A while ago a couple of our forum members stochasticjack and martialstax decided to personally mix and taste all 65 or so cocktails in the IBA.  It is an admirable task to say the least.  After a number of loquacious reviews were posted, our interest was peaked.  We wanted in on all the fun they were having, so we decided to mix up a few cocktails ourselves and give everybody our completely unprofessional opinions. 

Harvey Wallbanger:  Of all the drinks we tried this was by far the easiest to mix up.  That is, of course, if you actually have Galliano in the house, and we suggest that you keep it on hand at all times.  We thought the Harvey Wallbanger had some potential to be a winner when we were mixing it up because we love Galliano and screwdrivers are always efficient as getting people toasty.  If you combine the two together, you have a Harvey Wallbanger!  Unfortunately, the first sip was disappointing.  The citrus from the OJ canceled out the delicious sweet anise flavors of the Galliano and the Galliano seemed to cancel out the refreshing orange flavor.  It was a mosh pit of flavors with each one knocking the other off your pallet.  It is kind of a classier version of the standard screwdriver and we even tried drinking it with our pinkies out, but that did not improve the flavor.  You might call us alcoholics, but we really think the Harvey Wallbanger would make a great breakfast drink, consider it a more potent Mimosa if you will. 

Old Fashioned:  If you read the Sazerac review, you already know we love this drink.  Our only gripe it that it is a bit of a chore to make.  The muddling of the sugar with the water and bitters it torture, partly because you want your Old Fashioned and you want it now.  Additionally, the aroma of the bitters is released by the water and the scent is truly tantalizing.  This time around we used Jim Beam Rye instead of the Sazerac and we discovered that this is one of those drinks where the alcohol used plays a huge part in the final product.  The more bold and spicy the whiskey is, the better the Old Fashioned will taste.  So while it was still damn tasty with the Beam Rye, it was even better with the Sazerac.  We see this as a definite after dinner drink because it is just so smooth and relaxing.  The aftertaste was reminiscent of maple syrup rice cakes, but in a good way, not a health junky way.  If you mix it right, the flavors of the whiskey will carry through, but the bite will be left in the bottle.  An Old Fashioned would be a good way to introduce non-whiskey drinkers to the wonderful world of whiskeys.

Bronx Cocktail:  I will admit, I have never visited the Bronx.  However, I have always imagined it to be a dirty filthy place.  The Bronx Cocktail looks like a dirty filthy drink.  Basically it looks like the streets of the Bronx were washed into your glass and to top it off, it smells like Mardi Gras but without the boobies.  Unfortunately, the taste of this drink did nothing to improve our opinion about it.  It had hints of cheap chardonnay with overtones of burnt teriyaki, but wait, there is more to this drink.  Not one, not two, but three separate distinct aftertastes that smack you in the mouth one after the other like filthy uninvited guests.  With all that said, it is not an absolutely repulsive drink.  However, we will not be ordering them, we will not be making them and we will not be drinking them unless Megan Fox is buying them for us.

Caipirinha:  Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of the ingredients of this drink.  It was definitely the most involved cocktail to mix up.  This drink required the annoying muddling of the Old Fashioned but also needed an entire lime sliced up and juiced into the glass.  It is, however, worth all of the effort.  One sip and you feel as if you are carried away to a hammock in the tropics that you are sharing with a smoking hot Brazilian who cannot even speak your language.  If you do not like lime, obviously this is not the drink for you.  It you do though, the Caipirinha is the about closest thing you can get to tropical paradise in a glass.  Speaking of glass, we discovered that the Cachaca we used (PITU) had a detrimental effect on all glass containers it contacted.  One glass inexplicably shattered during the mixing of the drink, and the bottom of the bottle itself mysteriously detached sending nearly 1 liter of sugarcane rum cascading over the counter, cabinets and floor.  Mostly I was upset that I needed to buy more PITU before I could have another Caipirinha.

So we ended up with two new favorites, one sunny Sunday morning drink, and one complete udder waist of alcohol.  Not too shabby for an afternoon’s worth of research.  However, taste is subjective and we suggest you get your cocktail shaker out, get to work mixing, and let us know what you think about these drinks.

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     There is a new player in the game of tequila production, and he goes by Trago.  Although Trago tequilas are among the newest entries in the ultra-premium tequila market, all of Trago (pronounced trah-go, meaning “sip” in Spanish) tequila is produced and distilled at Los Alambiques by Felipe Camarena, who is the son of the famous Don Felipe, who some consider the “Father of Tequila.”  The pure blue agave used in the production of their tequila is grown in the high-altitude region of Arandas, Jalisco, Mexico.  The high-altitude and superior soil found there allow for Trago tequilas to accumulate more sugars for a richer taste.  All of their tequila offerings also go through a double distillation process using both stainless steel and copper to allow the tequilas to retain more of their natural acidic properties.

