Best Alcohol for Mixing

I've been on a little booze kick the last six months, trying out some news stuff in the search of the best alcohol for mixing. "Best" to me is a combination of taste, price, hangover potential (often due to grain alcohol), and potency. Here are my current favs:

Rum: Captain Morgan 100
Vodka: Smirnoff 100
Whiskey: Jim Beam
Gin: Tanqueray
Tequila: Hornitos Reposada (or Jose Cuervo Tradicional)


I do have a preference for 1.75 bottles over 750 mls because I like to buy in bulk. But I give a nod to some of the ones that aren't available in the larger sizes, such as Rhum Barbancourt and Tanqueray 10. (Though to be honest, I don't much like gin of any kind.)

Are there some hidden gems I'm missing? Perhaps some bottom shelf stuff that's worth using in a mix?

Click for full size

Everclear will fuck you up to a level that's no longer fun.

Vodka is the best. No matter the brand since vodka is flavorless. It goes with everything. Close thread.

I was hoping this was a thread about brewing your own beer.

Everclear is fucking evil.

Also stop mixing and just get some good scotch or other whiskey to drink.

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/att...chmentid=58021

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Originally Posted by bbobb

Also stop mixing and just get some good scotch or other whiskey to drink.

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</thread>

Spirits are some of the foulest tasting shit around.

I truly don't understand how someone can drink liquor.

So you don't like spirits OR beer. What the fuck, do you only drink wine, faggot?

And to OP: Tanqueray sucks. Sapphire and Hendrick's shit all over it.

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Originally Posted by RoleTroll

Are there some hidden gems I'm missing? Perhaps some bottom shelf stuff that's worth using in a mix?

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If you're mixing and hiding the flavor, why the fuck would you use anything but bottom - medium shelf?

I don't really like wine either, but I can handle some dessert wines. Mead was ok. I like cider in very small doses.

icarus would make the perfect wife for an old man. He doesn't ask for anything and he doesn't want anything.

I'm a big fan of infusing the clear liquors to make cocktails or to drink on the rocks. Fruit pulls a lot of the junk out of shit liquor and replaces it with tastiness. That being said, bbobb is righter.

I like a good martini. Gin + vermouth + shakey shakey = good times. Olives for chewing if you've got 'em.

A good peppery gin is bangin'.

Whats the point in mixing any alcohol if you're just gonna hide its flavour? My vote is gin because its fucking delicious and compliments a lot of shit. For more elaborate cocktail making It'd probably have to go to a rum of some sort because they also mix with everything, but on their own they taste like anus.

Related: Old Fashioned's are some overly sweet bullshit. The bitters just throw it right off the cliff. Cocktails in general fall along the same lines.

I don't really dig on all the sugary business. "But ethanol is fermented suga--" shut up.


Razor down there is right, vodka is the king of "this needs booze in it".

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Originally Posted by arjue

Whats the point in mixing any alcohol if you're just gonna hide its flavour?

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This is possibly ignorant. The idea with certain drinks is using different ingredients to bring out different 'notes' in the alcohols you're enjoying, flavors that do not appear solo. I've only just dipped my toe into this, but a high-end bar will change your mind on the matter.

VODKA MIXES WITH EVERYTHING

Honestly sometimes you just need enough juice to get through work a nice shot or two of vodka in your morning coffee and you're gold.

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Originally Posted by YellerDog

Related: Old Fashioned's are some overly sweet bullshit. The bitters just throw it right off the cliff. Cocktails in general fall along the same lines.

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The earliest definition of cocktail was in the May 13, 1806, edition of the Balance and Columbian Repository, a publication in Hudson, New York, in which an answer was provided to the question, "What is a cocktail?". It replied:

Cocktail is a stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters—it is vulgarly called a bittered sling and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion, inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head. It is said, also to be of great use to a Democratic candidate: because a person, having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow anything else.

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the wiki-wiks

That is a classy goddamn definition. :lol:

Dude, why can't papers today be more like the Balance and Columbian Repository?

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/att...chmentid=58024


http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/att...chmentid=58025

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Originally Posted by YellerDog

This is possibly ignorant. The idea with certain drinks is using different ingredients to bring out different 'notes' in the alcohols you're enjoying, flavors that do not appear solo. I've only just dipped my toe into this, but a high-end bar will change your mind on the matter.

