Can you tell which is which?

I recently finished a basic full stocking of my in-home bar (more on that later) and I decided to do a little experiementing with all the new flavors I now had at my disposal.  Of course, simply sampling two alcohols and comparing is dull and one dimensional.  A better question is how a spirit interacts with other ingredients.

One of the most basic cocktails is the highball.  In fact, it’s not really even technically a cocktail, since the term “highball” simply describes a liquor combined with a carbonated beverage, poured over ice cubes in a (duh) highball glass.  Both the rum-and-coke and scotch-and-soda cocktails, for example, are examples of highballs.

The Incumbent

For this battle, I went with a personal favorite: scotch-and-ginger-ale.  I use McIvor Scotch, an extremely cheap, but well-balanced and mildly spicy blended scotch that can be bought for under $15 a bottle (750mL).  The last time I paid that sort of price for a bottle of scotch, it tastely distinctly of bleach and “burning”.  A friend recommended McIvor and I was naturally incredulous, but, I too would recommend it easily as a tasty cheap scotch.

The Challenger

Probably the most underrated whiskey I know of is the Rye Whiskey.  I have to admit I’ve only just begun my forays into Rye, but I my first experiences with it have been that it neatly fills an unforunate gap between scotch and bourbon.  Rye lacks the smokiness of Bourbon, but also its sweetness.  The result is a whiskey that retains its complexity even when combined with sweet mixers.

I went with Jim Beam Rye, another bottle that costs less than $15.

The Mixer

Canada Dry Ginger Ale.  mmmm.  ”nough said.

The Verdict: RYE

I conducted the test with the assistance of my roommate Joe.  This was only fair since I knew the identity of the two drinks and would have been biased.  The decision, however, was easy.  Both Joe and I agreed that the highball made with Rye produced a sweet, easily sippable drink that still retained complexity.  The scotch, by comparison, lacked depth.  Adding a little scotch to the recipe did help, but then the flavor of the alcohol began to take over the drink.

Wait, there’s more?

In my (extremely limited) experience with cocktails, I’ve found that almost every drink benefits from a little dash of bitters.  Bitters are concentrated elixers made with strong herbs, fruit rinds, or other flavors.  Naturally, I had to see what adding a dash of Angostura Bitters would do to these highballs.  Would it change the verdict?  Widen the margin of victory?

Actually, bitters ruined everything!  This was a shock to both Joe and myself, but the looks in both our faces were in agreement: bitters overpowered the drinks and actually reduced their complexity.

…Woah!

I still don’t think I’ve fully processed what all this means.  Hopefully I can follow up this post shortly with an analysis of how literally adding flavor to a cocktail could possibly serve to lessen its total impact, but, for now, I think it’s time for another drink.