Booze Battles! Cointreau Vs. Hiram Walker
THE BOOZE BATTLES CONTINUE!
After our first Booze Battle between Blue Moon and Samuel Adams' Summer Ale's we got a message from the folks at Hiram Walker asking if we might want to pit their 60 Proof Triple Sec against the current Top Dog in the orange liqueur market: Cointreau. We are always happy to help out a company willing to but their booze where their mouth is, so we gladly accepted.
Let the Booze Battle Begin!
Cointreau is something you will see on EVERY professional bar in the world because it's been around forever (since 1849 to be exact) and so it's called for in a TON of classic cocktails. Hiram Walker on the other hand is like Rocky in a exhibition match with Apollo Creed: i.e. nobody expects them to last 1 round with the champ. But the folks at Hiram Walker want a shot at that Championship and believe me when I say they have an uphill battle (Everybody knows Cointreau is the best...right?) because more than a hundred years of common-booze-knowledge doesn't change over night.
Full Disclosure: Both samples were provided to us by Hiram Walker. While some people would say this could make us biased (Considering that they just gave us a $20 bottle of cointreau and a $15 bottle of their Triple Sec for free) I would say Hiram Walker has some ballsy MoFo's working for them. Cointreau is CLEARLY the big dog in this battle and the fact that they sent us enough of it to make as many drinks as we'd like to test against their Triple Sec says they are VERY confident about their product.
Our method for this Booze Battle was to create three of the most recognizable cocktails where Cointreau is usually an ingredient and see how a drink made with Hiram Walker stacks up against the original. In all cases we did our best to measure the drinks accurately and to make them in exactly the same way.
Drink #1. The Margarita
This is one of the three benchmarks we choose because it's one of the most popular cocktails and one that many people believe must include either Cointreau or Grand Marnier. (Check our review of Gran Gala to see how it stacks up to Grand Marnier in a similar cocktail battle)
Results: Almost no difference. I felt like the Cointreau was slightly less sweet allowing for more tequila to come through but I personally prefer the extra sweetness given by the Hiram Walker. All in all whether at your dinner party or eating out with friends, you simply are not going to notice a huge difference in your Margarita. At least not one that justifies the extra cash.
Drink #2 The Cosmo:
A new classic, this one popularized by the ladies from Sex And The City. This is another cocktail where people will SWEAR by more expensive brands like Cointreau and frown at any bartender who dares to use something less recognizable, such as Hiram Walker's Triple Sec.
Results: A Tie - I got a woman's opinion for this one. In a blind taste test my wife (not a big drinker) chose the Cosmo made with Cointreau and I chose the one made with Hiram Walker. I felt like the orange came through a bit more here in the Hiram Walker but not enough to say one definitely beats the other.
Drink #3 The Side-Car
This is one of MY personal favorites so if any drink on this list really matters to me it's this one. The Side-Car is a very simple concoction using equal parts Cognac, Cointreau, and Lemon juice. In my opinion it's a perfect cocktail that balances sweet with sour along with the depth of a nice Cognac.
Results: This is the only one where I can see a clear winner; and it's Hiram Walker. Booze-snobs feel free to cry foul if you like, but side by side I just liked the cocktail made with Hiram Walker better. That's because the orange flavor in the Hiram Walker just cut through this drink better than the Cointreau. It's like being able to hear the three separate notes that make up a chord. The Cointreau gets just a little bit lost in the background in this case and for that reason the Hiram Walker wins for this cocktail
THE WINNER...
Hiram Walker 60 Proof! Things may never change at your local Speakeasy but in OUR home bar we will be stocking Hiram Walker's Triple Sec, because WE prefer quality over status. That and we're poor bastards who can't afford $40 for a bottle of Cointreau. (Seriously, that's just fucking ridiculous.) On a more serious note, our stance is that nobody but your MOST seasoned cocktail-veteran is going to even be ABLE to tell a difference if you make a drink with the $15 Hiram Walker rather than the $40 Cointreau. So why spend the extra cash? YOU COULD BE BUYING MORE BOOZE!
SUMMER ALE DEATH MATCH!
For the first Boozebattle we have two of the most prominent Summer Ale's - Samuel Adam's Summer Ale and Honey Moon from the maker's of Blue Moon. Each is vying for your attention, your wallet, and a special place in your beer belly. Lets go to the Stats!
When you get to the point where the foam won't actually fit in the glass...keep going.
Sam Adams Summer Ale
Color: A warm reddish-brown hue
Foamability: Epic
Special Powers: Grains of Paradise, Lemon Zest
Honey Moon
Color: Bright Amber
Foamability: Meager
Special Powers: Bug Vomit
These days it seems that every one of the smaller breweries has a brew for every single season and/or holiday halmark has ever birthed from its accursed womb. This isn't such a bad thing as it means we get and endless stream of excuses to buy new booze. ("Sorry honey, I had to get the "Christ Is Risen" Easter Ale")
But when it comes down to it there are only a few legitimate seasonal ale's. One of those is the Summer Ale. With Summer Ale companies try to capture the feeling of backyard barbecue's, roasting marshmallows over an open fire, and trips to the hospital after Uncle Frank blows off what's left of his pinky finger with a cherry bomb. Truly it is a worthy endeavor.
