Home Distiller

Has anyone tried doing a bit of a sticky of all the Comercial flavourings as to whats good and whats crap? Or How to improve store bought flavours?
Just a thought.

I'll start with a couple of flavours that I have tried...


Edwards Essances - Scrub Turkey (Burbon)--- 1st impression, not very good. Doesn't taste much like burbon at all. Very artificial tasting. Haven't aged it yet to see if it gets better with wood or anything. 1/10

Still Sprits - Butterscotch Schnaps --- Not too bad, very "lollypop" tasting. Once again artifical flavours come through in the drinking. 5/10

Thats all I have tried at the moment. Feel free to add any flavours that you have tried or would like to reccomend so that we all don't waste our money & hooch.
Cheers guys,
Nimrod

good idea
I'll post some too (later)

Still sprits "dark rum" the jamican one! is alright ive "drunk" a fair bit of that

i mainly use still spirits products.
and top shelf.
i love the mixing chips with the essences.
gets better results.
you get an instant flavour through the essence but combined with chips allows the oak flavour to come through.

Still Spirits Classic Whisky. Let it sit on oak chips for a month and if I think about it a couple ml of peat essence, Gives me something to drink while I'm waiting for the real stuff to age

Edwards Essences - Iceberg Rum - I had some of this last night, NOT A FAN. Being a pretty big rum drinker this was... in a word.. CRAP.
Very artificial tasting once again, tasted more like cough syrup than rum. 1/10

Not sure if I am doing something wrong but, Eduards Essences are not impressing me at all so far....

Only just starting but so far;

Still Spirits Irish Whiskey - very sweet coridally flavour, rubbishy but intresting does make a good coke and whiskey

Still Spirits London Dry - i dont drink straight gin but in mixed drinks (g&ts, cocktails etc) its close enough i havent noticed the difference

Still Spirits Tripple Sec - very nice, not quite contriuo quality but still a pleasent drink in its own

Still Spirits Russian Style Vodka - bland and oily, not much good about this one im afraid

Still Spirits Coconut Rum - Brilliant, definatly fresh coconut flavour despite being a chemical concoction.

Anyone care to guess what my local homebrew store stocks?

JimmyJazz

Have got to agree with the Still Spirits Triple Sec. Not 100% true to the flavour but a very drinkable substitute.

Tried a few more last night....

The Original Prestige - Peach Whisky Liqueur - Very nice ! Excelent flavours, smooth drinking. 8/10


Still Spirits Top Shelf - Melon Liqueur- Very nice too. Good flavours. Pretty close to Midori. Good one for the chicks. 8/10




Essencia - White Rum - Pretty good. Close to Bacardi. 8/10

Just tried the Still Spirits Melon Liquer and i have to agree a very nice drink, a little sweet for my tastes, but thats the style i know. A little lighter in colour than midori but the flavour is pretty close

Also, Samual Willards Premium Whiskey; definate whiskey flavour, smell and colour. Good value for an easy drinking whiskey. Not much in the way of any wood character though i did not age on any chips.

HIGH SELECT WHISKY

not bad, tastes like whisky, but not like the best whisky
though, not bad at all.
lick essences

Stil Spirits DARK RUM Very good..
Stil spirits Bourbon Tastes like the canadian Mc Nougten (spelled it wrong i know0 its ok..

The Original Prestige - Rum Spice Essence - 1st Imperssion... Pretty average. Doesn't taste like a rum, let alone a spiced rum. Strange sort of taste. 3/10.

Essencia - Irish Cream in conjunction with Cream Liqueur Base - better than Baileys 9/10

Top Shelf - Jamican Dark Rum, very good 8/10

Essencia - Blue Sapphire Gin - Excellent 9/10

Top Shelf - Macadamia Liqueur - Good Macadamia flavour but too sweet for me 5/10 (My wife loves it though 7/10)

The Whiskey Collection, currently have all three on oak but from my tasting to date looks promising (I hope there is still some left by the time I've finished aging it.

anyone tried the still spirits tequilla? love tequilla but cant see myself finding cheap agave anytime soon.

Would like to compare anyones thoughts on different store bought rum essences using a standard sugar wash.

I have tried:

Prestige Golden Reserve Rum - good for store bought and improves when left of oak for a few days
Stillspirits Aussie Gold Rum - good, easily less vanilla and ultrasweet taste compared to other essences - probably as close to bundy as I have found which suprised me.
Demerara Rum (can't recall the NZ company that makes this) - very vanilla and sweet flavour - OK but needs to sit on oak for a while.
Prestige Spiced Rum - not good at all. Better off making up your own mixture of spices.
Samuel Willards Qld Rum - I had very high hopes for this after hearing it was like bundy black - its ok but others are better. A bit sweet for me. Aftertaste is a bit like Stroh.

Have also tried:

Prestige Calvados - I love this stuff, really nice flavour of apples.
Prestige Dry Gin - not exactly Bombay Sapphire but Ok. Flavour profile not as broad as BS, perhaps too little berry flavour.
Tried all sorts of whiskey essences - haven't found one I really like yet, they all lack that true oak flavour IMHO
Prestige Grappa - good stuff
Prestige Cart Noir Cognac - very happy with this - compared it with some cognac I bought OS and it compared very well.

From what I have tried it seems to me that you get an occasional winner when buying spirits essences but it is easier to duplicate liqueurs so the chances of buying any brand in that department and getting a hit is high - banana, grand manier, etc all have been winners.

Whiskey seems very difficult!

What are others thoughts??

There is a thread where people have posted results on some essences....it doesn't just concentrate on rum though.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2788

Just on the the Aussie Gold essence, I have found completely different characteristics as to how it is blended.

What suits me best is a slightly higher neutral base 46%, with about 6ml/700ml. This type of mix seems to go best with coke for me.

I have tried lower % with higher % Aussie Gold, but that led to too much aftertaste basically not nice.