Every other trip I've taken to Germany, I've focused on the beer. Last time, however, I took my wife's family (mother, father and sister) to the Rhine, Romantiche StraBe, and Bavaria. They're all wine drinkers (except for my father-in-law, who brought along some Irish for the trip... We did introduce him to Jaeger, but that's another story...) We found lots of good wines - but my fave's came from Frankonia. In Rothenburg we sampled a few wine flights in a place called Glocke (great food too!) and bought several bottles. There's lots of overly sweet wines in Germany, but you can find some good ones as well. Of course when I was at the Deutches Ecke and throughout Bavaria, I switched back to the local brews (because, you just can't ignore the German beer for too long!)


Question: did you have any ice in the glass with the whiskey?

MacAllan, to me, is a "drink it neat" scotch. In fact, all of those I've listed are. Too often the servers, who know nothing about whiskey, want to fill your glass with ice - which is fine for Bourbon, but I think takes away from the complexity of the flavors of Scotch. I have found MacAllan to be very pleasant - but it is a bit smoother (more subtle flavors) than the Balvenie and worlds apart from the Lagavulin. In fact, if you have a glass of Lagavulin and you're not in a smoky bar, someone will ask if you lit a match. It smells like burning peat, but tastes amazing. (No ice!)

I lived in Germany for four years and agree with you on the local German beers. Everywhere I traveled, trying 'em was always on the to-do list...especially if festbier is to be had. I was also fortunate to have a beer vendor right across the street from my flat in the little village I lived in.

I was situated between the Mosel and Rhein regions and I stomped up and down the Deutsche Weinstrasse a few times...even had more fun than I should've at the wine fest in Bad Dürkheim. Although I very much enjoy dry wines, I also have a weakness for the sweeter German wines, up to and including Eiswein. If it also happens to be botrytized, I'm in heaven.

Peat monsters like Lagavulin are my favorite singles. Flavors of peat, smoke, iodine, the sea...bring 'em on. I never ice my single malts. When I'm out and about, the order is always "neat with water back, neat." If I feel the need, I'll add water a little at a time to bring out flavors. The same usually holds true for irish and bourbons as well, unless I just happen to be in the mood for an iced drink.

Speaking of "neat", it still surprises me when I come across bartenders that don't know what the word means. Some of 'em look at me like I'm speaking gibberish. Others just load up the ice anyway.

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Brett
Peters Creek, Alaska

Yep. Some bartenders are just"Filling in" for the real bartender. Pity.
It's like ordering coffee , and saying "High Test" . The youngins just don't know.
Kind of like when people serve breakfast on an ice cold plate. Oh well...

Best regards, Dan

My favorite whiskey ordering moment came while visitning Cartegenia, Spain. (A must visit place for the single travellin man...).

Let me first say that while I don't speak Spanish, I did grow up in Arizona and California, so I can get by in a pinch.

The girl behind the bar at this club on the waterfront was on par with Penelope Cruz or Paz Vega. I'd been ordering beer for a while and decided to step up to whiskey. She didn't understand that I didn't want to mix it with coke, or Dr. Pepper, or anything. "Neat" didn't translate.

She finally got it, laughed and demanded to know (seriously, picture Paz or Penelope in a happy mood, here) if I wanted,

"Weeskey Solo?"




Big Smile...



Whisky solo. She found the idea hilarious. Weesky Solo.


Ah, good memories.

To which you replied "Si!", continuing "And I'm Han Solo, you like scoundrels, don't you?"


Re "neat", same experience here. It's like ordering an "absolutely dry" martini and watching the bartender chug massive amounts of vermouth into it.

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" Wheeskey si? Coke No ! Whiskey Si ! Coke, No ! "

I remember when my husband and I toured around the Naples area for a week (that tour included Capri). Limoncello is made down in that region of Italy, and there were stores selling limoncello everywhere--and all offered free samples of their wares. They had the regular limoncello, then they had canteloupe limoncello, orange limoncello, strawberry limoncello, chocolate-cello, and cream varieties of all of the above. It didn't take long before this 'window-shopping' gave me a serious buzz; I was lit for much of the time we were in southern Italy. We took home 12 bottles of wine (all from the Il Paradisio winery near Montelcino) and 7 bottles of limoncello!

We also tried grappa, but I couldn't choke that down--too harsh. I did take home a bottle of chocolate grappa, however, as I thought the bottle was pretty.

__________________
The dose makes the poison--Paracelsus (1493-1541) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus

I don't know. That's why I'm asking--Noclevername

Intelligence may not be clearly defined, but you know stupid when you see it--Noclevername

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge--Carl Sagan (1934-1996)

Sorry, I don't care for the taste of wine -- even Communion wines.

My "beverage" of choice is an occasional strawberry daquiri.

__________________
“I shall always be convinced that a watch proves a watchmaker, and that a universe proves a God” ~Voltaire

I now have a glass or two most evenings, so my favourite wine is described in one word: CHEAP. That is a tall order in Ontario, our local wines are overpriced. Drinkable cheap wines come from California, Chile, Argentina. The cheap Aussie wines are too fruity, taste like alcoholic fruit juices, not enough earth or oak or tannin.
Presently drinking Californian "Grey Fox" Merlot & Cab & Chardonnay which is more like a Sauvingnon & so is not against my ABC religion --Anything But Chardonnay. A little rough but drinkable, especially if you were brought up on English bitter beer & not Coke, Pepsi & Sprite or milkshakes. Hey, even Carlo Rossi's "California White" is good at about $25 Can. for a 3 litre bottle here. Bet you can get it for half that in California.

And the Trapiche winery in Argentina has good cheap stuff.

