From Wiki: Rye whiskey was historically the prevalent whiskey of the northeastern states, especially Pennsylvania and Maryland. Pittsburgh was the center of rye whiskey production in the late 1700s and early 1800s.[2] By 1808, Allegheny County farmers were selling one half barrel for each man, woman and child in the country.[3] Rye whiskey largely disappeared after Prohibition.
A lot of the founding fathers made their own rye whiskey.
Once Prohibition was repealed, rye whiskey lost its spot, because it takes longer to make (5-10 years, like article states below), and liquor makers wanted to get their products to the market ASAP.
I like both Kentucky and Tennessee whiskeys, it just depends. Kentucky for juleps, sometimes for sipping. Sometimes I prefer Tennessee. The higher the ABV, the more complex are the flavors on dilution. ABV is probably more important than whether the whiskey is charcoal-filtered or not, imo.
I don’t do cocktails (other than juleps, and that’s only one weekend a year), so there’s that.
Edit: where do you who drink juleps find mint in Taiwan?
This is a good time to get it going. Toss a small pot into one of those long planters and toss some “菜肥料” vegetable fertilizer in there. It’ll fill the pot in no time
Nice to know that I can still do the spring face-plant in Taiwan. Kidding … but not much.
Ingredients are simple yet completely hide any hint of sour mash, the cocktail goes down like sweet tea with mint (imo), and next thing you know the bluegrass tastes almost as sweet as it looks. Juleps provide almost zero feedback for “how much alcohol have I had,” ime.
Get thee to thy nearest neighborhood bar and order a Jameson, neat, with water back. Then add a dribble of water to the Jameson. Sip it down, taste it, and then order 5 or 6 more.
Irish whiskey is a sweet spot between Scotch and American mashes, imo (apologies to Canadian whiskeys, but they sold their souls to other grains long, long ago). No peat, no sour mash burn, just a sweetish, mild whiskey flavor. St. Patrick’s Day is Saturday, they might be on sale!
Kentucky bourbon by far it’s more Superior. On a personal note everyone should have a mint julep at least once.
Kudos to Jack Daniels whiskey for knowing and respecting Kentucky bourbon and not naming their product bourbon.
So my go-to regular bourbon used to be Maker’s 46, unless I happen to come across a good deal on Gentleman Jack, in which case I’ll grab a bottle of that. And then Costco was having a deal on Woodford Reserve (bourbon), so I decided to grab one.
Juleps provide almost zero feedback for “how much alcohol have I had,” ime.