But which Summer Ale to buy? Tis the eternal question, one that Boozeblogger aims to answer. We picked up two of the most popular: Sam Adams Summer Ale and Honey Moon from the good folks who brought you Blue Moon and decided to...decide...once and for all which brew you should do.
Blue Moon's Honey Moon
I have to be honest, my first impression on this one was "they added honey" but, in my opinion, Blue Moon is a fairly tight product over all with not much room for improvement (though I know MANY who would argue that point.) If Blue Moon has a target market it's the recently awakened beer drinker who has seen the light and no longer wants to drink BUD, but at the same time doesn't know where to start with all the micro brews and imports. For you booze nerds out there I think of Blue Moon as the Maker's Mark of beer. MM is a whiskey which no one will denigrate but at the same time most don't want to stake their booze-claim on Maker's Mark. Why? Because everyone had heard of it. I think Blue Moon knows it's place in the beer world (the one you drink with an orange) and is comfortable in it. For that reason I'm not surprised that this ale is not shooting for the stars but rather trying to give it's customer base something new to try.
Sam Adams' Summer Ale
This one has been out quite some time actually so if you're a veteran I've got nothing new to tell you. On the other hand if you're like me and only now getting accustomed to drinking beer for the pleasure of it then this is a fairly exciting product. The pitch is something like this "Sam Adams found a long lost grain...of paradise...and that grain, with a twist of lemon, makes this beer totally kick-ass." (I'm sure I just demolished about a million dollars worth of carefully written marketing copy but that's really the half of it) "SASA", as I call it, is actually pretty different from the other brews Sam Adams puts out. You'll definitely taste a difference with those Grains of Paradise and the lemon zest comes through in a big way that I think really does say, "Summer."
So which of these do you want at your barbecue? That's a tough question. I really like something a bit sweeter and Honey Moon wins in that category. At the same time I really enjoy the depth of those little extras "SASA" is rocking, even if it is a little bitter for my taste. What to do....what to do....I know!
Yep, I went there. I mixed the brews. What can I say? I'm a rule breaker. I'm just a little bit edgy. Now you all think I'm crazy but just wait till you taste......this shit. Uhg, this mixture blows pretty hard and not in the good way. I just wanted a bit more sweetness to go with the lemony spice of the Sam Adams. Ok, fine, maybe I shouldn't have crossed that sacred boundary, but if Christopher Columbus hadn't gotten drunk enough to sail a ship off the edge of the world we'd all have teeth like the British. You just think about THAT SHIT! Goddamn, it's 5 am...time to wrap this bitch up.
WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION OF THE FIRST EVER SUMMER ALE BOOZE BATTLE.....
BOOZE BATTLES!
This is a new feature on Boozeblogger where YOU can get involved and tell us what you want to see!
Here's the idea: You send us an email, tweet, letter, singing-telegram, whatever....and let us know what two (or more) booze YOU want to see pitted against one another in MORTAL BOOZE COMBAT. Alright, it might not result in any booze-death but we will try to make at least somewhat exciting. Most of the time the battles will be between the same variety (i.e. rum vs. rum) but if you can make a compelling case for why we should pit one category against another we'd be glad to hear it.
At first we're going to have to stick to common things, mostly the stuff that we've already reviewed and have on hand. If it's not too expensive we'll might even go out and buy it JUST TO MAKE YOU HAPPY! But if you, the readers, really like this segment then we'll try to expand it and bring out more awesome battles of better known pricey booze.
IF YOU ARE A BOOZE REP...or you have booze you want to promote for some reason, or way too much time and money on your hands: Feel free to get in touch with us expressly for the purpose of getting a feature on You vs. Your Competitors. If you want to send us your booze and we have the competing booze we'll be happy to use it. If not you'll need to get us some of that too (A little 50ml bottle of the competing booze will be fine. (Check the reviews for what we've probably got on hand and stay tuned because the list keeps growing.) Note: Just because you send us booze does not mean that you will win or that we won't make fun of you.
HOW THE BATTLE WORKS: We reserve the right to contrast and compare the two booze any way we like. Nobody is 100% objective and ultimately the result is going to be based on our own personal tastes so don't come crying to us if your favorite booze doesn't win the Boozebattle. At the same time we will most likely start with a basic blind taste test and move on from there into much deeper and more meaningful and/or ridiculous reasons why one booze is better than another.
Here's how to get in touch with us.
Email: boozeblogger@gmail.com
Send us a Direct Message: Twitter.com/boozeblogger
