Bourban alternatives?

Nu-Centz

Jack is a good friend of mine. Jim is also a part of the gang.

Have you found any other bourbans you could recommend? I would be interested in trying them out based on feedback!

Cheers

rubadub

I don't drink the stuff but have seen lots mention Maker's Mark.

the beer revolu

Try Greenore - its irish but kindof a Bourbon style.
Or Kilbeggan 18 yo really reminds me of Bourbon

gandalf

Not a major Bourbon fan but I did buy a bottle of Woodford Reserve to get me out of my comfort zone around six months ago that I actually quite like. (the bottle shape sold it to me )

Zaph

It's worth trying any of the following if you see them, although I'm not sure if all of them are available here:

Makers Mark
Woodford Reserve
Knob Creek (lovely with a tiny drop of water in it)
Bakers
Booker's
Eagle Rare
Old Charter
Basil Hayden's
And for more every day drinking you can't beat Wild Turkey

johnnyskeleton

Woodford Reserve is nice - intense burbon aromas and flavour so plenty vanilla and coconut, light and sweet body and because it is straight burbon (ie grain whiskey) it has a very smooth finish. (I have an open bottle so was assisted in my post)

Makers Mark is a bit spicier so more like Irish/Scottish whiskey but still very burbon. Probably closer to jack daniels and jim beam than woodford reserve

I would like to try buffalo trace sometime but it ain't all that common and (un)fortunately any establishment that has lots of good burbons also has even more good Irish and Scottish whiskey.

Oh, by the by, jack daniels is technically not a burbon but I don't think anyone who doesn't work for them cares!

irish_goat

Do you drink Jack Daniels with coke? Just asking because in my 6 years of working in a bar I have only ever had 1 person(I do remember them!) ask for a Jack Daniels on it's own. Everyone else has ordered it with coke(or lemonade or even red bull). Unless you've money to burn buying a good bourbon to mix with coke is pointless.

johnnyskeleton

irish_goat wrote: »

Do you drink Jack Daniels with coke? Just asking because in my 6 years of working in a bar I have only ever had 1 person(I do remember them!) ask for a Jack Daniels on it's own. Everyone else has ordered it with coke(or lemonade or even red bull). Unless you've money to burn buying a good bourbon to mix with coke is pointless.

Is it the type of bar that serves 30+ different whisk(e)ys in glencairn or tulip glasses?

As an aside, if someone likes to mix whiskey and coke and is prepared to pay an extra tenner a bottle, why not let them at it? Different whiskeys mixed with coke will taste different.

irish_goat

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Is it the type of bar that serves 30+ different whisk(e)ys in glencairn or tulip glasses?

Is that relevant? It was a reasonably fancy bar with a decent enough Scotch selection but no glencairns. The chances of someone ordering a JD neat in a whiskey bar is probably even slimmer. I actually had some very nice looking JD tumblers which is what I used to serve it.

As an aside, if someone likes to mix whiskey and coke and is prepared to pay an extra tenner a bottle, why not let them at it? Different whiskeys mixed with coke will taste different.

I'm not trying to tell him what to drink but merely saying that the chances are the extra money splashed out for expensive Bourbon won't be worth it if it's mixed with coke.

rubadub

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Is it the type of bar that serves 30+ different whisk(e)ys

This is what drives me mad, vodkas are even worse as there is usually less discernible different between them. You still get (unrenowned) pubs with 20 vodkas and only 1 stout on offer, ONE! and its one of the most popular drinks in bars.

I always wonder what stout loving tourists think of the situation. It would be like an Irish vodka lover going to russia expecting a huge selection and only finding red smirnoff on offer in pubs, and 20 types of stout!

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

As an aside, if someone likes to mix whiskey and coke and is prepared to pay an extra tenner a bottle, why not let them at it?

Let them at it, but I would also like people to be aware they are most probably squandering good money and would equally enjoy a cheaper alternative. JD has this successful rock n' roll type image/marketing which seems to attract many, many JD drinkers will never even bother or think of trying another, like guinness drinkers -an astonishing marketing success. Many pubs treat JD like a premium spirit, so they can be paying over €11 for a 35.5ml shot and 200ml coke. Many do not even realise how relatively expensive normally priced spirits are, i.e. its roughly only half a pints worth of alcohol in a measure but many think its more like a pint -if you worry about such things, and I find most JD drinkers I know would be concerned about such things. I don't know any who drink it neat or with anything other than coke, they are usually lashing it down as an alternative to vodka & coke and only on spirits since they are so full of beer -this goes for most people I know drinking spirits, they only turn to them later on in the night.

No offence to any JD fans, its just my experience.

johnnyskeleton

irish_goat wrote: »

Is that relevant? It was a reasonably fancy bar with a decent enough Scotch selection but no glencairns.

Fancy doesn't necessarily mean it's representative. Quite the opposite in fact. So your specific experience in a fancy bar doesn't translate into the general.

The chances of someone ordering a JD neat in a whiskey bar is probably even slimmer. I actually had some very nice looking JD tumblers which is what I used to serve it.

They serve JD in L Mulligans, among other establishments. It's not unusual to have JD or beam at whiskey tastings. Considering that it's the only one of it's style commonly available, lots of people will drink it neat, if only for comparison with other whiskies.

