Archive for category Wine & Liquor
Decent Vodka’s under $20 per 1.5L
Posted by Zeno in Wine & Liquor on November 26, 2011
It’s been a while since I have posted any reviews of any liquor or wines, so I thought I would put a small write-up of the latest flavorings of Vodka I have had the pleasure of trying over the last few months, and my top picks for under $20 vodka’s in the 1.5L sizes. I picked the 1.5L sizes, because if you are going to invest in more than a pint, you get much more for your money going with 1.5L sizes rather than 1/5ths as you are literally getting double the amount of product for usually in the order 0f $3-5 dollars more than you would have paid for the 750mL bottle. I also only have a couple of drinks a night tops, so I avoid the gut-rot vodka’s like the plague, if you are going to enjoy a nice drink, don’t buy 2 gallons of Barton’s for $8. These cheap liquors serve their purposes for parties, or large mixes, but for those looking for something that tastes good rather than just gives them a quick buzz and a nasty hangover, check out the offerings listed below.
- Pearl Vodka ($15.99 – $18.99 – 1.5L) – This has been my top pick vodka for some time now, it’s very smooth, mixes well, and has no aftertaste to speak of. It is a wheat distilled vodka from Canada, and sometimes comes with two flavored mini-bar sized pearl bottles of Pomegranate and Plum flavors (I favor neither but to each their own). This is the vodka I have purchased for over 3 months now when I am buying 1.5L sized bottles. Great price, and an awesome taste make this one of my favorites. Like any good vodka, you could take a mouthful of this and feel absolutely NO burn until you swallow, no matter how long you hold it (Go on try it
.
- Ruskova ($17.99 -$21.99 – 1.5L) – This is an authentic Russian made vodka and isn’t carried by many of the smaller vendors yet, but if
you do find it, pick it up, it is a very smooth vodka, and you will be surprised at the quality vs price. Also, I am not sure if they are still doing it, but most of the bottles I found had a $5.00 off coupon since it apparently is a rather new import. These required mailing in with the proof of purchase which is a rather PITA, and I never actually attempted to collect the $5 (something I believe all companies count on when making these types of offers), but it’s something nonetheless.
- Boru ($18.99 – $21.99 – 1.5L) – This is a vodka made in Ireland, distilled from grain with five times distilled posted on the front. This
vodka tends to be just a bit pricier than both of the above, and has just a bit more of an aftertaste as well, which I attribute to the five distillations vs the 7 other vendors do. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not much of one, but is noticeable if you have tried several vodka’s like I have. It did make it into my top five list though, so don’t hesitate to give it a try.
- Pinnacle Vodka – No Flavoring ($18.99 – $21.99 – 1.5L) – As far as I am aware, all of Pinnacle’s products originate in France, and they make several popular liquor types such as Gin and Vodka. They have also recently introduced a line of flavored vodka’s, one of which was “Whipped” flavor (like whipped cream), and several others. I myself have never been a fan of flavored vodka’s, I tend to use schnapps when I need other flavors like peach etc. Their website also boasts that they won the “Gold Medal Exceptional
Best Buy of 2010 from the Beverage Tasting Institute”, so they are obviously doing something write. Against the above vodka’s, this one tends to be my lower pick, but mainly just for the extra dollar or so it costs to purchase more than a taste standpoint. It has almost no aftertaste and is another very smooth vodka, so if you haven’t given them a try, maybe today is the day.
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Sobieski Vodka ($16.99-$19.99 – 1.5L) – This is one of my all time favorite vodka’s. I haven’t purchased as many 1.5L as 750mL bottles because the pricing seems to be off between the two (not linear like other brands), but if I am purchasing a 750mL bottle, this is my first pick. They have recently started flavored offerings like other brands such as citrus which I personally tried (by accidentally grabbing the wrong bottle), and it was good, and mixed excellently with orange juice for screwdrivers. If this vodka’s 1.5L offerings price was as good a deal as their 750′s, it would be my top pick, however, it still had to make this list as it’s extremely smooth and has almost zero aftertaste.
Thanks for reading the above reviews from just another guy that has no financial stake in any of the above companies but just started this blog years ago giving my take on the best lower end liquor and wines to buy for those like me that were just starting out in the territory. When I first started trying alcohol’s a few years ago I didn’t know any mixed drinks other than a screwdriver, and had no idea what anything tasted like as I had been a complete non-drinker until my 30′s for reasons I won’t go into here.
