Lets talk about bourbon, scotch and whiskey

[Uncle-A]

Aw, c’mon Tony, tell us how you really feel!

He is a marketing teams dream customer. Tell a story about the product and make it seem luxurious . It what has made French wine more expensive. When it comes to wine it is one of my pet peeves. Sorry.

 

[Flo]

He is a marketing teams dream customer. Tell a story about the product and make it seem luxurious . It what has made French wine more expensive. When it comes to wine it is one of my pet peeves. Sorry.

Are you sure that it's not just because they are better?

 

[Uncle-A]

Are you sure that it's not just because they are better?

Pretty sure since wines from USA have won prizes just like the French wines. They sell for less money than their fancy counterparts.

 

[mdf]

[dons extra curmudgeon hat]

This is what happens when you have "brands" - i.e., when you have packaging whose labels tell you nothing real about the origins of the product. In the wine world - well, in MY wine world, anyway - this is precisely what differentiates an actual wine from a wine-shaped beverage. It's not that the wine-shaped beverage can't be nice to drink. It certainly can. It's just that it's not fundamentally interesting because it doesn't tell you anything about the farmer who grew the grapes or about the earth they grew on or about the history of the vineyard or the weather that year or ... etc. You might as well put it in a black-and-white can labeled "wine."

[back to habitual single curmudgeon hat]

I'm not sure it is that cut-and-dried.
In the wine world there are "custom crush" operations where a wine maker uses someone else's facility, maybe buys grapes from a variety of sources, but at least sometimes, charts his own path.
If you buy the hype on the back of the bottle, something like that happens in the spirits world. For example, High West doesn't try to hide the fact that they use MGP juice. Whistlepig points out that to start a ten-year-old rye you HAVE to start with purchased ingredients. They have a label mythology about finding neglected Canadian stocks at the beginning of the rye revival.

 

[Flo]

Pretty sure since wines from USA have won prizes just like the French wines. They sell for less money than their fancy counterparts.

Just kidding I am french so I am partial. I now live in California and tasted different local wines. I find them very different from what I am used too and overall I would say that in France you have a better correlation between the price and the quality than in California. It's hard to find a bad French wine in the 10-20$ range. In California relationship between price and quality is less obvious. I bought some bottles from 10 to 100$ and quality was all over the place, some excellent surprises but also a lot of expensive disappointment.

 

[mdf]

In California relationship between price and quality is less obvious.

There is lot of good wine at reasonable prices from California. Unfortunately there is also a whole category of high-midrange luxury wines made for people who don't really like wine. I hate 'em. (The wines, that is. Well... maybe the people too...)

 

[Tony S]

I'm not sure it is that cut-and-dried.
In the wine world there are "custom crush" operations where a wine maker uses someone else's facility, maybe buys grapes from a variety of sources, but at least sometimes, charts his own path.

This is totally true. My post was short on nuance.

 

[Tony S]

He is a marketing teams dream customer. Tell a story about the product and make it seem luxurious . It what has made French wine more expensive. When it comes to wine it is one of my pet peeves. Sorry.

With respect, you don't know what bottles I buy, how much I pay, or how marketing plays into it.

In fact I tend to prefer wines, whatever their country of origin, with very low profile or non-existent marketing operations. You only have to look at the ugly labels to see that!

On the whole, significant branding and efforts to establish caché play a role in only a small percentage of euro wines, usually ones that were big and expensive to start with, such as cru classé Bordeaux, Champagnes from large houses, huge Tuscan labels like Ruffino, etc. Often these have been bought by conglomerates.

One reason I often buy European wines is precisely because when well chosen they are LESS expensive for quality. (The Trump wine tax is a whole other topic.) To say that marketing is "what has made French wine more expensive" is pretty rich and only shows that you are the one paying attention to the mass market labels.

I also have a professional background in wine dating back 36 years, so when I taste something I like (or don't) I can explain why without talking out my ass more often than the average Joe.

 

[Uncle-A]

With respect, you don't know what bottles I buy, how much I pay, or how marketing plays into it.

In fact I tend to prefer wines, whatever their country of origin, with very low profile or non-existent marketing operations. You only have to look at the ugly labels to see that!

