Tequilla...my latest love:
Cazadores for Resposado tequilla
Chaya Silver is smooth, put the bottle in the freezer then over ice... i ended up buying 10 bottles from retail store for about $12/bottle. That's not normal price.
I was at my neighborhood Ralphs grcery store and a customer rep suggested a bottle that was $18 and was produced by the same makers of Cazadores or maybe it was the same area (Arandas, Jalisco, Mexico.) Anyways i'll get you the name later.
I stay away from Patron and Cabo Wabo because I'm cheap and don't want to pay an arm and a leg for something that tastes the same or better for about $20.
Whiskeys:
Haven't explored the different single malts out there, but i do prefer the Jameson triple distilled irish whiskey overall for price and flavor. Scottish whiskey have a very smokey flavor and prefer jameson over say, black label or JD.
Vodka:
Can't really find it unless you're in Finland: Korskankova. Other than that, Belvedere and Grey Goose. Some of the others out there try to add flavor to mask how shitty it tastes...but it just burns going down. Costco has a 1.5L branded Vodka for $40 and it's bottled by Grey Goose (so I've heard.) It's just as good as goose, but obviously you get the volume discount.
All of these are over ice or with whiskey, add a bit of water. But you can do whiskey over ice too. It's all preference.
From the picture above, the name is Clase Azul Tequila Reposado. Expensive. haven't tired it.