Now that we’re back let’s discuss things from before. Specifically Tanqueray, we’ve previously done the original and the Rangpur, but this time we finally got the chance to taste, and for me to the Buffalo to review the more refined gin.
Tag: Tanqueray
Special – Booze Reviews 1 Year Anniversary Award Show!
Wow, we made it a whole year. With ~58 Regular Reviews and ~6 Specials (Yeah you do that math it’s 52+ weeks suck it consistency) we’ve come quite a long way. Our tastes have changed, we’ve become as brutal as the job demands, and best of all? We’ve found a bunch of spirits and booze that just make life worth living.
Retrospective 2 on Stocking a Bar for $100
Well guys after next week we’ll have made it a whole year. For such a glorious event we’ve decided to host an awards ceremony, why even know we are at a secret undisclosed location discussing booze, and the previous year. So before we get into that we decided to have an updated buying guide from the one half a year ago.
Now last time we did this I left you some advice namely stocking your bar for under a 100 dollars and that you should just buy scotch. Since we’ll be covering the festivities and intricacies of our journey next week I’ll let this article be simple and too the point of what you should be buying.
Vodkas
Recommended: Wodka – $10, New Amsterdam – $13, Skyy -$17, Three-O – $17
High Tier: Russian Standard Platinum – $27, Hammer + Sickle – $30
Honestly when it comes to vodka I go with the cheapest handle price (of these 4) because of how much gets used in the Buffalo Lounge. Now for a 750mL you could go with either Wodka or New Amsterdam the difference is slight enough that it’s the same, which is a similar story for Skyy/Three-O. While the 7 dollar difference is huge in the 750mL most of these cost $20 for a handle so see what’s the best for the area you live in.
Gins
Recommended: New Amsterdam – $13
High Tier: Bombay Sapphire – $26, Tangueray Rangpur – $27, Hendrick’s Gin – $32
It seems when it comes to gin’s if you want cheap your choice is obvious. Now the problem is that none of the high tier gin’s are “double as good, despite being double the price.” which is a little unfair. Regardless when you get into higher tier gin’s your choice is between it being more Juniper flavored, fruit flavored, floral/botanical of which you choose the above respectively. I’m not sure if we’ll ever find a mixing gin that tops New Amsterdam, but you can bet we’ll keep trying.
Rums
Recommended: Sailor Jerry’s – $16, Kraken – $19, Gosling’s 151 Proof – $21, Capt Morgan 100 proof – $21
High Tier: Capt Morgan Private Stock – $25
No real changes here, Oakheart was really lackluster and though we’ve sample a few other rums we’ve mostly stuck to the favorites seen here.
Tequilas
Recommended: 1800 Series (Silver/Gold) – $26, Milagro (Silver/Gold) – $30
High Tier: Trago (Silver/Gold) -$50
We haven’t really reviewed many tequila’s lately (read: Me and DJ_Lvl dislike it so deal with it.) I have however tried Trago via places and goddamn that’s some good tequila. Basically same as last time choose between awesome looking and good tasting 1800 or slightly better tasting, but awful looking Milagro. Sadly Patron is very much not worth it.
Whiskies
Recommended: Ezra Brooks – $13, Jack Daniels Green/Black Label – $22/25, Jameson Irish Whiskey – $22
High Tier: Gentlemen Jack – $30, JD Single Barrel – $42, Yamazaki 12yr – $43
We still prefer Ezra in the Lounge, but we’ve fully covered the Jack Daniels line, and as for it goes between Green and Black Label it’s whether you enjoy Green because not everyone does. Now for high tier we would say Gentlemen Jack is all you’ll need. However that’s a conservative high-tier and if you’re already going there JD Single Barrel and Yamazaki (which is not a scotch since it’s from Japan but is modeled after one.) are both really great choices.
Scotchs
Recommended: Famous Grouse – $21, Johnnie Walker Red Label – $24, Dewar White Label – $24
High Tier Blended: Johnnie Walker Black Label – $33, Chivas Regal 18yr – $64, Johnnie Walker Blue Label – $200
High Tier Single Malt: Balvenie Double Wood 12yr – $40, Auchentoshan 12yr – $45, Oban 14yr – $50
Basically if you’re here for some Rusty Nails and Godfather’s then Grouse/JW Red Label/White Label are interchangable. If you’re looking for sipping then you get into scotch preference territory. Personally Black Label for a cheap one, Auchentoshan or Oban for a single malt, and Blue Label because you gotta try that at least once every few years. Honestly though scotch is all about trying a bunch and finding your favorite so explore.
Now as you may have noticed if you get something from all 6 categories it will most likely not be under 100 (Though if you go with the lowest price option from each it comes out to $99 so HAH!); however we have not compromised to put Smirnoff, or Gordons, or Evan Williams on here just so we can say it’s under 100. Will you probably spend closer to $120? Sure, but for the quality you are not losing money here, simply gaining good booze. If you go high tier then your wallet will take a major hit, but who cares when you got top-shelf stuff – real top shelf stuff.
Cheers Mates.
Tanqueray Rangpur Gin 750 mL
Dear family and friends of the Honest Booze Review Community. 2 weeks ago members of the Honest Booze Review Crew took a vacation. Luckily William Henri Neve was found somewhere in a bar, and DJ_Lvl apparently never left. However Justice a dear friend of ours did not show at our scheduled review session. We had sat down ready to review a gin we’ve often recommended: The Tanqueray Rangpur.
