Where to buy Whisky in Houston

by **RParker** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 4:19 pm

I am needing some advice.

I am going to Houston for a week in March and would like to know any shops that are worth going to.

Also what bottles of malt that are available which you can only get in the USA.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Richard

http://www.parkerswhisky.co.uk

by **les taylor** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 5:47 pm

"Houston we have a problem".

Can you help?
:wink:

by **Wave** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 7:29 pm

There are a few liquor shops in the US that buy casks to bottle their own or have bottlings exclusively produced for their shop.

Binny's of Chicago, Ill.
Beltramo's of Menlo Park, Ca.
D&M Wines & Liquors of San Francisco, Ca. which include bottlings for their Connoisseurs' & Aficionados SMS whisky clubs
K&L Wine Merchants also of San Francisco, Ca. (will soon have the 'Laddie "First Born"!)
Park Avenue Liquor Shop of New York, NY.

Cheers!

by **badams** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 4:16 pm

SPEC's is the best chain, try to find maybe a new location, I like to shop new stores because like with perfume once bottled it begins to deteriorate from day one. I know Spring and the Woodlands just North of Houston have a couple of stores. They also used to have a downtown area warehouse location that had about everything that hits the port in Houston.

by **Yellowjacket** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 5:50 am

RParker:
As badams said above, the best liquor store in Houston is the Spec's Warehouse Liquor Store located close to downtown. If you would like to mapquest the location the address is:

2410 Smith Street
Houston, TX 77006

The web site is: http://www.specsonline.com Go to "Browse the Store" on the left-hand side of the main page to see the available selections. The selections are a little bit slim at this time, following the holiday season buying, but one of the store managers told me last week that they should be re-stocking over the next few weeks. There are about 20 satellite Spec's stores spread throughout Houston, but these are generally much smaller than the main store.

Another store that is good, but not the size of Spec's, is Richard's Liquor Store, with the main store at:

2124 South Shepherd Drive, Houston, TX 77019
http://www.richardsliquors.com

As far as what malts are available which you can only get in the USA, I'm really not very knowledgeable about this. Looking at your web site, I'm not sure if you'll find any SMSW's only available in USA in Houston. Spec's has a private/independent bottling of Macallan in 12, 15, and 18 yo expressions under the label of Ste. Michelle. These are OK but not great. Spec's does have an excellent selection of American whiskeys if you're interested in any of these malts.

If you would like any more info, please contact me. Please let me know if you need any assistance while in Houston and I will certainly try to help. A word of warning if you have not been to Houston before: Houston has very poor public transportation.

Yellowjacket

by **peergynt323** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 6:12 am

K&L is going to have a Laddie first born??? I have to get it!!!

by **Deactivated Member** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 7:07 am

badams wrote:...once bottled it begins to deteriorate from day one...

Huh?

by **badams** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 3:15 pm

TNbourbon wrote:
badams wrote:...once bottled it begins to deteriorate from day one...

Huh?

NO ONE EVER TOLD YOU? whisky is not not active yeast as with wine, which ONLY ages favorably at mild refrig temps(33/55'ish) due to the active yeasts, as well as ales and lagering beers. when whisky is free from aging elements(wood,oxygene free environments) it is exposed to oxygen and no longer benefits from the aging/laying down process. WHISKY DOES NOT BENEFIT OR AGE IN GLASS and the exposure to oxygen begins its deterioration. dont worry(which is more of a concern in wine and much more in beer/ale), due to the high alcohol content of whisky its a slower process. if you buy a bottle of your favorite say, Islay malt and drink one now, and save one for 10 years the smoke and malt is less available to your taste buds. nice to know as I have been drinking scotch for about 40 years now. HOPE THIS IS A HELP. I can tell the difference in taste lost in a bottle one year old opposed to a bottle 3 years old. you cannot improve your whisky that you buy today by the laying down process, as with wine. if you buy it within the first year of production the guru may detect a minor difference due to the settling from wood to glass.

by **Deactivated Member** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:00 pm

You precisely make the point of my expressed skepticism -- the 'deterioration' of which you originally spoke happens so slowly and incrementally as not to exist for any practical whisk(e)y drinker. Most of my bottles are gone within a year of opening, and I've NEVER noted any 'deterioration'. My current oldest-open bottle is a single malt Scotch -- which I opened slightly more than 4 years ago before my interest turned sharply to bourbon -- from which I sampled just the other night. Again, absolutely no change that I could detect.