(Part 3) Top products from r/whiskey

The Japanese whiskeys are just a weird state now...

It's pretty much a general consensus that the Japanese whiskeys are wonderful and great (I know some people may not agree, but it's extremely hot now...) From a few website I can find like this:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2013/02/20/single-malt-whiskey-from-japan-the-next-big-thing/#7766324a5b15

They were selling at $50-$60 a bottle back in 2013 according to this article.

Years ago before 2013, they were selling for $35-$40 a bottle. I cannot verify that because I only started collecting booze in late 2014. So why are they selling for $100 for the 12 year stuff now when 5+ years, they were supposedly $35-$40? Are they really that scarce?

The answer is no, they aren't that scarce. Suntory is just a smart company and created an increased demand and effectively increased the price of all their whiskeys from around $40 a bottle to $100 and the majority of people discovering this didn't know it. They started winning awards, "getting discovered more" and everyone read that the Japanese whisky/scotch are "beating" the Scottish and that the Scottish need to step up their game, mainly coming from this book from Jim Murray:

> For the first time since the “Whiskey Bible” was first published in 2003, not a single top-five whiskey came from Scotland. Murray called it a “wake-up call” for Scottish distilleries, according to the Independent. Ouch

http://www.amazon.com/Jim-Murrays-Whisky-Bible-2014/dp/0955472989

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/11/05/japan-beats-scotland-to-win-worlds-best-whiskey-title/

The winner of that year was the Yamazaki Sherry Cask, which is extremely rare and costs thousands of $$$. So everyone is "discovering" japanese whiskey and Suntory knew how to exploit the public. You cannot get the Sherry cask, so everyone is looking for "Yamazaki." They cannot get it, but they can get Hakushu.

Suntory had enough money to buy Jim Beam... Their flagship whiskeys are not scarce if they can buy a major American Distillery.

This year, now Crown Royal won with Northern Harvest Rye... the same award.

http://www.mensjournal.com/food-drink/drinks/the-best-whisky-of-the-year-is-crowned-20151120


What does this mean?

It means that award winners get hyped like crazy. It also might mean distilleries could buy awards by paying a guy off like Jim Murray if it means they can sell their product at a higher price. We don't know this, but it's very possible

It means when you win an award, you get a bunch of free press and everyone wants to try your booze. You can create an extra demand by limiting your booze supply and slowly increase the price over time.

Usually the award winners are great, but distilleries exploit this like crazy so they can sell their product at a much higher price if they play their cards correctly. Japanese are the hottest thing in the booze world now and the Japanese know when they have a good thing going, they will exploit it.

As soon as more people figure this out, the hype train will probably end, but it's hard to know if the price will drop back down, or just stay at the higher levels.




So, what I will say to you is just this...

Drink the whiskeys, enjoy them. Know that some distilleries will take advantage of their press and create a fake supply/demand by limiting their release. Don't buy into award winners as much as you should. Find things you like by doing tastings. Gauge how much you enjoy it compared to the price. And really... just enjoy the damn booze, that's what really matters.

Thanks for the feedback. The hardest part was cutting the hole at the bottom of the bottle. I believe the hole will prevent all the heat from being trapped in addition to allowing a full size accessible light bulb. Also I'm using an LED Philips Hue bulb. So that won't build up too much heat. Plus the automation removed the need to actually switch the lamp on and off. I guess you can just plug and unplug as needed.

All links point to Amazon:

First you need the hole saws to cut the hole at the bottom ($18.99) I bought a kit but ultimately the 70mm is all I used:
Amazon Hole Saw

I also picked up a glass cutting oil ($8.38):
Amazon Glass Cutting Oil

Then I needed a lamp kit ($10.99) This pretty cool because you can make a lamp from a bottle without cutting the bottle. :
Amazon Lamp Kit

Naturally you need an empty bottle of Hooch. I'm not pricing this because it serves another delicious purpose.

