In reply to:

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same folks who blend Patron

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patron is one of, if not THE best tequila i have ever tasted. i cant stand cuervo, cuervo gold, or the cuervo 1800.. it all stinks..

thanks for the tip, i will look for the Mico.

and funny you mention this.. one of my disc golf buddies told me yesterday that he got this tequila that he wanted me to try. i cant remember the exact name, but it was something like 'teqe almondine'. he said he has never seen it here, but bought several bottles of it while skiing in colorado this winter. he said it is only 60 proof, and has an almond flavor to it. he said mix it half/half with a glass of 7-up, and it is the best mixed drink he has ever had.. now thats a BIG statement.

now i got 2 tequilas to try and find!! life is tough.

bigjohn

pmb, the BevMo by my work carries it for 19.99 - MSRP is 47.99 they say! Take that with a grain of salt, you know how stores like BevMo are.

bigjohn, there are many brands of that almond tequilla. But everyone that I have tried all tasted like almond extract/cough syrup. If you like Southern Comfort more than Wild Turkey then it might be for you.

I will have to check it out, because that is quite a good price. I generally get Sauza Hornitos, it's ~$25 a fifth and 100% agave. But when you're buying tequila for an event, it's impractical, especially when people just put it in margaritas or something anyway.

That reminds me of the time my (ex-)roommate practically drained my precious bottle of El Tesoro Reposado on mixed drinks with friends one night when I was away.

I asked him to replace it, and he obliged, but mistakenly got El Tesoro Silver instead. Both are very good tequilas.

We have no BevMo in the Evergreen State. Stupid state-run monopoly liquor stores.

btw, I recently had a small but illuminating showdown between several doppelbocks on a couple of different occasions. We compared Ayinger Celebrator, Paulaner Salvator and Spaten Optimator. I have neither the time nor gumption to give you full tasting notes (a la bigjohn, to whom I apologize for my lack of clarity and description). However, to my surprise, I much preferred the Spaten for its overall balance, depth and complexity. I always knew it was a lovely beer, but had not compared it critically to the other two before.

Thanks for the Tequila tip!

Several of you know that I have reduced my LDL cholesterol by ~40 points over the last two years through what I have come to refer to as the Bourbon and Oatmeal diet. Oh sure, I try to say "no" to the yummy fats and espouse portion control, but the core tenets remain Snoqualmie Falls Oatmeal (with craisins and 2%) for breakfast and bourbon for dessert (after dinner, not after breakfast). Never underestimate the power of mental health.

Anyway, in an ultimately misguided quest for variety, I have been trying to find an affordable bourbon I like as well as Maker's Mark. I recently thoroughly auditioned Jim Beam black label and something called 1492 (from the same distillery that makes Elijah Craig and Evan Williams brands). To me, neither came close to Maker's Mark.

The PacNorWest produces its share of fine red wine, which some say helps lower LDL. Have you given it a shot?

I like some red wine very much, but cannot seem to afford the ones that really give me joy. Plus, the sulfites and tannins give me a monster headache.

I would have to say that I prefer the Optimator as well. It was months ago, but I did a similar test rather spontaneously. I was in a Philly bar with a good selection, picked a category and started drinking down the list. I should do that more often

I like Wild Turkey 101 quite a bit more than the Maker's MArk. The Evan Williams single barrel was once very good. The last bottle I tried was not quite as good, however.
G' Luck.

I had lunch at a new Indian buffet place ($6.99, all you can eat) a couple blocks from my office today. The food was excellent, but this is the beer thread, right? They have about 100 different bottled import beers available there: German, English, Belgian, Canadian ... it's all there. Sadly, I was not able to have any (I only drink AFTER work), but I shall return.