Johnny Walker Double Black

Oooooh, Fancy stuff strikes again.

Review :

I had to do a bit of research on this product, mostly because I got hooked up with a free bottle. Suck it retailers that don’t carry such items, and thank you Ozzy. What  found in my searches was that there weren’t as many reviews of this stuff as you might think their would be for an item that is labeled as a “Limited Edition”. What is supposed to set this one apart from the standard black label Johnny Walker is that is a blend of west coast whiskey, and is supposed to be more “Smokey” than that standard black. Having had the black and now the double black, I can say job well done. This product is definitely smokey, and actually a bit more smooth than the standard black. Obviously it is a bit more expensive than the black, but you can kind of expect that because again, it is a limited edition. Or is it? Also during my research, I had found that you used to be only able to get this at airport duty free shops, but then expanded to a global launch. So it SHOULD be available at places that you would be able to find your Johnny Walker any other day. This bottle is a pretty standard 40% alcohol by volume (80 Proof), and comes in a pretty cool box that looks like it has a wood finish. I drank my bottle on the rocks, and had a few mixed with coke. Both would probably be the ideal way to drink it.

Breakdown :

The Bottle : Like Everything else apparently, Johnny Walker has a standard bottle style. The thing that kind of set this one apart for me was the design of the label. It is obviously a bit more fancy looking than say a Jim Beam label. Also, the box I mentioned. Granted, it is an extra step to go through to enjoy your whiskey, but it gives it a cool presentation, and makes it a perfect gift item.

Score : 20

The Taste : Smokey, and smooth. My friend told me that he preferred it over the Johnny Walker Blue, I’ll have to agree. Although, I still prefer the taste of the Red, especially mixed with Ginger Ale. This was a great bottle to drink on the rocks, and given the price, it’s a great value for that classic Johnny Walker flavor.

Score : 25

The Buzz : I got smashed. It hit me like a ton of bricks. It was awesome. It took about an hour or so to actually hit me, but when it did, I was swimming.

Score : 20


The Cost : This product will run you between $50 and $70, depending on where you get it from. It is available to order if you cannot find it anywhere as well. Considering that the same sized bottle of Johnny Walker blue will cost you about 3 times what this costs, it might be a way better substitution. Still a little pricy for some people, but in my opinion, worth it if you are a scotch whiskey fan.

Score : 20

Total Score : 85

Now I know that this has been the highest reviewed product on this blog. I actually bothered to check. It isn’t going to be everyone cup of tea, but for the people who are fans, this is a great item.

Cheers.

360 Brand Glazed Donut Vodka

Let me just say, that finding this stuff was a bitch. My biggest complaint about it has been trying to fucking find it. If you don’t know what I am talking about, you can read about it here.

Review :

Aside from the major pain in the ass that it was to finally get this stuff, including the time that it took waiting for it to ship, after a total of 39 days after it’s release, I was able to get a bottle of this stuff. Let me say, the first shot that I took once we cracked open the bottle tasted amazing. It was dead on the flavor of a glazed donut. It had no after taste, but was intensely sweet. Obviously because it was a flavored vodka, there was slightly less alcohol content, it was 35% alcohol by volume (70 proof). I avoided mixing this with my usual bottle of coke. Instead, we made White Russians, and mixed it with the bottled Starbucks drinks for the coffee and donut flavor. Not as good as drinking it neat, but pretty decent. Now, as for availability, If you did not click on the linked post, I will give you a quick rundown. Apparently, you cannot find this stuff on the West Coast. The 360 vodka website has a store locator, so you can see if they have it anywhere near you. Don’t bother asking the company for any help if you can’t find a place that carries it on there, all they will tell you is to ask someone to special order it for you. If you can’t find it on their store locator, check out www.wincechateau.com. I was able to find it there, and quite honestly they had the lowest shipping rate.

Breakdown :

The Bottle : 360 has a pretty nifty standard bottle. They all have a cap with a rubber gasket and locking mechanism, like you might have seen on some micro-brewery beer bottles. I found that this kept the scent from attracting ants, and actually kept the vodka cool. So, points for them.