If anyone would like a specific brand reviewed by me, or if you are curiuos about a brand I may not have listed here, feel free to comment, or jut comment, all feedback is appreciated, all except trolls of course. Any discussions deteriorated into the usual dribble you see on other websites like YouTube will be promptly deleted so don’t bother if you are one of those types.
Have a Great Holiday and Safe Holiday Season!
New Wine, Long time between posts.
Posted by Zeno in General, Wine & Liquor on April 15, 2011
I know it’s been forever since I have posted on this blog, I honestly didn’t think I had too many subscribing until I checked the books tonight. I will try to keep posts much more updated without long stints of inactivity. I have recently been taking tactical / handgun classes at my local tactical training school, registering for more college classes, taking Yale and Harvard Astrophysics and Partical physics lectures online, completing Private Pilot training with at home ground schooling, learning to fly RC helicopters, and last but not least caring for my 6 year old step-son and making time for my Fiance’ and me. So life is pretty hectic in every sense of the word and I just haven’t had time to get on here and post about much of anything.
Before I give a usual wine review, I wanted to make everyone aware of a very informative podcast for those interested in any way in network/tech security called “Security Now” which is part of the TWiT network and has been around for a long time now. They have an extremely involved security/programming guest named Steve Gibson, which some of you may know wrote SpinRite, which is a LIFESAVING hard-drive tool that has personally saved around 5 hard drives and the data they contained of my own, and they are STILL running today after FAILURE 5 years later!. The tool can be purchased from <href a>http://grc.com</a>, as well as many many free tools Steve writes for whatever he finds an interest in. One of the most original things about Steve is that ALL of his software is programmed in assembly language, which means to the layperson, that there is NO compiling of the code, it is written in a language that CPU’s understand directly, so his software requires NO installation routine, NO Dll’s, NO uninstall, and have an extremely small footprint, usually in the kB range rather than the MB range of 99.999% of software available today. Steve’s main source of income besides his side projects is SpinRite, and for ALL hard-drives that are not SSD technology (IE Mechanical), it works literal magic, operating on the lowest level possible, meaning that the software can work on drives running ANY operating system and ANY file system imaginable. If you have any questions check out his homepage above for it and many other tools. Another cool aspect about Steve is he was the one to actually Coin the term “Spyware”, and discover some of the first iterations of spyware ever found!
SO the usual liquor review!
One of the BEST low cost red wines I have EVER EXPERIENCED is a rather new on the market “winemakers blend” out of California called Apothic. This wine offers all of the best tastes from Shiraz, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon wines, with an extremely smooth taste and pleasant tannins.
This wine averages around $10.99 a bottle US, and if you see it in your local spirits store I Highly Recommend picking up a bottle and giving it a try. Besides the higher named bottles like Woodbridge, Rosemount, Etc, this wine offers all of the taste at half the cost. Highly recommended! 
(Avg Cost $10.99 per 750mL bottle.)
New Wines
Posted by Zeno in Wine & Liquor on May 6, 2010
Bogle – Merlot – California – 2007
I found this to be a very pleasant wine, definitely one of the better wines in the under $12 price range. While it certainly was beat by the Rosemount Merlot listed below, I would most certainly purchase this wine again. (8.5 score / $10.99 avg/US)
Rosemount – Australia- 2007
This was by far, one of the best Merlot wines I have had in a long time. Unlike most of my reviews, this wine isn’t in the under $10 category, but
isn’t much higher at an average price of just $12.99 US. Fruity taste, with an excellent tannis. Highly Recommended for a great wine that won’t bust your wallet. (9.5 score / $12.99 avg/US)
Check back soon for more reviews. I am trying to get the blogs back up to speed after a significant absence. For those still subscribing thanks!
Another Wine Review
Posted by Zeno in Wine & Liquor on August 30, 2009
Wine – Redwood Creek – Merlot (Vintage 2005)
My store got in a shipment of this wine, and as usual it’s of the cheaper variety, but it is actually a very good brand, and for the extra couple of dollars, this wine is far better than Crane Lake which was my previous top “cheapest of the cheap” wine picks. It is a California Valley wine, which as far as I have found almost always puts out quality wines. The label tells of the “Frei Brothers Vineyards” which were established in 1890 outside Modesto which gives this maker over 100 years of experience, which might explain the high quality of this very low priced wine.
As in the heading, the only type available at my location was the Merlot, which has an excellent flavor, just an ever so slightly sharp on the tongue taste, which quickly dissipates to it’s finish. Unlike most cheap wines, the sharpness of this Merlot is very pleasant and adds to it’s flavor. The finish of this wine is fairly short lived and pleasant, but leaves no lasting bitterness which is typical of most cheap wines. All in all, this wine is very good for the cost, and is my new top pick for the lowest priced wines, and is still good enough to serve at any dinner party. 8/10 rating. ($5.99 avg – 750ml)
More Liquor reviews!