The base is a leftover 2X6 Pine from a previous project. Being left outside for a couple years gave it a nice patina. It adds weight to the bottom for stability and the width keeps it from tipping over sideways. The height also lets you snake the cord through the wood for a nicer, finished look. I wanted stained oak but it cost more than I wanted to spend.

All the pipe parts are from a big box hardware store. They added up to about $50. I initially wanted black pipe but I switched to galvanized because they were missing one part and I really didn't want to go elsewhere plus I know I'm making a second one so no big deal. All the pipe parts are 1 inch diameter.
The pipe parts from bottom (base) up and around the top to the bottle are:


floor flange

4 lag screws (to attached flange to wood, pre-drill to prevent splitting)

8 inch pipe

female/female coupler

8 inch pipe

elbow (female / female)

1 inch pipe

elbow (female/male) I think this is called a street elbow

reducer 1.75" to 1" (which is actually used to expand from 1" to 1.75")


Finally some electrical tape.

Assembly:
I drilled two perpendicular holes in the wood to run the cord into the side of the wood and up. As you build you can push the lamp cord through the pipe/wood/bottle for ease of assembly. The wall plug part of the lamp is non-serviceable so you thread the bare wire through and when you are done you attach the socket/switch and all that.

Now push the wire through the wood. In the picture from right to left and up through the floor flange. My wife helped me with this by taping stiff hobby wire first then pulled up the cord. Worked like a charm.

The pipe part is self explanatory. Thread your pipe, run your cable, repeat.

Now you get to the reducer. From here I drilled a hole through the bottle's cap and assembled the lamp stem to the cap. I figured it would be easier that doing it inside the reducer. You pass the rod through the cap, use nuts on both ends of the cap. The kit comes with 1 nut, so you can either find another nut somewhere else or use the rubber stoppers to compression fit, none of the stoppers are big enough to plug the opening of the bottle I used. You can also just pass the wire bare through the cap since the assembly actually serves no purpose. Remember when you are done the lamp is upside down. Now push the cable through the reducer, through the rod/cap assembly. I originally used a shit-ton of hot glue to attach the cap inside the reducer but the glue didn't stick to the metal at all. I guess you can use JB Weld but I never had any success with that so instead I wrapped some electrical tape around the outside of the cap to fatten it up. Since the tape is relatively soft it threaded nicely. It was trial and error, fit, tape, fit tape. I like how it came out better. If you use the bottle as leverage you can actually thread it past the thread and it sits above them. This allows the bottle to wobble a bit but nothing so severe and it passes the pull down test. Unfortunately is doesn't work to remove the cap because the bottle is less resistant and just unscrews itself. You can always just unscrew the reducer and work the cap lose if you need to.

Thread the wire through the bottle and out the hole.

Assemble the lamp bits, screw in the bulb and test. Make sure the lamp is switched on. Finally carefully pull all the slack out to get the socket at a height you want. It doesn't fit inside the neck so it sits below that and it does wobble around in the bottle so be careful.

If you need to change the bulb just push the wire in, to drop the socket. You can work around the base by twisting the lamp 45 degrees to the base. This will let the bulb drop clear.

I didn't use any glue or anything so the whole thing can be disassembled easily. You can present it sideways like I did or head on depending on your preference.

Since I used a smart build I didn't need to build a switch into it which made it easier to build. I've seen some where they use a garden hose valve to work as a switch. Bad ass but way over my pay grade. Maybe the next one.

In a stillborn version of this instead of using a white build I used a flame led bulb ($15.99, I got them on sale for $10.00):
Amazon LED Flame Bulb.
They looked awesome, but ultimately I chose the white smart bulb. I think If I had a label-less bottle I may have used the flame bulb with a wemo for voice control. I liked it, it's just where I displayed the lamp I actually replaced the lamp so I made it a light source rather than decoration.

Google image search Whiskey Bottle Pipe Lamp for ideas. There are versions that have feet instead of the wood base. I liked those but the pipe can start to get expensive, by my estimation pipe feet would have probably doubled the cost.

