What to do with the open bottles you're not going to drink?

[IainB]

Anyone have any thoughts on this. As posted in another thread I've got rather a lot of open ones - some of these will never be touched again - any suggestions? I could give them away, I could swap them, I could blend them (up to a point), or maybe hold a big tasting of everything I don't want and only invite people I don't like.

Maybe the society should invest in a big cask we could all pour our unwanted whiskey into.

[IainB]

Zoltan's already claimed the Arran Malt unchillfiltered, by the way.

[DavidH]

Cocktails?

[varizoltan]

bring them to the market square this weekend and sell a shot for 2 euros at the Wicklow festival?

you can make your money back

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Must admit I have not met an Arran that I liked ... had a couple in the younger years and ir was crap ... then went to the Arran tasting and not one appealed to me.

Can't say I have much to swap unless you want a 1970's teachers

[IainB]

See there's another thing. I seem to have acquired standard bottles of Teachers, Bells and Famous Grouse - I know they'll never be opened - maybe I should give them away as presents or something. Though Zoltan's idea isn't bad. I could also water them down and sell them to teenagers! ONLY JOKING. I APOLOGISE RIGHT AWAY. TEENAGE DRINKING IS NOT FUNNY.

[DavidH]

I think we need a Cooking with Whiskey thread.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

The ultimate use of whiskey in cooking.

Recipe

Steak & Mash


Ingredients ...

Prime cut of beef. In season Potatoes, Salt, Pepper, Butter, 1 bottle of whiskey.

Method.

Pour out a measure of Whiskey .... sample to make sure it is of perfect quality.

Steam potatoes for 40-50 mins.

Pre heat Pan ...

reassess and sample whiskey.

Season beef and add to pan and brown ... cook to you liking.

Add another sample of whiskey to chef.

Mash potatoes and season with pepper, salt and butter.

Re sample whiskey.

Serve up steak and mash ... and enjoy.

Keep sampling whiskey until well stewed

[IainB]

I think we need a Cooking with Whiskey thread.

That is something alright, but you tend to only use small quantities, and it's going to be hard to beet IWC's recipe.

That said, I can think of a few times I've used an unwanted whiskey in food. If you're making pate you can throw in a good healthy dollop. Likewise if you're having a 70's cooking night you can make marie rose sauce a lot more interesting with a good dash of malt whisk(e)y of some sort. And there's the good ole bbq sauce recipes which usually involve whiskey of some sort.

Things not to try (from experience):

Soak smoked salmon in a peated whisky. Not good.

Soak cured ham in malt whisky. Not good at all at all - you end up with rubbery no taste ham. And don't try and retrieve the situation by then drinking the whisky you used for the soaking!

[Michael Foggarty]

What about a whiskey swap shop?

I now have the premises to host something like this, all that needs to be done is to come up with a system to value the bottles and their quantities.

You could simply drop of some bottles and if another member comes in a few days later with their bottles and sees something they like they then swap to the correct value, im will to come up with a system that suits everyone.

[IainB]

Sounds reasonable to me. But then again I've only given the idea about 15secs thought. Would you be allowed to serve whiskeys you hadn't opened yourself? I mean from a health and safety etc. perspective.

[Michael Foggarty]

a lot of trust would have to be involved

[IainB]

Who trusts whiskey drinkers? What Scotsman in his right mind would trust Irish whiskey drinkers??

[SixCats!]

Hi all,

Ummmm, please explain "opened bottles your NOT going to drink". This does not compute. I'm sooooo confused!
I can tell you this much, if I buy a bottle of (whatever) and spend good money, you can be sure that I will drink every damn last drop (love it or not) ! IainB, could you please explain why you would not open a bottle of Teacher HLC or The Famous Grouse ? I own both (well, The Famous Grouse Gold Reserve) and TEACHERS HLC. Considering it's budget pricing, I think they are good bargain drams. A Teaspoon of Spring water in the TEACHERS helps it nicely.

Regards,
SixCats!

[varizoltan]

i have an Arran sherry cask, i had a few dram, but for god sake, if you beat me with a stick, i still not drink that again, it was about 60-70 euros,
but i also know there is lads who is mad for it, so i be happy to swap that or even give it away for free, because it is not for my taste
and as i always say: your sh.t could be someone else's happiness

[IainB]

Hi all,

Ummmm, please explain "opened bottles your NOT going to drink". This does not compute. I'm sooooo confused!
I can tell you this much, if I buy a bottle of (whatever) and spend good money, you can be sure that I will drink every damn last drop (love it or not) ! IainB, could you please explain why you would not open a bottle of Teacher HLC or The Famous Grouse ? I own both (well, The Famous Grouse Gold Reserve) and TEACHERS HLC. Considering it's budget pricing, I think they are good bargain drams. A Teaspoon of Spring water in the TEACHERS helps it nicely.

Regards,
SixCats!

Hi, I understand your point but I've so many open bottles (about 70??) that on any given night, given the choice, I NEVER go for the ones I don't like. I don't plan on throwing them away but in reality they'r ejust going to sit there.

Likewise the unopened ones. I've no probelm with Teachers etc. but they're so far down the list of whiskies I want to open that I just don't see it happening. And I didn't even spend money - they were all given to me a various stages. If you're ever in Wicklow you can have them!

[SixCats!]

Hi IainB,

Wow! I see YOUR point. 70 bottles is a LOT of bottles. I'm just too poor to have so many bottles opened at one time. I have perhaps six to eight opened bottles. Heck, if I was in Wicklow, I'd take you up on your kind offer. Thanks IainB.

Regards,
SixCats!