Whiskey Snobbery In Thailand.

[Travel2003]

Any of you noticed some thais walking into a restaurant with an expensive whiskey box,inside of which is a not so expensive brand bottle?

Last night i was impressed to see a group of thais sitting down for a meal near me,& opening a bottle of cheap & cheerful Mekong whiskey,which brought back hazy memories of holidays in thailand around 15 years ago.

Surely its going to be hard to appreciate the difference between whiskey brands once they have been diluted by soda & ice,so is it only image?

The same thing with Jack Daniels & coke in the west.After you put the sugary stuff in can you really tell whiskey apart?

Noticed that too.

I do not know much about Whiskey, but I found out I like the taste of Chivas. I drink it with ice. Sometimes a little water in it when Im out with thais, as they want to raise the glasses all the time, and they have watered out their drinks.

I bet you didnt expect your thread to turn out to be a competition among westerners about who knows most about whiskey.

[JSixpack]

I fancy a wee dram of Laphroaig from time to time myself....

Me, too. Got a bottle on the shelf now and do have a shot once in a while.

But if it's just a tipple to enjoy with the evening, for my (nearly no) money, I'd buy Benmore- it's drinkable (better than 100 P's to me), it's barely more expensive than the much, much worse alternatives beneath it, and it apparently was actually bottled in Scotland (though not sold there).

I totally agree. I had once even thought about starting a thread about Benmore as a good value but didn't want to deal with all the trolls and idiotic responses.

Laphroaigh is one of my favourites, and I've always got a bottle at home. I suppose it is a bit of an acquired taste though.

I quite like the Macallen Single malt as well, and there's a half empty bottle looking at me now.

As for drinking with mixers, nothing wrong with Benmore, 100 Pipers or Johnny Red for an evening session.

Mixing . . . waste of good liquor . Straight up, there's a significant difference between 100 Pipers and Benmore, as mrtoad points out. Macallan is fantastic but way overpriced in Thailand.

[tasasc]

I enjoy an occasional Macallan or Bowmore whisky (it only has the "e" if it's Irish or American), but the Appreciation groups here in Scotland can outdo the wine snobs in their descriptions.

Here's an example -

" Few people have ever tasted this malt, it is one of seven styles made in a single distillery on ‘the bonny banks…’ The early aromas are highly phenolic – warm tar, Germolene, Elastoplast, carbolic – but behind them lurks mint sauce and a curious curry note (chicken korma? Thai green curry, with coconut milk?). Very big in the mouth, unashamedly raw and intense; oily, with traces of burnt rubber. Water continues this grubby theme: smoky bandages, hemp rope, cat litter, but then creamy custard and crème caramel. The taste rather follows this: sweet and burnt, with coal smoke (or empty hearth), and a pleasant mentholated effect in the medium-length finish. Most unusual. Unrefined and out of balance, but it works! The Panel loved it!"

Germolene?

Cat Litter?

[Alonso's Army]

How can you tell if the Johnny Walker is real or fake in Thailand?

[cloudhopper]

If you can't drink it neat, then mixing any sort of really good booze with anything but water and/or ice is a waste IMO...

[Samuian]

Mixing good Spirits, might that be Cognac, Armanac, Whisky, Whiskey, Schnapps like Kirsch, Williams or Grappa with any liquid except good quality non fizzy springwater and ice (of good quality) is like pouring water into the gravy or sawmill dust into your cereals!

any more?

[bonobo]

Jack Daniels is a bourbon whiskey which differs from scotch whiskey. Being a yank, I miss JD. I know it is sold in the mall close to my home for around 950 baht per bottle. Hmm, maybe I will pick up a bottle after work.

So what is the difference between bourbon and scotch? Besides the "whiskey" and "whisky" spelling i just read in another post. And then there is sour mash whiskey.

jack daniels is whiskey.

whiskey and bourbon are one and the same thing, the difference being , only whiskey made in kentucky can be called bourbon, thats why jim beam is called a bourbon and jack daniels is called whiskey because its made in tennesse.

sour mash whiskey is the name of the mash used to make the whiskey, it sounds good,but its just like saying barley mash whiskey, all whiskeys start with a mash which is then fermented before being distilled, the process for all is basically the same, the reason for the different taste will depend on whether its a grain or malt whiskey coupled with the source of the water,the type of still used to distill the raw produce and finally the type of barrels the raw whiskey is stored in and where these barrels are stored.

typically these barrels are only used three times, each time they are used they are marked with an x, thats why in the cartoons you some times see whiskey bottles with 3 xs on them.

Thanks!

[Moonrakers]

If out, and drinking to get drunk then I'd normally just drink beer because if I hit the spirits then I get too drunk too soon and my night ends up being cut short.

I do like a good whisky however when drinking (Normally at home) for pleasure as opposed to drinking to get drunk. I once treated myself to a bottle of 21 year single-malt Glenffidich from Singapore duty free, words just can't describe how good it tasted.

I was happy to share of course, but under no circumstances would a drop of that fine Scotch see any mixer apart from a splash of water, and anybody wanting to mix was handed a bottle of sang-som with their coke.

That bottle lasted me about 1 month as I'd simply enjoy up to 3 glasses a night before sleeping, I think that I may treat myself again soon.

