Good liquor....gee, this could be a dissertation.
I love a "whisper 'vermouth' quietly over the glass" Sapphire Martini. With 2-3 olives.
I do occasionally like a "half and half" (1/2 sapphire, 1/2 vodka, with a twist of lemon), but I don't call it a martini. Martini = gin. Period.
(But the vodka martini people don't bother me as the people who drink chocalate martinis or multicolored martinis.)
Outside of martinis, I like Plymouth Gin probably the best as gin. (But that's primarily because I went through a Travis McGee period.)
I like a good spicy bloody mary, but since I use tequila instead of vodka, it's probably got another name. (I do like the occasional tequila shooter, usually on a day that sucks and I need a quick kick in the face when I first sit at the bar.)
But mostly, when I said "good liquor" I was thinking whisky, whiskey, and brandy.
Whisky (no "e," a/k/a "scotch"): I like the lighter types. Dalwhinnie is the one most often seen here in the states. Mostly, though, I tend to buy different ones that have a "Signature": Essentially, as I understand it, lots of the smaller Scots distilleries got together in marketing their stuff. They all have the same clear bottle and labelling, usually in a yellow can labelled "signature classics" or "signature whiskys" or something like that....but each one is different. My favorite so far probably is a Mortlach.
Probably because I weaned myself on the stuff drinking it neat, when technically it is supposed to be drunk with a splash of water. I rarely water mine at all, unless its a darker whiskey.
I don't drink much blended scotch ....just because I like the singles better. Johnny Walker Black IMO among the best of my experience, though. Best I've ever had was Usquebach. (which is simply gaelic for "whisky", so if the bar you see it at lists it as a whisky, which the one where I had it did, you're drinking whisky whisky....:) )
Whiskey (bourbon, rye, other North Americans): I probably drink Jack Daniels more than anything nowadays, but I really like Templeton Rye, even if it is made here in Iowa. (It supposedly was Capone's drink of choice, but I don't know if I buy that; but I do like it.)
Brandy: No, not that rotgut that passes for brandy in Wisconsin. The snobby European kind. Cognac, Armagnac. Found a really good Portuguese brandy when I was over there.
Technically these aren't liquors, but...
Beer: I drink this a lot less than I used to. (Heck I drink a lot less of everything than I used to. Last time I bought Signature whisky in Britain was 2006. Two bottles. And one is still unopened). I like the original Leinies. I have yet to find a wheat beer I like. I like just about any Belgian or Scots ale, Fullers ESB. (I always order "yer best bitter" when in the UK). Guiness is too heavy for me, though I've had a couple Aussie stouts that I liked.
Wine: I drink it when I eat at fancy restaurants or when I'm entertaining a dinner party. Thats about it. I have no clue what's good, and what's not. I do like port, but that's an even rarer pleasure than some of the whiskys.
I just reread this. I realize that almost everything I list here is best as a "sipping drink," leisurely after a fine meal. In the old days, with a pipe or a cigar, in a leather armchair.
With an elegantly dressed lady in basic black and stiletto heels in the other armchair.
"Wade" wrote: