The folks at Bacardi sent us a bottle of a special 89 proof version of their famous Superior Rum - a slightly overproof version of the white rum you're probably familiar with, which is rumored to be closer to the original Cuban formulation of Bacardi's flagship product. We gave it a taste on your behalf - our notes are below.
The bottle looks very similar to the one you might see at your local liquor store, and might be hard to differentiate from a distance. It is slightly different, however, even beyond the fact it's all in Spanish. "Ron Superior de Bacardi y Cia" has a pretty cool ring to it, though. That and just holding the bottle made us feel very Hemingway, without the gift for prose or the suicidal urges.
The nose was very mellow in comparison to Bacardi as we remember it (and most other white rums we've tried), even though it has a higher-than-average proof, and had a light, sweet, sugary smell. The taste at bottle strength was similarly mellow, with some hints of molasses, and was much dryer than expected. As you might anticipate, we were able to mix some daiquiris that curled our toes, and packed just that little bit of extra punch.
It's more expensive than your typical Bacardi Superior, weighing in at close to $50, but we think this is a must-have for rum enthusiasts and those who want to taste a bit of Bacardi's heritage, and a great gift idea. Don't take our word for it - head over to Bacardi.com for more information; otherwise, this rum should be available at your local liquor store.
* PS we apologize for the chintzy iPhone photo of the label...it was the best we could do and hopefully it'll help you recognize the bottle.
OK, so we realize this is a liquor blog, and for the most part we tend to stay on topic. However, the holiday season is a season of giving, if you're into that kind of thing, and we wanted to ask you to help out some of our closest friends, simply by casting a vote. Let us repeat - you don't have to pull out the wallet, you don't have to donate a can of food, you don't have to shovel your old neighbor's walkway. In order to reap the karmic benefits, you just have to log into Facebook and vote.
For what, you ask? Our friend and drinking buddy Megan is the managing director of the Sideshow Theater Company in Chicago, and they are working to get a grant from Chase Community Giving through Facebook. The grant, for $25,000, will cover a good chunk of their operating budget for next year.
To help, all you have to do is:
1. Log into your Facebook account
2. Log into the Chase Community Giving Grant
3. Become a Fan of Chase
4. Vote for Sideshow!
After you've voted for Sideshow you'll still have 19 votes left to give to any charitable or other nonprofit organization you like. Think about it - a quick and easy way to ding up some positivity in your otherwise Scrooge-like existence, and make a difference for some starving artists. It's a win/win/win. Hell, while you're at it, why not fan up the Liquor Snob Facebook page too?
And with that, we return you to our regularly scheduled drinking.
We were talking about holiday punch yesterday, and how we were looking for an alternative to the typical punch bowl. Almost like magic, we got an email right afterward including all kinds of recipes we could use to fill said alternative. These are interesting punches, a little different than your typical mulled wine, and definitely looking like they'll put you in the holiday mood. With no further ado, here are the recipes for Honey Spiced Punch, Old Sidney-Town Punch, and Champagne Holiday Punch.
'Tis the season for holiday parties, and we've been on the lookout for something to replace the traditional punch bowl at our seasonal fiestas. While the bowl looks cool enough, people tend to spill with our ladle, and we just want something a bit more visually striking. Our solution? The Chantilly beverage dispenser - it has a smaller footprint on the table, has a pour spigot to let people easily fill their cups with cheer, and it holds two gallons of grog. What more could we ask for, really?
You could say we're connoisseurs of the portable beer pong/beirut table, considering we have two or three of them lying around our office. They come in varying sizes and shapes, some are sturdier than others or fold more easily, but most of them have one thing in common - they cost over a hundred dollars. We love beirut, but c'mon...we'd rather rip a door right out of our wall and spend the hundred smackers on beer.
That's why we were impressed with GoPong - they say their tables are of the same high quality as the other brands you'll see online, but for around half the price. They say there's no slave labor involved, but hey...if they have to dip into the white slavery trade to get us a high quality, cheap beer pong table, we're not gonna go running to the feds.
Check out their selection of stock and customizable tables, for yourself or as a gift, at GoPong.com.
It should come as no surprise that we here in the Liquor Snob offices are fans of BeerFest, one of the better binge drinking movies ever made. That's why we were so excited when we found the above image on the BierBootHaus website...we love the idea of buying a bunch of these for our friends and filling them with little drinking-related trinkets (we're thinking bottle openers and coasters and the like) for the holidays. Who's looking to be drunk for the holidays?
