Hendricks vs Beefeater vs Aviation Gin

Does Ryan Reynolds really make the best gin on planet earth? Let’s find out today on Tasting. Welcome to the tasting room.

show transcripts

And I’m Riley.

And today we’re going to talk about Gin because it’s these two favorite liquor.

Yeah.

Right, no?

Yeah!

Yeah.

All right, and we have AJ, his lovely fiance, ELisha and actually when this video comes up, they’re getting married tomorrow.

That’s right. I think who did that?

Good timing.

So you guys are getting married and you guys both love Jenny, correct?

Yes.

So what I’m doing is I’m making them a cocktail, Gin based for them. So what we’re gonna do today is make that same cocktail each the same way, except for use three different spirits. And they’re going to pick which one they liked without knowing which gin and where you use that gin for your cocktail. So it’s like a game plan.

Perfect.

Perfect, awesome. So why do you guys like Gin?

Uh it just seems like I can drink it anytime like any season.

Right.

You know what I mean? Like

Yeah.

It’s really like a floral and like, you can really mess it up.

I agree Like you can really mess up. And I think the real big reason why I like it is because when you do it right, it’s such a refreshing and like fulfilling dreams.

Yeah

That’s really good.

I agree with that.

I’m all about the citrus and I just feel like the Gin really pairs with citrus really well.

yeah, I definitely, I mean, with your Juniper and your Coriander and your orange zest and so that definitely pairs with citrus.

Yeah. Again we have Oliver, roaming around today, so

Doing his thing.

Yup

So I think bartending for many years I think a lot of people have this misconception of Gin is bad, you know, they drank it incorrectly growing up. A lot of Tanqueray and sprites or shots of Tanqueray Bombay’s yeah

Straight, straight Gin

Yeah. And that’s, you know, I don’t know anyone that just drinks Gin straight.

I feel like if you, if you’re going to say, Oh, just, just give me Gin on the rocks. It’s like, who are you trying to be man? You know what I mean? I feel like you’re putting up a front so

How big is your truck?

How other ways are you compensating? Yeah, but yeah, like I think, like I said, I think it’s a great drink mix wise. I don’t know if I could, if I would ever like seek out to drink it straight out,

like a Martini, you know, I mean, when I worked at Winifreds, there would be a couple people get Beefeater Martinis and maybe super, slightly dirty, but that’s it I’m just so confused.

I be apt to try it

Gotta that’s great.

I mean once. I’d do anything once.

With exception.

One of my only stories with Jan I think is on a trip. It was like a business trip. And I ended up sitting right next to, during a dinner.

Okay.

I sat right next to our like kind of like our, our chief, not our CEO, but like, it’s like our chief, one of our chief officers. And he, he ended up ordering a, it was like a Hendrix, like dirty martini, double olive, whatever. And, and I said, I’ll take one too. And like when we drank them and like, I, I enjoyed it, but I, I mean.

How many drinks was I into the evening.

But I did. I drank it and Hey, man, it wasn’t bad.

Yeah.

So I would definitely say out of all the liquors, I think Gin has the biggest spread of flavor profiles. I think the worst and the best Gin has that biggest,

biggest gap.

Than, any other one, in my opinion, I think that Vodka plateaus at a certain point I think Gin keeps elevating for how good it can. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, when I was reading the Drunken Botanist, there was something, there was something like 20 botanicals that can be used to make Gin. So any combination there, and I don’t like math.

Right

There are a lot of combinations.

I think most Gins use a Minimum four to five. Most of them, I think use seven to ten. If I remember correctly from the range seventy five, so but what we’re going to do first is we have each Gin poured out in these lovely mugshot glasses. So we’re going to try each of them, know what we’re tasting, give a little feedback, and then we’re going to, I’m going to make the same cocktail, but not tell you which Gin is in which cocktail. And you’re going to tell me which cocktail you like, and that’s the Gin I’m going to spend my hard earned money on. Please don’t be injured. So Beefeater’s going to be the cheapest. And I mean, I don’t even remember how much this cost, because it’s been like six months I bought as well, but it’s $19.25 I’m pretty sure it’s around $20, $22. If I remember right. This I just bought today. This is about $28 27. And this is about the same price, that $30. So the reason I never know the prices is because I work at a brew club. I have to know the prices, what we get at a cost. Then I go to Illinois to buy personal costs. And then when I’m too lazy, I don’t go to Illinois. I go to HyVee to buy this and not this kind of car. So my prices are always little random throghout, usually three to five bucks.

