ChefSteps Needs To Update Its Liquor Cabinet!

Hello, My name is Hans and I am the Audio Director/ Composer/ Resident Bartender for CS.

It's getting that time of year where the weather is starting to change, as well as our seasonal booze preferences. I will be creating some cocktail recipes in the coming months and thought to ask you guys:

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOZE?

Some of my favorites:

Chartreuse V.E.P

Ron Zacapa 23

Don Julio 1942

Michters Rye

Clear Creek Pear-In-A-Bottle

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Daniel_Levy_59584

that ron zacapa is good stuff, i gotta pick up a bottle some time. im mostly a scotch guy, tho. some favorites are:

lagavulin 16

ardbeg uigedail

laphroig 10 cask strength

yamazaki 12

oban 14

highland park 12

glenkinchie 10

longmorn 15

balvenie 14 rum cask

chivas century of malts

elijah craig 12 (bourbon)

basil hayden (bourbon)

// a little off topic

Hey Hans,

Have you seen this - http://www.wintersmiths.com

Tim_Sutherland_52834

My go to bottle at the moment is a Clynelish Distillery 15 years in oak (distilled 1997) single malt (with a Sutherland surname I do support the highland distilleries). I have a Islay smokey sitting around (Laphroaig) and Cardhu for quaffing.

Pappy van winkle 23

Templeton Rye

Got about 100 bottles of bourbon/rye so hard to pick favorites. Love whiskey. Come fall/winter for cocktails in addition to whiskey I tend to reach most often for lairds bib, averna, fernet, and chartreuse

The Italian Holy Trinity (to me at least): Campari, Cynar and Aperol. Great in the summer, reminds me of summer when drinking in the winter.

Haha, I love that, "holy trinity", great call! I would also add ramazzotti and fernet to that list personally.

Great list for the fall, I also love the occasional apple jack.

Forgot about those two! Pappy is just insanely good, so difficult to find a bottle in Seattle, but completely worth the effort to find. Good call.

That Clyelish looks awesome! I highly recommend a Lophroaig "Blood And Sand" cocktail if you haven't had one already. Not for everybody, but it is a truly unique flavor experience.

Love, love those. Grant actually picked up a solid aluminum Ice ball maker called a "Kristalice" . Ice balls are the way to go for single pour drinks. We have ordered professionally created ice for a couple private events, completely glass like as well.. Also, if you want to go completely nuts, check out 3d printed ice:

That is an awesome list, thank you! I have not had the Ardbeg, glenkinchie, longmorn, or the cask stregth Laphroig before. I might just need to arrange a tasting soon with the crew.

I know! Still trying to get a bottle in LA. I had my fair share in restaurants in Memphis though. It flows like water. Check out Alchemy. They refuse to run out.

Yes! Fernet>Ramazzotti for my taste, but having been confined to a trinity they both got the boot. I am also a huge fan of the smokey+bitter notes in Zucca.

Me too, almost always have a bottle of Calvados on hand. Great for fall cocktails as well as straight.

Some recent favorites:

Giffard Pamplemousse Rose

Cut Spike Nebraska Whiskey

Arkansas Black Applejack

Nikka Coffey Grain

Hibiki 17

Compass Box Hedonism

Monkey 47

I'm a bourbon drinker for the most part, hard to find a good bottle with consistency in Toronto, I'd say Blanton's and Evan Williams Single Barrel have been my recent favourites for the house. Masterson's Rye is also a beautiful spirit. Of course Colonel E H Taylor is probably one of the tastier things in life, I can only find it at bars. Dillon's Gin is a game-changer of a spirit, made in Beamsville, Ontario (in wine country), made from wine grapes—incredible fruit profile, perfect for cocktails. St George absinthe is one of the more delicious bottles I own, but I've had some of Jade Liqueurs' absinthes and they are fabulous. Fernet and Montenegro would be my digestifs of choice.

Daniel_Levy_59584

the ardbeg is great, its my wifes favorite. lagavulin is my personal favorite, although the ardbeg is good, too. those particular glenkinchie and longmorn are hard to find, though, as theyre discontinued, but i had some good luck in running into a few bottles of each still at the original price. i cant say for the longmorn, as i havent tried the 16 that replaced it (yet) but its widely 'known' to be not as good as the 15. i personally think the same for the glenkinchie 12 which replaced the 10, although i havent heard as much about that one from others.

the cask strength laphroig was surprisingly good. i didnt like the regular one as much when i tried it, but that was a few years ago so its possible my tastes have just changed a bit since then.

oh, and i forgot to add the yamazaki 18. i personally like the 12 a bit better i think, but its definitely a great whisky.

