For the Whiskey/Bourbon Drinkers. What's your "go to"?

Buckner said:

Go to a spring where cool, crystal-clear water bubbles from under a bank of dew-washed ferns. In a consecrated vessel, dip up a little water at the source. Follow the stream through its banks of green moss and wildflowers until it broadens and trickles through beds of mint growing in aromatic profusion and waving softly in the summer breezes. Gather the sweetest and tenderest shoots and gently carry them home. Go to the sideboard and select a decanter of Kentucky Bourbon, distilled by a master hand, mellowed with age yet still vigorous and inspiring. An ancestral sugar bowl, a row of silver goblets, some spoons and some ice and you are ready to start. In a canvas bag, pound twice as much ice as you think you will need. Make it fine as snow, keep it dry and do not allow it to degenerate into slush. In each goblet, put a slightly heaping teaspoonful of granulated sugar, barely cover this with spring water and slightly bruise one mint leaf into this, leaving the spoon in the goblet. Then pour elixir from the decanter until the goblets are about one-fourth full. Fill the goblets with snowy ice, sprinkling in a small amount of sugar as you fill. Wipe the outsides of the goblets dry and embellish copiously with mint. Then comes the important and delicate operation of frosting. By proper manipulation of the spoon, the ingredients are circulated and blended until Nature, wishing to take a further hand and add another of its beautiful phenomena, encrusts the whole in a glittering coat of white frost. Thus harmoniously blended by the deft touches of a skilled hand, you have a beverage eminently appropriate for honorable men and beautiful women. When all is ready, assemble your guests on the porch or in the garden, where the aroma of the juleps will rise Heavenward and make the birds sing. Propose a worthy toast, raise the goblet to your lips, bury your nose in the mint, inhale a deep breath of its fragrance and sip the nectar of the gods.
Being overcome by thirst, I can write no further.
Sincerely,
S.B. Buckner, Jr.

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4Q Basket Case said:

Can you find the letter to which Buckner was replying? The requestor was also a West Point graduate, and it was actually his wife who wanted the recipe.

I remember something about the greater and lesser isles of our archipelago. It was absolutely poetic, and serves to remind us of the quality of mind that passes through those halls.

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HEADQUARTERS
UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY
WEST POINT, NEW YORK
March 22, 1937.
My dear Buckner:-
We are very much like the man I read about whose family were teetotalers and would not have any liquor in the house. His uncle, that is, his mother's brother, was quite different and quite profane. The uncle said that wouldn't you know it for a damned perversity of inanimate things that mint should grow like a weed and spread everywhere in Mary's garden, when the only damn use she ever made of it was for tea and jellies, whereas he, an honest Christian gentleman, who could have used square yards of it for an honest drink known as mint julep could not make it grow in his garden at all. The similarity rests in the fact that our mint bed grows with leaps and bounds and we are going to make use of it at graduation in June.
The fame of the mint juleps that you served the day The President was with us has travelled far and wide, so that even the echoes have made a resounding noise in the House of Connor. I tried to establish my own position in the matter by alleging that I made and served mint juleps to enthusiastic groups even before you entered West Point, but again, the "prophet was not without honor save in his own country," and my definite instructions were to get your recipe for mint juleps and, furthermore, to use your recipe and not try any of my own homely recipes. Knowing that the ability to manufacture a mint julep is no less precious and the pride in it no less great than the ability to make a good cocktail, I, of course, am sore as a pup at the lack of marital confidence, but peace is such a lovely thing that I shall be eternally grateful to you, or even for a longer period, if you will send me on the recipe that you prescribed for President Roosevelt.
I warn you that if you hold out on me and leave out any important ingredient, I shall be accused by the dominant element in our family of having, through jealousy, used my own recipe, and in view of our long friendship, I am trusting you not to interfere with or upset the entente cordiale that still exists between the greater and the lesser isles of our archipelago, notwithstanding the fact that I lay this largely to a fatal weakness in my wife's otherwise stern character.
If you will send me the recipe, it is just possible that I might let you help make the juleps, in which case I could not stop you from drinking one or two. Otherwise, I think that the entire brew is to be held sacred to the Class of 1897 which we are having at luncheon after the graduation exercises.
With warm regards to you both and thanks in advance for the pure and unexpurgated recipe, believe me, as ever,
Faithfully yours,
Wm D. Connor

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4Q Basket Case said:

Bourbon:
Maker's Mark (mixed)
Jefferson's Reserve (on-the-rocks sippin')

Prefer scotch:
Lagavulin
Laphroaig
Ardbeg
Talisker
all on the rocks.

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Bamaro said:

Just bought some of this as a gift. I had a list I was looking for at the store but this one, not on my list, was recommended to me. Any reviews?

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tidefanbeezer said:

For bourbon, the readily available stuff that I enjoy:
Buffalo Trace
Eagle Rare
Weller Antique
Old Forrester Signature
Angel's Envy
EH Taylor Small Batch
Henry McKenna Bottled in Bond
Willett Pot Still

Some of the harder to find / more expensive stuff that's good:
Blanton's
Old Forrester Birthday Bourbon
Jefferson Reserve Groth Cask Finish
Willet Family Reserve Rye
Van Winkle Family Reserve Lot B
Stagg Jr.

Typically, if you can find a store select single barrel of Buffalo Trace or Eagle Rare, you can't go wrong.

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BamaSC said:

I don't think I've had the 92 proof. My brother bought be a bottle of the 110 a while back and thought it was pretty good, but maybe not worth the $70 it cost. I bought the 85 proof ($30) about a year ago. I don't like it at all and still have most of it. The 85 is way too fruity; almost tastes like cider.

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RTR91 said:

Anyone ever have the Kirkland bourbon from Costco? Curious how it compares.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Mystery solved. Kirkland is from Buffalo Trace and tastes like Jim Beam — a little bit, anyway.

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4Q Basket Case said:

I like Clyde Mays a lot. Sip it straight or on the rocks. Strong nutty caramel flavor...almost pecan pie. Don't mix it...tastes pretty much like any other good solid mid-grade if you do.

Have to confess, though, I'm not familiar with that bottle design. I've seen two other styles, but not that one. I enlarged the picture, and didn't see anything that made me think what I'm familiar with is different.

Correction...that looks like it's 92 proof. I'm familiar with the lesser alcohol content. Don't know if that makes a ton of difference.

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