I bought a bottle of bourbon at the shopping mall a couple of months ago. I didn't think too much about the price ($36) when I bought it, but I was exploring not shopping. When I thought about it later, I thought 'that's a heck of a lot of money for a 5th of bourbon'. It was very smooth, though, so maybe it was worth it.
Went to the liquor store a couple of weeks ago and picked up a bottle of
Four Roses ($25)and a bottle of
Jack Daniels ($20). I used to drink
Jim Beam because it was cheaper, but it had a bit of a bite to it. When I thought I could afford it (after the kids were all through with school), I decided I could splurge a little and moved up to
Jack Daniels. Much smoother. I drank the bottle of
Four Roses first and it was very good. And then I turned to the
Jack Daniels and it wasn't quite as smooth. It has just a hint of a bite to it. So I'm thinking there is a pretty definite relationship between price and smoothness, or lack of bite if you prefer. So generally, you're going to drink the cheapest whiskey you can tolerate.
But alcohol is a chemical and if you are buying your alcohol from
Archer Daniels Midland, I'm thinking it wouldn't have any bite at all. So could it be that distillers who are selling cheap whiskey are making it themselves because it's cheaper than buying it from
ADM? Or maybe stills come with performance / quality controls, where you can turn up the speed but you get more
fusel oils in your product. which means more bite, or you can turn down the speed and turn up the quality and get smoother whiskey.
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