Acceptable Single Malt for Established Gentlemen Aviators

[gsxrpilot]

4 hours ago, Pete M said:

What the hell is a juniper berry?

I knew what juniper berries were before I knew what Gin was. They were all over the juniper bushes around my grandparents house in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. Later when I had Gin for the first time, I knew exactly what it was made from.

[Hank]

6 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

I knew what juniper berries were before I knew what Gin was. They were all over the juniper bushes around my grandparents house in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. Later when I had Gin for the first time, I knew exactly what it was made from.

Only a Brit would think to ferment the bushes planted as a ground cover around the house . . . .

[EricJ]

1 hour ago, Hank said:

Only a Brit would think to ferment the bushes planted as a ground cover around the house . . . .

The Russians make booze from stale bread.    

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass

[steingar]

On 2/8/2020 at 12:51 AM, gsxrpilot said:

I don't often drink Bourbon, but when I do, it's Laws. A grain to glass distillery right here in Denver.

We've a distillery here called Watershed that puts out a fine Bourbon.

[Wistarmo]

23 hours ago, jlunseth said:

Oh again, where the heck can you find a Lagavulin that is more than 16 years old? That would be a treasure.

Treasure is correct: https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/lagavulin+25+old+single+malt+scotch+whisky+islay+scotland

[Bravoman]

Costco has a 22-year-old single malt for $80 a bottle under their Kirkland name. Pretty darn good for the money.

[Davidv]

Had the pleasure of tasting these three at the distillery in Kyoto last week.  The two on the right are too rich for my blood but I was able to bring a few bottles of the one on the left back for $100 which is a steal since I saw a place in CA trying to sell one for $699.

 

[Davidv]

On 2/8/2020 at 9:05 AM, McMooney said:

Just Sayin

One of the best quality/value out there (barrel proof or not).

[Davidv]

On 2/8/2020 at 6:34 PM, Wistarmo said:

Lagavulin 16 poured from my Lagavulin decanter into one of my Lagavulin glasses, sometimes wearing my Lagavulin sweatshirt and scarf.  I had the privilege of visiting Islay last May, and as my wife said, I bought out the gift shop. I have enjoyed Islay Scotch for fifteen years, and Lagavulin is clearly my favorite.  In one of the photos you can see Iain MacArthur, the master distiller who retired last year after fifty years in the  business, but not before teaching me a Distiller's Masterclass.  In another picture is a piece of peat moss, cut from the bogs, which is used to roast the barley.  Went to  some of the other distilleries, had a wonderful time, but for me, nothing beats Lagavulin.  There are other versions of Lagavulin; the Distiller's Edition is wonderful.  A bottle of Lagavulin 25 costs one AMU.  By the way, ice does not belong on airplanes or in single malt scotch, and if I thought there was more than a drop of water in the fuel, I would sump it.

 

 

 

 

Lagavulin was my first love in Scotch, although I hate how the price has been jacked up by Diageo since I first started drinking the stuff.  I used to buy a bottle for under $60 and now shops here in FL want close to $100.  Goes very well with cheddar goldfish btw :).

[skydvrboy]

On 2/10/2020 at 6:10 AM, Hank said:

Only a Brit would think to ferment the bushes planted as a ground cover around the house . . . .

Our company puts on a free pancake feed during the local town festival every year.  One year it basically got rained out and we were left with 10 gallons pancake batter to figure out what to do with.  Hmm?  I took it home, mashed it with 6-row malted barley to convert the starches to sugar, fermented it into a mash and turned it into my very own "pancake" whiskey.  It obviously lacked the complexities of anything mentioned in this thread, but the volunteers at the festival the next year thought it made a good mixer for Coke.

[jlunseth]

I was given some whiskey made from sweet feed for horses a couple of years ago.  Really smooth, I was surprised.  We had a bottle of young Balvinie along and the vote was it beat the Balvinie for smoothness and flavor.

[Htwjr]

When I was a teenager my dad borrowed a still and got a recipe from and old guy that used to be in the business.  We made some moonshine in our farm shop as an experiment to see if we could get it to run an engine.  My dad tasted it and said it was awful.  He gave some to an old fellow that used to help on the farm and he said it was just right.  He said if it was any better you wouldn't have give it to me and if it was any worser I couldn't drink it.  

[0TreeLemur]

Best served with a piece of 10,000 year old glacier ice near 78 degrees S, 163 degrees E.

[gsxrpilot]

This piece is only from about 69° south 67° west off the bottom of a glacier. 

