At first glance, shopping for spirits is a simple task, and yet, it is often undertaken with almost reckless disregard for quality in deference to price or quantity. When shopping for wine, there are dozens of magazines, online publications, rating systems, vintage charts and buying guides to help you discern which wines to buy. Unfortunately, with spirits, consumers are faced with a plethora of choices but little guidance. Hopefully, a few rules will help you find good values and high-quality spirits. Rule #1: If you have heard of it, don’t buy it. At first glance, this rule may seem strange and outlandish, but let’s consider it. Distillation is an industrial process. A distiller exerts control over product quality through ingredient quality, distillation batch size and maturation. Large producers are concerned with costs, and therefore will often sacrifice some aspect of quality to increase final output. When combined with multimillion-dollar marketing budgets, quality often takes a back seat to ad-slicks and mass production. In my not-so-humble opinion, substance should always triumph over style.
Rule #2: Price does not equal quality. Many consumers know that they want a high-quality spirit, but, again, the vast choices lead to confusion. Often, a consumer will purchase an expensive spirit believing the old adage, “You get what you pay for.” In the world of spirits, this can certainly be true. But, then again, it can also be very untrue. Do your research; what about checking spirits’ companions like The Beverage Tasting Institute or The Bourbon Companion? The key: If a spirit is cheap, it is not necessarily bad. If a spirit is expensive, it is not necessarily good.
Rule #3: Variety is the spice of life. Wine drinkers tend to be more experimental with their beverage than spirit drinkers. Far too often, I will see the same customer, week after week, purchase the same bottle of Single Malt Scotch. Too many Scotch drinkers refuse to expand their horizons and run
the gamut of new and interesting flavors, ranging from the soft, floral, and herbaceous Lowlands to
the iodine-drenched, smoky, tarry, and peaty Islay monsters. This principle applies to all genres of spirit; confining yourself to one or two choices in a bountiful world of flavor is a crime. You don’t have to give up the old ones, but experiment with new
and exciting spirits.
Rule #4: Don’t believe everything you hear. The final rule for buying spirits is a rule that should uniformly apply throughout your life. Just because you heard it was filtered through diamonds or was distilled from organic tofu doesn’t make it correct -- and it doesn’t make it a better product. I am sad (and reluctant) to say that the worst culprits in Knoxville are bartenders. When it comes to mixing cocktails, most sacrifice quality for speed or cost. Sometimes, it’s just lack of knowledge. Most of the time, I just shake my head and wonder when the snob factor that people put on wine will be applied to spirits. Until everyone is on board, seek out a reliable source of information, whether in a store, magazine, book or the Internet.
