{"id":1179,"date":"2026-01-09T09:27:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T15:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.basilweb.net\/blog\/?p=1179"},"modified":"2026-01-09T09:46:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T15:46:31","slug":"new-year-new-whiskey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.basilweb.net\/blog\/2026\/01\/09\/new-year-new-whiskey\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year, New Whiskey"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Weller\u2019s – The House Whiskey at Casa Basil Cigar & Whiskey Lounge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I\u2019ve heard of this despicable trend starting – Dry January. Fuck. That. I\u2019ve also heard of Bender \u2018til December. That\u2019s more in line with my way of thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really appreciate the opportunity to try a sampling of fine whiskey without the attached price tags. That\u2019s why I recently participated in a top tier whiskey sampling opportunity. I\u2019ll leave the fine art of swirling, exposing it to oxygen, adding water, and trying it with ice cubes\/rocks etc for those who are just getting into this or who are seasoned aficionados and continue to enjoy participating in these various ways of sampling whiskey. That\u2019s the purpose of this – enjoy the whiskey in whatever manner you desire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Me? Not so fun anymore. I quit doing that about 10 years ago. Already know what I like and how I like it. Trying to manipulate the drink to find its many aromas and flavors is not my goal anymore. I just want to relax, enjoy the sip, include a fine cigar, and enjoy some tunes from my jukebox for an hour and a half every night. Once I\u2019ve sampled all 13 bottles, I\u2019ll post what they all were and where they fall in my rating scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To that end, I provide some additional advice to those still experimenting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Advice to Add<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Buy an aerator. Run your pour through it, which will expose greater amounts of your whiskey to oxygen at a much faster rate. Either replace your 5-10 minute wait with that or combine it. Try both ways. I won\u2019t tell you what kind to get. You can google that shit yourself and buy one from Amazon.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Adding water is great. To up that a level, try to get yourself some branch water. That is, water from the same source that the distillery in question uses to produce their whiskey.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Make ice cubes from branch water.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Lessons Learned<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Taste is a preferential sense. Subjective to the individual. Therefore, anything I have learned does not apply to you. You must go out there and discover your own tastes and preferences. That\u2019s the really fun part! These are the lessons that I have learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I like my whiskey neat. No added water. No ice cubes. Room temperature. Definitely not in an old-fashioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I\u2019ve learned that spending $80 on a bottle of Blanton\u2019s is going to taste pretty much the same to me as buying a $24-50 bottle of any Weller\u2019s. So why waste my money. I\u2019m enjoying that pour of Weller\u2019s just as much as I enjoyed the Blanton\u2019s but I saved myself $60 to spend on – yep! You guessed it. Another bottle of Weller\u2019s. I\u2019ll never buy another bottle of Blanton\u2019s again but I\u2019m glad I tried it. Same goes for COL Taylor. Eagle Rare, on the other hand provides me with a different expression from the same origin, that I can appreciate enough to pick up a bottle when I see it. Same goes for Van Winkle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I\u2019ve learned that I prefer the higher proof version when offered. That\u2019s why Jack Daniel\u2019s Single Barrel, Barrel Proof is my go-to Friday whiskey night sip-n-smoke. The octane usually clocks in between 128-134 proof at my base Class Six. This is also why I generally like all Bottled-In-Bonds. Guaranteed to be 100 proof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What I\u2019ve Settled On<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For me, the following will cover all flavors that I enjoy and are usually in Casa Basil Cigar & Whiskey Lounge\u2019s inventory, from least to most favorite:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Maker\u2019s Mark<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Buffalo Trace<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Wild Turkey 101<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. Evan Williams BiB<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. Jack Daniel\u2019s Bonded (BiB)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    6. Weller\u2019s Special Reserve<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    7. Weller\u2019s 12 Year or Antique<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    8. Jack Daniel\u2019s Single Barrel, Barrel Proof<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Additional Notes About Me<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      My usual pour size is 4 oz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      I buy a bottle to drink, not collect. I\u2019ll never buy a bottle to flip and make money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      You won\u2019t find a bottle in my bar that is over a year old. If I don\u2019t care for it too much, I\u2019ll give it away. If I like it, I drink it. I will not die with a full bottle of Pappy in my bar. I didn\u2019t spend that money to watch it collect dust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Happy New Year and happy sipping!<\/p>\n\n\n

      \n
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      At Casa Basil Cigar & Whiskey, the House always wins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I\u2019ve heard of this despicable trend starting – Dry January. Fuck. That. I\u2019ve also heard of Bender \u2018til December. Yeah\u2026 no. I\u2019m sure the truth lies somewhere in between. At least for me. Coming into 2026 gives us plenty of reasons to drink. I\u2019m starting it off with 13 samples of whiskey I haven\u2019t tried before. I hope. More on my Corner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"New Year Whiskey Samples","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[628],"tags":[630,629],"class_list":["post-1179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casa-basil-cigar-whiskey-lounge","tag-cigar","tag-whiskey"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.basilweb.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/img_0693.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.basilweb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.basilweb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.basilweb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.basilweb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.basilweb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1179"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.basilweb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1182,"href":"https:\/\/www.basilweb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179\/revisions\/1182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.basilweb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.basilweb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.basilweb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.basilweb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}