I'm not trying to tell him what to drink but merely saying that the chances are the extra money splashed out for expensive Bourbon won't be worth it if it's mixed with coke.

It all depends on your idea of "worth it". If I think paying extra makes my whiskey and coke taste better or even if I just want to try it out and am prepared to pay, how is that not "worth it"? I've used different whiskies for cooking, hot whiskies etc and I've noticed the difference, if whiskey and coke is your thing I'm sure you'd notice the difference between different whiskies.

Seaneh

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Fancy doesn't necessarily mean it's representative. Quite the opposite in fact. So your specific experience in a fancy bar doesn't translate into the general.



They serve JD in L Mulligans, among other establishments. It's not unusual to have JD or beam at whiskey tastings. Considering that it's the only one of it's style commonly available, lots of people will drink it neat, if only for comparison with other whiskies.



It all depends on your idea of "worth it". If I think paying extra makes my whiskey and coke taste better or even if I just want to try it out and am prepared to pay, how is that not "worth it"? I've used different whiskies for cooking, hot whiskies etc and I've noticed the difference, if whiskey and coke is your thing I'm sure you'd notice the difference between different whiskies.

I have worked in several bars on and off since before it was legal for me to do so and I have only ever served JD two ways.
With coke or as a shot, never neat in a thumbler or over ice for sipping.

Nobody likes JD, it's kack, so they either mix it with sugar or throw it back as quickly as possible.

johnnyskeleton

Seaneh wrote: »

I have worked in several bars on and off since before it was legal for me to do so and I have only ever served JD two ways.
With coke or as a shot, never neat in a thumbler or over ice for sipping.

Nobody likes JD, it's kack, so they either mix it with sugar or throw it back as quickly as possible.

Well if you want to be guided purely by the voice of popular opinion, then yes, whatever other people do matters.

Just out of curiosity though, in any of those pubs did anyone ask for any other whiskey in a glencairn or tulip glass and give it a full tasting? As reluctant as I am to criticise how someone else drinks their whiskey, neat in a tumbler is not the best way to get the full experience.

Don't get me wrong, I used to think like you do. But, as BeerNut often makes the point, you can be surprised by a blind tasting. Also, to ignore jack daniels is to ignore, in effect, an entire style of whiskey i.e. charcoal filtered grain whiskey. Although there are a few other tennesee style whiskies, few are available, and I haven't seen too many dickels for sale in Ireland.

People spend €125 a bottle on ardbeg aligator. I wonder how many people would prefer the aligator to a jack daniels in a blind test.

dave13

Four Roses is a great Bourbon, even better if you can get the Single barrel cask strength one. Its similar to Jim Beam but a bit smoother

the beer revolu

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Oh, by the by, jack daniels is technically not a burbon but I don't think anyone who doesn't work for them cares!

I would argue that it is technically a Bourbon - they just choose not to label it or market it as such. If they made no change to the process other than printing "Bourbon" on the label - it would be a Bourbon.

johnnyskeleton

the beer revolu wrote: »

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Oh, by the by, jack daniels is technically not a burbon but I don't think anyone who doesn't work for them cares!

I would argue that it is technically a Bourbon - they just choose not to label it or market it as such. If they made no change to the process other than printing "Bourbon" on the label - it would be a Bourbon.

it's a different style of whiskey that is charcoal filtered called "Tennessee whiskey". It's different to most other whiskies in the world.

Brockagh

Sorry if I'm being pedantic... but Evan Williams Black, at least, is charcoal filtered, although maybe using a slightly different process. That's a bourbon.

Is there anything to say that if you filter bourbon like this it's no longer bourbon. Jack Daniel's seems to satisfy the legal definition of bourbon anyway.

Brockagh

Brockagh wrote: »

Sorry if I'm being pedantic... but Evan Williams Black, at least, is charcoal filtered, although maybe using a slightly different process. That's a bourbon.

Is there anything to say that if you filter bourbon like this it's no longer bourbon. Jack Daniel's seems to satisfy the legal definition of bourbon anyway.

I should add that I don't know the difference in how each filters the whiskey...

johnnyskeleton

Brockagh wrote: »

Sorry if I'm being pedantic... but Evan Williams Black, at least, is charcoal filtered, although maybe using a slightly different process. That's a bourbon.

sure. I said most not all.

Is there anything to say that if you filter bourbon like this it's no longer bourbon. Jack Daniel's seems to satisfy the legal definition of bourbon anyway.

it's a bit likethe highland / speyside thing where aberlour, glendronach etc say highland malt. Or to say that islay whiskey is unique because it is heavily peated doesn't mean that there aren't other heavily peated whiskies around the world.

In any event, they seek to distinguish themselves one from the other and insisting on calling them all burbon is a bit like insisting on calling all Scottish whiskey scotch (without distinguishing between regions).

Mantel

Lidl have one I like, Western Gold. It has what I'd consider as a classic burbon taste, something that you couldn't mistake for another type of spirit, so classic it's probably flavoured. Tastes nice and is priced nicely

Brockagh

Speyside whisky is Highland whisky. It's just a subgroup of highland whisky. So all Speyside is Highland but not all HIghland is Speyside.

And there's lots and lots of whiskey in America that's not bourbon and cannot be classed as bourbon.

My favourite American whiskey is probably rye. And there are some great value ryes that are very good too.

suicide_circus

Try Canadian Club, not a bourbon obviously but good