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.
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.
So you’ve had the last two weeks to mull over the lower rungs of the Jack Daniels line, but here we come to the top of the top for JD’s take on Tennessee Whiskey. There are very few American whiskies that we’ve enjoyed tasting more than Single Barrel and while it’s not perfect it’s a fantastic whiskey.
Editor’s Note: This is back from when we were on Nerdfit, I’ve reuploaded it here, first as a reminder that Wodka needs to hire a better PR guy (especially considering some of their other forays like Billboards). But also because this stands as a testament to what we when we were at Nerdfit, and what Honest Booze Reviews stands for – Brutally honest, if you’re average you’re getting a 5. We are not your friends, and we are not going to hand out 94’s just because we want companies to give us free stuff and press.
I felt the need to write this up because of the backlash against Wodka for their comments made via their Twitter. First and foremost, it was weird seeing referrals from their website, and I was totally okay with them not being huge fans of our review. My original response via facebook was “Response to getting told a review is shit by a spirit company for giving them a 6 for being slightly better than average? Knowledge that we’re doing the right thing.” and I still stand by that. We knew doing these that we weren’t making friends. At Nerdfit we stood by our reviews as being honest and most importantly – very harsh.
Which is why I don’t want our fans or those who follow Wodka to boycott their spirit over this backlash. Their vodka is actually quite nice. It’s a middle shelf vodka for a bottom shelf price, and while yes their are things in the same tier that taste better or have better deals the difference between Wodka, Skyy, Ketel One, or Three Olives is negligible. They are a great bargain buy for a 750mL (Most handle prices are just as good a deal, but that depends on your area).
I realize some feel that the wording was out of line, especially for a professional company, and whether that’s true or not I’m not fazed. If anything I’m glad they had the balls to say it. While yes we are more informal in our reviews we’re not above calling something an absolute piece of fucken bullshit swill water if that’s what we feel. Remember tone and emotion aren’t conveyed best over the internet let alone within 140 characters.
Also you have to remember where they’re coming from. Our reviewing practices make it near impossible to get over a 9 let alone a perfect 10, when we say 5 is average, and 10 is akin to orgasm – we truly follow that mindset in a review. Even if something were to get a 10 in every taste related category it could still fall short on manliness, and it’d have to be one of the best deals of all time to get a 10 in every category. An overall score of 6 is a good thing to have, and I stress this – I’d totally buy Wodka again. I live in an area called CT where liquor prices are very high and if I need an everyday vodka (and I’m not getting something to review) I’d go with Wodka because I can’t get a good deal on Three-O or Skyy.
As for this situation, yes Wodka called us out on our review, we called them out on their response – at the end of the day they still offer a cheap above average Vodka, and we still review things with an iron fist.
Cheers Mates.
He’s alive, I mean Justice is alive. He contacted us through secure channels of a dolphin echolocation protocol late last night with the single phrase “I love scotch.” I’m sure that means he’ll return shortly talking about the beauty that is scotch whisky. Until then we’re stuck reviewing a bourbon, and not one we enjoy either.
It was midnight in the big city when I decided I needed a drink. The shoe that is life started to press down upon me and I was but a mere cockroach of a human. The world was a cruel mistress and I was but a sweaty politician that had lost everything and now she was turning her back on me. I knew that the only relief for me would be sitting at the bottom of a glass somewhere out in this wretched world and so I set out to find my salvation.
Another week and we still haven’t heard from Justice, though a Cambodian Monk has told us that “He is the envy of angels on earth.” So this week we carried on and went to a farm, where there were goats, a robot, and vodka. Since this isn’t Honest Robot-Goat Reviews, let’s move on to this weeks review Wodka vodka, which comes from Poland.
Hello Traveler! Welcome to the peaceful Booze Reviews about Firestone. Now we’ve recently been suffering from an onset of evil bandits. BUT fear not humble mercenary – for this week we have a beer that’s celebrating it’s 15th anniversary. Our only regret is that this beer was clearly made for the skags.
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.
Greetings friends and mortals, I am the Buffalo. I have been tasked with guiding you to enlightenment of the world of the classic cocktail. My cohorts and I have been fairly prolific on our thoughts regarding spirits over the past several months, and while we make sure to include mixability as a metric it’s never been the forefront of our reviews. This is odd because while certainly things like taste and cost matter to us our biggest question upon re-purchasing is “how well does it make drink X?”
Take vodka as an example; we wax on about how good a vodka is and certainly there’s nothing wrong enjoying some cold vodka neat or on rocks, but when it comes to what we buy we always ask? “How good of a White Russian does it make?”
So then to start you off I can think of nothing better than my old favorite – The Gin & Tonic.