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Don't get me wrong, a good cocktail is great and brings out different notes in its alcohol as you said, but I meant people who mix things like vodka and lemon soft drink as to completely disguise the alcohol. A really good, decent sized mojito is heaven to me.

Whiskey mixed with a shot glass.

Beefeater is cheaper than Tanqueray and just as good for mixing.

grey goose vodka or bust btw.

I like my whiskey on the rocks actually. A good scotch may be my favorite.

Mid price whiskey and scotch is best on the rocks, but when you get to the more expensive stuff it's better to go straight.

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Originally Posted by bbobb

Mid price whiskey and scotch is best on the rocks, but when you get to the more expensive stuff it's better to go straight.

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I still drop a single ice cube in the high end stuff-- I prefer the chill and to mellow out the bite.

Try putting a bit of room temperature water in instead of the ice cube, that also mellows the bite but doesn't hurt the taste.

There is a fuckton of difference between

http://gamesnet.vo.llnwd.net/o1/game...43397_main.jpg

and something just a little more expensive

http://s.bebo.com/app-image/79250016...m_vodka_1_.jpg

and then from that into even something stupid expensive..

http://jbarrettart.com/wp-content/up...8/11/vodka.jpg

I don't drink a lot, but damn I can tell the differences between vodkas.

No you can't. I'll go so far as to give you 6 different vodkas in a taste test and I bet you wouldn't get shit right.

Cheap vodkas, in my experience, have a "greasy" feel to them. Cheap gin tastes like sucking on an air freshner. Cheap whiskey tastes like grandpa's cologne.

Yeah there's a noticable difference between cheap liquors and midrange ones.

There is not as noticable of difference between midrange and expensive unless you drink whichever liquor it is a lot.

There is a BIG difference between drinking Vox all night and drinking Nikolai all night. The morning after will tell you what you were drinking the night before.

Your mother tells me what I was drinking the night before.

I like a nice scotch and water. Sad thing is I had a great Scotch at a bar in Marlton, NJ. I haven't been able to find that brand since.

If I wanted a mixed drink I like Washington Apple Martini.

also:

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Originally Posted by Hubbitron

Your mother tells me what I was drinking the night before.

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Attachment 58028

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Originally Posted by Changeling

There is a BIG difference between drinking Vox all night and drinking Nikolai all night. The morning after will tell you what you were drinking the night before.

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This is scientifically inaccurate.

You're more likely to drink more of the cheap stuff, as you're just downin' that shit. Expensive stuff is for sippin'.

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Originally Posted by Doc Holliday

Dude, why can't papers today be more like the Balance and Columbian Repository?

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So awesome.

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Originally Posted by icarusfall

This is scientifically inaccurate.

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It's true in my case, so I stick to it. Don't care if its a mental thing or not.

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Originally Posted by bbobb

Also stop mixing and just get some good scotch or other whiskey to drink.

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bbobb's answer is the most correct. Might want to save that for posterity.

However, if you must mix, your best bet is Jinro soju. It mixes perfectly with anything... and I do mean anything. It is smooth as fuck, has virtually no flavor or aroma to speak of, and very little bite. If you mix it with orange juice, it will taste like orange juice. The only pitfall is that it will get you a very different kind of drunk, and it tends to sneak up on you in the foulest of ways. It doesn't make you angry (as tequila does to me, which is why I avoid it like the plague); on the contrary, you will be a happy drunk, but you will also be a very sloppy drunk. It's overall good fun, but not the classiest of choices.

[QUOTE=squall_vb;1064538220] it will get you a very different kind of drunk, It doesn't make you angry (as tequila does to me, which is why I avoid it like the plague); on the contrary, you will be a happy drunk, but you will also be a very sloppy drunk./QUOTE]

This is scientifically inaccurate.

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Originally Posted by icarusfall

This is scientifically inaccurate.

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Originally Posted by Changeling

It's true in my case, so I stick to it. Don't care if its a mental thing or not.

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There is no ingredient in tequila that would make you angry.

You're a moron. In your case. It's a mental thing.

I've never drank tequila and had a good time.