That's it. Whole thing cost about a hundy with tools, booze and parts all together.

I've never used those subscription services, but I absolutely love two different cocktail channels on youtube, How To Drink and The Educated Barfly

Those guys are absolutely amazing, and they've made so many cocktails, you'll be able to find something you like. Start with all the classics. On the How To Drink channel, go to videos and sort by Oldest uploads. His first videos were very simple and straight forward classic cocktails. He's progressed to crazier stuff, but the older videos are excellent

In terms of books, for specific Whiskey Cocktails, Assouline makes awesome books, large photos and simple instructions

Whiskey drinker male here for far too long - so here are my two cents.

1. Decanters are really kind of pointless. They can look cool but meh.
   
   
2. Whiskey stones suck. I bought them and were really disappointed. Get these things. They fucking ROCK. (No pun intended.)
   
3. This guy is basically THE voice on Whiskey. Great read. Unfortunately he has passed away but good guide for the future.
   
4. For glassware I have kind of been interested in these just because they look awesome. I personally own these and they also get some great comments. I've personally never really found a shape that changes the taste so I just wanted something a little more flashy.
   
5. I'm turning 30 this year and I bought myself a 21 year old bottle of bourbon and am getting it laser engraved. Things Remembered will do anything really so if you know what he likes (or just as an add in, doesn't have to be crazy expensive) maybe an engraved bottle.
   
   Hope this helps!

You too, and congrats to your sister! I don't think I mentioned it, but you can probably glean it from the website, one of the four is light, then they range up to peaty, so she can explore her palate as well. For a cheap side gift, pick her up a Moleskin notebook so she can keep tasting notes... useful to come back and compare tastings of the same whiskey.

Just tried a whiskey sour: 1-1/2 measure bourbon, 3/4 measure lemon juice, 1/4 measure simple syrup and 1 bar spoon of powdered sugar (from "American Bar" - A fantastic bar book, by the way). Very nice. Will try your version now.

General

• Tasting Whisky: An Insider's Guide to the Unique Pleasures of the World's Finest Spirits
  
  Bourbon
  
  
• Bourbon Straight: The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey
  
• Bourbon Curious: A Simple Tasting Guide for the Savvy Drinker
  
• Bourbon, Strange
  
  Scotch/Malt
  
  

• Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible
  
• The World Atlas of Whisky
  
• Malt Whisky Yearbook 2017

Can confirm. I used to use normal ice trays like these. Then I bought these trays which make nearly perfect cubes and the difference with these is already huge. They melt much slower. I also have to get me 2inch cube trays.

Check out The Joy of Home Distilling by Rick Morris and Craft of Whiskey Distilling by Bill Owens.

And, as everyone else mentioned, absolutely do check out Tasting Whiskey.

Also worth checking out is How to Make Whiskey by Brian Davis.

This should with and be an affordable test http://www.amazon.com/WaterSafe-Water-Test-Kit-Lead/dp/B000Q6QWZA. Note, I have not tried this, but am curious to the results. I also have an old unopened ceramic bottle.

You need this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002YUH02/ref=s9_simh_gw_d0_g60_i3 plus a lamp harp plus a 3/8" diamond tipped drill hole bit. Use lots of drizzling cold water on the bit as you drill in to the bottle.

almanac

nosing kit

much more expensive though.

Perhaps look for a plastic butter dish?

https://www.amazon.com/Standard-Butter-Dish-Colors-Vary/dp/B000BQU5US

I have found bottle cleaning beads do a great job getting the stuff you can't reach at the bottom of a bottle or decanter.

Drop the beads in the bottle, add some soap and water, then swirl it around for a few minutes. Dump everything into a strainer to catch the beads, and then just rinse out the bottle.

maybe I'm missing something but this is what I use for my flask:

https://www.amazon.com/Norpro-Stainless-Steel-Funnels-Set/dp/B000FKERMW/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1527734689&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=steel+funnel