My preferences are much like Mr. Coffee, with the Chimay red my favorite.
Stijn, I had a US made Ale this week Hennepin, from the Ommegang brewery in New York, which is owned by.... Duvel.

It was very good.
My best drinking week was spent in Brussels a couple of years ago, I tagged along on a working trip with my wife, she went to work during the day. I sampled the local flavors! Can't wait to go back.

Jay

you mean 14-15% , right??

btw, tonight's poison :

http://www.scotchwhisky.net/images/blends/bells.jpg

it's been ages since i drank some scotch, so frankly, my taste buds aren't tuned for it anymore... any opinion regarding this bottle , which i might express later tonight, as such can be considered worthless
got it for b-day, not sure if they got me good stuff cause they like me, or cheap s**t cause they wanted to drink my proper beers , but wouldn't get that far when showing up empty handed

I tried this and it worked incredibly well. Ran it through the filter a half dozen times. Made some cheap, $10.99 for 1.75 liter vodka indistinguishable from stoli
no, he means 140-150 proof, perhaps even more than that. He was talking about distilling it

Never cared for scotch, like just about everything else I can think of smoked(salmon, chicken, pork, beef, etc) Keep a bottle of Dewars around for guests though

well proof or not
you can't get more then 100% alcohol in a liquid
and seriously , you'll get a massive hangover just sipping the stuff like a hummingbird

this whatever proof you guys use just ain't an obvious way of indicating the alcohol content of a beverage... % works better

5% ... kids stuff
20%... for practice at the age of 16
40% ... acceptable

80%... that'll grow hair on yer chest... Stroh-Rum for instance... i drank that once aged 17 on a sky trip in Austria.. and guess what. i have hair on my chest...chicks dig it.

that's all the proof i need

it's getting near the right proof when it will burn and I believe that's 151 proof. I've started many camp fires with 151 rum. we used to drink 190 proof grain alcohol and orange juice. called an Orange M***** F*****. a couple of those and that's about all you could say

Isn't that the basis of brandy?

any hoo,
the low down on hte Bell's old scotch
1/2 nd bottles worth...

balance : 40%
eye sight 30%
wit 130%
skills, whatever sort : 400%
buzz : quite decent, thankyouverymuch
language skills written : quite good
language skills oral : no idea, my cat ain't providing me much feedback
emotions : enough
taste : who am i kidding, half a bottle with no regular training... i'm lucky i can still find the bleeding keyboard. let along taste anything !
frankly , i think my liver is on the rebound !

heil to Boris's missing balls, i have honored them, the best i can!

26 dark beers at McSorely's is a fine way to pass an afternoon. otherwise, anything with alcohol makes me happy. not fussy

sotch on the rocks. right now it is cutty sark.

Hitting the Bushmills Blackbush Irish Whiskey pretty good tonight. I figure by 10P.M. or so I won't have any problems... that I can recall:D

Basil Hayden's followed by Blanton's tonight for me, but I want to party with Johnco (seriously!) because of two things: 1) blasting Stranglehold by himself during a hurricane (that inspired me!), and 2) because of his signature..."better to die like a tiger".... I want to meet this guy...


JA

Wine is fine, but liquor is quicker...

At that proof, it's more like the basis for grappa...

Just some ice water.

I think if you drink it any other way a Scotsman shows up at your door, slaps you across the face, then takes the rest of the bottle with him :)

For me it depends on season and time of day. In the summer, I'm much more on beer, and this has been my poision of choice this summer:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1357/...b98227.jpg?v=0
A Toronto microbrew that's simply excellent, especially for bottles.

With dinner it's usually an Australian shiraz or French bordeaux. While my wife's pregnant, I had to promise her I won't by any bottles over $15, just to be fair :) (Remember that with our CDN taxes, that's probably equivalent to a $5-$10 bottle in the US, eg. bought a 1.5L bottle of Yellow Tail last night, $23)

In the evenings it's scotch, either Ballantine's, or a single malt if I'm feeling a little more picky.

My other favourite summertime drink is Blue Sapphire gin, straight over ice with a shot of lime. Wait about 5 minutes for the ice to cool the gin a bit (or use a shaker if in a hurry). Mmmmm... Screw tonic water :)

Just got back from a college waterski tournament. The last two nights of camping consisted of an obscene amount of Natty Light, Keystone, and Coors Light. Oh, and some Franzia straight from the bag, with a shot or two of tequila to round it out. I think I'm going to take a break from booze for a few days before I dip my toe back in the water.

I had some Glenfiddich 12 year old single malt the other night, my first time. Holy cow, I was amazed at how good it was -- it went down real easy, smooth and clean, not like an engine degreaser. But it wasn't sweet like kool-aid, or like the kosher wines my wife likes. It was definitely strong, but not painful.

I'd be interested in other people's recommendations for a good whiskey or scotch that's less pricey than the Glenfiddich. At prices like that, it's a very special treat.


The other thing I really enjoy is a local brew named "Arrogant Bastard Ale," from the Silver City Brew pub in Silverdale, WA. It's dark and heady, like Guinness, except thicker, and without the characteristic bitter aftertaste. I could drink Fat Bastard (it's old name, before they were sued out of that name) all night long.

Any recommendations for a really excellent stout?

Thanks,
Dan

Amateur:)

Southern Comfort, with a little bit of lime mixer, over ice in a rocks glass with a cut of lime on the rim.

Normally I drink Crown, but I hear it's good to be open to diversity:-D

Dan, unfortunately for the smoothness of a good single malt, you do have to pay. Glenfiddich is kind of the Ford of single malts, and what you really want is a nice BMW, or preferably an Aston or Rolls :) It's adequate, and better than blends, but still pretty garden-variety.

IMHO, the absolute best value for single malts is Laphroiag. It runs about $60 here in Ontario, so should be at least 20% cheaper or so in the states. It's full of wonderful peaty aroma and flavour and goes down very nicely. Not as smooth as some of the better brands, but still quite good.

If you can, find a high end liquor store that does single malt tastings. It's difficult here because of our inane liquor laws, but some of the better liquor stores do them occasionally. It's usually a dollar or two per sample, some as much as 5, but you can sample at least 5 or 6 before your taste senses get overloaded and they start to all taste the same (let alone your head getting loaded!).

Better yet, do a scotch tour of Scotland!