The Hard Liquor and Miscellaneous Stiff Drinks Thread

[Reverend Joe]

I was thinking about posting a recent evolution in my love of whisky in Vladimir's Beer Thread () but I thought that the stiffer drinks deserved a thread of their own; so, here it is: the Reverend's Hard Liquor and Miscellaneous Stiff Drinks thread, where the true aficionado of both intoxication and good drinks can celebrate his dual love.

The reason I was going to post, as I mentioned previously, is that I have discovered a kind of whisky which I wish I had discovered earlier. Until now, my drinking habit has been primarily limited to bourbon, a drink which I have always found infinitely preferable to the "classic" whiskys, namely Irish and Scottish. I have never liked the (malt?) flavor of European whisky, as it lacks body and generally invokes subtle but still nightmarish memories of Tequila (I will leave it up to your imagination as to why I can no longer drink tequila.) Bourbon has a much stronger, fuller and distinct flavor; while I can understand that many would be turned away by its sometimes incredible burn, I find that a few drops of distilled water, in the style of Scotch and Water, not only takes care of this burn but also brings out the full flavor of the bourbon.

However, I decided yesterday to experiment a bit, so I bought a bottle of what the clerk (whose opinion I trust) described as standard, mid-grade Canadian whisky. It's quite a different experience. It lacks the full, beautiful flavor of bourbon, but it has a distinctive flavor of its own; it's malty, but not overwhelmingly so, and it has a good, mild grain flavor (I think it's the same corn flavor as bourbon, but I've never had rye, so it might be that as well; could also be both, it tastes very complex.) It can also be drunk straight, as opposed to bourbon, which is best consumed, as I said, in a scotch-and-water style mixture.

So: post what you will. What's your favorite hard drink? Your favorite mixed drink with hard liquor? I want to hear from the refined alcoholics out there.

@Beirut: if you really think this is redundant with the Beer thread, please merge this with said thread; but I feel like it warrants its own discussion.

Edit: I guess it's cool with the axeman.