Review: Original Cinn
When you're a blogger sometimes you look around the room at all the half-empty bottles; at the dirty glasses of old scotch...and you wonder if anyone is listening. You look at your numbers day in and day out and ask yourself: "what's the point? WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE?"
Then you recieve a package like this:
This is not mine. I tore mine apart before I could take a picture. Please go to Drink of the Week and look at their website, they took this picture, because they have more patience than I do.
...and you realize that what you do MATTERS! Because some low-level unpaid intern had to take a hot glue gun and stick fake ivy all over those bottles JUST FOR ME! Some poor bastard has blisters all over his hands now for my sake. Because of him, I know that I matter. I'M A REAL BLOGGER NOW!
As stupid as all that sounds I have to admit that when you're new to the blogging-game the first few times you get a bottle of something to review in the mail that you have the distinct urge to preform sexual favors on the PR firm that sent it. Luckily that feeling fades after the first few packages and you settle into a nice sense of pride, snobbery and cynicism. On the foundation of those virtues you can build a moderate objectivity that will guide you into the joys of burning bridges by means of bashing brands that once brought you joy. To that end...
This is DeKyper's Hot Damn Burst. What you may or may not know about me, is that I am what's known colloquially as a "Cheap Bastard." It's something I'm quite proud of actually. But from time to time it does get me into trouble. Hence my discovery of the 2nd worst thing ever to pass my lips: Hot Damn. I don't really have a problem with DeKyper's brands in general but this bottle is the epitome of how NOT to make a cinnamon flavored booze. Imagine for a moment if you chewed 5 packs of Big Red and spit each piece into a big ol' mason jar. Then imagine you fill that jar with cheap vodka and a pound of sugar. Congratulations! You have just made your very own homemade Hot Damn.
Thankfully, Original Cinn went with a more natural infusion of Cinnamon that induces neither vomiting nor buyers remorse. I'm, thankfully, past the stage of wanting to blow all the people that supply me with liquor to write about so I can be totally honest with you: This is the kind of bottle you're probably going to buy once a year. It's not something you'll use all that often and when you do it will be mostly for dessert cocktails. That's not a bad thing. It definitely has a place on your bar and what it does it does VERY well. What I think it does best is replace that bottle with the gold flakes that's slowly giving you heavy metal poisoning - and for about $15 less too.
Our Rating - 5 out of 5
(Limited, yes. But I think this is the best that cinnamon liqueur gets)
Price: $11
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!