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Originally Posted by icarusfall

There is no ingredient in tequila that would make you angry.

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El diablo.

Anjel de muerte.

Que tipo de patos ustedes son.

Speak English!

THIS IS AMERICA

AMURIKA!!!

http://patdollard.com/wp-content/uploads/mexicans.jpg

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Originally Posted by icarusfall in response to Changeling

This is scientifically inaccurate.

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I hope you can prove that they're literally the exact same thing, otherwise you're wrong.

Even generic prescription drugs don't always have the exact same effects and side effects of the drug they're emulating. So saying that different alcohols, made different ways, with different ingredients that your body will digest and process in different ways, couldn't make you feel different in the morning is about the stupidest thing you've ever said then tried to pass off as knowledge.

Edit because I remembered something amazing: I would further like to point out that you work as a chef and probably have done emulsions before, which means you should understand the idea that adding ingredients in different orders, speeds and amounts can change the final product. Knowing that, how could you possibly say that scientifically it makes no sense that two products made with different ingredients and in different ways would be just that, different. I'm assuming you've baked as well, so you probably understand the exact science that making a product can be, you really want to tell me that if I just start changing amounts of flour and baking powder I won't end up with something that will taste and digest different? That after the meal I wouldn't be able to tell which thing I ate based on how my body processed it?

Seriously, just stop.

UV vodka is a pretty cheap version that really has no bite and mixes well, also goes down good on its own. And tequila is wonderful, fuck anyone who can't handle themselves on it.

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Originally Posted by Opaque

I hope you can prove that they're literally the exact same thing, otherwise you're wrong.

Even generic prescription drugs don't always have the exact same effects and side effects of the drug they're emulating. So saying that different alcohols, made different ways, with different ingredients that your body will digest and process in different ways, couldn't make you feel different in the morning is about the stupidest thing you've ever said then tried to pass off as knowledge.

Edit because I remembered something amazing: I would further like to point out that you work as a chef and probably have done emulsions before, which means you should understand the idea that adding ingredients in different orders, speeds and amounts can change the final product. Knowing that, how could you possibly say that scientifically it makes no sense that two products made with different ingredients and in different ways would be just that, different. I'm assuming you've baked as well, so you probably understand the exact science that making a product can be, you really want to tell me that if I just start changing amounts of flour and baking powder I won't end up with something that will taste and digest different? That after the meal I wouldn't be able to tell which thing I ate based on how my body processed it?

Seriously, just stop.

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Opaque, you have no idea what you're talking about. You're comparing 7 different things as equals. Chemically inert flavonoids do not affect your hangover. Do not continue down this path with me. You will look foolish.

Says the 'cook' that can't appreciate the taste of hooch.

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Originally Posted by bbobb

Try putting a bit of room temperature water in instead of the ice cube, that also mellows the bite but doesn't hurt the taste.

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Strange, I have these rocks from Iceland that are supposed to be used in lieu of Ice specifically to not water it down. Still, I usually use a single ice cube (maybe two if I poured alot).

I also have never had a good time on tequila. I can say this for sure, mixing that flavor with anything is a recipe for disaster.

Edit: And Ramon, I would like to take you up on that taste test.

The water is used to break the alcohol as an aromatic, tantitos.

I suppose you could get the same affect with a snifter, but whiskey in a snifter looks like Arnold in Junior.

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Originally Posted by Anthony

Edit: And Ramon, I would like to take you up on that taste test.

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You just want the free vodka.

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Originally Posted by Doc Holliday

Says the 'cook' that can't appreciate the taste of hooch.

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I like it when the alcohol is burned off. Bourbon is a great flavor in demiglace and a variety of desserts.

I get it man, I really do, you have low self esteem (the leading cause of your self proclaimed Schadenfreude syndrome) and you are so smart that you turned down an imaginary scholarship from a school that does not offer them and you're trying to make TNL, people who maybe might fall for it, think that you know what the fuck you're talking about.

I have bad news for you, studies on Congeners are showing a correlation between them and hangover symptoms. What is a congener? Here you go, buddy! Now they are finding a link between the severity of hang over symptoms and the amount of Congeners found in the alcohol consumed; meaning darker liquors often resulted in worse hangover symptoms than lighter liquors. So that means that we have, right there, scientific evidence telling us that different alcohol types can result in different hangovers. So, knowing that, we could very easily assume that if two different makes of vodka, or tequila or rum had different fermentation or filtering processes that they could have a different congener count per volume and as a result symptoms of a hangover could be different.

