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Tell Us Your Experiences with Very Expensive Alcohol

Does a $600 bottle of wine really taste ten times better than a $60 bottle? How about a single malt scotch that costs $100 a glass? I just can't imagine.

by Anonymousreply 24September 15, 2021 2:05 AM

No. At some point it just becomes about spending money. But yeah, Cristal champagne is better than Freixenet.

by Anonymousreply 1September 14, 2021 10:10 PM

It's not worth the $.Perrier Jouet - very good, but is it worth THAT much more than something like Mumm or Veuve Cliquot yellow label? Not really.

Johnny Walker blue vs. black vs. green vs. the regular red: I've tried them all and Blue is the smoothest but I don't think it's worth the price. I think green is good enough for the price.

I did like Robert Cavalli vodka a great deal.

by Anonymousreply 2September 14, 2021 10:12 PM

My boyfriend is really into Scotch so we have a lot of it around the house. Some of it is REALLY pricy, although I can't really tell the difference between the cheap stuff and the expensive stuff

I've tried some pricy champagnes and liked them, though not enough to regular spend $100+ on a bottle

by Anonymousreply 3September 14, 2021 10:14 PM

Nothing but the best for me!

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by Anonymousreply 4September 14, 2021 10:29 PM

A good friend of mine was engaged in some kind of contest with his co-workers. The prize was a 35 year old bottle of small batch Scotch (from Scotland), that retailed for about $350. He won the bottle. One night soon afterwards, he offered me a try. The stuff was thick, nearly syrupy, and was supposed to be mixed with water, which we did, in small glasses, with a single ice cube. To me, it tasted like Scotch, but had an unmistakable and *powerful* aroma of pig shit. For real. I would not have drunk the rest of it, even taking it small tastes at a time. It was not a delicacy to me, it was *disgusting*

by Anonymousreply 5September 14, 2021 10:33 PM

Cheap wine can be terrible, but you don't need to spend a fortune to get good wine. As far as really expensive wine, I've had a few over the years (I wasn't paying, usually), and I don't think they were worth the price.

by Anonymousreply 6September 14, 2021 10:36 PM

I once read that when people think wine is expensive, it scores higher on taste tests. Cheap wine is bad, but probably most mid tier wines are on par with the really expensive bottles. I can’t really tell the difference.

I’ve found that champagne tends to get better the higher the price tag. Maybe it’s just they i know it’s “supposed to be” better, but I really think champagne is worth the price tag if you want a really nice one.

by Anonymousreply 7September 14, 2021 10:39 PM

R6 - Agreed - cheap wine is awful. I call them 'gas station wine' - the cheap brands you see everywhere, like Barefoot. Fucking garbage.

But you can find decent wine for $10 and some really good ones for $15 and $20. I've had very expensive wine and, while good, it wasn't appreciably that much better than a $20 or $30 bottle.

Cheap vodka is also horrible - but there's not a ton of difference between Absolute or Svedka with Tito's or Grey Goose. They are slightly smoother, but it's not really worth the difference in money.

Mid-range is always the smarter buy. Or, if you're having a dinner party, start with a good bottle and then move on to cheaper bottles later. After you've eaten and had a couple of glasses, you can't really tell the difference.

by Anonymousreply 8September 14, 2021 10:45 PM

You can get very decent wines and champagnes from between $10-$20 here. I think a lot of the pricing is dependent on location and local and state taxes.

by Anonymousreply 9September 14, 2021 10:45 PM

Grey Goose is so goddamn bland it tastes like water. I want a vodka that TASTES like one!

by Anonymousreply 10September 14, 2021 10:48 PM

Can you give us some names of good mid-tier wines? I want to try some out as I’m finally building a taste for wine. Finally got into champagne thanks to my friends buying cheap bottles at the gay bars. I look forward to some fancy champagne in the future.

by Anonymousreply 11September 14, 2021 11:25 PM

Not really. I would say there is a difference between a 10 dollar bottle of merlot and a 40 dollar bottle. But very little between $40 and $300. To be fair it's possible my tastes aren't quite as refined as some of the snootier posters here.....

by Anonymousreply 12September 14, 2021 11:27 PM

R11, do you like white or red?

I liked this Chardonnay:

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by Anonymousreply 13September 14, 2021 11:32 PM

No. Most people's don't have a developed enough knowledge to tell the difference between a 50 and 500 bottle of win. Now the difference between a 10 and 50 dollar bottle, yes.

by Anonymousreply 14September 14, 2021 11:35 PM

Follow my Podcast "Ask a Wino."

by Anonymousreply 15September 14, 2021 11:47 PM

For "champagne" - Gruet, which comes from New Mexico or Arizona (I forget which) is very good, and inexpensive, usually about $17 to $20. It's very dry and highly fizzy. The rose' is usually somewhat orange in color, and is spectacular looking if you're drinking it outdoors when the sun is setting, it lights up the color in it. I was introduced to it about 15 years ago by a wine expert and cookbook writer. Pretty widely available nowadays and the quality is still there.

by Anonymousreply 16September 14, 2021 11:54 PM

I just don't like the taste of alcohol; take it or leave it. I certainly won't pay $100 a glass for even the finest Barq's Rootbeer, though.

by Anonymousreply 17September 15, 2021 12:20 AM

Friend of a friend once whipped out a $200 bottle of vodka at a party out east and was dispensing shots for us.

Vodka as you know, does not have much flavor.

I was with my brother and my cousin and we all had the same reaction: it was smoother than the crap well-drink vodka you drank in college, but all of us would be hard pressed to tell the difference between that and Ketel One, Grey Goose, Tito's or any other $30 bottle.

I've also had a really expensive bottle of Lagavulin (sp?) scotch. It was definitely a cut above regular Lagavulin, but probably not enough to justify the price.

All that said, I am not a big drinker so likely wasted on me.

by Anonymousreply 18September 15, 2021 12:29 AM

I work for a French company. You can get amazing wines in France for under $12 euros. This is also true in Italy. I've never had a bad wine there. A friend does a taste testing for us Americans and won't tell us the price. Some of the $18 euro bottles have come in the most liked.

by Anonymousreply 19September 15, 2021 12:33 AM

At one point before I quit drinking, I budgeted $200 for a bottle of champagne to go with a bunch of Ladurée items, for a birthday treat. I ultimately just purchased more Ladurée.

by Anonymousreply 20September 15, 2021 12:35 AM

I think we can agree that all wine tastes the same and if you spend any more than 5 dollars on wine, you are very stupid!

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by Anonymousreply 21September 15, 2021 12:40 AM

R19 Correct. This is why, in the States, it is best to go to independent markets with curated, hand-selected wines by professionals. (usually hipster wine nerds- they aren’t all bad) The wine pros who often work in these places are on the pulse of small-batch, boutique European wines that usually sell for $30 and below. Often times they even have relationships with the wine producers. These days there really is no excuse to drink “cheap” wine.

by Anonymousreply 22September 15, 2021 12:46 AM

A lot of the really expensive stuff probably only sells to expense account customers anyway (if there is a such a thing anymore). Twenty years ago I had a job where my boss was courted by sales guys with expense accounts and I often went along. It was fun while it lasted but I would never take advantage by ordering a high price drink, but my boss wasn't shy at all!

by Anonymousreply 23September 15, 2021 1:45 AM

And Krug shines over Cristal.

I've never spent more than $800 for a bottle of anything. Well, outside of restaurants, because of the markup. That's just the cost of doing business for a special occasion.

I buy for drinking and sharing, not for showing off.

by Anonymousreply 24September 15, 2021 2:05 AM
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