Whisky / Whiskey / Bourbon

as with all things, if you're going to use a bricks and mortars shops expertise and knowledge, its common courtesy for you to buy something from them every so often, rather than always hitting the cheaper online spaces. Its good to give back to those that have helped you out..

Here here!

Gerry's Wine in Soho for me.

Certainly! Iv walked past it every day since I can remember and im 24 now. As it was myself and my friends first time inside we just looked about but my friend did buy a bottle of jura and i did ask about the tasting sessions he offers. But yes the more I go into the shop I doubt I will refrain from buying things from him.

Place is called evington wine merchants

should just clarify, I wasn't having a dig, I just know the cheapness of online shopping sometimes means you don't buy a slightly more expensive one from the shop round the corner...
Being in London means there's a bit more choice available for the harder to obtain stuff, the only issue I have is trekking into central london/soho to buy them..

Any decent recommends for decent whiskey selling spots south/south west london appreciated...

@umop3pisdn Whats the bulliet Rye like?

Its on offer at asda atm for 25, but I ended up getting the standard bulliet for 20.

Lovely as a Rye & dry.

Only just arrived! Smells good though.

Bulleit Rye is my favourite of the American whiskies I've tried recently. Really liked it, bit drier than a typical bourbon.

I will be watching out for the offer on it.

anyone brought these??
https://norlanglass.uk/products/norlan-glass

they just popped up in my facebook feed.

Was having a chat with the staff in selfridges on sunday about which glass to drink whiskey in, and also the difference between sherry/rum and bourbon casked whiskeys. Was very informative, and got a chance to taste a couple of differently casked whiskeys was an eye opener...

Knob Creek and Bulleit Rye arrived on Friday - Knob Creek is a bit sweet for my tastes but they both go down very nicely

I was bought a pair for Christmas. Haven't yet done a comparison with my Glencairn glass but they're attractive and a sensible shape, if a bit disconcertingly light

let me know how you get on with them, woman I talked to at Selfridges was of the opinion that if you were drinking it and not sniffing it, any old tumbler would do. So am bearing that in mind before I go spunking cash on new glassware..

Glencairn glasses are fine. If you find your palate is sensitive then upgrade later.

I just did a quick comparison of a Glencairn and the Norlan, a dram of Jura Elixir 12 in each, no water. Kind of expecting there to be fuck all difference, but actually I think the Norlan comes out on top. Similar amount of swirling with each before tasting, and so on back and forth. Drinking out of the Glencairn, the alcohol taste was quite harsh, especially on the finish, and I would typically have diluted it with some water. It was better as I got to the end of the glass, but still too much. On the other hand, from the Norlan I got a little more sweetness and creaminess, with much reduced harshness in comparison. I probably wouldn't dilute it much, if any, on reflection.

The baffles in the Norlan definitely serve to agitate the whisky more, you can hear it (which makes sense, we have conical flasks in the lab designed exactly the same way). The bumf on the Norlan website is also true regarding the tumbler-like nature. I didn't have to tilt my head back as much and could actually get my nose in the glass, which is a feature I like in my wine glasses also.

I still find the Glencairn glass more comfortable to hold, and it's impossible not to get fingerprints all over the Norlan. I'll likely still use them both, but I'm going to do some more comparisons with different strength whiskys and dilution to see if either suits particular styles - I suspect the Glencairn will still work well with heavily peated whiskys that I'd want to dilute anyway. But the Norlan is quite possibly worth the money.

Both are much better than tumblers, Selfridge woman is bonkers.

Until now I had no idea Norlan glass existed and now I'd really like one

They're nice glasses, but quite fragile (compared to the glencairn). The nonsense they spout about the glencairn being more anti social as the norlan allows you to keep eye contact is pretty funny too. They don't justify being 3 times the price of the glencairn, but I wouldn't say no if someone bought them for me as a gift :)

Contents > the vessel

what he said!
@TomvanHalen I liked selfridge's woman, she had knowledge, you could tell she loved whiskey, and her message was as @Aroogah makes out, it's about the whiskey inside the tumbler that matters.
I'd rather drink out of what I've got, I'm no whisky aficionado, but seems to me you can fall into a black hole of expensive this is supposed to make it taste better, when it's all subjective anyway..
If GF wants to buy the norlan glasses as a gift for me, or some of those weird rocking whisky glasses, I'll take them with good grace, but no currently that fussed..

For sure, and I'd take good whisky out of a bad glass any day of the week. I also probably would never have bought the Norlan glasses for myself, but I'm quite pleased to have them now, and I enjoy nice glassware in its own right. I'd certainly spend the money on a Glencairn glass all over again, they ARE an improvement on tumblers (with the caveat I only drink small quantities of whisky at a time - if I was going to pour myself more than 50ml I'd have a tumbler)

personal preference, but the Glencairn feel a bit wine/champagne glass for me, there's something quite reassuring, and adult (masculine) about drinking from a tumbler. Probably just how my brain makes the connections with drinking spirits, and who as a child I saw drinking spirits in my house..

That kind of associative thinking is powerful, can't discount any psychological benefits of your favourite glassware. Combine the two and try and get some tumblers that taper in at the lip, similar to the shape of the rocking ones there, and you'll get the best of both worlds. A trip to TK Maxx would sort you a couple of nice Dartington ones for a fiver

Someone didn't fancy the excise duty increase

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Celebration tipple tonight

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Celebrating what?

Winning a funding bid from the Department of Transport to roll out this project https://www.cycletraining.co.uk/our-services/side-by-side.html