What are you drinking right now?

[Gibonius]

It's been awhile since my last batch, so I've got two different 2L barrels of cocktails aging. One of Trident: Aalborg aquavit, Cynar, and Tio Pepe dry sherry. Another with Manhattan, 2:1 bourbon to vermouth. I'm doing Makers and Yzaguirre vermouth this time.

I usually add the bitters during the aging but heard not to, so I'm trying that out. I like to sub out the peach bitters from the Trident for grapefruit.


Three weeks in now. The Trident is really coming along. This may be my favorite barrel aged cocktail, something really fantastic happens to it with age. I'm really looking forward to 6 weeks in or so, that was the magic point last time.

Manhattan is good, but it's smoothing out the bitterness of the Yzaguirre which is making the whole thing a little more mellow than I might go for. I think it would have been better with rye, especially something higher proof. Punching it up a bit with some Scrappy's Creole bitters currently.

 

[b1os]

It's been awhile since my last batch, so I've got two different 2L barrels of cocktails aging. One of Trident: Aalborg aquavit, Cynar, and Tio Pepe dry sherry. Another with Manhattan, 2:1 bourbon to vermouth. I'm doing Makers and Yzaguirre vermouth this time.

I usually add the bitters during the aging but heard not to, so I'm trying that out. I like to sub out the peach bitters from the Trident for grapefruit.


Three weeks in now. The Trident is really coming along. This may be my favorite barrel aged cocktail, something really fantastic happens to it with age. I'm really looking forward to 6 weeks in or so, that was the magic point last time.

Manhattan is good, but it's smoothing out the bitterness of the Yzaguirre which is making the whole thing a little more mellow than I might go for. I think it would have been better with rye, especially something higher proof. Punching it up a bit with some Scrappy's Creole bitters currently.

That Aquavite one sounds very interesting.

Plain old Yzaguirre? It's like 9 € / litre here and really not that exciting, imo. Haven't tried the reserva yet.

If you guys can get a hold of this, buy it.

Probably will never be able to find the left bottle (aged for 5 years in oak barrels). What's unique about their nocino/nocillo is that they press the walnut halves after straining, then distill the juices and add it back to the nocino/nocillo. Really good. Villa Zarri's is also great.

 

[erictheobscure]

I'd never heard of the Trident before, and now I really want to try one.

 

[OtterMeanGreen]

It's been awhile since my last batch, so I've got two different 2L barrels of cocktails aging. One of Trident: Aalborg aquavit, Cynar, and Tio Pepe dry sherry. Another with Manhattan, 2:1 bourbon to vermouth. I'm doing Makers and Yzaguirre vermouth this time.

I usually add the bitters during the aging but heard not to, so I'm trying that out. I like to sub out the peach bitters from the Trident for grapefruit.


Three weeks in now. The Trident is really coming along. This may be my favorite barrel aged cocktail, something really fantastic happens to it with age. I'm really looking forward to 6 weeks in or so, that was the magic point last time.

Manhattan is good, but it's smoothing out the bitterness of the Yzaguirre which is making the whole thing a little more mellow than I might go for. I think it would have been better with rye, especially something higher proof. Punching it up a bit with some Scrappy's Creole bitters currently.

You sound like you know your way around making a great cocktail. Truth be told know I've never actually had a bourbon cocktail before. However I have put great research into the ingredients for making a proper Old Fashioned. From the bitters to even what kind of water to use for the ice. What I put most of my research though was deciding whether to use bourbon or rye and which one. I ended up (after research and 3 attempts) choosing Ritenhouse Rye, as it held it's spice character during dilution.

 

[Gibonius]

I'd never heard of the Trident before, and now I really want to try one.

That Aquavite one sounds very interesting.

Trident is an interesting cocktail. It's a Negroni variant at heart, with more exotic ingredients. It's less bitter than you might imagine for something that prominently features Cynar, and the caraway from the aquavit is a neat change from gin.

Plain old Yzaguirre? It's like 9 € / litre here and really not that exciting, imo. Haven't tried the reserva yet.

It's the reserve, which is like $20/liter over here. It's a fine vermouth, has a nice profile for winter cocktails. Has entered my vermouth rotation, although mostly for cocktails

Reminds me of Barcelona too, so that's a plus.

 

[Principle]

First encounter

 

[OtterMeanGreen]

Blanton’s Single Barrel Select from an award winning store in New Jersey. Haven’t had Blanton’s in over 2 years, and boy did I miss it. Lately the market is trying to forcefully allocate this bourbon; price increases & limited stock are becoming commonplace. I was lucky enough to snag this bottle for $66 (seeing that it’s a select). The standard stuff is being sold for $60.

 

[sftiger]

Blanton’s Single Barrel Select from an award winning store in New Jersey. Haven’t had Blanton’s in over 2 years, and boy did I miss it. Lately the market is trying to forcefully allocate this bourbon; price increases & limited stock are becoming commonplace. I was lucky enough to snag this bottle for $66 (seeing that it’s a select). The standard stuff is being sold for $60.

View attachment 1129861

Love Joe Canal's! Moved away from NJ and really miss that store.

 

[OtterMeanGreen]

Love Joe Canal's! Moved away from NJ and really miss that store.

Which one did you shop from? I usually buy from the Woodbridge/Iselin location off of Route 1. That Blanton's is from Egg Harbor Township, which is down south

 

[sftiger]

Which one did you shop from? I usually buy from the Woodbridge/Iselin location off of Route 1. That Blanton's is from Egg Harbor Township, which is down south

Lawrenceville. It always confused me that such a no-frills store that was effectively a warehouse with a cash register had such amazing selection vs. some of the higher end liquor stores in town (not Lawrenceville, since it's dry) but I guess that's how these big stores go.

 

[OtterMeanGreen]

Lawrenceville. It always confused me that such a no-frills store that was effectively a warehouse with a cash register had such amazing selection vs. some of the higher end liquor stores in town (not Lawrenceville, since it's dry) but I guess that's how these big stores go.

I hear Lawrenceville had the biggest Bourbon selection and the most allocated whiskies out of them all. The owner of the EHT location I believe is the co-owner of Lawrenceville. Ever hear of Bourbon Scotch and Beer (BSB) in Lakewood? It's the biggest Bourbon and Scotch selection in New Jersey

https://www.yelp.com/biz/bourbon-scotch-and-beer-lakewood

 

[sftiger]

No - never journeyed out that far unfortunately.

 

[ericgereghty]

Not sure how well agave is received here, but I really do like this

 

[Piobaire]

 

[Piobaire]