Posted by Zeno in Wine & Liquor on July 23, 2009
Wine – Liberty Creek – Merlot (Unknown Year)
This was some Dirt cheap wine I found basically in the “bargain bin” corner of the shop the other day, and anyone that has been reading my reviews know I usually go for the cheaper side of the spirits This wine unfortunately isn’t as good as the Crane Lake which is actually cheaper on average for the same amount, but since this wine came in 1.5L sizes and I had a couple of people to drink on it, I figured to give it a shot. However, even for a cheap wine this one hits lower marks. Strong bite, almost like a fortified wine, and almost no lingering finish whatsoever, which isn’t great considering even though it isn’t listed on the bottle, this wines alcohol content is very low, which even after 750ml I could probably have finished the liter and a half and barely blown an illegal limit for driving! I couldn’t list the year of make either since that is also missing from the bottle, the only thing missing from this cheap wine is a box or a screw on lid! 2/10 ($7.99 avg – 1.5L)
Liqueur – Chambord
This was purchased for a friend of mine, who doesn’t drink much and “liked the look of the bottle”. I only purchased the mini-bar sized serving as this liquor is very expensive and she drinks Very little, (although she found she loved the “Exotic Fruit” White Zinfandel wine I purchased, but since I haven’t tried it, I haven’t reviewed it, maybe at another time.
This is a relatively expensive liqueur out of France, and the best way both of us could find to describe it was like Jägermeister mixed with a fruity red wine, almost cough syrupy, but sweeter. I personally don’t fancy this drink at all, couldn’t think of anything I would want to mix it with, and for it’s price it would be a waste to mix it with anything anyways. If you like Jägermeister and red wines, especially the almost cough syrup and thick run of Jägermeister, you will probably enjoy this, however neither me or my friend enjoyed it much, and far as I am aware, not even half of the mini-bar sized bottle was finished. 2-9/10 (matter of taste) – $4.69 avg – 50ml.
Gin – New Amsterdam
I don’t drink gin much, but had just enough vermouth to make a martini or two and just picked up a mini-bar sized bottle of gin, of which this was the last one of this brand, and was only .50 cents. Even for it’s price though, considering the gins I have tried, this was quite good, very sharp juniper taste, and a nice aroma, which any gin lover should enjoy immediately. Considering that I am far from a professional taster, and usually steer clear of gin anyways, this gin to me tasted almost as good as the Bombay Sapphire which is supposed to be one of the best gin brands on the market. If you are only making martini’s for yourself sitting around the house, I highly recommend giving this brand a try. 7.5/10 – $50 cents – 50ml.
Another wine, another review
Posted by Zeno in Wine & Liquor on July 22, 2009
After spending twenty minutes browsing the red wine room at my favorite spirits store, the owner recommended a new brand I hadn’t yet tried. I’ve been trying to pick up at least one new wine per week to give it a try, especially for those like me, who aren’t wine connoisseurs, and know little to nothing about it
Wine – Trapiche (Oak Cask) – Cabernet Sauvignon (Year 2006)
Like all the wines I try to review, and with my limited budget, this is another wine under the $20 price mark. This wine came with a tag on the neck showing it to be a “Best Buy” from The Wine Advocate. I would agree with Robert on that mark, for it’s price range this is an excellent Cabernet. This wine comes out of Argentina with the rear label mentioning the grapes being grown the Andes, and with at least twelve 
months of aging in oak barrels before being bottled for sale. As all Cabernet Sauvignon wines are, you can expect a dry, crisp flavor from this one, which goes excellent with red meats and other spicy dishes. The finish of this wine is quite long and pleasant, making it a great pick as well for sipping on while you enjoy leisure activity around the house. Highly recommended as a first pick for those trying out a Cabernet for the first time, or for those looking for a good house wine to keep around the house. 9/10 ($12.99 avg – 750ml)
Scotch – Johnny Walker “Red Label”
I can’t review this much myself as it is the first time I’ve every tried a scotch whiskey. The owner apparently doesn’t like scotch himself as he said that like beer you needed to develop a taste for it, as it wasn’t a very pleasant spirit in his opionion. I wanted to start with the Black Label scotch next to this one, but it’s about three times the price of the red label, and since I was only getting enough to have a taste I didn’t want to throw down the money.
