Captain Morgan Spiced Gold


Now here is a rum that was on my wanted list. This 35% alcohol containing spiced rum was rated high from some friends and some internet sources i've read.

Now to start off, it's a light yellow-gold colored liquid, not a surprise there. What did surprise me a bit was the smell. It's a much sweeter smell then the other rum's i've had before, and has a hints of caramel and vanilla in it. Which i did not expect in a spiced rum. But they did mix in very well.

In the taste test, i found this a very smooth, but sweet rum. No harsh flavour attack but balanced at the sweeter part of the rum section.
First things you will notice ofcourse is that its spiced up a bit. The alcohol burn isn't bad on this one, and after the initial taste is gone, you will once again taste stong hints of caramel and a little bit of vanilla in the aftertaste. Which seems to smoothen the drink quite a bit.

Pure, this rum is not bad at all. I like it, but drinking 35% stuff pure wont last you very long. So i found out when mixing it, the spiced portion of the drink goes away a bit faster then the caramel after taste, which remains rather prominent even while mixing.. And it tastes yet again smooth on the pallet while the spices crank it up a bit. But in a good way.
No bombardment of complexity going on, but the spicey intial taste and the sweet caramel aftertaste do balance quitte good.
So my friends are correct. Pages i've read on the internet are correct. This rum is simply put good, especially for the pricerange.. And it's around the normal price you would pay for a average rum aswel. (around 16 euro for a 70CL bottle if i remember correctly) Deffinately worth checking out if you like a sweeter rum, with spicey hints, and spicy drinks in general.

Captain morgan's website is right about: here

Sierra tequila silver


This time it's time to get some tequila going, the silver sierra tequila to be precise. It's a cheaper tequila i bought a while ago, just to give this a shot.
It's has a 38% alcohol content, nothing strange going on there. It doesn't have a 100% agave label on the bottle, so its not, but when seeing the pricetag, you get what you pay for.

Now, since it's a silver tequila, its obviously has no color. The smell is a mix of agave ( at least i think thats what causing the typical tequila smell), alcohol and just a little bit of a smokey thing going on in there.
When drinking it pure, you will notice right away that it's not smooth at all. It delivers a mean punch, and has a rather strong burn. You also get a hint of a smokey taste, a bit stronger then in the smell of the drink. But overall, its a right in your face alcohol burn, that makes tasting the actual taste rather hard.

When mixing this stuff the burn goes away pritty quickly. The smokey taste remains, together with a little bit of agave taste whats left. You will actually taste that a bit better this way due the alcohol not burning away your tongue.

Overall i would say, you get what you pay for. It's a cheaper tequila, and you will notice it.
You can drink it pure in shots to get wasted, but you dont really have to do it for a smooth tequila taste, because it's simply not there. When mixing this into other drinks, like most alcohols, it's not too bad anymore. And quite enjoyable when using it in the right proportions, and not really focussing on the taste of the alcohol itself. But it has to be said, always, always go for the 100% agave tequila's.

Sierra tequila website can be found: here

Bols Blue Curacao

This is a very popular liquour, probably because....its blue!
It's a citrusbased liquour with 21% alcohol in it. And ofcourse, its obvious where this stuff comes from.

Well, i don't really have to go over the look of this stuff, its obvious. It smells sort of like mandarines, with almost zero alcohol odor to it.
When tasting this pure, it will taste a bit like cheap orange candy, with tons of sugar in it. Not really the mandarin you would expect, more a bitterswear orange. But thats not so weird considering it's made of a citrus from curacao, simular to the orange from there, who are known to be rather bitter.

While you can drink this stuff pure, i wouldn't recommend it. Its just too sweat, and im afraid its horrible hangover material aswel when overdoing it =P.
When mixing this in cocktails, where it's ofcourse made for, due the bright color, it will give it a sweat hint of citrus, but not as strong as triple sec for example. But besides the taste it's the most popular to just get strange colorcombinations from it. For example, when mixing it with a regular coke, you will get a dark green colored liquid.
For mixing drinks, it will be allot better when you want to give your drink a little tropical citrushint. But mostly because of the blue color and not because the taste is that spectacular.