[boiledegg]

I'm not a connoisseur of whiskeys, and am not particularly fond of scotch. I started drinking JD because most places didn't carry my favourite brand (Canadian Club).

JD and Canadian club arent for the cosnnoisseur theyre more for school kids and women IMO.

Ive always thought people who go on about good wines are so up there ass as after 1 glass it all tastes the same, ive now realised im the same with whiskey.

[Ulysses G.]

I've always thought people who go on about good wines are so up their ass. I've now realised it's the same with whiskey.

Post of the week!

Edited June 13, 2008 by Ulysses G.

[mizzi39]

I'm not a connoisseur of whiskeys, and am not particularly fond of scotch. I started drinking JD because most places didn't carry my favourite brand (Canadian Club).

JD and Canadian club arent for the cosnnoisseur theyre more for school kids and women IMO.

Ive always thought people who go on about good wines are so up there ass as after 1 glass it all tastes the same, ive now realised im the same with whiskey.

So what do the "connoisseur's" drink? Maybe you could enlighten us school kids. There are some top of the line whiskey's on the market such as Cave creek and Booker's. You find more scotch because scotch gets better with age. Bourbon does not, so it has a shorter life span, yet I will take a fine bourbon over scotch any day. Canadian club, J&B, Black velvet, etc. are in a class of their own and are neither a bourbon or a scotch.

[boiledegg]

If i could afford it JW Blue label, but as i cant i stick to Black Label and Jamesons. Preferably with schwepes ginger ale and a bit of ice, so no im not really a connoisseur.

[uptou]

Who's this french bloke some posters are refering too?

I suppose i was just thinking that i find funny that anybody would take the trouble to buy a more expensive brand whiskey/whisky,bourbon,rum,horse p!ss,whatever,& then fill most of the glass with soda,& then make out that they buy it because its a superior drop.All good fun.

Anyway back to me beer laos

[rgs2001uk]

I'm not a connoisseur of whiskeys, and am not particularly fond of scotch. I started drinking JD because most places didn't carry my favourite brand (Canadian Club).

JD and Canadian club arent for the cosnnoisseur theyre more for school kids and women IMO.

Ive always thought people who go on about good wines are so up there ass as after 1 glass it all tastes the same, ive now realised im the same with whiskey.

So what do the "connoisseur's" drink? Maybe you could enlighten us school kids. There are some top of the line whiskey's on the market such as Cave creek and Booker's. You find more scotch because scotch gets better with age. Bourbon does not, so it has a shorter life span, yet I will take a fine bourbon over scotch any day. Canadian club, J&B, Black velvet, etc. are in a class of their own and are neither a bourbon or a scotch.

a popular missconception, whisky,scotch,whiskey or whatever you choose to call it, only gets better with age while its in the barrel, the longer it ages in the barrel the better it will taste, thats why 12,18 and 25 year ( in the barrel ) old whisky tastes better than say a 5 or 8 year old whisky.

once the whisky has been bottled it can not improve its taste or colour, in theory a bottle of lets say johnny walker black label bottled last week will taste the same as a bottle of johnny walker black bottled 5 years ago.

ps where has frenchie got to?

[Moonrakers]

JW Green is quite smooth, and not much more pricey than JW black. And of course JW Blue is lovely, but the price isn't. I did buy a bottle of JW Gold once but I was not impressed, maybe I was sold a fake.

As I mentioned before Glenfiddich make a lovely scotch, a 21 yr single malt that I bought once was so good that even my wife insisted on not mixing it.

[Gary A]

Jamesons is a good tasting whiskey and tastes similar to Canadian Club and other Canadian whiskeys. No way does ot taste anything like Scotch Whisky/whiskey.

[the highlander]

I live on Speyside (born in Cardhu) and as long as you keep buying bottles of malt most locals would not care if you washed your windows with it!!

If you want to pay extra for a quality dram and want to mix it with coke then by all means do so, if it suits your taste then why not? I would not mix a decent drop with anything other than water or ice but my idea of a good dram is different to anyone else's so it is a mute point!

Even mixed with coke I could tell the difference between most popular brands of whisky but I would struggle identifying single malts!!

[JSixpack]

I would not mix a decent drop with anything other than water or ice but my idea of a good dram is different to anyone else's so it is a mute point!

Right.

But I would just urge those who are mixing good whiskey to spend some time learning to drink it straight, with water or ice at the beginning perhaps. After you get used to the wonderful pure taste, you'll never go back.

[swain]

I would not mix a decent drop with anything other than water or ice but my idea of a good dram is different to anyone else's so it is a mute point!

Right.

But I would just urge those who are mixing good whiskey to spend some time learning to drink it straight, with water or ice at the beginning perhaps. After you get used to the wonderful pure taste, you'll never go back.

I tried drinking whiskey straight... never enjoyed the taste... seems like its expensive habit as well when drinking an inexpensive "drop" with some coke tastes great.

I would put most of you up to a taste test... with vodka and oj or gin and tonic and or rum and coke and most would fail to identify the expensive "drop".... up or on the rocks I am sure you can identify your brand of choice.. which really proves nothing.

Edited June 17, 2008 by swain