. It was a nation wide restaurant and there was some glitch in the system too where we'd sell Weller manhattan's for $9. It was our "well" bourbon for a while if you can believe it.

Ok that makes sense. It's the same reason i got out of craft beer. I remember waiting outside a binny's for some rare Pipeworks release 5 or so years ago because a buddy of mine was really into beer and i wanted to get it as a christmas gift. I felt like a total chump waiting in a line for 45 minutes to get a $30 4 pack (or whatever it was). The quality and precision that goes into making some of these spirits/wines/beers is sometimes very impressive and the end product is spectacular, but i'm not a patient person and if i have to make a serious effort just for booze i'd rather just get something else.

You all should start getting into Mezcal. There are a lot of great ones out there and they're not terribly pricey. Lots of complex flavors that are totally unique to the region they're made in.

One of the biggest problems is the distributors.

They'll make these small mom and pop shops order a pallet of 200 cases of some $9 vodka, just to get 1 case of a rare allocated whiskey. Then those 200 cases sit there as just sunk cost for what? A few hundred dollars in profit from the 1 case of allocated shit they got? Which is why the small stores charge secondary prices for all the allocated stuff now. I don't blame them. I blame the distributors, and the douchebags who are willing to pay secondary prices for all this shit.

And it's not specific to just whiskey. The craft beer scene isn't what it used to be, but they still pull the same shit. They'll allocate them 1 case of each of the Bourbon County variants every year, but they force them into x amount of 312 and shit like that in order to get it. Like 1000 cases of 312, to get a whopping 50-60 bottles of the Bourbon County beers in November/December. I know all this because I'm friends with a guy who owns a liquor store, and belong to some different beer forums.

I'm actually happy because the whiskey scene took all the pressure off the craft and barrel-aged beer scene, making it a lot easier to acquire the beers I like, and essentially killing most of the secondary beer market.

I paid 60.

Yeah, I happened upon them in Binny's a couple times and paid the $55 retail just to have a bottle or two. Drank one, still have one I haven't cracked. Most the time you won't find it for that cheap, though. Little stores sell it for $100+. Only way you get it at retail is walking in a Binny's or Woodman's, or even a Walmart or Target or something like that with perfect timing.

 

[madgoat33]

One of the biggest problems is the distributors.

They'll make these small mom and pop shops order a pallet of 200 cases of some $9 vodka, just to get 1 case of a rare allocated whiskey. Then those 200 cases sit there as just sunk cost for what? A few hundred dollars in profit from the 1 case of allocated shit they got? Which is why the small stores charge secondary prices for all the allocated stuff now. I don't blame them. I blame the distributors, and the douchebags who are willing to pay secondary prices for all this shit.

And it's not specific to just whiskey. The craft beer scene isn't what it used to be, but they still pull the same shit. They'll allocate them 1 case of each of the Bourbon County variants every year, but they force them into x amount of 312 and shit like that in order to get it. Like 1000 cases of 312, to get a whopping 50-60 bottles of the Bourbon County beers in November/December. I know all this because I'm friends with a guy who owns a liquor store, and belong to some different beer forums.

I'm actually happy because the whiskey scene took all the pressure off the craft and barrel-aged beer scene, making it a lot easier to acquire the beers I like, and essentially killing most of the secondary beer market.



Yeah, I happened upon them in Binny's a couple times and paid the $55 retail just to have a bottle or two. Drank one, still have one I haven't cracked. Most the time you won't find it for that cheap, though. Little stores sell it for $100+. Only way you get it at retail is walking in a Binny's or Woodman's, or even a Walmart or Target or something like that with perfect timing.

I know a guy at a meijer

 

[Putt Pirate]

I like Weller a lot.

I won a bottle form a drawing at Total Wine. I really enjoy it…so different from my regular Basil Hayden. They are both good in their own ways but one is easy to get for retail and the other not.

 

[Bubba88]

Yesterday was Nico Sturms day with the Cup. He was in Augsburg and all fans who wanted to take a picture with him and the Cup got the chance.

I f***ing touched the Cup yesterday. That was a once in the lifetime.

 

[Pez68]

Yesterday was Nico Sturms day with the Cup. He was in Augsburg and all fans who wanted to take a picture with him and the Cup got the chance.

I f***ing touched the Cup yesterday. That was a once in the lifetime.

Super cool. Congrats.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Yesterday was Nico Sturms day with the Cup. He was in Augsburg and all fans who wanted to take a picture with him and the Cup got the chance.

I f***ing touched the Cup yesterday. That was a once in the lifetime.

That’s awesome!

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Two big deaths in acting world today

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Man, my four year-old son is dealing with his first death, his grandma's cat, and it is damn heart-wrenching to go through. He apparently just asked his other grandma this afternoon if the cat gets good cat food and gets to play with other cats in heaven.

The things you don't anticipate as a parent, man...

He's thankfully handling it like a trooper. He had a good half hour cry session after we let him know of the cat's passing and has been inquisitive off and on ever since.

 

[Krivo25]

I know Courtney's probably not gonna toot her horn but Jacalyn and herself have a swag shop.https://www.fromcenterice.shop/