I personally think scotch is a fine liquor, in my view it has a better flavor and drinkability to it than that of a regular bourbon, but that of course is all a matter of opionion. Since I have never had scotch before, I can’t say one way or the other how good this would be compared to others, but anyone I’ve spoken with said the Red Label was of very high quality, with only the Black Label (from the same maker), being better. As most scotch is, it’s realitivly expensive, but I do recommend those that enjoy bourbon to give scotch a try if you haven’t already. (No score as no experience to judge on) – $3.49avg – 50ml
More alcohol reviews
Posted by Zeno in Wine & Liquor on July 13, 2009
Picked up a new wine today, yet another cheapie being I am always so broke At least those reading this will have an idea what cheap-as-hell wine is worth the money and what would be better avoided.
Wine – Merlot – Copperidge
This is another wine out of California, with the rear label listing Modesto as the city of origin. Even for cheap wines, the label on this brand is incredibly sparse, not even listing a year of origin, perhaps they are so new they don’t have previous years yet. I’m not familiar with it, and like everything I review, I look up nothing on the net regarding them as to have a completely unbiased review. This wine is more tart than most, but still preserves what anyone picking a Merlot would look for. The tones are less earthy than Fetzer or related, but this is still a decent buy. Recommended for casual drinking. 7/10 – $6.99 (750 ml) avg.
Vodka – Burnett’s
This vokda is priced around the “gut-rot” level, but is surpirsingly good for it’s price point. It’s a bit more harsh than the French imported Pinnicle, having a bit more bite to it, and no where near as sweet as Sobieski. There is a touch of the usual unpleasant after-taste associated with cheaper liquors, but for something to mix up cocktails and such for casual drinking, it certainly beats the honest to goodness “gut-rot”. For casual, cocktail related drinking Recommended, for straight shots, spend a bit more money. 6.5/10 – $7.99 avg / 750 ml.
4th festivities and a new wine!
Posted by Zeno in General, Wine & Liquor on July 7, 2009
I hope everyone had an enjoyable 4th of July. I have been so busy afterward, that I haven’t had much time for blogging, but am working on new stories and articles to post up for those reading them I did try a new wine this weekend that I thought I would post up here anyways.
The fireworks this year were good as we’ve come to expect from our small town. Because Knoxville does their large fireworks display on Memorial Day (called Boomsday), they do not have a show for the 4th. Because of this, and the general all day festivities that they have in town, including all day boat races from racing boats around the south-east, custom craft vendors and local artisans, and usually a car and motorcycle show (which was missing this year, though they did have a small motorcycle show with awards). My girlfriend and I were lucky this year in that when picking out our alcohol for the weekend, the proprietor of the spirits store had VIP passes as an event sponsor that she wasn’t going to be using. I’m not sure why she picked us out of the hundreds of customers that came into the store that day (there were at least 10-15 that came in just during our 15 minute visit) but I am very appreciative. While I am not sure, I believe that to get sponsorship you had to donate one thousand to fifteen hundred dollars to the event, and there were very few others in the VIP area. We also received VIP parking that was very close the the festivities (usually you end up walking almost a mile from where you park to the actual events).
Unfortunately, not only was our four year old in tow instantly terrified of the concussion of the fireworks (they were being fired less than 150 yards from our location), but I also wasn’t
White Burst Shell
familiar with working the fireworks / long shutter time of my camera and ended up with nothing but a few very blurred photos of the show. Only one which you see here turned out halfway decent, with the rest looking like some bad acid trip from a grateful dead show
I hope everyone else had a safe and eventful 4th of July as well as a great weekend!
Wine – Night Owl – Merlot (Vintage 2004)
This wine was a gift from my girlfriend for the 4th holidays that she picked up because she liked the bottle This wine is out of Monterey County in San Bernabe California. This is a bold wine, but is also very smooth tasting as well, with the usual blackberry and plum flavors that you would expect from a merlot. Right off I found this to be a very good wine, with a less earthy but smoother tone than what you get from the Fetzer, (which has been my recent favorite merlot), and for it’s price range, which is still under the $20 mark, this wine comes highly recommended. 9/10 – $12.49/avg for standard bottle.
Some more spirits tried…
Posted by Zeno in Wine & Liquor on June 26, 2009
With all these posts on liquor and wine, I guess I’m becoming quite the alcoholic… Since the girl I’m kinda/sorta talking to is out of town this week, I haven’t had much to do but play WoW, and Crysis Warhead. Just “acquired” Warhead last night, and have to say, it’s as awesome as the first one. If you liked Crysis then it’s for sure a recommended purchase. I’ll do a full post on it once I’ve had a chance to play it all the way through. Anyways, back to my alcoholism, this week I tried a couple of new items, and thought why not list them with my on-going list of alcohol dependent related products….