On the whole, significant branding and efforts to establish caché play a role in only a small percentage of euro wines, usually ones that were big and expensive to start with, such as cru classé Bordeaux, Champagnes from large houses, huge Tuscan labels like Ruffino, etc. Often these have been bought by conglomerates.

One reason I often buy European wines is precisely because when well chosen they are LESS expensive for quality. (The Trump wine tax is a whole other topic.) To say that marketing is "what has made French wine more expensive" is pretty rich and only shows that you are the one paying attention to the mass market labels.

I also have a professional background in wine dating back 36 years, so when I taste something I like (or don't) I can explain why without talking out my ass more often than the average Joe.

It is true I don't know every bottle you purchase, but I have seen what you post in the wine thread. After all this is the whiskey thread and you said here that you want to know about

[dons extra curmudgeon hat] the farmer who grew the grapes or about the earth they grew on or about the history of the vineyard or the weather that year or ... etc.

[back to habitual single curmudgeon hat]

So even though I may purchase some European wines I really try to stay away from the French wine because as I have said before I don't fall for the marketing hype. It is one of my pet peeves. Since no one wins a debate on the internet I will try to end my side now and say enjoy what you drink and I will do the same.

 

[Jilly]

On sale at the SAQ

 

[Uncle-A]

I was having a drink before dinner, just a little bourbon and a splash of water. My wife had made a pork tenderloin for dinner and I finished my drink with dinner. I was surprised how well the bourbon went with the pork tenderloin, so since our wine friends frequently talk about food pairing my question is what foods go best with these three beverages? So Ski Talk community what are your thoughts?

 

[pais alto]

I was having a drink before dinner, just a little bourbon and a splash of water. My wife had made a pork tenderloin for dinner and I finished my drink with dinner. I was surprised how well the bourbon went with the pork tenderloin, so since our wine friends frequently talk about food pairing my question is what foods go best with these three beverages? So SkiTalk community what are your thoughts?

A nice high-proof bourbon (or rye) + a well prepared ribeye = heaven

 

[Dwight]

Tried this yesterday. It was good. I haven't had much Rye before.

 

[Paul Lutes]

I was having a drink before dinner, just a little bourbon and a splash of water. My wife had made a pork tenderloin for dinner and I finished my drink with dinner. I was surprised how well the bourbon went with the pork tenderloin, so since our wine friends frequently talk about food pairing my question is what foods go best with these three beverages? So SkiTalk community what are your thoughts?

Trick question?? Softer, smoother whiskeys go with almost anything; harsher scotches .... not so much.
And Pork should always be eaten with something sweet, so ...... Bourbon!!!! A bourbon-plum glaze is scrumptious on a bone-in thick cut chop.
I've had rye/bourbon with Japanese, Indian, Mexican, French, Polynesian, Philippino, all good.

 

[Paul Lutes]

Splash of Rendezvous Rye on some Sierra granite tonight for Phil's Prohibition.

 

[Ogg]

That's "Mr. Whiskey" to you.

 

[Tricia]

I was watching re-runs of Boston Legal and paused it to get a beverage and the streaming service had this pop up.
Its like they know me!

 

[GregK]

Was at the LCBO for a big shop and noticed the Alberta Cask Strength Whisky back in stock. Was awarded the “best Whisky” last year out of 1200 entries and of course out of stock everywhere last year. $69.99 CAN a bottle which is cheap in the Scotch Whisky realm. Had a taste(filtered water added to put it around 40% alcohol) and can confirm it’s very good!

 

[Tricia]

New addition to the family arrived this afternoon. As of this posting, I can say it’s delicious.

View attachment 34026

PSA Whistlepig having a contest.
WIN A PAIR OF SHOREHAM GLASSES

 

[Tricia]

My local wine store is having a Mad River Distillery tasting (who I quite like) on Saturday and a Whistlepig (which I have mixed experience with ) on Sunday. Oh, and a wine tasting (Groth) too.

While we were in NH for the ski demos we picked up a bottle of Mad River bourbon. It was pretty good but still not my absolute favorite.