My choice: Buy him a nice bottle of scotch or rye and be done with it.

lakmiseiru

If your uncle wants nice booze, get him nice booze. Otherwise you're letting your dad dictate what everyone gets, which kind of sucks because your uncle isn't your dad's kid.

kevinr

Oh, just buy him the booze already. :-) Hmm... (By the way, I think both the things you listed that he likes are probably bourbons. Or do you know for sure that one or both of those is that brand's rye offering?) I know nothing about bourbon. I know next to nothing about scotch yet. (Working on it! The Caol Ila is tasty, if your uncle likes peaty scotches. :-) I know slightly more than nothing about rye, but only just, and most of what I know is received wisdom, except for which retailers carry what, which is the product of my own dedicated research. :-) Downtown Wine and Spirits in Davis Square usually carries Old Overholt, which is /very/ tasty, and is, I'm told, sort of the definitive rye whiskey. ("If you don't like Old Overholt, you basically don't like rye.") I've got a bottle if you want to sample. Downtown's also got a couple other ryes that I haven't tried, though I'd stay away from the Old Potrero (made by Anchor of San Francisco) for a gift, as I'm led to believe it's at least a bit of an acquired taste, if not more interesting as a historical curiosity than anything else. I still want to try it, though. :-) Closer to home, Supreme Liquors in Central has just added what looks like a pretty nice rye selection, which I intend to sample from at some point. I want to say they have Sazerac rye and Michters, though they didn't have Overholt. Don't buy Jim Beam rye -- it's made by the same people as make Overholt, but is, I'm told, not nearly as nice as Overholt. I can't remember if I've seen anyone local carrying Wild Turkey rye, which your uncle might like if he likes Wild Turkey bourbon. Maybe Supreme. (Downtown would likely be willing to special-order something for you, though it might take a bit; I don't know about Supreme, though you could ask.) I've also heard good things about Brix in the South End, though it's further away and I haven't been. ("Maybe over IAP...") They'll definitely special-order. If you're going to be back in California before you give him this gift, all this advice about where to buy stuff is moot -- hie thee to a BevMo and marvel at the selection provided therein.

kyrandil, trs, ternus, tibbetts, Lex, Ian, melike, coolworld