Vodka – Boru
This is a vodka promising “distilled five times” and “product of Ireland”, and we all know the Irish know how to drink. Going from this vodka’s taste they have yet again not let us down.
Boru Vodka
Boru comes in at the mid-range of the lower price points, but is very very smooth, and for those that don’t care for Sobeski’s sweetish taste, Boru is right up your alley. This vodka has all the offering of the higher priced varieties like Absolut, etc, with a much lower price tag. Very highly recommended. 9.5/10 (750ml – Avg $13)
Bourbon - Red Stag (by Jim Beam) – Black Cherry
This is a surprise for a bourbon. Very good, and I don’t usually care for them. The taste starts with a great infusion of black cherry, then comes in behind with the usual Jim Beam bourbon flavor to finish it off. For a great sipping bourbon this stuff is great. Not sure I would want to get smashed on it however, but I’ve found getting smashed on any of the “flavored” liquors usually leads to very nasty hangovers, nasty after-tastes and while I’ve not done so, I’m sure they are no fun coming back up Highly Recommended 9/10. (50ml – Avg $1)
I will post back later on the Crysis expansion, going to finish playing through it now. So far I have found at least one new vehicle from the first one, and 2 new mounted weapons that are pretty bad ass to blow shit up with. Storyline is dragging at the start (but who plays these games for the plot anyway right).
More Wine and Spirits this week
Posted by Zeno in Wine & Liquor on June 19, 2009
Martini’s I have attempted…
While browsing the liquor store this week, I realized I had never in fact tried a martini, in fact I had never even tried gin! Yes, yes, I know, sad right? So, I grabbed some of my usual vodka (Pinnacle), some Bombay Sapphire gin (supposed to be the top end of the gin areas), and some Martini & Rossi vermouth. Right off, I tried some or other recipe using the “shaken not stirred” vodka martini using a 2 oz vodka to a bit under 1 oz of vermouth mix. I either had too little ice in the shaker or something, because it was rather nasty and watered down, and in fact I ended up dumping half this one in the sink. I think it was a combination of to little ice, and too much shaking (the site I found this recipe on said to “Shake it like mad for 2 mins” which I’m sure is great if you like watered down nasty shit, but around 30 seconds is actually what you should be doing I’ve found.
The next go was a bit better, going with 2 oz vodka and 1/2 oz of vermouth, shaken for 30 seconds and strained of course, with an olive for garnish. While much better than my first attempt, I really just wasn’t going for the vodka/vermouth blend. I’m sure there are thousands that love this mix but it just isn’t me.
Next up was the gin/vermouth (traditional) martini. I’d already found I liked less vermouth than almost every recipe of traditionalism suggested, but you will find recipes going from “dump it in” to “just wave the vermouth over the top of the gin” to “swirl it around the inside of the glass and dump the rest out”. I found a 2 oz gin to 1/4 to 1/3 oz vermouth to be a good compromise (while still keeping it a martini). Sorry guys, waving your bottle of vermouth over the glass isn’t a cocktail, it’s gin in a glass.
The last was definitely my favorite blend, and while I can’t yet say that the martini is my favorite mixed drink, it’s not bad, as long as it’s made with gin. If you like me, have never had a martini, gin, or vermouth at all. Buy some of the mini-bar or similar sized bottles and give it a try. After trying the Bombay Sapphire gin listed above, I have since switched to a much cheaper Pinnacle gin. It’s by far not as good as the Bombay, but if your like me and stuck on a budget, it will do the trick! On gin Bombay is the recommended (but expensive) variety. Bombay Sapphire gin 50ml 9.5/10 – $4.99/avg, Pinnacle gin 275ml 7/10 – $3.59/avg, Martini & Rossi vermouth 375ml 8/10 – $5.69/avg
Wine – Fetzer – Merlot (Vintage 2006)
This is easily the best low end price range merlot I have tried to date. In fact it is my new favorite, having the taste of much more expensive brands, while still running the under $10 price-range. I ran across this one by accident, because it wasn’t stacked with the other merlot, and I’ve already purchased three or four bottles in just the past five days. Try this wine if your on a budget or not. For those with money to spare, this might just be the great wine to break out when the in-laws come over! 9/10 (Avg $9 – Standard Bottle)