Whisky!

Oddjob said:
I'm a coffee drinker. Taiwan has the perfect climate and altitude for coffee but trying to find coffee grown in Taiwan is tough.

The legit bubble tea is almost too much for this old lock in. I went to the computer mall and got a tiger bubble tea and almost passed out with the sugar spike.

I don't understand those hostess bars. The last thing I want to do after putting up with someone's bullshit, is spending more time with other people. Just fuck off already and leave me alone, but don't even think about taking the whisky with you.

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re Hostess Bars, I agree 100%, but its worse than just talking to random hostess women, it's that you are paying through the ahhsoul to have them sitting there and agreeing with you about whatever, and the more hammered you get, the emptier your wallet becomes.

RE Coffee:
Acc to wikipedia, 900 tonnes (3% approx) is grown locally vs 30,000 tonnes imported, and there is a local cultivar, Tainung #1, which can be grown at lower altitudes than Arabica, which suggests it might be more like a Robusta coffee in flavour profile and bitterness(???), but it will only start to be available this year.

Apparently Arabica doesn't thive in much of the land available to grow coffee, and climate change hasn't helped, less frosts etc...

topics.amcham.com.tw

Can a New Bean Make Taiwan's Coffee Industry Boom? - Taiwan Business TOPICS

Taiwan’s first domestically bred coffee bean could potentially help the island’s coffee farmers overcome agricultural and climate challenges. STORY AND
topics.amcham.com.tw topics.amcham.com.tw

I did a search for "taiwanese coffee" and there were some hits there that could be promising next time you are there.

www.thewaytocoffee.com

The Best Coffee Shops in Taipei - The Way to Coffee - Specialty Coffee Blog

Best Cafes for Specialty Coffee in Taipei Beyond the craze of night markets, the abundance of bubble tea shops and the sea of concrete buildings that isn’t necessarily a masterpiece of aesthetics, I’ve found Taipei to be an incredibly welcoming city with much more to offer than what meets the...
www.thewaytocoffee.com www.thewaytocoffee.com
 
Not whisky, bourbon (not starting a new thread)

Michters US1 - pretty nice, not as sweet as other bourbons

Jack Daniels Single Barrel Select - FMD this good, usually this would be out of my price range but scored it duty free, I think my budget needs revising. Super smooth, mellow, rich in flavour, not sweet, just awesome.
 
pink poodle said:
If the country has an e in the name...
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I guess it's time you learnt how to spell England and Wales. I'm pretty sure there's an E in them and that they spell their whiskey without one. I think you've made this statement before, it may have been somebody else in this thread though.
 
Freediver said:
I guess it's time you learnt how to spell England and Wales. I'm pretty sure there's an E in them and that they spell their whiskey without one. I think you've made this statement before, it may have been somebody else in this thread though.
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You raise a valid point. That is the only explanation I've found, happy to learn that its some ancient root language basis or a perpetuated typo. Lucky this company put e in their name twice.

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My understanding was that it was translated into Irish from the Latin aqua vitae.
No idea when it comes to Arabic, is that where the latin aqua vitae comes from?
 
Freediver said:
My understanding was that it was translated into Irish from the Latin aqua vitae.
No idea when it comes to Arabic, is that where the latin aqua vitae comes from?
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I just picked an old language in google translate.





Gaelic i believe. Which isn't in my version of Google translate...hmmm.
 
Following the bar owners recommendations and working through some no age statement Nikka offerings.

- Yoichi: both his and my favourite of the range. Lightly smoked, spicy, faint sweetness, light salinity, and well balanced. Accompanied by a bunch of muscatels.

- Miyagikyo: spicy, fruity, mildly sweet, no smoke. This was very tasty, but that hint of smoke in Yoichi has me. Still had some muscatels for this one.

- Taketsuru: sweet, apples, pears, leather, cedar, spicy, is that a hint of tobacco? There isn't any smoke though...still this is a delicious whisky. Accompanied by dried smoked beef.

I'm feeling it though. He took me to his onsen prior to the whiskies. At 44⁰c that thing was cooking! But what a great combination. Onsen, water, whisky, food pairings...
 
Currently enjoying a Suntory Hakushu while sitting next to a coffee roaster. It is both awesome and difficult. The aroma of fresh roasted coffee is hard to beat but I am not getting much of the whisky aromas!
 
Oddjob said:
And these were my take homes. I didn't shell out for the Glenrothes 25. I'm not sure how much better it can be than the already stellar Glenrothes 19.
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The Glenlivet, probably the smoothest Scotch I've ever had. I think my 2012 Kavalan Solist was on par but none since.
 
Slowman said:
The Glenlivet, probably the smoothest Scotch I've ever had. I think my 2012 Kavalan Solist was on par but none since.
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I recently got to do some middle aged daytime drinking with a mate.
Glenfarclas 2010.
Glendronach 1994.
Hibiki 21.
Glenlivet 25.

All amazing in their own ways, but the Glenlivet 25 was just a very pure delicious whiskey without complication. Probably the nes plus ultra for sweet sherry styles.


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I haven't had the 21yr hibiki, mildly jealous as I am quite a fan of the various offerings I've had. It must be one of the world's most desirable blends.

This is one of my take home bottles...

https://tarusky.jp/en/shop/

The 11 year sherry cask. I took the 16 year PX sherry cask home last year. I haven't opened it. I am not into holding things forever instead of drinking them...but the idea of having all 3 is tempting.

I also have a japan only release of wild Turkey 101 12 year. I'm a sucker for the Turkey and this was cheaper than the standard release 101 is at home.

I also grabbed a bottle of the yamazakura I mentioned a few posts back. It was a toss up between this or the nikka yoichi as I wanted something with a little smoke. This seemed smokier to me and was less than 1/3 of the yoichi. But damn that yoichi is good.

One of my clients mid season doesn't drink and had plenty of space in his luggage so offered to take home some whisky for me. There wasn't a lot available where we were but I did find kavalan no 1. Looking forward to retrieving that in a few days.


Now for the heart breaking part...a friend here gave me a bottle of limited edition mescal. He found it on sale at a liquor wholesaler and picked up a pile of it for his bar. It was freaking amazing stuff! Herbaceous, rich, smokes up...as a special gift for me he had bottle number 007! Fuck yes that is perfect. The same client offered to take this home for me (which is how he also came to be the kavalan mule). Thanks dude, much appreciated. Alas...one of the bottles did not survive the journey, yes...the limited edition mescal is not waiting for me at home.
 
Picked up 2 new sets if whisky glasses this week from Victoria's basement. This one was in a set of 4 hand made in Portugal (no idea if I am meant to be impressed by that or not) and all of $14.99. Seems to hold a little serve nicely.



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