Saturday, June 9, 2012

Comments on whiskey

Yes this is a pretty random post, but I need to blow some time in an airport bar before my flight.

I quite often find myself scoping out the whiskey selection in any bar I go to. It tells me a little something about the bar and the clientele. What it says I'm not totally sure but here I go passing judgement anyways.

What do I notice about the whiskey here in the PDX airport bar? A couple interesting general details: both the brands and the content levels. For bourbon the selection is fairly standard. They have, however, committed a cardinal sin of putting Crown amidst the standard bourbons. I don't mean alongside, I mean in the middle. Sacrilege! Crown is not whiskey, nor should it be drank in any form for any reason. Period.

Outside that monstrosity I'm happy to observe the bottle of Bulleit is near empty while Makers is nearly full. I'm probably incorrectly assuming that means Bulleit is more popular but I don't care. Then again Bulleit costs just as much as Makers these days so maybe I shouldn't be surprised people are respecting it more. Bakers is also near empty and they don't carry the perpetually overpriced Knob.

My conclusions? The clientele know what they're drinking and the establishment largely does too, save for one idiot employee who put the Crown back in the wrong place. Of course that suggests that someone ordered Crown, so I suppose there is at least one r-word patron.

The shelf above the bourbon hosts my preferred embodiment of Whiskey: Scotch. Insert best anchorman here. This one is a bit more disappointing. Of course they have McCallan 12 and of course it's nearly empty. There's nothing wrong with McCallan other than its horrifically boring and drinking it tells me you know nothing about whiskey. They have Oban, which is a plus, but it looks like a grand total of one shot has been poured from it, same for one of my faves, Glenmorangie (rhymes with orange-E). I just wish they carried the much better versions not just the Plain-o original. Dalwhinnie strikes my curiosity since I've never tried that one. It looks like another of my faves, Ardbeg, is near empty, but my guess is that it has been in that state for weeks. I love it but I've heard it described as scotch with strong peat and smoke, hints of the sea, tobacco, and used bandaids. Not for everyone.

No comment on the near empty Dewers and Walker red.





4 comments:

  1. Tim, Do they serve Pepsi or Coke products??

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  2. If they are near empty, probably means somebody is drinking them. I suspect they have backups hidden somewhere.

    Mark

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  3. If you can get the same picture on the return flight, then you might be able to draw some conclusions.

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  4. Howard: what are these things you call Pepsi and Coke?

    Clif: maybe a time-lapse secret webcam would be even better!

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