Score : 15

The Taste : Like I said, straight up, and it tastes like a donut. It actually has me wondering what some of the other flavors taste like. I don’t know if I will bother reviewing any of them though, just because I already know what kind of a headache that I will get trying to find them.

Score : 25

The Buzz : I actually didn’t get so much of a buzz, but definitely passed out. This stuff tastes great, so you want to drink a lot of it quickly. I wouldn’t really call it much of a buzz.

Score : 10

The Cost : Unless you can find it at a local store, or one of them is willing to order it for no extra charge, get ready to pay out of your ass. The bottle itself retails for about $17, which is a reasonable for a bottle of vodka. However, if you have to order it like I did, you are also going to be paying an out of state sales tax and a shipping price. This brought my total expense up to almost $40. This stuff is good, but if they had provided me any kind of assistance in actually finding this crap, or if any of the liquor store owners in my city weren’t dicks, I could have bought 2 bottles and a bag of chips. So if you don’t live where this stuff is readily available, the only excuse I can give you as to why you would pay so much for it is general curiosity.

Score : 0

Total Score : 50

Here again is my reasoning for being pissy about this brand. Link. As for everything else, it does taste great, and if you want to try it, go for it. At least you can say that you did.

Cheers.

No Update

You might have noticed that there hasn't been a review since the Devil's Cut. No, I didn't die, and no, I haven't already gone through every product at the liquor store yet. The reason for the lack of an update is simple. I am in protest. I am protesting 360 vodka. I literally went to every single place that sells alcohol in my city. It took me an entire week to do, but I did it. In all of these places, guess how many of them carried the Glazed Donut Vodka? Better yet, guess how many carried ANY 360 products, or even knew what the hell it was? One. There was one place that had 360 products. Not the Glazed Donut, which is getting great reviews from what I have seen, but a whopping selection of 3 of their vodkas. I have emailed and facebooked these people asking if there was anywhere near me to buy their products. Their response? Ask your local liquor stores to special order it. So I do. The two places that were even willing to do so were not able to get the specific flavor I requested, because it is apparently "Unavailable in most markets". I try the company again, hoping to find out that there is some online store where I can find their product, and I got the same answer as before. So I took it upon myself to find an online liquor store that would be able to ship me this product. For a $17 bottle of vodka, apparently the shipping cost is about $20. That's right, $37 for a bottle of vodka that retails for $17. All because the geniuses that make this garbage couldn't provide me with any help, other than "Ask someone else". I paid it. I am currently waiting for it to arrive from the other side of the country. I will try it, and I will review it. I cannot guarantee that my review will not contain harsh language, or some completely liable statements about 360 vodka, but I will review it. Until I receive my order, I will not be posting any reviews, because frankly, the idea that I had to jump through so many hoops for one fucking bottle just makes all the liquor I have had since ordering it taste like bile. I don't know if finally trying this stuff will make me feel better about the whole situation, but I guess we will have to wait and see. Until then, I have been trying other stuff, I do have other reviews to post, but they are being pushed back, because of what is apparently the Greatest fucking vodka ever. So, keep an eye out. Hopefully I will be back in the swing of things this week.

Jim Beam Devil's Cut

Just a note, if you go to BevMo and pick this stuff up, make sure to wear your Slipknot shirt. Apparently, the cashiers are required to sing “The Heretic Anthem” while ringing you up. Not really, but the guy that was handling the counter when I went in did, so give it a shot, see what happens.