Retrospective 1 on How to Stock a Bar for $100
Hello and welcome to another special edition of Booze Reviews. This week rather than giving you a review of something new we decided to take a step back and see how far we’ve come in the past half of year. (We even managed to be mostly on schedule.) So then where has our treasure trove of knowledge left us?
***EDIT: This is now out-dated. New retrospective here. ***
Tanqueray Imported London Dry Gin 750ml
As our reviews take us around the world of alcohol; this week we finally land in Her Majesty’s Kingdom of Great Britain. For our review this week we take a look at the fantastic world of gin with Tanqueray. Since I have been the only one to actually set foot on British soil, I BuffaloJern will enlighten you about this fantastic gin.
To give a brief overview of the format; our four reviewers DJ Lvl, William Henri Neve the IV, Justice, and myself sample the gin giving scores based on some set categories, this is then followed by our own personal scores. Keep in mind that these scores (except manliness) are based on other gins as opposed to a scotch or vodka.
Tanqueray is in my mind a classy version of Bombay. Both are the quintessential London Dry Gins, despite Tanqueray being currently distilled in Scotland (It was originally in London), but that whole WWII/Bombing London thing happened. Anywho the mere fact that Tanqueray is distilled in Scotland only enforces what SNL has taught us “If it’s not Scottish its crap!” and I couldn’t agree more. At about 92 proof, distilled 4 times, and containing juniper, coriander, and angelica root this gin is fantastic.
And yet it’s not. Unfortunately as with most liquors the standard version the company makes are usually lacking. Tanqueray’s No 10 is superior in taste, and the Rangpur version of Tanqueray is simply a better gin. So where does that leave the Old London Dry Gin, the basic model if you will? It stays there in your bar for when you want your standard gin and tonic, when life doesn’t demand something extraordinary. It remains there looking at you in its beautiful bottle showing the world that yes I do drink gin, and no I do not drink Gordon’s.
The best part of this is Tanqueray understands this, they do not come off as cocky, or flashy just simple, praising themselves modestly and dare I say British-like.
What they say: “Back of the Bottle: Charles Tanqueray began distilling in 1830 and Tanqueray gin continues his legacy of excellence. The highest quality spirit and finest botanicals. Picked at the peak of their freshness, are carefully crafted to produce its exceptional, much revered taste.
Front: By appointment to her majesty the queen Tanqueray Gordon & Company Limited. London, England. Gin Distillers”
Taste: 7.875 – I understand the festive nature of these comments may annoy those burdened by Future Christmas but a mark of a true gin is that great pine smell. And that’s all we get here, a fine really damn good taste.
Aftertaste: 5.375 – William and I felt the initial aftertaste akin to a punch fastly followed by a beautiful women stripping, slowly. After the first bit of pine there is a bit of ethanol followed again by a long drawn out pine feeling. I would like to comment though that Justice enjoyed both aftertastes while DJ Lvl didn’t care for either, attributing to our average score of 5.
Burn/Smooth: 8 – Nicely smooth especially comparative to other gins, and that’s all there is to say about it. This goes down smoothly unlike a lower quality gin which would be like pouring paint thinner down you throat.
Aroma: 8.25 – A nice pine smell with a bit of ethanol to it, but no real bark. Much like the taste everything here is smooth, pine, and superb.
Honesty: 8.75 – The front of the bottle mentions the god damn queen, that along with the seals, and the tale of Charles Tanqueray gives this gin some serious points. Will states; however; that the only thing keeping this from getting a better score is because it mentions botanicals a bunch. While this won’t make you seem like your balls are made of the steel that your chest hair mines from your abs, one look at that beautiful green bottle and the martini you create will force James Bond to begin searching his pockets for some class.
Mixability: 8.17
Gin and Tonic: Really great gin and tonic, you can taste the gin, the lime, and tonic and they all come together in a beautiful government approved synthesis of booze and carbonation. However with only the juniper taste it leaves something to be desired from the citrus feel of some other gins.
Red Baron: Pretty god damn excellent Baron, while this drink can make a bad gin bearable here it makes the drink one of that best things in existence.
Buffalo Note: This also makes a damn good Martini, but it’s older brother Tanqueray no. 10 blows it out of the water.
Value: 7.125 – Good for mixing, and on its own but for its price and that aftertaste I would always recommend getting a better gin and spending the extra 3-4 bucks.
Google Shop Average: $25
Website: http://www.tanqueray.com/
Reviewer Scores:
DJ_Lvl: 7
William Henri Neve IV: 7.5
Justice: 8
BuffaloJern: 8
Want to compare this spirit against our archives? Visit our statistics page.
Score Total: 53.56/70 |+| Metric Average: 7.65 |+| Reviewer Average: 7.63
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Final Thoughts: Tanqueray is clearly a great choice for a gin but it be a better choice to shell out the few extra bucks and buy one of his older brothers (the No. 10 or Rangpur). However if you’ve been living off Beefeaters (regular) or Gordons for your entire drinking life consider getting a bottle and reminding yourself what all gin should be.
Cheers mates.