Sure.

So let’s get started. All right. Let’s we’re gonna nope, we’re gonna start with the Beefeater. So I’m not pouring four shots, everything that just allow liquor and we can call it deals at the shot.

So yeah. Couples are going to share, I have John Dillinger.

Perfect.

Cheers

Cheers

I hope not

We just talked about. not doing this straight man.

It’s all right if your thirsty. You don’t need to do three consecutive shots.

That’s nice.

That’s very floral.

It’s got very good floral.

It’s going to be accurate for all Juniper.

It’s not as like Junipery. I feel like it’s very smooth Very easy on the palate. Very light.

Burn Doesn’t hit until a bit later.

It’s definitely on the back end. You get the burn for sure.

It does.

I feel it right here.

I definitely think I should have read up on this. The differences like this is going to be your dry London Gin, which is going to be your most popular type of Gin out there. Style This, if you don’t know, is a Scottish student, Hendricks, is a Scottish Gin. So it’s going to have probably different notes. Scott, Scotch is going to have, right? So flavored characteristics because the ground and the environment it is built in, or I’m sorry, grown in all the spices and seasonings,

If you ever want to be entertained for a solid thirty seconds, buy a bottle the little tag.

And I don’t really know anything about aviation.

Naturally.

This is like I said, Ryan, Ryan Reynolds Gin I haven’t said that yet is Ryan, Ryan Reynolds. Gin, if you’re not familiar with him, he’s a rock

So it’s worth the money.

It’s an American Gin So we’re gonna have three different continent Gins with an adventurous blend of spices from around the world, oh, country

Because the British islands are the same.

I paid big bucks for it.

It’s all on the same Island

Well London, Scottish

Yeah

London and Scotland connected

Fantastic.

South of Scotland

Different countries

They share a border It’s like Iowa and Missouri but smaller.

So we’re going to try the aviation Gin right now.

There we go.

You just think of Ryan Reynolds when you drink this?

Yeah, I think so.

Then maybe that makes it better.

Makes it better. So we have this oh my god

Fix it Phoss.

Don’t fix it Phoss, Leave it.

Well it’s Ryan Reynolds, would you get that off the table?

Maybe

Just saying Is he dead pool yet? So, to the projects of editing strife aviation from Ryan Reynolds, we have zero tasting notes on these. So we don’t know what to expect. Yeah. And I’ve got lucky Luciano, Al Capone, baby. Gotta love our mobster shot glasses. I think I got these for $10 at Spencers or something.

Take your drink.

Very jounaJuniper.

Yeah I’m not a fan.

Yeah. I Like it.

You like it?

I do.

I don’t, I didn’t like it on the nose. I didn’t like it on the palette.

It is different, the nose is.

I like it on just the very beginning of the palate. It’s very nice.

I feel like it’s very medicinal

It’s less alcoholy smelling

Oh it tastes like NyQuil.

But it’s very medicinal. I feel like this has been been in like,

It tastes like NyQuil. Now that you say medicinal.

I don’t know about Nyquil. I just feel Like back in the days they were coming up with like cough remedies or something.

This is way more Juniper heavy than the Beefeater. I feel like I would really enjoy that in a Gin and Tonic because the tonic would kind of mellow out the, also like the sharpness of the alcohol.

It’s definitely less citrus. Floral for sure.

Yeah. Also put it in a gin tonic with limes. Yeah. It needs a little bit of balance for me. Yeah.

All right. So now we’re going to go with probably the most high end known Gin out there, Hendrix, and then, you know, Kubota’s, it’s super high end, but it’s reasonably priced for obligated discipline.

I think thirty for all. That’s definitely reasonable, but I think it would be considered one of the top shelf.

Oh, for sure. Yeah. We definitely got charged.

Who do you have?

I have Bugsy.

I have Machine Gun Kelly. Not Eminem.

Even though he’s got a rap sheet.

Yeah.

I forgot to tell you there’s no puns

Sorry

You can just leave that at the door. Puns are always acceptable in my book.

It’s very mild. Yeah, that one’s smooth. Sorry, Pharrel. This might be my favorite.

Hey, it doesn’t matter what you’re tasting. It tastes what you drink. Cause again, I think that’s what helps especially with ginger, because if you can, if you can pair the right flavorings with that, right Gin, it’s going to set it off.