Review :

Normally, I don’t really care when a Bourbon or Whiskey advertise that their new product has been aged in a specific type of barrel, or has “Flavorful notes of (insert aromatic ingredient here)”. It always seemed to me like they are trying to turn something as great as Bourbon into a spiced Rum or something. Which led to some confusion on my part when I first cracked open this bottle. It smelled like a spiced rum, the first shot had an initial mouth feel like a spiced rum, but the after taste was clearly bourbon. When I say after taste, I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way. I like the way that bourbon tastes, so this was actually a good thing. The added flavoring kind of masked a bit of the initial bite that you get from Bourbon, plus this particular product has a bit more alcohol content in it (90 proof, 45% alcohol), so that was a welcome bonus. Needless to say, I got a fairly good buzz. It was pretty good straight up, but went great with my usual coke. I did happen to see on the website that they actually do recommend drinking it both ways, in addition to on the rocks, and neat. They clearly want this to almost be a sipping Bourbon. I can see it, but whether or not I’ll follow through with their suggestion is neither here nor there. I found my bottle at BevMo, but the Jim Beam website has a VERY useful locator on it that allows you to search based on your zip code and which specific type of Jim Beam you are looking for. So check it out.


Breakdown :

The Bottle : Seriously? I don’t know what the hell the deal is with companies and their standard bottles, but here is another one. The major difference, like most others, is that the label is different. It’s actually pretty cool, when considering that that the original flavor has a pretty boring label.

Score : 15

Taste : This stuff does taste good. I have to give them some credit. I would actually even be inclined to take it OVER the original Jim Beam. I still don’t know why you would want a Bourbon to taste like a spiced Rum, but I guess that is why I am writing here, and not the CEO of Jim Beam. Definitely try it neat, on the rocks, as a shot, and with coke. If you are a fan of Bourbon at all, I am sure you’ll find something that you like.

Score : 25

The Buzz : I actually caught a pretty quick buzz. Bourbon does that to me. Plus this is a little bit stronger than Original Jim Beam, and went so well with coke that I drank it pretty fast. Very mellow buzz, definitely a product I am going to get again.

Score : 25

The Cost : Depending on where you find it, the 750 ML bottle will run you between $20 and $28. So the price is a real downside to this. If it was a set $20 bill, then it would be extremely worth it. I had to go way out of my way, and made sure to bring my ClubBev card to get it. Still, if you like Bourbon, might be worth the price tag for you.

Score 15

Total Score : 80

I would go through all of my other reviews to see if this is in fact the highest score I have given anything on here, but I am lazy. If you want to find out, do it yourself. Either way, for the money, I find it to be a great choice, considering the taste, and how drunk you will get.

Cheers

Jack Daniels Tennesse Honey

Yes, another Jack Daniels product. Slow news day.

Review :

The first time I tried this flavor of Jack, it was actually one of those gift sets that I received for Christmas. What can I say? My family knows what I like. Anyways, this is yet another victory for Jack Daniels. When I saw that it was supposed to taste like honey, and actually does, I have to give credit. This stuff taste like straight honey. So much so, that I got a major sugar rush once the bottle was finished. If you are a fan of Honey, you could probably drink it straight. Surprisingly, I did not like it too mush with my standard bottle of coke. I did however enjoy it a lot with some unsweetened tea. Seriously, one or two shots in a Snapple, and you’ll probably be set. This stuff is incredibly smooth too. You don’t get a weird after taste like you do with some other flavored liquors. It rings in at only 35% alcohol or 70 proof, but its easy drinkability makes it easier to catch a buzz. I have seen it everywhere that sells the original Jack, including BevMo, so you should have no problem finding it.

Breakdown :

The Bottle : Unlike the Gentleman Jack or the Single Barrel, this product comes in the same style bottle that the original Jack comes in. The only thing that is different is the label. Instead of the classic black label that the other kind has, this one has a white label with a bee on it.

Score ; 5

Taste : True to it’s name, it tastes like honey. I didn’t like it too much with coke or root beer, but it tasted great with tea. I did notice that the honey taste did die off pretty quick once I drank the sodas, but mixing them didn’t have very good results. It’s extremely smooth, which makes drinking it straight much easier.

Score 25

The Buzz : The buzz itself was a good one. I enjoyed it. The next day was an entirely different story. I don’t get hangovers, so that wasn’t an issue. The problem was the weird, sugary feeling I had in my stomach. It was the same feeling you would probably get from eating a jar of honey. I wouldn’t know, I’m not a bear.

