Expensive new hobby

[disneysteve]

Specifics like that just screams out for blind taste tests. (One drop is a measly 1/591 of a fluid ounce, so if two fingers is a "shot", then three drops is 1/3 of 1% of the liquid, and I'm strongly dubious that you can taste the difference.)

It isn't about diluting the whiskey. Adding a drop or two of water actually changes the chemical makeup of the drink which in turn affects the flavor.

This is really only true of high proof whiskey. Lower proof stuff, as I noted earlier, is already watered down significantly so adding a drop more makes no difference.

Here's one article that explains the scientific reasoning:

https://lifehacker.com/scientists-prove-adding-water-to-whisky-makes-it-taste-1797988221

[Nutria]

It isn't about diluting the whiskey. Adding a drop or two of water actually changes the chemical makeup of the drink which in turn affects the flavor.

This is really only true of high proof whiskey. Lower proof stuff, as I noted earlier, is already watered down significantly so adding a drop more makes no difference.

Here's one article that explains the scientific reasoning:
https://lifehacker.com/scientists-pr...ste-1797988221

It sounds scientific, but then so does a lot of pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo. Blind taste test FTW!

EDIT: the bottom line is that the easiest person to fool is yourself.

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/frontal-cortex/does-all-wine-taste-the-same

The Judgment of Princeton didn’t quite end with a Jersey victory—a French wine was on top in both the red and white categories—but, in terms of the reassurance for those with valuable wine collections, it might as well have. Clos des Mouches only narrowly beat out Unionville Single Vineyard and two other Jersey whites, while Château Mouton Rothschild and Haut-Brion topped Heritage’s BDX. The wines from New Jersey cost, on average, about five per cent as much as their French counterparts. And then there’s the inconsistency of the judges: the scores for that Mouton Rothschild, for instance, ranged from 11 to 19.5. On the excellent blog Marginal Revolution, the economist Tyler Cowen highlights the analysis of the Princeton professor Richard Quandt^3^, who found that almost of all the wines were “statistically undistinguishable” from each other. This suggests that, if the blind tasting were held again, a Jersey wine might very well win.

[disneysteve]

It sounds scientific, but then so does a lot of pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo. Blind taste test FTW!

I've also seen a lot of reports over the years about wine, even one where wine "experts" were blindfolded and couldn't reliably distinguish white from red.

I'd be up for a blind taste test with whiskey - anything for science .

My wife and I can take on that challenge. We have one high proof bottle in the house at the moment. I can see if we can actually tell the difference when there is or isn't water added. I'll report back when we've had an opportunity to do that.

ETA: The situation with wine is different because there you are comparing entirely different products and just saying which one you like better which is all about personal preference. You aren't trying one and then doing something to alter it and trying it again.

[amarowsky]

My wife and I's most expensive hobby is probably travel. In the past 2 years we have been to Costa Rica, Australia, Maui + Vancouver, and Europe trip (North Italy, France, Spain, and Monte Carlo).

Very expensive indeed.

Side note* - Steve is a bourbon enthusiast?! This seems like the least likely hobby I would ever have pegged you as partaking in! For some reason I was under the influence that you didn't "not drink" but were at least not very enthusiastic about drinking at all, let alone a hobby drinker!

I recently have gotten really into Ryes. I use to prefer bourbon or Irish whiskeys, but lately I have been buying a totally new bottle of Rye every 2 weeks or so (since late spring early summer).

Also, to comment on the scotch / bourbon discussion, I'm a bourbon guy. I really really WISH I liked scotch, so I could enjoy the experience with the many scotch lovers in my life. But I just really can't enjoy it, almost under any circumstances.... It's really a bummer.

[corn18]

I've tried some expensive stuff. I'm a bourbon/whiskey guy and don't like scotch. The most expensive thing I've tasted is some Louis XIII by Rémy Martin Cognac. Really like Middleton's Rare Irish whiskey. But my goto is Gentleman Jack.

As for hobbies, I've gone through a few over the last 30 years:

Guns
Radio controlled airplanes
Astronomy
Horses
Radio controlled helicopters
Garden tractors
Watches (winding this one down)

Horses wer the most expensive by far.

[Nutria]

As for hobbies, I've gone through a few over the last 30 years:

[snip]
Garden tractors

Watches (winding this one down)

Winding down watches??

[corn18]

Winding down watches??

Garden tractors: went through a phase where I was buying used garden tractors, fixing them up and selling them. Did that for a little over a year. Made no money, but enjoyed the work.

Watches:

[scfr]

My dog - She's a chewer so I buy a lot of chew toys and bones in addition to the usual pet expenses.