This is definitely a lot more mild to me. I think Beefeater might be more balanced.

I might agree. Like, there’s not as much flavor to this so if you were having some martini or drinking it straight. I feel like that would be prep. Yeah, definitely. But it’s, I don’t know if it’s going to stack up to other flavors in a cocktail, right.

Is it, Is it aged anymore at all or anything? Cause generally, like that’s what you see like with when it’s smoother like that it’s usually has like more of an aging.

Like similar to a Tequila

But then they put different botanicals in it that are common to regular Gin And I know they say to pair Hendricks with cucumber rather than lime and it really does bring out different flavor notes. And I do enjoy that, but I’ll do both.

Additional bond or botanicals such as Juniper, coriander, citrus peel, the unexpected and fusion cucumber and Rose pedals result in a most like on a holistic Gin. What kind of holistic?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Interesting kind of classic. Boom.

So it’s like a classic taste.

It is not for everyone.

This is what they say.

I like it.

So far so good. There is definitely more lime in that. yeah.

And I think that’s probably why it pairs well with cucumber. because that is definitely, I think I believe in Europe. That is definitely, I think the way they treat that is, Oh, there’s no Lime and if you garnish with a cucumber. That is the standard for their, like a Gin and Tonic. So in the US when you do things our way because America because you know, Imperial system measurement and all that, we gotta do our own thing,

We gotta be different. We are the black Swan, black sheep, whatever you want to say, I’ll take it. Yeah. So cocktail time. All right. So we have three cocktails. You want another six, but two for each or one for each times two. They are the exact same recipe, but different Gin, in each glass, just so when we move things around, I know which cocktail is in which cause none of these, all three do not know with Gin, right?

Correct.

Scouts honor

Zero ideas

Scouts honor is two. Girls scouts

Three, three for boys.

Is it? We always did two in Girl Scouts.

It’s three for boys?

Yeah.

Well you would know cause he’s a boy scout.

It’s crazy I know. It’s weird. Crazy things you learn. So the reason why there’s no ice is because Rumi probably drinking things in flasks at your wedding, kind of like, that’s gonna be like the all day sipper. So we don’t have to worry about things. I’m just gonna patch this all up, put it in. So this is Gin with grapefruit juice, lemon juice. And then I made a ginger honey simple syrup for it. So keep it basic, a little sweet, but nothing too crazy. So yeah. So we’re going to go with this guy and we go, and we’re going to, we’re going to taste test them see what they think. I’m going to try to, because I just want to know.

It’s more Juniper on the nose

I definitely.

Think they’re going to try.

They’re whispering

I know like whispering doesn’t help the process

It’s very good

It’s very

It’s very mild mellow.

Yeah.

I like it. I can drink this all day.

So the point, right? I hope so. So like you’re saying like I’m gonna wake up at six in the morning, ready to go.

Take it away.

We want to take this to the barber in the morning. It’s pretty nice. Yeah.

That’s super smooth

You can’t taste the alcohol.

You can taste the notes

There is no burn

There is no alcohol taste, taste burn nose, nothing Yeah.

Just a little bit of botanicals

Yeah

Kind of sings in there

Ginger on the end is really nice. Like that’s the very last note I get with that little sweetness of honey. So it’s more, I feel like bright citrus.

It’s hard for me to, it’s hard for me to like stop drinking, but like, and like, you know me, I like, I’m not like a sweet drink kind of guy. And it’s not that at all.

I mean, I’m always used to sweetness, hardly cocktail making nice, but not like making a sugar.

Well, yeah, it’s definitely not like a gut rot.

That’s crazy. Yeah. So number two to the champagne flips so interesting story while they give a quick case, I was buying liquor for weeks ago for some of these and at the checkout they had Disaronno all on sale for $25. With these two in the box.

Oh really?

Well, you know what I need two champagne flutes

This is definitely Juniper.

Yeah.

Yeah. But it makes it, I think it makes it brighter.

It feels bitter to me.

It is a little bit bitter on the nose is way more Ginny.

Yup, more Juniper.

I might like it better though, just because I like a little bit of bite.

I’m on the opposite. I like this one better because it’s more mild. It’s more, it’s like sipable, this is more bold flavor.

I don’t like to toot my own horn, but I got an idea I’m good.

I was thinking for like the long haul.

This, this is, this is like, it, it does, it has that little bit of bite, but you kind of want that because you don’t want people to just be like, suck it on their glass all day.