Congrats sport, you don't know half the shit you think you do. Now please, come back and tell me how someone who dropped out of high school and cooks in a kitchen knows more than actual scientists about science.

I don't know what's worse.

Opaque vs. IcarusFall, Opaque made threads, Or Buttcheeks made threads.

This coming from a guy who is about to take a self appointed 30 day hiatus.

Say what you want about anything else I've ever done, but this time I'm fucking right.

Icarus does not know as much about alcohol as he thinks he does. To be fair, I wouldn't either if not for a friend that has steadily progressed in the brewing and alcohol distribution industry since he graduation from CIA. Which as a side note, he thinks it's hilarious that a chef doesn't understand the ideas of different production techniques and ingredients resulting in a different product.

That may be true. I'm no mixologist (term used for bartenders who come up with new brews), but fuck man. Can you keep it in "the area we can not speak of"?

I believe I stayed on topic, that's the important thing.

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Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

You just want the free vodka.

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If you weren't prepared you pony up you shouldn't have offered.

It really is my fault.

Pretty sure icarus was saying "lol tequila doesn't make you so angry that you always get into fights because you can't help it", not "there's no scientific way that different types of alcohol can have slightly varying effects on human beings"

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Originally Posted by Opaque

graduation from CIA. Which as a side note, he thinks it's hilarious that a chef doesn't understand the ideas of different production techniques and ingredients resulting in a different product.

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First thing. Lol CIA. Tell your friend he wasted a lot of money.

Second. We're not arguing about different production techniques producing different results. I never said a thing about that.

Third. I know what a cogener is. I even read your link to make sure it's the thing I think it is. The conclusion drawn by the Brown study is shakey at best. What it amounted to is "lol maybe cogeners?". Cogener is a chemistry term meaning related molecules. Not a thing that makes hangovers worse.

The other partners in my restaurant have doctorates in chemistry and are avid homebrewers. We've talked at length about this very subject. I'll take their word over your friend and a sketchy study.

Fourth. I said I was offered a full ride to harvard or MIT. After testing into either grandma said if I went she'd pay. I never said scholarship. Misleading? Absolutely. A lie? No.

Think whatever you like about me.

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Originally Posted by FirstBlood

Pretty sure icarus was saying "lol tequila doesn't make you so angry that you always get into fights because you can't help it", not "there's no scientific way that different types of alcohol can have slightly varying effects on human beings"

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I was talking about this time:

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Originally Posted by icarusfall

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Originally Posted by Changeling

There is a BIG difference between drinking Vox all night and drinking Nikolai all night. The morning after will tell you what you were drinking the night before.

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This is scientifically inaccurate.

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Which was someone comparing two different qualities and productions of Vodka, so even when he says:

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Originally Posted by icarusfall

Second. We're not arguing about different production techniques producing different results. I never said a thing about that.

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We really were. The ability to read into a discussion is important when you're trying to participate.

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Originally Posted by icarusfall

Think whatever you like about me.

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I think the worst part is I'd probably like you if you weren't so pretentious about fucking everything.

I stand behind 2 brands of vodka producing no appreciable results in severity of hangover - if that's what you'd like to argue about.

I'm only arguing that it's possible and until you can scientifically prove that all the things which cause a hangover are in exactly equal amounts between the two you don't get to say that it's scientifically inaccurate to state that it's possible.

Are we gonna have to bring the shitty logic of the god thread in here?

Fuck the god thread.

EDIT: To clarify there's a difference between saying something that science supports is possible and saying God must be possible because you can't prove it's not. I'm not saying these things might cause different effects because you can't prove they don't, I'm saying they might because studies suggest they might and until you have a study which suggests they don't you're just making things up. Which is not scientific.

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Originally Posted by squall_vb

However, if you must mix, your best bet is Jinro soju.