     That’s all fine and dandy, but how do these “ultra-premium” tequilas taste?   Enter BoozeBasher with the answer.  The folks at Trago were kind enough to send us samples of each, and even though there wasn’t enough tequila in the samples to follow our reviewing process to produce full reviews, we got more than enough to share some tasting notes:

     After cracking open the care package from Trago, we decided to taste the products in order of price point.  With a 750ml bottle retailing for $55, the Trago Silver is the cheapest and therefore got the nod as the first tequila to be tasted.  Trago Silver is crystal-clear, actually it is so clear you might mistake it for vodka.  Its aroma is slightly peppery with deep notes of mineral, but none of the scents are overly-harsh or obtrusive.  The Trago Silver was smooth and warming as it went down.  The warming sensation was very pleasant and less harsh than you might expect from a tequila.  The taste was slightly sweet, almost buttery-sweet.  The finish is rather sharp and then dry at the same time.  The aftertaste is very light and gives you a hint of that wonderful earthy tequila taste.  It won a double gold medal at the 2007 San Fransisco World Spirits Competition in the category of “Tequila Silver,” beating out the Patron Platinum that retails for four times that of the Trago Silver.  It even compares favorably with decent reposados such as Cabo Wabo’s offering. 

      Coming in at $65 for a 750ml bottle, we tried the Trago Reposado next.  The Trago Reposado is darker than the Silver and has a gray tint with a yellowish hue.  It has a spicy, buttery smell, and you can even make out the aroma of the American oak barrel used in its aging.  The Reposado is smooth, extremely smooth going down.  There is absolutely no bite, which makes it good for tequila drinkers and non-tequila drinkers alike.  It warms the esophagus on the way down, but that warming sensation is not as strong as the Silver.  The taste is slightly woody and spicy.  It has a sweet and more complex, almost honey-like taste that is much more pleasant than any other reposado tequila we have tasted.  The finish is very dry and clean and does not linger too much on the tongue.  The experience is very refined, yet it retains a sense of the unruly nature that you would expect from tequila.  This is truly magnificent tequila that needs to be tasted by everyone, at least once.

    The final Trago to be sampled was the Añejo, which will run you a substantial $75 for a 750ml bottle.  Trago Añejo is unique in that it is aged 18 months in used American oak bourbon barrels.  The Añejo has a darker appearance than the other two, but it is substantially lighter than a traditional añejo tequila.  It’s a rich gold in color with superb clarity.  The aroma of Añejo is very intricate and simply too complicated to adequately describe.  It’s a very complex bouquet with a definite spiciness.  With the spiciness also comes a sugary, oaky bourbon scent.  All of the character and spicy aroma seem to combine in subsequent sniffs to give off a scent that actually reminds us of the cheap pink bubblegum from childhood.  It’s rather strange, but not in a negative way.  The taste of Añejo is bold and spicy yet very smooth.  Where you might expect a tequila burn, this stuff gives you a cinnamon-like tingle in your throat and then warms the esophagus as it goes down.  It has a truly amazing taste that is again nearly indescribable.  The finish is very clean and dry, but the spiciness lingers as it would with a fine bourbon.  We found the aftertaste to be fantastic, but it might be a little too bold for tequila drinkers who do not also enjoy bourbon.  We were blown away by the smoothness and complexity of this spirit.  It seems they took all the good qualities from tequila and added the woody complexities of a good bourbon.  The Añejo should be consumed neat because even ice might disturb the truly incredible flavor.  This is one of the best-tasting liquors any of us have ever consumed.  I was informed that it took home the double gold medal this year (2008) at the San Fransisco World Spirits Competition in the “Tequila Añejo” category, and I can certainly understand why.  Trago Añejo is a unique sipping experience, one that every drinker deserves to enjoy.

     All in all, the three tequilas from Trago are very impressive and can go toe-to-toe with any other tequila you will find in your local liquor store.  We should be able to do a complete review of the Trago Silver sometime next month, but we’ll have to wait awhile to get our hands on the others.  I look forward to picking up a few bottles as soon as Trago products are widely available, and I would advise you do the same! 

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     After receiving numerous requests in our forum for some sort of BoozeBasher blind taste testing of liquor, we decided to make a few purchases and gather the vodka bottles we had around our homes for a vodka tasting.  It worked out pretty nicely.  We ended up with two top-shelf (Cîroc & Grey Goose), three middle-shelf (Smirnoff Red, Tanqueray Sterling, & Stolichnaya), and two bottom-shelf (Monoplowa & Burnett’s) offerings.  I know we haven’t reviewed many of them yet, but reviews are on the way for all of them.  

     We poured two shots of each vodka into different numbered glasses and shuffled them all.  The numbers were attached face-down, and a master list was hidden until after the test.  All four of us were tasked with tasting all seven vodkas and ranking them in ascending order, with one being the best-tasting vodka and seven being the worst-tasting vodka.  We did not discuss or share anything with each other until after we had all written down our results.  We were a little surpised by the results…

    The Stolichnaya was a bit of a disappointment. We have always thought pretty highly of Stoli, but it consistently received a low ranking. The biggest surprise to us though was the Smirnoff Red.  I remember hearing years ago that it won several big blind taste tests alongside “premium” vodka, but I never put much thought into it.  Smirnoff was the first alcohol I ever consumed.  I moved on from it, and for some reason, I’ve always had a bit of a misconception that it is a bad vodka.  What’s funny is that nearly everyone else in the tasting claimed to not like Smirnoff as well.  It was actually quite smooth and had decent flavor for a room temperature vodka.  We were almost embarassed by voting this spirit so high, but there really must be something to it if we all voted it high on our lists.  I challenge our readers to try a similar experiment and share the results on our forum. 

     The blind tasting was a fun experience, but in future blind tastings, we plan on testing no more than four of five spirits.  After tasting so many spirits several times, your taste buds really lose their sharpness.  We also found that two shots was a little too much to pour, but Wade and I had no problem consuming the leftovers.  It’s funny how preceptions can often be wrong. I hope our results are helpful in some way. 

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