Whisky Liquers

[blackdouglas]

I stopped drinking for 3 months last year so Woodeforde's Admirals Reserve was the last kit I brewed (and a find brew it was too)

I had to go on a diet and lose a few pounds. I love beer too much and I get carried away and binge on it, and then I start eating things like mashed potatoes and cheese at 4 the morning. Not good...

Anyway I'll probably be doing another brew at some point soon, but these days I have been getting into whisky liquers. Drambuie had a promotion offer in tesco just before new year (£16 a bottle!) so I ended up buying one for ne'erday. I also entered the online competition and won another bottle

It's lovely stuff, but it's expensive so I had decided to start experimenting with making my own liqueurs. I found some recipes online that I am sort of following, one using rosemary and fennel with honey. I also just checked out Ralfy's YouTube clip here which is quite informative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmDd_nL_he4

Anyway I got a bottle of Glen Foyle cheap Asda scotch (cheap but also quite nice!) and I've split it up and have one in a jar with some rosemary, some fennel, some back pepper and a lump of dark chocolate. Still at the experimental stage. I bought some honey but this guy says you can use maple syrup so might get some of that for it. Also not sure if rose water is an essential ingredient and whether to get some of that.

Anyway, I'm sure whatever happens it will be drinkable. I will report back with the results.

Anyone into this kind of thing as well?

 

[keith1664]

Not yet.... but you've given me an idea for one of my Christmas presents!

 

[blackdouglas]

Bottle of whisky you don't like?

 

[Moley]

Bottle of whisky you don't like?

:wha: I don't think I've ever come across one of those.

Some is only suitable for drowning with mixers, but surely all whisky is good.

 

[ish1349]

Bottle of whisky you don't like?

:wha: I don't think I've ever come across one of those.

Some is only suitable for drowning with mixers, but surely all whisky is good.

I would say I have come across a whisky that I don't like. For example. I like Aberlour, but I don't like Laphroaig because of the peaty taste to it. Tastes like TCP lol. Read it up. That peaty taste is from the ground. Not a good taste at all for me. Other people mite like it though.

 

[EskiBrew]

That peaty taste is from the ground. Not a good taste at all for me. Other people mite like it though.

Can anyone confirm whether I am right in thinking that the peaty taste is due to the fact that they malt and dry the barley by burning peat?

 

[Moley]

Yes, how much peated barley is used varies from distillery to distillery, but some of it is dried on a perforated kiln floor and peat may be added to the fire below.

The TCP / phenol flavours in island or coastal whiskies is more likely to come from seaweed and salt in the air.

Personally, I like smoky whiskies such as Talisker and the rather distinctive Islay malts, although I find Laphroaig and Lagavulin possibly take it just that little bit too far and I prefer Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain and Caol Ila.

 

[graysalchemy]

Bottle of whisky you don't like?

:wha: I don't think I've ever come across one of those.

Some is only suitable for drowning with mixers, but surely all whisky is good.

You obviously never tried 'Old Inverness' circa 1990 :sick:

Plenty of carp whisky about which would be better employed as paint stripper

 

[keith1664]

Bottle of whisky you don't like?

:wha: I don't think I've ever come across one of those.

Some is only suitable for drowning with mixers, but surely all whisky is good.

Even Famous Grouse?

 

[Moley]

Even Famous Grouse?

Famous Grouse contains Highland Park and Macallan - what's not to like?

Black Grouse is even better :thumb:

Fecked if I know why Snow Grouse is more expensive, that's a grain whisky and much cheaper to produce. I haven't tried that one.

 

[blackdouglas]

Grouse, Bell's, Whyte & Mackay - I wouldn't use to clean my sink. Gut rot.

 

[Moley]

I only drink blended whiskies with dry ginger or occasionally with Irn Bru, so any of those you mentioned are acceptable and even most of the supermarket own brands. I draw the line at Teacher's though.

Ok, so there are actually two whiskies I will try my best to avoid: Teacher's and Glenfiddich.


Going back to the original question, Prestige essences do a whisky liqueur flavouring. Added to a cheap vodka or a 20% abv Alcotec fermented sugar wash it's not bad at all. I halve the sugar they suggest because I find Drambuie quite cloying.

 

[calumscott]

Bells is great.

















For making toddies. And cakes.

 

[blackdouglas]

Aye it's cooking whisky, or I'm old and have no enzymes left in my body anymore so can't tell the difference anyway whisky.

Anyway first effort is definitely drinkable, can really taste the rosemary but missing a citrus element. Think I can taste the bite from the black pepper as well, could see it disolving in the whisky when I stirred it. Think it might benefit from more time or more herbs. Batch two- work in progress. Remember to buy an orange tomorrow. I might try it with the rind from an orange as opposed to a lemon. Batch two will have more time to develop it's own unique influsion of flavonoids.

 

[blackdouglas]

Ok, so there are actually two whiskies I will try my best to avoid: Teacher's and Glenfiddich.
.

I drank a whole bottle of drambuie in one night two weeks ago. I occasionally do that with a bottle of whisky. Strong stuff, but not too sickly after a while it went down like a cold beer on a sunny day. As I said already i quit drinking altogether for 10 weeks and ate loads of apples so my gut flora is fairly healthy and capable of sustaining such an assault at the moment. It's been a long time since I was able to drink whisky neat and appreciate the full flavours. I find that drinking any amount of beer at all impinges on the body's ability to taste all the flavours, and i mean taste in the mouth as well as the stomach, it also has a sense of taste but a different sense. I heard that water can also bring out some of the flavours in a good whisky as well.

I've was never a fan of glenfiddich until I picked up a bottle of their special Caoran blend in flash supermarket clearance sale. It was about half the price, a proper quality 12 year old single malt. I was living in great malvern at the time and drank it with the fresh spring water from the fountain in the centre of town, one of the nicest malts I have ever tasted.