Liquor brands: price and quality

[danaeris]

So I've been looking at restocking our liquor cabinet, and did some serious browsing of the liquor aisle at Albertson's on my way home today. My current plan is to check prices at Safeway, Albertsons, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and BevMo, and then buy each type I want wherever the best price is available for that type.

But that doesn't help me figure out what BRAND to buy.

Does anyone have strong opinions about Vodka brands? I was looking at Absolut, Smirnoff, Sky, and Stoli. But there's also Ketel One and a few other brands. They just didn't seem to have vanilla vodka which is what I wanted.

How about Irish Cream? There's Bailey's, St. Brendan's, Carolon's, Emmett's, and O'Connor's.

I've also seen a few brands of Butterscotch Schnapps. And the store only had one brand of Amaretto, but I bet there are others. Any opinions there?

Comments

[random-vamp.livejournal.com]

Does anyone have strong opinions about Vodka brands? I was looking at Absolut, Smirnoff, Sky, and Stoli. But there's also Ketel One and a few other brands. They just didn't seem to have vanilla vodka which is what I wanted.

Depends what you're using it for. I typically just get Smirnoff or Sky, depending on what's cheapest. If making kixed drinks either is fine. Absolut isn't really any better and is overpriced. Stoli, Kettle One, and the rest of the pricier vodkas are better for shootiers, but only snobs really care when it comes for mixed drinks.

With schnapps you can usually just go with whatever's decently priced.


Price wise, Albertsons and Safeway usually have the best prices. When doing a major liquor run for a party I'll usually hit each and just buy whats on sale, and then just buy the items that aren't on sale at whichever one is convenient. I'm also told that Costco has decent prices, but I don't have a membership and have never checked.

Oh, and I'll happily donate most of the gin and vermouth that have been building up in my liquor "cabinet".

[fyfer.livejournal.com]

The DiSarrono amaretto (it's the "authentic" one) is probably better than others you might find, which would probably just be marked "almond liqueur" or something like that.

Fifth East went through a vodka snob phase (Grey Goose, mostly), and it does taste very nice on its own, but my opinion is that as long as it's not in a plastic bottle it won't really matter in mixed drinks. The flavored vodkas are definitely better from better brands, less fake-tasting, but again, if it's mixed with stuff the subtlety is sort of lost.

[almus.livejournal.com]

I guess some people call me one of those "Vodka Snobs" Personaly i just think my roomate and I spent too much on top shell vodka suring the tech boom, and now I am spoiled. Anyway, for mixed drinks I suggest Sky, for the price/quality itsa the best.. For shooting I like Mezaluna, its italian but realy smooth and just a little sweet. As for the vanilla vodka, stoli has the best, but shmirnoff's isent bad.

Vodka snob roll call.

[divineseduction.livejournal.com]

For Vodka, my fave for just about anything is Ketel One. It's smooth, tastes good, and doesn't do horribly nasty evil things to your body.
Bailey's for Irish Creme. Best I remember finding for consistency, texture and flavor.
Buttershots, I tend to do DeKyupers (or however it's spelled).
And DiSarrono's is a must for amaretto. Muuuuch better than the others.

Also take into consideration this is what *I* like to drink. You will want to think buying differently depending on who you're feeding. Is this party fare, or occassional 'lets have a drink together' kind of thing? The former, go with the cheap stuff.. Trader Joe's is good for cheap and not-horrible. If it's for you guys, spend the extra bit of money and get alcohol that is pleasurable to drink.

Re: Vodka snob roll call.

[divineseduction.livejournal.com]

Also, for cheap, decently yummy drinks, use Pucker (apple, watermelon or peach are yum) of some flavor, a bit of vodka, and sprite/7-up, over ice.
.02

[cr0wgrrl.livejournal.com]

I have it on good authority from my friend Robert, who literally went into drinking practice with his Russian boss prior to meeting his Ukrainian father-in-law, that Grey Goose Vodka is one of the best you can get in the states. :)

Sky Vodka is also nice, as is Absolut Black Currant.

