We are suckers for a good creamy flavored vodka. (and to all of you who thought about that whipped cream vodka please seek help). No we mean a vodka that doesn’t feel clean or wheat-y, but creamy making it a prime candidate for one of our favorite drinks – a white Russian. This, however, is a double-edged sword because by virtue of not being ‘pure’ and ‘clean’ it’s possible this fails elsewhere.
Now most people when they think Bombay picture that iconic blue bottle of Sapphire. Only those who’ve spent their time looking at the bottom shelves or met with a terrible fate asking for G&T at a bar to find there is another. So if Bombay Sapphire is the premium model, what’s the basic version like – well it’s certainly basic.
Caol Ila is a name even if you’ve never seen it on a shelf or bought yourself (unlikely but go with us here) it’s surely cropped on the list of essential sprits, a common marker in blended scotches, and one of the premiere Islay scotches – (one of the older ones too). We, however, have yet to review it – well until now.
Cruzan is arguably the sweet spot when it comes to reviews on our humble site. It’s something we know isn’t the highest of tiers, but by being such a budget product it begs the question of whether the cost savings there make it worth your money and more or if it’s simply another scrap on the heap of shitty spirits.
The name South Hollow Spirits jogged our memory a bit, and lo and behold – we’ve had their rum. The rum was an overall failure, was barely able to be mixed, and hilarious overpriced. This too is a small batch and is ridiculously priced as well, but mercifully it’s nowhere near as deplorable.
Maybe it’s the whole BMD incident from last week, but this being a blend of whiskey and other spirits (not the same thing, but the aroma and taste make it hard to discern.) Apologies we’ve not made it clear – this is a blended whiskey. However as we found out via the back – it’s not a blend of many whiskeys but a blend of bourbon and neutral spirits.
It’s not explicitly clear that this is the same company, recipe, facility or really anything to be tied to Andrew Cabot. (Quick Research Break) Ahh, it’s the ancestor of the current owner – okay that’s enough. Sadly if we had to sum up this rum that phrase ‘that’s enough’ is oddly poetic.
Right. So here at Honest Booze Reviews often a bottle is grabbed based solely on the criteria ‘don’t recognize that’. Now often this can mean we’ll end up with some weird things like vodka finished in cognac, berry gins, and peach whiskies. These by virtue of being offshoots with no baseline end up just not being reviewed. This however we decided we should dig into. We’ve often said that some high tier and well-aged rums or cognacs share a lot of similarities to whiskey. So what about this?
When one thinks of Dewar’s one often thinks of the more popular and widespread White Label. Instead of this one which has a label that’s wait. The White Label is a budget scotch, that frankly fails to compete with the likes of Johnnie Walker Red or Famous Grouse, but what if you actually give every whiskey the time to do its work.
This tequila was absconded from a wedding alongside a bottle of Campari that is 100%, not Campari as it’s not red and smells like death. Okay, it was a gift, but ‘absconded from a wedding’ is our new album name. The tequila itself was thankfully not a disaster to review, and in some respects is well-liked.