[Budget Kitty]

We've gotten big into craft beer. We can't drink the usual Miller, Bud, Coors, etc. anymore when there are so many delicious stouts and IPAs to choose from. Unfortunately, our love of trying new beers is expensive.

[Fishindude77]

Last elk hunt I went on totaled out about $10,000 when you total up; the hunt costs, licenses, tips, travel, motels, meat processing, taxidermy, etc. Worked out to about $40 / per pound for the meat

Let's not even talk about boats

[msomnipotent]

Specifics like that just screams out for blind taste tests. (One drop is a measly 1/591 of a fluid ounce, so if two fingers is a "shot", then three drops is 1/3 of 1% of the liquid, and I'm strongly dubious that you can taste the difference.)

You only need a few drops to change the taste of scotch, especially when you are using a proper Glencairn glass. You can try it yourself if you don't believe.

[disneysteve]

Side note* - Steve is a bourbon enthusiast?! This seems like the least likely hobby I would ever have pegged you as partaking in! For some reason I was under the influence that you didn't "not drink" but were at least not very enthusiastic about drinking at all, let alone a hobby drinker!

I've always been a person who wanted to enjoy what I was drinking. It was never just about getting drunk, even back in my college days. I guess that's part of why I don't drink beer - I just don't like it.

In college, I was primarily a vodka drinker, but even then, I wouldn't drink just any vodka. It had to be decent. When everyone was a broke college student, Fleischmann's or Banker's Club was often what got served. I would just pass on those. In my room or if I was bringing something to the party, it would be Smirnoff. Not super premium but much better than the rotgut everyone else was buying. Later, I evolved to Stoli or Absolut, and later to Skyy, which remains my preferred brand. And I liked learning about the differences between the brands and what made one taste better than another. I guess it's the scientist part of my brain.

I also learned along the way that at some point, the quality/price curve flattens out and becomes more about personal preference. With vodka, Grey Goose became very popular and remains so today. At my local store, a bottle of Skyy is $13. A bottle of Grey Goose is $26. I've tried both and I prefer Skyy so I'm perfectly happy spending half the amount to get my vodka. Nobody can accuse me of being a price snob.

With whiskey, as I said earlier, I always drank the common stuff. It wasn't until recently that we started learning more, visiting distilleries, and sampling a wide variety of products that we started to appreciate the differences between products and brands. And we've been working on finding the sweet spot on that quality/price curve. So far, of the common brands we've tried, we both like Buffalo Trace and Makers Mark best (about $29). We've also found several brands in the same price range that we just don't enjoy as much. The key has been learning why we like one brand over another which is largely tied to the mashbill (how much of each grain goes into the product). There's a big difference in taste between a bourbon that's 55% corn and 70% corn or 5% rye and 25% rye.

So yes, I am a "hobby drinker" and hence the reason for the thread.

[disneysteve]

there may be an old Chivas Regal lying around somewhere, but I don't think those count

It all counts. If you like it, there's nothing wrong with that at all. I had a Chivas 12 and ginger ale just last night. I've never had an opportunity to try the 18 or 25 but I'd love to sometime but 18 runs about $75 and 25 is up around $400.

[Tabs]

Only "hard" alcohol I ever liked is bourbon. Thankfully, I hardly drink to begin with. I don't need any more expensive hobbies bleeding me dry.

Personally, I'm a video gamer. The hobby could be cheap, but if you are in need of the bleeding edge in hardware, then not so much. So, it depends on how far you go. Unfortunately, I do go pretty far. My hardware setup is pretty much top of the (affordable) line.

In my defense, most of the cost is upfront, but once you have a decent setup, the software isn't too bad.... Most games aren't terribly expensive, but I almost always wait for a sale before I buy them.

I am also a big self defense nut. I've paid for years of martial arts training, used to collect a lot of custom knives, and ammo for shooting firearms add up quite a bit. All of that is very expensive, and folks who are into that stuff are not at all concerned with the cost so long as they can afford it... which does not help me be frugal.

I have since mellowed out quite a bit, and the upside of knives and guns is that they can last a lifetime, and hardly ever becomes obsolete. I continue to use the same high quality knives in the kitchen for example, and you can pass firearms down to your grandchildren if you really want to. However, I have since sold off most of my firearms, and right now actually own only one (though I admit I am tempted to get another).

Uh, and I did recently convert my car into a camper. That project is not a hobby per se, but it's still a fairly sizable expense compared to my usual spending habit....

That's really about it, but I think that's more than enough of a money bleed for me.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Kids? Do they count? Doing anything with them is more expensive. Polar express, snowboarding, nutcracker, activities. Why? Because I ended up leading a girl scout troop and the cost is more than you would think. Seriously plus you get into stuff you wouldn't expect.