We have a confession to make. It’s that despite running for near on 6+ years – we are reviewing this – in 2019. It’s sad, it’s profane, and a bit weird. However, despite mentioning it, despite reviewing multiple versions of the rum (even a special pumpkin version) – we haven’t actually reviewed the original – the basic Captain Morgan.
So I realize that on the Halloween special reviewing Jack-o-Blast we stated “Haha, nice try Captain Morgan, while we appreciate the product synergy, we will get Cannon Blast on our own time.” It turns out that time is now. We also promised not to be nice, but fair. In all fairness though this looks like it’s meant to blow your arm clean off – but much like how it’s appearance could be called a tarted-up gimmick so too can the rum sadly.
Trick-or-treat folks, and no don’t worry we are not playing a trick by reviewing a pumpkin spice spirit. No we were contacted by a taylorstrategy.com rep. wondering if we wanted a sample of ‘the first pumpkin spice rum brought to market.’ Of course being good sports we said yes, hoping to get a sample nip. They then sent us a bottle turning this from a ‘hey here’s a thing to try, to I guess we should review this’, and here we are. Now no worries we will continue to focus on spirits instead of niche flavorings (so many vodka flavors), but think of this as a Halloween special where we consider the following as both a rum and flavored booze.
We’ve never done a white rum on here, so to start let’s go with something that’s fairly new to the market as well. The stipulation being that while we may be new to reviewing white rums, unlike what this rum would want you to feel, we were not born yesterday, and we know that white rums can do much better than this.
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.
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. ***
“If anything is going to make me into an alcoholic it’s Private Stock.” ~ DJ_Lvl.
Yes readers and boozers of Honest Booze Reviews this week we sample a rum that is so good it induces alcoholism. Now I, Buffalo Jern, am a huge fan of Sailor Jerry’s which was the previous rum we had sampled. I was alone in this respect, but all of us agree that the Captain’s Private Stock is superb.