Hell, I remember the days when Ch Cheval Blanc St Emillon was $12 US a bottle. Was working in Nassau, Bahamas then & if you bought six, you only paid for five, & if a dozen, you paid for ten! Mind you the $ was worth a little more then, in the late 60's.

Starting off on-topic, wines:

White: a Chablis or Sancerre.
Red: St Emilion Grand Cru Classé.
Bubbly: Any Cava made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Champagne is way overpriced. But, if you twist my arm . . . Bollinger.

Except, in Scotland it is spelled "whisky" or "uisge beatha" . . .

MacAllen (yes, even the 10-y.o.) used to be a favourite, but I now think of it in the same class as "Glen-whatever".

Current faves are my 1966 Glen Albyn (bottled 2005, so 39 years in the wood); a 1974 single-cask bottling of shery-finished St. Magdalene; and my Caol Isla cask strength (no age statement).

*Ick* - too syrupy for me.

Oh, don't get me started on beer!

OK, maybe just a few highlights:
German: Schoefferhofer (sp?) Hefeweizen
Belgian: Hoegaarden Grand Cru
English: Jennings's Sneck Lifter (of which I had a lovely pint just yesterday)
Scottish: Orkney Dark Island
American: Erm . . . well, never mind.

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The quarrelsome oarsmen were rowing,
The great violinist was bowing;
But how is the sage
To tell, from the page:
Was it pigs or seeds that were sowing?

The only scotch whisky I don't generally drink neat is that bottled at cask strength, although some cask-strength whiskies are smooth enough to be drunk neat. To take the cask strength Caol Isla as an example, it can be sipped at its full strength (about 57% abv IIRC); if a little dash of water is added a whole new set of characters emerges; if a little more water is added it becomes the foulest thing on Earth; but if a little further water is added (to take it down to about 40% abv), it becomes different again, being slightly sweet and regaining the oily peaty smokiness that is the house style.

I do have a 19-y.o. cask strength St. Magdalene that can be drunk at full strength, but I would advise against it. It is 63.7% abv.

As for putting ice in whisky . . . well, it's probably OK for bourbon and blended whiskies (but I wouldn't do it), but you should never ever put ice in a single malt.

__________________
The quarrelsome oarsmen were rowing,
The great violinist was bowing;
But how is the sage
To tell, from the page:
Was it pigs or seeds that were sowing?

My husband has a couple of single-malt scotches in the house and can talk at length on the subject of scotches. My experience with scotch began and ended when I took a big swig of Knob Creek on a dare--and nearly threw up as a result. I had the nastiest taste in my mouth for hours afterward.

Knob Creek is bad, but ouzo is worse. One time, I made the mistake of drinking ouzo straight; I got an instant hangover--without getting a buzz. I couldn't get past the taste either--was very nasty.

__________________
The dose makes the poison--Paracelsus (1493-1541) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus

I don't know. That's why I'm asking--Noclevername

Intelligence may not be clearly defined, but you know stupid when you see it--Noclevername

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge--Carl Sagan (1934-1996)

Surely, that's the only way anyone would ever drink something called Knob Creek! Are you sure it's a scotch whisky?

That's because anise is evil.

__________________
The quarrelsome oarsmen were rowing,
The great violinist was bowing;
But how is the sage
To tell, from the page:
Was it pigs or seeds that were sowing?

Knob Creek is a bourbon whiskey. Certainly not top shelf but I think it's a pretty nice sippin' whiskey for its price class. Some find it a bit on the fruity/floral side for their tastes, I suppose, but I enjoy it.

Have a care about passing on a libation based purely on its appellation, though...one can miss out on a lot. Translated, some of the scotch house names sound just as bucolic.

__________________
Brett
Peters Creek, Alaska

That explains the name.
Thought it might be one of those Made in Japan or China "Scotches"

Isn't 'knob' a naughty word in the UK?

__________________
The dose makes the poison--Paracelsus (1493-1541) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus

I don't know. That's why I'm asking--Noclevername

Intelligence may not be clearly defined, but you know stupid when you see it--Noclevername

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge--Carl Sagan (1934-1996)

I agree that adding a bit of water to a scotch enhances the experience. I enjoy a good scotch pure, as well as with a tad of water added. Except for the Lagavulin, where I find I really (only) enjoy it pure, the Balvenie (although I RARELY add water to the PortWood), the MacAllen and the Glens all work well both ways.

I'll have to keep my eye out for a cask strength bottle.

Re: MacAllan: I enjoyed the bottle of MacAllan 18 y.o. I bought, but the 10 was bland (enough that I'll never buy it again). I refused to try the 7, and the one time I tried a 25 y.o., the server filled the glass with ice - so I didn't get the proper experience. Overall though, I have to agree that the whisky did not match its reputation. MacAllan has a great reputation; but the execution (with the exception of the 18) was average.

OTOH, Glenfiddich has been consistently better, IMO, than its reputation allows, whereas Glenlivet's rep is dead on. I also enjoy Glenmorangie and Glen Moray from time to time, but they're not as well known in the States.

Re: Knob Creek - I agree with PetersCreek that its not a bad whiskey for its price, but still can't put it on my "recommended" list - I have a rep of my own to maintain! ('Course, I've never turned down a glass that was offered, either. Wouldn't be gentlemanly.)





Thanks for pointing out the spelling issue: wasn't aware that our Scottish brethren spelled (spelt?) the word differently. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisky


Have to correct my usage for the future.

Here in the U.S. too, in some circles although the usage isn't so common, I think. But then, even here, I don't think a great many folks are too familiar with the topographical usage either.

__________________
Brett
Peters Creek, Alaska