Pick up your grownup stockings at Bier Boot Haus (Thanks for the link, Dave)
The weather's (finally) starting to get colder out there, and the idea of snow on the horizon puts us in the mood for some hot glogg next to a roaring fireplace. While we're heating it up, you go ahead and peruse the roundup of the stories we posted last month. Oh, and if you haven't seen it yet, the Liquor Snob 2009 Gift Guide is up and running! Let's get drunk and go shopping.
Remember the Pepsi Challenge, back in the 80s? When people would be offered a blind taste test to see which they liked better between Pepsi and Coke? We just had the opportunity to do one that was way, way better than soft drinks. The folks at Chivas sent us a bottle each of their Chivas Regal 18-year-old and Johnnie Walker Blue, daring us to try both and see which we liked better.
We, of course, were up for the challenge, so we got out our tasting glasses and set to it after asking an intern to pour so we didn't know what was in each glass. We did the tastings blind, and then once we were finished we paired up our notes with the proper whisky. In the verdict below, we give more info about our thoughts before we knew which was which.
Chivas Regal 18 Year Old
Blended Scotch
80 Proof (40% ABV)
Typical Price: About $60
The Look: Squat, clear bottle that's different than a lot of the scotch brands we've seen. In the glass, it's light amber, looking a bit like honey. The Nose: We smelled very little peatiness, with the major notes being caramel, toffee, and spices. The Taste: Still very little smoke or peat until we added a drop of water, and then we got a hint. There were more caramel notes, with citrus peels and the dryness of oak. Big oaky finish, long and complex.
Johnnie Walker Blue
Blended Scotch
80 Proof (40% ABV)
Typical Price: About $150 at the lower end
The Look: Signature Walker bottle, in green glass. The whiskey looks like honey in the glass. The Nose: We smelled a bit of caramel, with hints of smoke, peat, and the sea, with some dried fruit in the mix as well. The Taste: Big and round, with a lot of smoke once we added a drop of water. Continues the peat and sea theme, with almost no sweetness. Notes of malt and spices.
Overall Verdict: Both of these are fine whiskies, and ones we wouldn't hesitate to order for ourselves or recommend for the blended scotch lovers in our lives. The Johnny Walker had the big smokiness and bold flavors we want sometimes, but at triple the price tag. We were impressed with the Chivas, with its nice soft notes and delicate sweetness, and we felt it held its own against the Blue.
Never having had either, we would have been hard-pressed to say one scotch was better than the other in our blind taste test. We tend to like a smokey whisky, so we liked the Blue, but there is definitely something to be said for the fruity mellowness of the Chivas Regal (and being Scotsmen ourselves, we're extremely interested in that significantly smaller price tag).
We're going to go on the record and say we're not exactly sure why you would need a mitten with a koozie in it. We're pretty sure the mitten itself keeps your hand warm against the chilliness of your drink (and the elements) and the cold air that necessitates the mittens would keep your drink cold enough that you don't need to worry about it.
We've always thought of the mitten as nature's McDLT, keeping the cool side cool and the hot side hot, without all that planet-choking styrofoam. However, if you can see a reason why a koozie mitten would be necessary, such a thing exists and it is made by Burton. Thanks, Burton! (And thanks for the tip, JoJo)
It's time once again, ladies and gentlemen, for the holiday tradition that is the Liquor Snob Holiday Gift guide. If you're wondering what to buy for the boozer, sot, or lush of your life, fret no more, because we're gonna hook you up.
This year we're changing the format a bit to include some hot deals and gift guides we've noticed (which will be updated as we find more) and the Top 11 items people have bought through us at Amazon in the last year (which pretty much translates to "things we want for Christmas"). To top it all off, we've also rounded up a bunch of other cool stuff we covered this year too.
Holiday Deals and Gift Guides We plan to update these deals and guides as the holiday season moves forward, but these are the things that have hit our inbox so far. If you hear about any great deals or stumble across a cool booze-related holiday item, just let us know and we'll add it to the list.
The Jim Beam Holiday Gift Guide - we thought this was worth a read, with its plethora of tips for how to save money, gift ideas to avoid, and some hot-off-the-presses cocktail recipe ideas for when you need them...and you will.