Bols Blue Curacao website can be found: here

Konings Triple Sec

Yet another liquour i happend to have at home.
This time its a triple sec, which is a orange peel-ish liquour, used in tons of cocktails. Since its a cheaper bottle (just over 10 euro for a 70CL if i remember correctly), there isn't much to find about this specific bottle. Besides it containing 35% alcohol.

Now to go to the drink itself, its like usual a clear liquid. Which smells, a bit like a weird mix of orange and glue, but that is probably due the cheaper brand.
When drinking this, take in mind; do never, ever, drink this pure. Its horrible unless you really fancy a dry bitter tasting orange drink. Nothing fresh or juicy here, just plain bittersweet orange.
When mixing this stuff, take in mind it will tend to overpower your drink. And since its a rather bitter and not juicy taste, thats not particularly good. When adding it in small amount in cocktails with citrus things going on in them, it will be fine. But then again almost everything will be fine in small amounts. Personally i would prefer Cointreau over this any time, but it will be more expensive aswel ofcourse.

Overall, not bad for it's pricetag. But for drinking pure, you just do not want to drink this pure. When mixing it the way you should, in small amounts, it will be allot better. Just because it's a really bittersweat orange taste, and i would rather have a more juicy or even just normal orange juice in my drink then this. You can't really compair the taste of those two tho, so if you like the more unnatural strong orange thing going on, this could be your thing.

Malibu



Now who doesn't know this caribbean rum with coconut taste, in the white bottle.
Since it has malibu in its name, its not too hard to think of where it's from. And its actually a liqueur and not a pure rum, with its 21% alcohol volume.

To start off, its a clear silver rum, with a very strong coconut odor ( duh =P).
When drinking this stuff, you don't really get much rum taste at all, its mostly coconut, so if you'r not a fan of that, skip this right away. Its very sweet and easy to drink pure aswel, but it might be a bit far to sweet for that purpose.

But stuff like this is ofcourse just perfect for mixing drinks. When you want your drink to have a tropical taste and smell, you can just add a dash of malibu to the drink. You don't even have to use much to get the coconut taste going, and it might even overpower the drink really quick.
Mixed pure with some fruitjuiced, this will be a very light and fruity cocktail, just be aware of the massive amount of sugars going on then ( no one wants a bad headache the next day).
When mixing a heavier drink, where you want to actually taste rum, its best to use a normal silver rum, and just add a little bit of malibu, since mixed all the *burn* from the alcohol seems to vanish and you have a really sweet drink left.

It's a popular liquour, and it is priced like one. Nothing really expensive since its only 21% alcohol, but it will be something around 17/18 euro for a 100CL bottle. Nothing wrong for having a bottle of this in the house for when you feel like adding some tropical hints of coconut to your cocktail, just dont really pay attention to the rum label on it.


Malibu website: here

Player's Gold Dark Special

Starting off at this dark rum, a relatively cheap one at it.
It's been a bit tough finding some info on this rum, and the bottle doesn't have much information on it either. Other then having 37.5% alcohol in it, and having some caribbean origin.

Now for the actuall stuff itself. Its a gold collored liquid, and smells a bit less sweet then a bacardi dark rum ( just to compair the two). Mostly because it has a bit less odor, so you smell the alcohol itself better.
The taste, well the obvious dark rum-ish, but it tends a bit more to the bitter end with a strong aftertaste thats actually stronger then when you take the first sip.
Mixed with something else, it turns milder very quickly but still keeps up with a strong rum taste.
Personally i think its not as smooth as other dark rums i have had, but this will ofcourse only be relevant if you drink it pure or in stronger mixes. Which isn't too bad since its a fairly cheap rum, costing around 14 euro for a 100CL bottle.

Since the rum isn't that expensive, its a good base for mix drinks where the rum content isn't too high, but for pure, or drinks with higher rum contents, i would go for a smoother, often higher priced rum. But for the price it's at, its a good deal.
Its not too bad for drinking pure, but will be a bit better in cocktails due the rather heavy taste attack.

Starting off!

So yes, to make clear what the meaning of this blog will be, reviewing all kinds of liquors!
We will try to discribe as accurate as possible what the drinks will taste like, what the price/quality is (according to me) and what the best use is (pure, mixed, goes well with what, etc).

Since noone will be readin this anyway, we dont really need to hurry, and will test out with the simple, cheaper common stuff everyone will encounter once in a while.