At last count I have tasted over 3,000 wines, 800 beers and 500 different spirits this year. I do this because tasting is the only way to determine for myself if I can ask our staff to stand behind a product like I would. The result is a lot of wine and beer hits our shelves throughout the year that you won’t find anywhere else. The other effect is that it pushes some the of the ‘leading’ brands off our shelves.

Then Christmas hits, and for some reason we are moved by the lure of traditional giants that can sell huge quantities each Christmas. I speak of brands like Bailey’s, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum, Crown Royal… you get the picture.

This week I  had some unsettling and remarkable conversations with the promoters of these brands. I heard myself saying sure I can give you space in the flyer and on the floor, but it just didn’t sit right.

I went back and sat down with some close friends and did a tasting of these products against competitive brands that are often overshadowed by these behemoths. In every case we preferred the alternatives to the big brands, yet I still needed some reassurance. If we are going to promote the alternatives over the ‘leading’ brands we need to be sure that the customer will appreciate our decision to. I issued a few twitter polls and the couple of hundred respondents inspired me to move forward and promote the brands we prefer vs. the traditional customer favourite.

Now I did receive a lot of tweets stating personal preferences for items that although significantly better, they were not in the same price range so here is what we decided to go with and the prices for each product in relation to the ‘leading’ brand.

Vodka

Leading Brand: Smirnoff Vodka Red Label $23.99

Contenders: Banff Ice Vodka ($21.99), Russian Standard ($24.99), Polar Ice ($23.99), Absolut ($24.99), Stolichnya ($24.99)

For overall price and quality we chose the Banff Ice Vodka 750ml. As smooth if not smoother than Smirnoff, and more viscosity when frozen.

In terms of quality within range of the Smirnoff price we found the Russian Standard Vodka totally kicked butt. Quadruple distilling vs triple for Smirnoff, made Russian Standard ridiculously smooth for the price. A hint of citrus and minerals in the flavour made it really tasty frozen, but its body made it great for cocktails.

Irish Cream Liqueur

Leading Brand: Bailey’s Irish Cream $25.99

Contenders: Feeney’s Irish Cream ($22.99- on sale for Dec. ), Carolan’s Irish Cream ($24.99), O’Darby’s Irish Cream ($23.99)

Like the Vodka’s we did a blind tasting of each of these products. We were looking for a few things- overall taste, price, weight, balance & sweetness… plus which one would be best in a coffee or tea on Christmas morning. Setting up the Christmas tree and fire place was the hardest part in getting this tasting ready.

I have to say the results were really surprising as the winner turned out to be a brand that has been around for years and has been flying under the radar.

On all accounts the product preferred was the Feeney’s Irish Cream. Delightful balance in terms of weight and richness, and it wasn’t too sweet. When put in a coffee it was every bit as good as Bailey’s but got higher points for the significant price difference.

The product that came in second was Carolan’s. The only knock on the Carolan’s as it is very competitively priced, was that we found it a little sweet.

Tied was Bailey’s and O’Darbys. Remarkably they seemed identical to each other.

Spiced Rum

Leading Brand: Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum $25.99 (On-Sale for December; regular $26.99)

Contender: Sailor Jerry’s Spiced Rum ($27.99)

The vast majority of the ’spices’ that flavour these rums (99%) is Vanilla. For the tasting panel we were looking for a balance between the ’spice’ and the flavours of the rum. We all have a great appreciation of the toffee, caramel and ‘brown’ sugar nuances in quality rum. In order to get a full appreciation of the product not only did we taste them in a blind tasting,  we also tasted them on their own, over ice with a squeeze of lime and in Egg Nogg.

In all instances Sailor Jerry’s beat out Captain Morgan’s.  We all agreed that the quality difference was significant enough to pay the extra couple of bucks.

Canadian Whisky (Rye)

The last round of products that we tasted was Canadian Whisky or Rye. For whisky lovers around the world Canadian Whisky is highly sought after. As Jim Murray of the ‘Whisky Bible’ says, “only Canadians don’t appreciate Canadian Whisky.” I would suggest that this is why one of his most favoured Whisky’s each year is a Canadian Whisky and only $24.

 Leading Brand: Crown Royal 750ml ($26.99)

Contenders: Canadian Club ($21.99), Wiser’s Deluxe ($26.99), Alberta Premium ($23.99)

Like all the others we tasted these blind. One of the key characteristics that defines Canadian Whisky is the renowned smoothness and relatively light body that a Canadian Whisky has in comparison to a Scotch or Bourbon. Canadian Whisky’s are aged longer than Bourbon’s and contain more Rye malt than Scotch, both of which lead to its unique flavour, body and smoothness.

Armed with this knowledge we pushed forward into the task at hand. Not only did we taste each one on its own, but also over ice, and with a mixer of Coke and a mixer of Ginger Ale.

When taking into consideration overall quality, diversity and, of course, price we all agreed that Canadian Club out performed the rest. Having said that it was a tough choice between the Canadian Club and Alberta Premium, Canadian Club got the nod due to price.

Both Crown Royal and Wiser’s are well made but didn’t give the Wow we were looking for from a product $3-$5 more than its competitor’s.

The one caveat that I will leave you with is that everyone’s palate is unique and I strongly urge you to not only explore the variety that is out there but also be true to your own palate. Don’t be swayed by me or the advertising that is out there. Be true to yourself.

Cheers

Rod Phillips- Buyer, Liquor Plus