Cocktail Vibe Black Friday Sale - get 45% off everything on the Cocktail Vibe site during their Black Friday sale, and they've got some really nice stuff...we love ours. Just use the code CVBLACKFRIDAY at checkout.
Internet Wines & Spirits has a nice selection of unique bottles that are pretty danged gift-worthy...we know we were pumped when our bottle of Crystal Head vodka showed up from there.
Also, this isn't necessarily liquor-related, but if you're not following BFAds.net for Black Friday discounts and deals, do yourself a favor and sign up
25% off all orders at Sailor Jerry between 12/15 and 12/17 - use code SJGIFT. [Updated 12/14]
For the Beirut enthusiast on your Christmas list, check out Go Pong - most portable beer pong tables you'll find are over $100, but these are less than sixty bucks. We haven't played on them, but you can't go wrong for the price. Customizable too! Get the skinny at GoPong.com. [Added 12/3]
Top 11 Booze Gifts of 2008/2009 We don't make a secret of the fact we have an affiliate partnership with Amazon - in fact, generous folks like you shopping there through our site help keep this website afloat. So, we took a look at all the items that were bought over the last year, from November 1 2008 through today, to show you what the booze hounds gentle readers of our site saw fit to buy. Who knows? Maybe it'll get your creative juices flowing, but if you don't like them don't blame us. There's no accounting for taste.
Vinturi Wine Aerators - we'd been curious and we finally got to review this recently. The verdict? We're planning to give the Set of 2 to some of our wine-snobbier friends.
Reef Dram Sandals - we should also mention Reef's Fanning bottle opener sandals were a big hit (and cheaper)
Travel Bars round out the Top 5, with people wanting to be able to drink in style outside the house, even if they're not spending at the bar.
Little Snowie Shaved Ice Machine - we really have no explanation for this one, but we bet you could make a mean margarita snowcone.
If you're still bankrupt for ideas, we've included a whole mess of products we've covered in the past year for your perusing pleasure, and you can also check out our gift guides from previous years (2006, 2007, 2008) for more ideas.
We've spent significantly more time searching for one than the other, but this book is right up your alley if you're interested in either, or just a fascinating history. Don't be afraid to take this bad boy to your local and pull up a stool...you may end up discussing the book with your fellow patrons more than reading it, but hey...that's what going to a bar is for.
Some one sent us this video thinking we might be interested in it, probably because the question "What do you think about organic vodka?" is asked during the proceedings. We can't, however, figure out what it has to do with organic vodka. We can't figure out what it has to do with being entertaining, for that matter.
Maybe you, our brilliant readers, can tell us what the hell is going on in this video and why we should care?
Akvinta Vodka
Triple-distilled organic super-premium vodka
80 Proof (40% ABV)
Review Sample Supplied By: Avkinta Vodka
Typical Price: About $40
Available in: New York, New Jersey, California
The Look: The Akvinta bottle is pretty striking, shot through with crimson and gold on the label and a cool little bronze button on the side. In the glass, Akvinta looks like, well, vodka.
The Nose: Lemon and other citrus peels.
The Taste: Citrusy with some pepper and an herbal bite. Very dry mouth feel, almost astringent, which we liked. Once we chilled it some of the sharper edges went away, and we were left with a very smooth, drinkable vodka.
The Verdict: We thought this was a tasty vodka - hell, maybe they're onto something with their crazy "Quintuple Filtration" idea. They run this stuff through birch charcoal, marble, silver, gold, and platinum, which may sound like overkill but it seems to work. We liked it chilled and on the rocks with a twist of lemon, and it would be a darned good fit for any citrusy cocktail if you ask us, as long as you can foot the super-premium price tag.
They include some pretty fancy Akvinta cocktail recipes on their site, and we're dying to try the Croatian Breakfast, so it looks like we're going to have to round up some orange marmalade and egg whites.
It's fall, and apparently that means we've more reviews to do. While we're (finally) digging through our backlog of tastings and reviews to write up, the FedEx men have been busy the last few days bringing us all sorts of goodies. Below is what we've gotten lately, most of which we've already tasted and ramping up to write the reviews:
Pernod Absinthe Superior
It's been a while since Pernod has included the word "absinthe" on its label instead of the more innocuous "liqueur," and we're looking forward to trying it out. We'll taste it as an absinthe, and in comparison to some of the Pernod liqueur we bought before the absinthe ban was lifted. Looking forward to checking it out; if you're unfamiliar with it we couldn't find a permanent product page for it, but check out last year's press release about it.