I’m always making cocktails where I want the liquor for

I mean, the liquor for liquor kits.

Why, why are you making a cocktail right there? You’re just hiding it. Unless that liquor is like a Saint Germain or Liquor 43 where it’s something else. But when your main spirit, you should be tasting, in my opinion

If it’s something other than Vodka

Right.

Because Vodka,as we talked about, in our last episode,

We had the whole like fusion.

We talked about like vodka is a neutral grain spirit designed to be

Right.

Gin is, the point of it is to get the flavors, to get the form mechanicals. And I want to get that. And I got that. Like the first one, it was very subtle. This one burns a little bit more.

You get the alcohol, but I feel like it’s brighter. And crisper. I think crisp is a good word.

All right. Well, let’s move to number three. We’ve got the little coupe glass Riley, go ahead and grab yours.. We have to make a rule.

It is so full.

It is very full.

People at work get mad at me. because I make all my glasses so full and I forget what you call up and you leave like a little breathing room. So when people move it, get what that’s called.

That one might be my favorite.

Really? I feel like this is like a cleaner.

It doesn’t matter because the recipes are the same. It’s just, the gin is different. And I think that is a skillset picking the right liquor.

I get what your saying.

It’s very piney.

Yeah, Pinesoly

When people say, make me a whiskey sour what kind of whiskey you want me to use? Because there is huge. I’m not going to do a Jack Daniels.

Right. In my favorite cut, which is very disappointing.

I don’t know. I still really like really? I get the pie. And I understand it

This one would need a little bit more tweaking to the rest of

A little bit more citrus. Maybe to balance it out. Cause I get the sweet, but I’m not a fan.

What do you have problems with, AJ? Let us know that. Maybe that’s your problem. You don’t have problems.

What is the cheapest Gin out there? What’s Iowa’s cheapest Gin. Fivestar and Paramount

Maybe, Five star has one. First thoughts.

I do not look that low

it’s down there, but that’s your step up.

Is the Seagrams the one with the bumpy bottle?

Yeah

You mean Snoop Dogg.

I hope this is Hendrix.

Okay so let’s talk about that. What do you guys think it is? So let’s start with the rocks glass. What are you guys right away?

This is Hendrix.

Yeah. I think it’s Hendrix, it’s way mellow. It’s like the cute girl. I feel like you can taste the cucumber in the first one. I wasn’t going to say it because they didn’t want to influence anybody else’s choices. But I really think that that one is Hendrix because I get you covered

And it’s the most mild, I think out of all of them. So the other ones, I feel like had a distinct tastes where the Hendricks was pretty mild. And I think this is the most mild, most drinkable in the combination. Not as much like Uzi, that’s the, that’s the drink that you give your great aunt who doesn’t like booze.

Right. What do you think of Gin?

I’m going to have to go with them as well. But just to be the outlier, I’d almost want to say just to, just to be a fighter, but I

Devil’s advocate

I almost, I almost have to say it’s the Hendrix as well because the Hendrix was very smooth.

Right It is definitely. And the Hendricks is definitely, I think the most well rounded out of all. Nothing really stands out. I feel like I get the rose out of it.

Okay. So what do we think number two is?

I’m going to go Beefeater.

Let’s say this is,

I think Beefeater, yeah.

Has a little bit staying in it and actually I like that. So,

But still like more Junipery the other, one’s a dry I’m going to go Beefeater too.

So then you guys were all agreeing to the third one is the aviation.

That was the strongest flavor to me.

I’ll try that one, one more time here in a second.

Let me get a sippy sip.

You just get a little taste.

You know what that tastes like. Yeah. I would definitely think that’s Aviation.

They are all good in their own scent.

It’s interesting how distinct they are. there was distinct tasting them separately, but in the cocktail definitely. I can taste distinct flavors.

By itself Gin tastes like Gin

Right, yeah.

Like with a question Mark at the end, because of subtle differences. Like in cocktails, it’s a completely different drink.

And then that’s the whole point of all this is to see what a liquor like what that price point or what that specifically does differently. Like when people say this is my favorite, why is it your favorite? Like, is it because this one drink is great? Where do you just, you know, like, why

Are you brand loyal? or do you, is this like a flavor that you like,

Or if your signature drink as a Gin and Tonic versus like something more flavored? Does it balance differently?

