Words On Wednesday

It's been a minute since I bought a bottle of gin, but when I saw that Costco carried a new Kirkland Signature branded gin, I had to try it. Name: London Dry Gin Source: Kirkland Signature Style: Gin ABV: 44% Price: $17.99 Volume: 1.75L Price per oz: $0.30 In the early days after I could legally buy alcohol, I bought a lot of things that were new to me. I was raised in a teetotaling household, so I didn't get to try a lot of alcohol through my youth. Some things stuck, but others (like Southern Comfort ) were quickly abandoned. When I discovered that I liked Long Island Iced Tea, I decided to pick up the constituent ingredients (including gin) and make one at home. It would be cheaper per drink than buying them at a bar. I figured out the hard way that Long Islands are pretty tough to make well, so I bounced off that idea after the first one. I bought that bottle of Beefeater on May 24, 2014. That one handle of gin stuck with me for several years. By November 2016, it a...

After discovering that Costco's Tequila Reposado was almost identical in price per volume to their Tequila Blanco , I had to compare the two. Name: Tequila Reposado Source: Kirkland Signature Style: Tequila ABV: 40% Price: $14.49 Volume: 1L Price per oz: $0.43 I uncorked the new bottle and poured a shot of each side by side. Fortunately, I had a single shot left from the Blanco for the comparison. This would equip me with the information to decide if I would buy another bottle of Blanco or just start keeping Reposado on hand. Most obviously, the color of the Reposado was pretty visibly darker. Not quite bourbon or black rum dark, but something like a watered down cola. The Blanco is indistinguishable from water at a glance. Although I am frequently advised against it, I always have to smell a new alcohol before I drink it. The Reposado didn't really have much of a smell. I'm not sure if it's because of less volatile esters or if something about the process remov...

I'm not big on tequila, but I do like to have some on hand for the occasional margarita or for my cousin who would never be caught dead without a bottle. Hence, cheap tequila from Costco is obviously the perfect solution. Name: Tequila Blanco Source: Kirkland Signature Style: Tequila ABV: 40% Price: $25.99 Volume: 1.75 Price per oz: $0.44 I've tried to do a better job about keeping a wide variety of distilled spirits on hand recently. I'd personally be set with just bourbon and spiced rum the vast majority of the time, but obviously not everyone likes those specific styles. Add a little tequila, some vodka, and a few other styles, and I have a pretty decently stocked bar that could appeal to most guests. The mango tequila was good, but it isn't exactly made for mixing. Unless you're making a mango margarita, it's a very particular flavor profile that isn't going to go with everything. Plus, it was a good enough spirit to stand up on its own. Most of the bot...

I’ve recently started experimenting with vodka infused with different types of peppers. The flavors have been all over the place, but it’s a really interesting way to spice up (pun intended) a boring spirit. Spicy drinks are very divisive. My first spicy beer was at an Independence Day party many moons ago. I didn’t hate it, but I also didn’t know if I liked it, either. Over the years, I tried a few other spicy beers, as well as the novel idea of putting hot sauce in a regular beer, and I’ve grown to like them occasionally. I’m not drinking spicy beer all the time, but I’ll drink one every now and then just for something different. After trying a few spicy beers, it occurred to me that I could infuse a distilled spirit with spicy flavor on my own. I had made Jolly Rancher vodka before, how different could spicy vodka be? I sliced up a jalapeno, threw it in a pint mason jar, and filled it up with Kirkland Signature American vodka . I let the jar sit for a few days undisturbed. I didn’t ...

Costco recently discontinued their “Original Spiced Rum” for a few months and brought it back as the simply named “Kirkland Signature Spiced Rum.” Is it the same thing in a different bottle? I had to find out. Name: Kirkland Signature Spiced Rum Source: Kirkland Signature Style: Spiced Rum ABV: 40% Price: $16.99 Volume: 1.75L Price per oz: $0.29 I used to love Costco’s spiced rum . I always kept a bottle on hand. It was super cheap and really good, with a high enough alcohol content to really pack a punch when you wanted to make a strong drink. And one of the really nice things was its availability. This isn’t one of those limited releases that you have to keep an eye out for before it gets bought up, or wait until something more expensive catches a rare sale. Every time I walked into the Costco liquor store, they had a full pallet of it, and the price was always the same. This is the type of consistency and dependability that I live for. At least, it was. I went for my regular Costco ...

I am a firm believer in having a bottle of “the good stuff” for special occasions. Be it a wedding, a new job, a funeral, or any other noteworthy moment, I like to have a particular spirit to commemorate the circumstance. Normally, this demands a premium price. Somehow, this Costco branded bourbon manages to bring the “good stuff” quality at what I would call a steal of a price. Name: Kirkland Signature Bottled-In-Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Source: Barton 1792 Distillery Style: Bourbon ABV: 50% Price: $24.99 Volume: 1 Liter Price per oz: $0.74 This one almost slipped by me. I was looking for what to write about for the next Thirsty Thursday Eve, and I couldn’t find anything interesting. I almost skipped over this bottle because I thought I had already written about it. Fortunately, I checked and noticed the glaring omission. You all really need to hear about this one. As bourbons go, this is one of the better ones that I’ve had. I can’t definitively say that it’s the best, ...