Kahlua Coffee Cream
"I like my coffee like I like my women - creamy, sugary, and tasting a little bit like coffee." That's a quote from a friend of ours from years ago, and it came to mind when the Kahlua Coffee Cream arrived. We've been feeling very non-dude lately, and we think making some Kahlua Cream Caucasians is just what we need to get right. Wake up and smell the coffee (cream) at Kahlua.com.
Hiram Walker Spiced Liqueurs
We're ready to get seasonal with two liqueurs from Hiram Walker - Gingerbread and Pumpkin Spice. We're thinking these two could add a nice seasonal flair to our cocktails, and we're looking forward to experimenting. We've been thinking about creating some signature drinks for Thanksgiving, and since no one makes a turkey liqueur yet, these will do nicely. Check out the Hiram Walker Seasonals page for more details.
News and tips on all things alcoholic, including beer and wine, breathalyzers, cocktails and spirits; plus drink recipes, booze reviews and more. All the news that's fit to drink.
Bacardi Superior 89 Proof Rum Review
This is a flask that says "Cheers Motherfucker" on it. Christmas is coming and we've been very good little boys. That's all we're saying.
OK, so we realize this is a liquor blog, and for the most part we tend to stay on topic. However, the holiday season is a season of giving, if you're into that kind of thing, and we wanted to ask you to help out some of our closest friends, simply by casting a vote. Let us repeat - you don't have to pull out the wallet, you don't have to donate a can of food, you don't have to shovel your old neighbor's walkway. In order to reap the karmic benefits, you just have to log into 
We were talking about holiday punch yesterday, and how we were looking for an alternative to the 
Continue reading: 
'Tis the season for holiday parties, and we've been on the lookout for something to replace the traditional punch bowl at our seasonal fiestas. While the bowl looks cool enough, people tend to spill with our ladle, and we just want something a bit more visually striking. Our solution? The Chantilly beverage dispenser - it has a smaller footprint on the table, has a pour spigot to let people easily fill their cups with cheer, and it holds two gallons of grog. What more could we ask for, really?
You could say we're connoisseurs of the portable beer pong/beirut table, considering we have two or three of them lying around our office. They come in varying sizes and shapes, some are sturdier than others or fold more easily, but most of them have one thing in common - they cost over a hundred dollars. We love beirut, but c'mon...we'd rather rip a door right out of our wall and spend the hundred smackers on beer.
It should come as no surprise that we here in the Liquor Snob offices are fans of 
The weather's (finally) starting to get colder out there, and the idea of snow on the horizon puts us in the mood for some hot 
Chivas Regal 18 Year Old 
Johnnie Walker Blue
We're going to go on the record and say we're not exactly sure why you would need a mitten with a koozie in it. We're pretty sure the mitten itself keeps your hand warm against the chilliness of your drink (and the elements) and the cold air that necessitates the mittens would keep your drink cold enough that you don't need to worry about it. 
It's time once again, ladies and gentlemen, for the holiday tradition that is the Liquor Snob Holiday Gift guide. If you're wondering what to buy for the boozer, sot, or lush of your life, fret no more, because we're gonna hook you up. 
We plan to update these deals and guides as the holiday season moves forward, but these are the things that have hit our inbox so far. If you hear about any great deals or stumble across a cool booze-related holiday item, just let us know and we'll add it to the list.
We don't make a secret of the fact we have an affiliate partnership with Amazon - in fact, generous folks like you shopping there through our site help keep this website afloat. So, we took a look at all the items that were bought over the last year, from November 1 2008 through today, to show you what the 
We've spent significantly more time searching for one than the other, but this book is right up your alley if you're interested in either, or just a fascinating history. Don't be afraid to take this bad boy to your local and pull up a stool...you may end up discussing the book with your fellow patrons more than reading it, but hey...that's what going to a bar is for.
Akvinta Vodka
It's fall, and apparently that means we've more reviews to do. While we're (finally) digging through our backlog of tastings and reviews to write up, the FedEx men have been busy the last few days bringing us all sorts of goodies. Below is what we've gotten lately, most of which we've already tasted and ramping up to write the reviews:
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