If you want to get into cocktails, I can think of a couple ways in.
White Russians. Pleasant sipping cocktail if a little heavy because of the cream.
Crown and coke. Crown Royal is technically a whiskey. Many of its fans don’t identify it as such, and neither do many whiskey fans. A shot of crown stirred into a glass of cola will present as a glass of cola with a little bit of an interesting flavor added. From there you can graduate to bourbon and coke, Jim Beam or Jack Daniels are common enough and pair well with cola. If you survive this long, maybe try this experiment: order a whiskey and cola, and then a rum and cola, find the differences in those flavors.
If you’re up to those shenanigans, maybe try going to a bar on a Tuesday afternoon when it’s a little slower, talk to the bartender tell them you’re wanting to explore cocktails and see if they’ll mix you smaller portions of a couple drinks like that, so you can test A and B. You would be amazed what that can do to open up your palette. If I handed you one glass of neat scotch, it might as well be a goblet of gasoline. If I hand you two glasses of different whiskies you’ll find some flavor in there.
It might be weird, since I’ve never seen it recommended as a “beginner” thing, but the spirit I come closest to liking (aside from overtly sweet liquors like Kahlua and Midori) is actually gin.
As for a White Russian, I’m more inclined to just mix Kahlua and milk and skip the vodka entirely, LOL.
I do happen to have some spirits at home, including some Montego Bay light rum and some “Red Stag by Jim Beam honey tea bourbon.” I had some of each with (store-brand) coke to refresh my memory, and yep, I can confirm that I don’t care for either. The rum and coke was worse than the honey tea bourbon and coke, though: I was able to at least get through the latter, whereas I had to resort to diluting the rum and coke with extra coke.
Wanna really know how terrible I am at liking the kind of drinks people are “supposed to” like (as opposed to the ones folks are “supposed to” find way too cloyingly sweet)? I tried making a “triple sec and coke” and actually kinda like that one!
If you want to get into cocktails, I can think of a couple ways in.
White Russians. Pleasant sipping cocktail if a little heavy because of the cream.
Crown and coke. Crown Royal is technically a whiskey. Many of its fans don’t identify it as such, and neither do many whiskey fans. A shot of crown stirred into a glass of cola will present as a glass of cola with a little bit of an interesting flavor added. From there you can graduate to bourbon and coke, Jim Beam or Jack Daniels are common enough and pair well with cola. If you survive this long, maybe try this experiment: order a whiskey and cola, and then a rum and cola, find the differences in those flavors.
If you’re up to those shenanigans, maybe try going to a bar on a Tuesday afternoon when it’s a little slower, talk to the bartender tell them you’re wanting to explore cocktails and see if they’ll mix you smaller portions of a couple drinks like that, so you can test A and B. You would be amazed what that can do to open up your palette. If I handed you one glass of neat scotch, it might as well be a goblet of gasoline. If I hand you two glasses of different whiskies you’ll find some flavor in there.
It might be weird, since I’ve never seen it recommended as a “beginner” thing, but the spirit I come closest to liking (aside from overtly sweet liquors like Kahlua and Midori) is actually gin.
As for a White Russian, I’m more inclined to just mix Kahlua and milk and skip the vodka entirely, LOL.
I do happen to have some spirits at home, including some Montego Bay light rum and some “Red Stag by Jim Beam honey tea bourbon.” I had some of each with (store-brand) coke to refresh my memory, and yep, I can confirm that I don’t care for either. The rum and coke was worse than the honey tea bourbon and coke, though: I was able to at least get through the latter, whereas I had to resort to diluting the rum and coke with extra coke.
Wanna really know how terrible I am at liking the kind of drinks people are “supposed to” like (as opposed to the ones folks are “supposed to” find way too cloyingly sweet)? I tried making a “triple sec and coke” and actually kinda like that one!
“Do you like whiskey?”
“I don’t think so; the mocha lavender thai peanut aqua velva bourbon I tried wasn’t great.”