My wife Alicia retrieving it from the bay.

Later that evening with some Laphroaig.

 

 

[carusoam]

I’m going to be bringing my iPad to the liquor store to see if I can find some of these...

Getting some fancy ice... maybe next year!

Best regards,

-a-

[0TreeLemur]

On 2/17/2020 at 12:17 AM, carusoam said:

I’m going to be bringing my iPad to the liquor store to see if I can find some of these...

Getting some fancy ice... maybe next year!

 

 

[jlunseth]

Well, see, now I have learned another new thing not reflected in the FARs or AIM.  I did not know that it was a thing for Established Gentlemen Aviators to put glacier ice in their scotch.  Or Established Gentlewomen Aviators either for that matter.  It never occurred to me.  Next time I am near a glacier I will have to give it a try.  I was out of bucket list items, so there is a new one to put on the list.  Does it matter how you get to the glacier in the first place?  Sailboat (ala “Fifty First Dates”), skiplane, helicopter, hike in?  I am just wondering what the protocol is so I do it correctly.

[Pete M]

On 2/16/2020 at 10:54 AM, gsxrpilot said:

This piece is only from about 69° south 67° west off the bottom of a glacier. 

My wife Alicia retrieving it from the bay.

Later that evening with some Laphroaig.

 

 

I wonder what manner of ancient micro organisms and parasites might be trapped in glacial ice? 

[0TreeLemur]

3 hours ago, jlunseth said:

Well, see, now I have learned another new thing not reflected in the FARs or AIM.  I did not know that it was a thing for Established Gentlemen Aviators to put glacier ice in their scotch.  Or Established Gentlewomen Aviators either for that matter.  It never occurred to me.  Next time I am near a glacier I will have to give it a try.  I was out of bucket list items, so there is a new one to put on the list.  Does it matter how you get to the glacier in the first place?  Sailboat (ala “Fifty First Dates”), skiplane, helicopter, hike in?  I am just wondering what the protocol is so I do it correctly.

If you can drive up to a glacier I think that would count.   Canada?  There are no "style points" in glacier ice getting that I know of.  In my case it was a US Air Force C-17 to McMurdo from Christchurch, NZ, then via Eurocopter to McMurdo Dry Valleys.  That photo was taken on the last Sunday of the field season during a little down time spent on the "beach" at the foot of Canada Glacier on the shore of scenic (and frozen) Lake Hoare.  The return involved commercial flights from Christchurch-Sidney-Honolulu-Los Angeles-Dallas-Denver.  Two red-eyes.   Good times.

I met a wonderful elderly British couple once that went to Antarctic Peninsula from Argentina on a Russian cruise ship.   They gleefully told me about having to be tied into their bunks before going to sleep to prevent being flung around their quarters by the seas at 60-degrees south.   I'll take the C-17 any day.

[gsxrpilot]

8 minutes ago, 0TreeLemur said:

I met a wonderful elderly British couple once that went to Antarctic Peninsula from Argentina on a Russian cruise ship.   They gleefully told me about having to be tied into their bunks before going to sleep to prevent being flung around their quarters by the seas at 60-degrees south. 

On our 11 day trip, the seas were dead calm the whole time. I was so disappointed. I was so looking forward to the wild seas of the Drake Passage. Nothing but smooth sailing both ways. 

[Eight8Victor]

45 minutes ago, Pete M said:

I wonder what manner of ancient micro organisms and parasites might be trapped in glacial ice? 

The whiskey should kill them right? Worse case scenario you should expect to gain some superpowers.

 

[0TreeLemur]

38 minutes ago, Eight8Victor said:

The whiskey should kill them right? Worse case scenario you should expect to gain some superpowers.

 

I was worried about alien life forms.  Too much X-Files back in the day.

[EricJ]

3 hours ago, Pete M said:

I wonder what manner of ancient micro organisms and parasites might be trapped in glacial ice? 

This is probably how the zombie apocalypse starts.   Nobody remembers the Steve McQueen version of the The Blob?   That thing is still sequestered up in northern ice somewhere. 

[jlunseth]

9 hours ago, 0TreeLemur said:

There are no "style points" in glacier ice getting that I know of

See, now that is exactly the kind of information I need.  I have been up to the glaciers several times in AK and now have a reason to go again.  It would have been terrible if I had gone all that distance and then did it the wrong.

And on the organisms, that is usually the stuff from the south end of a northbound moose. Hope you liked it.

[Igor_U]

Balvenie Double Wood is my favorite for 25 years. At first, there was a 12y old single malt and now 17.