The Booze Thread (formerly the Manhattan)

Absolutely. Unfortunately, most of my friends might buy me supper. At Burger King.

I wasn't commenting on your buying said spirits. Everyone is free to do with their money as they see fit. Your story is perfectly fine with me.

When it first came out, it wasn't nearly that expensive. I know a guy that drank several bottles. He wishes he hadn't now.

 

I was in Bardstown, Kentucky today. Wish I would had time to stop by the Four Roses Distillery. Really cool Distillery.

 

blind tastings reveal that your palate is correct, and folks who claim to be able to tell a difference are full of it.

 

I have a Neanderthal's palate, completely unsophisticated, because I think all wine (that I've tasted at least) sucks. There's only more tolerable levels of awful. Give me grape juice. As a kid, I drank a tanker truck's worth of grape juice finishing off the unused communion grape juice.

 

It's true... Whenever folks take the "taste test" they usually end up preferring the least expensive brands. Snob appeal is strong. When I was a big cigar smoker I used to laugh at all the folks who made sure everybody could see the band on their Cohibas or Hoyo's.... I do believe the higher end cigars are better than the el Cheapo's but only to a certain point. Some of the best smokes I found were the Arturo Fuentes and they are very affordable (or at least they were back when I was all into it... They may be expensive as all getout now) compared to the Partagas and Macanudos (the Macanudos I hated... The Partagas I loved!)... Punch and the entire Romeo y Julieta line were overpriced dog turds....

 

Eh, with wine it really comes down to personal preference (as with most everything). There absolutely are differences in the quality of wine, just as there are with whisky, beer, shortbread, etc. I love finding inexpensive wines which I enjoy, but there are also wines which consistently present characteristics I love. A Howell Mountain cabernet or a Russian River pinot will most likely have a profile I'm going to enjoy. I don't claim to have an advanced or in any way special palate, but I've tasted enough wine to discern certain characteristics in terms of flavor and mouthfeel (sometimes) in wines I really enjoy.

That said, I have no doubt whatsoever that I could be fooled with a quality inexpensive wine. And I'd be happy for it as I love good wine and good value. I also love, love, love reading tasting notes. Some are completely ridiculous and some are very funny. Once I read someone's notes which listed 'cat piss' as a nose descriptor, and not in a negative context one might expect.

 

Poignant, but not overbearing, with subtle notes of cat piss....

Hard to believe there's be any way to put a positive spin on something (especially a wine!) having anything to do with cat piss....

 

I can certainly tell the difference between a $5-$10 and $25 bottle, but i'm not sure I can tell the difference between a $25 and $100 one or at least not enough for it to be worthwhile to me. to me it mostly comes down to being cheap. sure if I had unlimited money i'd be buying 30 year old bourbon and $200 bottles of wine. why the hell not? but I can't justify the expense personally. I certainly don't begrudge those who do though.

 

I think Boones farm offers a great value

 

LOL - you basically nailed it! I don't get it myself, but whatever. He wasn't the vintner, though. If a vintner put that in tasting notes they would qualify as a major dumbass.

Agreed. I think once you hit $50/bottle it gets exceedingly difficult. I know it's a little above your range, but one of our favorite wines from Napa is Venge Scout's Honor. It's a consistently very good wine (zin blend) and our price is somewhere around $30/bottle. As I know you are aware that price for a Napa wine is quite good. Tons of seemingly overpriced wine out there, but people are willing to pay for the limited supply so I suppose it technically isn't priced too high. What the market will bear and such.

 

I just don't understand wine, I guess. Just not a fan at all. The only wine I can even stomach is a muscadine or possibly a very dry pinot grigio.

 

Wine drunk is the most fun though.

 

But my GOD the hangover!!!

 

Me either. There was/is a muscadine wine in Georgia that is really good but only because it tastes like alcoholic white grape juice. Really sweet.

 

And the hangover hurts the worst

 

I got shitty on champagne once, the smell to this day makes me almost puke. That and 190 octane from Fat Tuesdays

 

I don't drink all that often anymore but thankfully I've never really got hangovers.

 

If it ain't from a box, I don't want it.

 

An Irish Rose with a skirt is the only classy wine.

 

I did the same thing with Cold Duck... I have never drank it since. Even looking at it makes me want to wretch all these years later.