Right. Exactly. And I think that’s what makes drinking fun, like try to find those perfect boxes. I mean, that’s like an episode about Margarita. It’s like margarita would probably change next year.

Right?

My flavor profiles will completely change. And then I also, this is some where there’s no science, research, or stats to back this up, but I also think what you drink and eat within the past twenty four hours dictates how well your flavor profiles.

That makes sense I mean, because that’s why people cleans your palette with sorbets and also other shit. And you’re trying to get this most here, your taste.

Well, if that’s the case, I should, my palette should be pretty neutral because I didn’t eat a whole lot today.

We did. We all ate the same meal before this. So it kind of helps kind of level the playing field. So if I had to guess.

I’m going to play a little bit of Devil’s Advocate. I’m going. To stick with Hendricks here. I am going to say Aviation

Just to be different

I think you guys are right. Probably. But I feel like. I feel like.

The Aviation could actually get dictated a little bit differently based on.

So that’s true.

That’s my only thing.

So now the important question is this question will dictate if their marriage suceeds.

Let me guess to see which who likes, which one and if they’re going to agree or not.

We’re always on the opposite spectrum. It’s not a bad thing that balances, but yeah.

So which one do you want for your wedding?

Close our eyes and point.

Do it.

Okay. Close your eyes and count to three.

One, two, three.

I knew it.

You picked exactly the ones I went to.

Okay makes sense.

I feel like this one is like no alcohol.

I like a little bit of bite.

And I’m opposite. And I think of like what our wedding party would like and what other people would like. And I feel like this would be something that most people would like, because there’s not a bite.

Yeah. But other people

Gave a rock scissors, one.

I think people are gonna like this,

Are people who don’t like gin period.

So I think that’s a good introductory to Gin. We’re the Gin people.

Like, I’m not making it. So you’re drinking all night. We’re all having a couple cocktails before the wedding, you know?

And I feel like this is a good, like, get the party started. We’re rock paper scissoring this?

Yeah. I think it’s like I win and so I get this.

It’s her day.

It’s like they both get I like that there is a little bit of extra bite.

You should start that happy wife, happy life mantra.

No

Three weeks. Three weeks.

Hey, rock suitors. Winner take all. One, two, three, shoot.

You’ll pay for that mistake.

How about happy spouse, happy house, what about that?

If you’re a feminist, you agree with that statement. You can’t say happy wife happy life and still expect to be a feminist.

I am a feminist.

That’s why I love this woman.

You’ll pay for that uh mistake.

I already gave her the ring to mark this time.

Okay, listen up.

Are we rock, paper, scissoring this? Let’s do it at the end. Let’s reveal.

I think you should pick it.

All right let’s rock, paper, scissor it.

One, two, one, two, three, shoot.

Okay, so drum roll. The girls are right. All three of them. Hendrix, Beefeater’s and Aviation. Which,I mean, it is exactly how you guys tasted it, how we all tasted prior, picked out all the notes, all the flavors and they corresponded to the cut. So at the end of the day, it kind of does matter what you drink.

Yeah. I think it does.

And Listen, I got rich taste.

Riley, how much long can we take it up? no I’m just kidding. I’m more than happy. Cause you know what? You ain’t getting a wedding gift. this is our wedding gift.

We’ll take it.

Accept it.

It’s gonna be a fun day. It’s going to be fun. You know, I’ve known you guys for a couple of years now, which is,

More than a couple.

I mean a couple as in like five.

More than that. No, I haven’t known Riley longer six.

Right. Yeah. We’ve been together for six years.

When did we meet Sean Prior?

Like six months after we

Six months later.

Okay fine. All right.

Sean Prior.

Sean Prior. If you’re watching this

We love ya.

Get a drink in your hand. All Right. So it’s been fun. We appreciate everyone watching our channel. I know this is like a longer video, but we have a lot of friends that want to be a part of this and have fun with our drinking games and stuff like that. And try to figure out, you know, is it worth the money to spend for,

And for Gin it is.

Apparently, it is. depending on what you’re drinking.

The problem is that I have fuji taste.

You got champagne taste on a water budget.

It’s like three bottles of Gin. I do got to buy a grapefruit, cause I don’t know if grapefruit you can buy in November.

You can buy that now.

Yeah it’s seasonal. I was afraid to buy it. So thanks for joining us for the tasting room. We’ve had fun. Thank you guys for coming out and congratulations on your wedding.

Thanks, Cheers.

Cheers.