Gentleman this is vodka.
Wait no, wrong intro. Unfortunately it’s not Ketel One again this week. Its Skyy Vodka…no, stop! Don’t go! Tonight on booze reviews: a bear brings by some vodka and mauls some mixed drinks! Not only that, a surprise ending, Skyy vodka is actually pretty good! Oh, whoops, looks like I gave away the whole review in the tag line. I’m going somewhere with this I swear…let’s start over.
When you hear Gordon’s you think of one name, James Bond, with the famous words “Shaken, not stirred.” What most people don’t get is that James Bond’s martini’s use vodka, and shaking gin for a martini is the worst thing you could do to it. Now we’re not here this week to judge James Bond’s iconic-ly known vodka (though it’s not that great). No we are here to review Gordon’s Gin, a gin that was my (The Buffalo’s) first foray into gin. Which ended with me almost nearly being turned off to gin forever.
When I think of Ezra Brooks I’m reminded of an old saying from a wise man “Bourbon, on the rocks please.” Now while all of us at the Buffalo Lounge have had their fair share of whiskey, our tastes (Mine especially) centered on Scotch. I sampled a vast amount of different varieties of Scotch, and I had tried Jack Daniels. It wasn’t until that fateful day though, when I was given just a small 375mL of Ezra that I thought the Americans could make a whiskey.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am the man called Justice and this week the Booze Reviews Crew is bringing you a particularly special treat. Its been a long time coming, but today we bring you Chivas Regal 18 year blended scotch whiskey. Before you ask, yes this is a liquor that deserves to have its full name used. Now I am a lover of high grade scotches, and though I can’t claim to have tried as many as the Buffalo, I have sampled a fairly robust number of scotches. That being said, there are few blended scotches which have tried which rival the flavor of this one. Off the top of my head only Johnny Walker Blue Label is a scotch I’ve tried better than this one (though that really isn’t a fair example).
While Ketel One isn’t our favorite spirit, not even our favorite vodka we have used more Ketel One in the Buffalo Lounge than any other liquor. Ketel One is our go-to drink for its wide use in Russian, screwdrivers, and tons of other mixed drinks, without sacrificing quality in the least. It is the standard we judge all vodka’s on, namely if you’re not better of comparable than we don’t want to deal with you. This has since changed with Three Olives much ore competitive price, but Ketel One is a good barometer for vodka.