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The worst hangover I ever had was from soju. It was 1995 in Songtang, Korea. I was off base partying with a national guardsman who was going back to Washington the next day, and it was my first time drinking (seriously - at 20 years old). I was trying to decide which soju to order. He ordered lemon soju, while I ordered the cherry soju. But I got confused and downed half of his before I realized it. So I ended up drinking his and mine, too, and he ordered himself a new one. I finished his as well... I stumbled back onto base barely able to pretend to be sober for the guards. I walked the miles back to base, fell into bed, and then the alarm blared - an unannounced exercise. So I had to report to work and wear a gas mask for much of the day. I couldn't keep it on, though, rushing to the toilet and back throughout the day. Luckily I didn't get caught. For weeks I couldn't even think of a lemon flavored or cherry flavored drink without my stomach literally starting to convulse.

Good times.

If one company makes vodka with an involved process to reach 40% alcohol content, and a second company makes quick, crappy vodka with 20% alcohol and adds grain alcohol to get it up to 40% alcohol... shouldn't the one that contains grain alcohol give a worse hangover?

It's the wine made with antifreeze that you've really gotta watch out for.

Why would you assume grain alcohol would give you a worse hangover?

Vodka is graded on how much filtering/distillation it goes through. If you added grain alcohol, it wouldn't really be vodka.

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Originally Posted by RoleTroll

If one company makes vodka with an involved process to reach 40% alcohol content, and a second company makes quick, crappy vodka with 20% alcohol and adds grain alcohol to get it up to 40% alcohol... shouldn't the one that contains grain alcohol give a worse hangover?

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It could give you a different hangover in terms of severity, but it could be better or worse. It could also be the same.

The percentage of alcohol would be the same, so you'd be looking at other variables in the severity of your hang over. If grain alcohol has more cogeners per proof than pure vodka then maybe, if not then no. That's really the thing too, the better quality drink could be the one which results in the worse hangover, you'd have to look at it case by case.

Fuck you assholes, I'm drunk just drinking. Stop being fags.

Vodka actually loses alcohol content the more you distill it. Its probably easier to make a rough as nails 60% vodka than a smooth 40% vodka.

How about you shut it and just drink it?

Do mean filtering Arjue?

also LOL@the retard with the necklace tats owning the line chef prodigy ITT

I've been sleeving my arm and I've gone in for two sitting in the last month.

My theory? The more tattoos I get the less stupid I become. One day I'll have Yakuza style tattoos and I'll cure cancer.

I'm only allowed to do 3/4 sleeves.

Wife says no.

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Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

How about you shut it and just drink it?

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Shitty Vodka made me feel like shit in the morning.

Ant speaks the truth. One time, back in my super-poor days, I drank a shitload of Aristrocrat vodka. Worst morning after of my life.

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Originally Posted by Anthony

Shitty Vodka made me feel like shit in the morning.

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I felt like shit but that's more because I drank liquor and beer. Also, I drank so much of that bottle.

If you can drink beer and feel fine the next day and you can drink liquor and feel fine the next day you should be able to drink both.

Learn to pace yourself.

Learn to shut the fuck up.

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Originally Posted by Opaque

My theory? The more tattoos I get the less stupid I become.

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Mine is the more tattoos you get the more stupid you already were.

Could be.

Your support of that theory really discredits it though.

You're a mountain of evidence.

Internet evidence means very little. You should know that, you parade yourself around quite differently than you are in real life; I hope so at least.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

Mine is the more tattoos you get the more stupid you already were.

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I disprove your theory, which is really more of a hypothesis anyway.

For tequila, I usually go for a decent mid-shelf blanco for mixing (El Mayor, Cabo Wabo, etc). I do keep it in the freezer to take the bite out and keep the drinks cooled down.

Reposados and Anejos are best at room temperature and not mixed with anything; what a waste of good tequila. No idea how hornitos is, but it seems decent if you're lacking funds, going by reviews. Casa Noble Anejo is my favorite, but it's damn expensive.

Anyone afraid of tequila needs to stick to wine coolers or stop buying shitty tequila.

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Originally Posted by bbobb

Everclear is fucking evil.

Also stop mixing and just get some good scotch or other whiskey to drink.

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IBTN. Johnnie Walker Black Label rocks.
Try a Rob Roy- it's like a Manhattan, but with Scotch instead of bourbon.