Asked and Answered

Today we feature a new featured feature called “Ask Mr. Bottle” where we answer questions from our readers. 

Our first question comes from Barry in Georgia who asks, “Could you revisit some of the drinks that you tried and thought were bad?”

Dear Barry,



This predated our
"all black background"
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Are you mad at us or something?  Why would you want us to re-try a drink that we don’t like? We did it, though, since we can’t afford to lose any readers. We decided to revisit the Hawaiian Cocktail, a combination of gin, triple sec, and pineapple juice.  We originally thought it was ridiculously strong and that you couldn’t even taste the pineapple. This time it was still strong but I could definitely make out the faintest pineapple flavor.  We would probably give this drink a three or four if we rated it today. One minor difference this time around is that the gin we used was 80 proof instead of the original 94.6 proof firewater. I don’t know if that was the tipping point, or if after 130+ drinks our palates are more accustomed to strong drinks.  It is also possible that our taste buds have been destroyed along with our brain cells.

Cheers,

Mr. Bottle

Our next question also comes from Barry in Georgia who asks, “Why don’t you try something with Scotch, which you are known to hate?”

Dear Barry,



So did this

How about giving someone else a chance to ask a question?   While we wait for more questions, we will talk about the Canal Street Daisy.  It is made with Scotch whisky, orange juice, lemon juice, and club soda.  When we tried it originally I called it “the worst drink I have ever tried.”  I no longer think the CSD is the worst drink I have ever tried and that is not just because I have since then had the misfortune of drinking the Walters Cocktail. It is also because we now think it is only mildly unpleasant instead of truly terrible.  This drink would rate a two if we ranked it today. Again, this is probably because we have become accustomed to putting horrible things in our mouths (which is new to me at least).  We also switched up the Scotch from the blended Johnnie Walker Black to the single-malt Glenlivet which may have had an impact as well.

Warmly,

Mr. Bottle



This leads us to our third question, which comes from Barry in Georgia.  He asks, “What is the difference between single malt and blended whisky?”

Dear Barry,

I am glad you asked that.  It is almost like I made up that question as a deus ex machina to move the blog along.  That is impossible, though, because I’m not sure that is the proper usage of deus ex machina.  Regardless, I will answer your timely question.  A single malt Scotch uses malted barley from a single distillery from distillation through bottling.  A blended Scotch contains a mixture of different whiskies.  There are some other subtleties to the differences, but I’m sure you can read them from Wikipedia as easily as I can copy and paste them.  As is our custom we tried the Glenlivet straight before adding it into the Canal Street Daisy.  I thought it was better than the Johnnie Walker, but Mrs. Bottle still thought it tasted like feet.  Instead of a blend of many feet, at least it tasted like feet from one distillery. If they only made zero-malt Scotch we might be in business.

Keep in touch,

Mr. Bottle

 

Our fourth question comes from Barry in Georgia.  He asks, “How many questions will you answer today?”

Dear Barry,

Four.

XXXOOO,

Mr. Bottle

These clearly post-date our "all black background" policy