Score : 15

The Cost : This stuff will cost you about the same as a regular bottle of Jack. Which actually kind of bummed me out because on the lower alcohol content. You would think that the stuff with the higher alcohol content would be more expensive. Either way, depending on where you get it, you are looking at about $18 for a 750 ML bottle. I haven’t seen it in a 1.75 L bottle, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t make it.

Score : 15

Total Score : 60

This brand tastes great, the only real draw back is that sugary crash feeling you would probably get the next day, and that it could be a little bit cheaper. I mean, if this were being sold for $2 cheaper, it would probably have gotten a full 25 points on the cost scale. Also, try changing the bottle. It doesn’t have to be all cartoony and be in the shape of a bee like some kind of alcoholic Mrs. Butterworth, but you could make it stand out a bit more than just changing the label color.

Cheers

Smirnoff Marshmallow Vodka

I had teased that I was going to be reviewing the newly released Glazed Donut vodka, but since my luck is terrible, I was not able to find it anywhere. Inquiries on the official face book page for that particular vodka keep telling me to check back soon, so who knows when I might have that review in. So, since I did not want to leave the numerous grocery and liquor stores that I checked last week empty handed, I decided to check this one out.

Review :

To be fair, Smirnoff wasn’t the first to do this particular flavored vodka. I am not 100% sure who did, but I do know it wasn’t them. Anyways, this stuff delivers as far as taste goes. I did my standard first shot to try the taste straight up, and you get massive marshmallow flavor. I stuck the bottle in the freezer for a little while, and got some stuff to mix it with based on various drink recipes that I had found online. I tried it with lemonade, because if you mix equal parts lemonade with this vodka its supposed to taste like a lemon meringue pie, and it did. Probably my favorite of the combinations I tried. The only real downside to this particular product is that obviously with the flavoring there is less alcohol content. Not that it matters too much, because I have yet to find someone who can actually sit and drink these flavored drinks straight up, you are always going to want to mix it with something, which means that your alcohol content goes from being 30% to being slightly diluted. Plus the added liquid fills you up quicker, so you are likely to drink less. I found this stuff at virtually every place that I went to in my quest to find the donut vodka, so it is very available. It comes in a variety of sizes, so you can have a little or you can have a lot.


Breakdown :

The Bottle : Yet again, we have Smirnoff’s signature bottle. Nothing special, nothing new, except that the actual Smirnoff logo looks like it got a bit of an upgrade. Other than that, you probably couldn’t tell the difference between this and any other flavor from a distance.

Score : 5

Taste : It does taste pretty good on its own. You do get a bit of an after taste that you would expect from any flavored vodka, but other than that, straight marshmallow flavor. For the best results, I would say mix it with something. I mentioned mixing with lemonade before, probably my favorite because it does taste like a pie. The other that I found worked pretty good was mixing with two parts chocolate milk. I used the bottled nesquik. It was supposed to taste like a chocolate sundae, I didn’t think so, but the marshmallow paired well with the chocolate.

Score : 25

The Buzz : I actually got a pretty decent buzz from this. Of course I was drinking it pretty quick, but was pretty buzzed by the time that my tv shows were on later that evening.

Score : 20

The Cost : Very reasonably priced. At least for a flavored product. I know that I have seen some other brands various flavored versions sell for as much if not more than their original flavors, but this one was at least $3 cheaper. So that was a plus. You can usually find it for about $12-$14 depending on where you go.

Score : 20

Total Score : 70

Aside from being utterly surprised by how much I like this stuff, I was totally bummed about the lack of the glazed donut. However, if I had to find a way to fill the void, I am glad I tried this stuff. Definitely worth trying, even if you don’t like vodka. Now if I can only find a way to make a drink that tastes like a smore, I’d be set.

Cheers.

No Review Today

So, while I said I would have a new review every Thursday, I have to postpone today's entry. Why? Because Saturday, I will be sampling and then reviewing the newly released Glazed Donut flavored Vodka. Also, I just got back from vacation, and have about a weeks worth of work to get done in 2 days. So give me a break.