[cr0wgrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, and as for Peach Schnapps -- do NOT buy cheap Peach Schnapps; it has this weird maple-undertaste that is not at all pleasant. Voice of experience from my college years. :(

[catling.livejournal.com]

People have strong opinions on this one, so you'll probably get a wide range of answers. ;)

If you want to spend the extra, Gray Goose or Ketel One are really good vodkas. Absolut, Smirnoff and Stoli are all the next step down and are all good.

I don't really have strong opinions about anything except scotch and gin. For gin, it's got to be Tanqueray at a minimum, Bombay Sapphire is the best. For scotch, well, there's a long list of single malts that I consider to be good... but they are all spendy.

Hope that helped a little!

[cr0wgrrl.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, Bombay Gin. Definitely worth the price.

[nathanjw]

You probably can't get it out there, but I've really gotten to like Triple 8 vodka (made by a new distillery in Nantucket, a spin-off project of Cisco Brewery). You can probably get other local things around where you are, and have an interesting story to tell in contrast to buying the big national brands.

Irish Cream: everything I've had besides Baileys has been bad, but I don't drink much of it. I prefer straight Irish whiskey now (Jameson 1780 is my default choice (I've not yet developed the palate for scotch, much to the benefit of my wallet)).

Amaretto: Disaronno or bust.

Butterscotch schnapps sounds like an inherently low-quality concept to begin with. I'd skip it entirely. There are too many other quality drinks to spend your time enjoying.

[huxleysghost.livejournal.com]

Grey Goose is faboo. There is also a polish vodka that for the life of me, the name is currently elusive. The back of the inside of the bottle looks like stained glass...tall, thin bottle...yadda yadda yadda.

polish vodka

[baniszew.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you mean Chopin or Belvedere.

[scootah.livejournal.com]

Hey, just checking out your journal through the cellphone poll in sfbayarea!

I'm a big vodka fan, and a Russian guy I went to grad school with declared that if it wasn't Stolichnaya or Moskovskaya, it wasn't worth drinking. Since he's Russian, and the russian words for water and vodka are pretty well synonyms, I had to take his word. They're really great on ice, and work well as mixers. As for vanilla, try the vanilla Stolichnaya if you can find it. Very nice!

Bailey's has always been my standard Irish Creme, but I've recently tried the Cask & Cream Chocolate Temptation, and find it hard to turn back. So chocolatey, so good.. :) If you're looking for a really great creme liquor though, try making Bailey's at home. You can blend one can condensed milk, one can evaporated milk, a teaspoon of instant coffee powder (Irish Creme), a cup and a half of whiskey (or to taste), and a dash of vanilla. It won't keep long in the fridge, but then because it tastes so good, that's probably not a danger. :)

[emmett-the-sane.livejournal.com]

My opinion of what's the best Irish Cream is probably a bit skewed. :) Although, sadly, it's just "Emmet's" (one T).

Truth be told, though, I mostly stick to various types of wine these days. Well, not stick per se... unless you count that lovely night with the Bonny Doon's framboise... *ahem*

[kijeren.livejournal.com]

In my personal experience, we've always gotten big bottles of mixers, and then smaller bottles of more expensive stuff for sippin' drinks.

For vodka: I have it on good authority that Sky or Kettle 1 is the way to go for mixers, and Grey Goose is good for a top shelf brand.

For irish creme: I've found that just about anything mixes well, but it's got to be Baileys for sipping. I'll echo someone's comment above about the yummyness of the Cask and Crate Chocolate.

For tequila: Sauza or Jose Cuervo is good for mixing, but (and this is where I'm a snob) Patron (Blue Aguave is my fav) at a minimum for sipping.

[weirdodragoncat.livejournal.com]

Most people seem to have already mirrored my thoughts on brands. However, as for pricing, you should check out Beverages and more. Their prices are usually pretty good plus they have a savings card.

[auros]

I have a friend who swears by Grey Goose, and another (a Russian one) who likes Stolichnaya. I don't drink vodka, myself.

For Irish Creme/Cream, I tend to go for Bailey's, which has slightly less alcohol bite than Cask and Creme, which is what several of my friends prefer.

Also, it's not technically an amaretto -- it's hazelnut rather than almond -- but for a nutty-flavored liquer, it's hard to go wrong with Frangelico. Very tasty in hot chocolate or coffee.