These canned cocktails are EVERYWHERE now, but are they any good? In my experience, yes, but not quite as good as the real thing. They are undeniably drinkable. They are even close to the flavor of the drink they're trying to imitate. I spoke a while back of the Bud Light Mixx Tail, and these are even closer. With the Mixx Tail, you can see what they were trying to get at. Most of the canned cocktails I've had, I'd say it's very clear what the drink is supposed to be and it's pretty close. I worried at first that most of them would taste like a very synthetic form of the intended cocktail. In at least most of the versions I've tried, that isn't the case. My first exposure was the Jack Daniel's Whiskey & Cola. I feared it would taste like it was trying to be a Jack and Coke, but no, it genuinely tasted like a pretty strong pour of Jack and Coke. Now, mind you, we have to look at the companies who make these drinks. Mixx Tail was made by Budweiser, a b...

Hard Seltzer is the hot thing lately, and Costco finally got in on the game. Say hello to Kirkland Signature Hard Seltzer Name: Hard Seltzer Source: Kirkland Signature (Costco) Style: Seltzer ABV: 5.0% Price: $19.99 per 24 pack Volume: 12 oz Price per oz: $0.83 per can Everybody has tried a hard seltzer at this point, and every company that makes alcohol is selling their own version. Truly was the first one that I can recall. Soon after, we started seeing hard seltzer from White Claw . Then, household names like Budweizer and Jose Cuervo started making hard seltzer. It’s everywhere. It only makes sense that Costco would eventually throw their lot in. At my local warehouse, you can get a 24 pack for $19.99 plus tax. The distribution is 6 cans of each flavor: Mango, Grapefruit, Black Cherry, and Lime. Let me just point out how much I love the even distribution. I hate it when companies do more of one flavor than others. Those flavors seem to be pretty standard for hard seltzers, especial...

I love Costco and I like beer. As such, it would logically follow that a cheap light beer under the Kirkland label would be right up my alley. And for a time, it was. Unfortunately, Costco has since discontinued their light beer. Source:  http://dan4allseasons.blogspot.com/2015/03/bottomshelf-beer-reviews-light-beer.html Recently, I was perusing Costco for my usual grocery run when I noticed that they had a new craft beer pack in stock. I’ve had good experience with Kirkland Signature branded beers in the past, and the craft beer packs are typically really cheap for decent beer. As such, I decided to investigate a bit, to see if maybe I would want to pick up a case. During my research, I searched for a comprehensive list of all the craft beers that Costco had yet produced. The packs seemed to occasionally have repeat styles, so I wondered if maybe there had been a few that I missed along the way. My favorite was certainly the double bock, but I hadn’t seen it since perhaps...

To me, Scotch has a sort of classy aura that many other spirits lack. I’m not going to claim to be a connoisseur, as I have tried very few variants of Scotch, but Costco’s Kirkland Signature Blended Scotch Whisky is a solid distilled spirit at a reasonable price. It certainly doesn’t compete with the higher end Scotch offerings available from Costco or other liquor stores, but it holds its own, and I would say it is undeniably drinkable. Basically any Scotch, or “Scotch whisky” if we’re being proper, is known to have flavors of smoke and peat. Honestly, I didn’t know what peat was before looking it up, and I still don’t know what it smells or tastes like, but I do recognize some common properties across the Scotch brands that I have tried. The smoke flavor is undeniable, and seems to be the biggest hurdle to those trying Scotch for the first time. Coming from the sweet molasses flavor of rum or the mostly inert flavor of vodka, Scotch has a bold and strong flavor profile that can ...

Feeling a little adventurous during my most recent Costco liquor run, I decided to branch out from my standard Spiced Rum  and try their Kirkland Signature vodka. I had noticed the American Vodka before (they also have a French Vodka), and noted that it seemed to be the cheapest item by volume in the store. Even cheaper than the rum that I’m so familiar with. I considered picking up a bottle numerous times before, since it only costs $13 for a handle. Still, every time, I decided against it in favor of something else. Anyone who knows my tastes in alcohol understands that I just don’t do vodka. I’ve tried a few brands here and there, and none of them have done much for me. One of the first alcoholic beverages I ever purchased was a bottle of Svedka , and let me tell you, it was awful. Just north of Southern Comfort, and I’d rather drink Nyquil straight than anything with SoCo in it. I hung onto the bottle of Svedka for a while, out of the inability to waste it, and final...