Matthew_Snyder_68770

The Pappy locator says Beverage Warehouse (on McConnell in Playa/MDR area) is a retailer. But their website currently shows no stock. Sad face.

Matthew_Snyder_68770

I love rum and cachaça. Almost all kinds of each, but my favorites are Appleton 24 and Velho Barriero

Cynar - Rocks!! Much much better taste than Averna

Yes, Blanton's! The Dillon's gin sounds really good too.
Mezcal's my usual straight sipper- right now, Los Siete Misterios Arroqueño is my fave, but the DM ones are good too (esp. Chichicapa, Minero y Pechuga).

Carpano Antica is a must have for winter cocktails for me.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

I'm happily hammered just reading this thread.

Hahaha!

Completely, good call. Also love Punt e mes when you can't find any carpano around.

I love Apleton estate, great stuff. I also love the occasional rhum agricole!

That is a bad ass list Nicolas haha. St. George is fantastic. I forgot about Masterson's rye! I had that a long time ago and it was wonderful. I check out Dillion's gin as well. Thanks!

Blanton's is like desert Bourbon! So very good.

That is a great list too! Pamplemousse in sparkling cocktails is amazing. Not familiar with the Nikka Coffey or the compass box, I'll check them out! Hibiki is my all time favorite japanese whiskey. Thanks!

Yamazaki is awesome, I have only had the 12, but I know several local bars that carry it. Definitely see scotch in my future! haha

For me it's pretty much wine, single malt scotch (preferably from Islay) and all kinds of beer. Food and wine are such a big part of our social life that it's a bit difficult to pick and choose as one has to pair food with drink. If I had to pick something to drink right now, I'd pick Krug Champagne.

Updated!

I had to personally pick up a bottle today after discussing it. haha:

Brenne Single Malt French Whiskey. Aged in Cognac barrels with a rich, smooth flavor and a hint of blueberry on the nose.

Ouzo and Absinthe! I'm a sucker for most herbal infusions, but anise flavors rule over most others in my hierarchy of tastes.

For seasonal tastes... I'm moving out of beer season (summer) and into red wine season (fall/winter) for my go-to given that the ambient temperature of my apartment is moving toward my preferred serving temperature for wines. The best is winter when I can keep my desk at a nice 50-ish degrees F. For some reason, that's always my favorite for wines. Works great for sake, too.

Recently had a blind taste test with some friends and the Nikka Coffey Grain won easily over the Hibiki 12, Yamazaki 12, and Hakushu 12. Great stuff.

Lillet blanc is always nice to have around, and a bottle of Benedictine. Got to love a Pastis as well.

Good call!

Love, love Saki. You just reminded me I need to get on that! Great suggestions.

Remember this oldie, but goodie video in our staff kitchen? Ha! Way back in February, Ben decided to develop two cocktails for Groundhog Day, one for winter, and one for spring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sidECUZrKAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sidECUZrKA

Rich_McDonough_67546

I'll do just about anything for a Boulard Pays d'Auge XO Calvados...

Martin_Knudsen_9454

My two current favorites would be:
Dalva Colheita 1966(http://www.portugalvineyards.com/wines/dalva-colheita-port-1966?atid=4)
Burmeister Colheita 1955 (http://www.garrafeiranacional.com/1955-burmester-colheita-porto.html)

Beer:
Indslev Mørk Hvede (http://www.indslevbryggeri.dk/files/9513/9532/9789/Mrk-hvede.jpg)

raphael_n_110069

When it comes to favourite liquors, I tend to side with scotch and gin. While I'm partial to old-fashioneds, the sweetness of the drink removes the necessity for a top-shelf product. So I'm just as happy with a Jim Beam Black as I am with Woodford's Reserve. My favouites in descending order for both aforementioned liquors include:

SCOTCH:

Lagavulin 16

Laphroaig Quarter Cask

Glenmorangie Nectar D'or

Aberlour A'bunadh

GIN:

Gin Mare

Citadelle

Tanqueray Ten

Bulldog

And just for the heck of it, Graham's 20-year old port.

Niiiice... I love, love Gin. I have not had Gin Mare or Bulldog. Maybe it is a great excuse to visit London sometime.

Great list, Thanks!

St. Germain. And, by the way, HOW DO THEY DO THAT pear in the bottle thing!

not necessarily my favorite booze, but malort is worth throwing in the mix for the novelty of it. always served with an ample amount of horror stories. the herbal notes are great and lives in the realm of aquavit, cynar, or fernets.

They put the bottle over the baby fruit when it starts to develop on the limb and tie it too the tree . The pear grows in the bottle over the next month or so and when its the right size they cut it free and you have a pear "stuck" inside a bottle. I was in Germany years back and saw a family doing it, walking on their farm and seeing this tree with all these bottles tied to it ... It was pretty cool

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