Knob Creek is the DEVIL...

[Gosassin]

+1 on Glenlivet, +1 on Woodford Reserve.

 

[flyangler18]

Caol Illa 12 year or The Balvenie 12 yr as far as whisky goes.

 

[jds]

I keep three bottles of bourbon around most of the time:

Sipping: Buffalo Trace mostly, sometimes Bulleit or Eagle Rare.
Drinkin': Wild Turkey 101
Mixing: Evan Williams

If I just want to get my swerve on, Turkey does the job well, and I don't drink up all my good bourbon. The Evan Williams is for people who want a mixed drink with whiskey in it -- It's cheap and tasty and you can even drink it straight in a pinch.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

I wanted to mention that I do hate Woodford Reserve. Flat, uninteresting, disturbingly dry, doesn't take readily to water (doesn't open up). It's the upper class jack daniels for people who fancy themselves to be fancy.

It's one of the biggest advertisers for the Kentucky Derby, for instance. I'm not saying all advertised products suck, but well... I tend to be suspicious of products that advertise. After all, the only reason to advertise is that you have more supply than demand... and it seems certain companies ALWAYS have more supply than demand, which make me wonder why nobody is buying their product. To me, the high profile ad campaigns is like the charities that spend 80+% of their charitable contributions soliciting charitable contributions... LOL... They spend all their money soliciting for something good. Then when they get your money, they put 20% into the "good" and invest the other 80% into more soliciting. Sure, some can argue that if it's really good, then it shouldn't matter. This is true. However, wouldn't you be likely to get a better product if you spent 100% of your money on whiskey, rather than giving 80% to a company for their ad campaign?

This is especially true of a product such as whiskey that has to age. Coke or Pepsi, I can kind of understand because they can just turn on a tap and produce more product (but I still think they suck). But whiskey must be aged... so how is it that they keep over-supplying their demand to such a degree that they must continually advertise? I can only surmise that people just must not be buying it....

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

As for my liquor cabinet... I have...

Jefferson Reserve, Buffalo Trace, Canadian Mist (good in a manhattan), Evan Williams (it gives me a hangover, so I serve it to my enemies), Jim Beam Rye (at $10 a bottle, it can't be beat!), Tullamore Dew, and Clontarf Reserve.

Oh.. and if you like ryes, try Templeton Rye. It's the most amazingly rye-eyest rye I could ever imagine. It's freakin awesome.

 

[Triathlete]

I grew up in Frankfort, KY. I have to go with my people at Buffalo Trace & Ancient Age.

Elmer T. Lee & George T. Stagg are two of the best for sure. Like another poster said snag the George T. if you see it (~$70/bottle).

Others I like are: Willet, Ancient Age 10 year, Four Roses Single, Wild Turkey Rare Breed. Benchmark is an excellent bourbon at $9 bottle you will be very surprised.

 

[KYB]

I've heard Pappy Van Winkle is the best. I havn't been able to try the more expensive bourbons. I do love me some Jim Beam Black though.

And for the gun range, I have had many of fun times there shooting and watching the shoot.

 

[golfnmotorcycles]

Most good stuff has already been mentioned but I will add my opinion just for the sake of post count

Good - reasonable price, easy to find - Woodford Reserve.
Better - - not easy (for me) to find unless I'm in the distillery giftshop - Evan Williams 18yr old.
Best - Blantons.

I've also had (and liked) Buffalo Trace and Eagle Rare, but those are both a little harder to come by around here.

For a cheap anytime sipper - pour in a recipe - drizzle over a ribeye....aka the old standby......Old Charter 10yr.

 

[SumnerH]

Bourbon: Ridgemont Reserve 1792
Scotch: Talisker, Lagavulin, Glenmorangie Port Wood Finish
Irish: Bushmill's 10 year single malt
Vodka: Hangar 1
Tequila: Herradura Reposado (anejo is too smoothed out)
Cognac: Gabriel Andreu Borderies (better than the pricier petit/grande champagne cognacs from GA)
Rum: Cruzan Single Barrel

 

[BlackDogBrewing]

Knob Creek and Makers Mark are my staples. My wife's coin got me into bourbons with the Eagle Reserve 18 year stuff. He also sparked my interest in homebrewing...

 

[onejdn]

Maker's Mark, Knob Creek, I really like Eagle Rare.....those are my favorite cheapies.

 

[KYB]

Irish: Bushmill's 10 year single malt

Sooo goood. I really want to try their "Black Bush" but never forked over the $35 for the fifth. I'm a poor college student. The Bushmills Original is very good, especially for the price.

 

[Freezeblade]

I'm more of a sippin' rum kinda guy myself, and I mean nice, dark, black rum, Whalers does good for the price, and nothing quite like some good Myers, Appletons is pretty good, but kinda over-rated I think.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

33 stitches just above my left eyebrow says I agree with the OP!

--- Halloween 2001

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

I'm more of a sippin' rum kinda guy myself, and I mean nice, dark, black rum, Whalers does good for the price, and nothing quite like some good Myers, Appletons is pretty good, but kinda over-rated I think.

I love me some rum. Try Ron Anejo Pompero. It's a venezuelan dark rhum that is out of this world...

Though... if I were stuck with one rum for the rest of my life, it would be Rhum Barbancourt 15 y/o. The 4 is dreadful and the 8 is nothing to write home about, but the 15 is amazing. It's a light rhum, but is very nice for sipping. It doesn't offer what darker rhums do, but for a light rhum, it's pretty amazing..

 

[AKchill]

Maker's Mark is the shizzle, as the kids say. I like Knob Creek too, in fact, I have a weak drinking bone (somewhere between the elbow and the shoulder) for whiskey and bourbon. I HATE firewater (or vodka, to some) though.

PS:

I drank a few Torpedoes tonight, and I LOVE YOU GUYS!

 

[SumnerH]

Sooo goood. I really want to try their "Black Bush" but never forked over the $35 for the fifth. I'm a poor college student. The Bushmills Original is very good, especially for the price.

Save the money and buy the 10-year. The combination of grain whiskey blended with the malt and exclusively using sherry barrels makes the Black Bush too sweet, IMO.

 

[bsruther]

Knob Creek, Bookers and many others bite me when I drink them. It could be that I'm just a wimp when it comes to drinking. The Bourbon that we settled on as our standard is Woodford. The wife and I just finished sharing two glasses of it out at the fire pit. It's really smooth and settles well on your stomach. We've tried a lot of different Bourbons and some better than Woodford but, for the money Woodfords the one for us. We recently finished off a bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle 12 year. Now that was some good Bourbon. I loved the woody flavor it left in my mouth but, it was like $50 a bottle.

Another Bourbon I like that I haven't heard mentioned in this thread (unless I missed it) is Four Roses. I tried their single barrel a while back and it was excellent.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

You all seriously need to try Templeton Rye...

That is, assuming you like rye. That stuff is amazing.

 

[jpsloan]

My personal favorite is Jack Daniels Single Barrel.

Though from the complete lack of Jack Daniels products mentioned thusfar, I suspect I'm about to inherit the wind...

 

[MikeFlynn74]

My personal favorite is Jack Daniels Single Barrel.

Though from the complete lack of Jack Daniels products mentioned thusfar, I suspect I'm about to inherit the wind...

Single barrel is good. About the only decent Jack product. But being 20% more expensive than Makers- its not that good.