Bailey's Irish Cream - for those who like their whiskey a bit slimy
Written: Jan 19 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good for coffee drinks and sweet mixed drinks
Cons: It's slimy and has an awful aftertaste that won't back down
The Bottom Line: -
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| carnut2k4's Full Review: Baileys Original Irish Cream Liqueur |
One of the more curious liqueurs that caught on is an odd little drink called Irish Cream. Bailey's Irish Cream has been flying off the shelves for more than three decades now and I can't figure out why.
A Strange Idea
In 1974 these folks decided to blend whiskey and cream. A couple other ingredients are in the mixture as well but primarily that's what it is. Whiskey and cream. It has become exceedingly popular in many coffee drinks and is blended with other ultra-sweet liqueurs to make supremely undrinkable drinks - at least in my humble opinion. Maybe its appeal is its overwhelming inoffensiveness. This stuff packs as much of a punch as chocolate milk. As my mother would point out, you could just stick a straw into a bottle of Bailey's and call it a day. Whenever I'm graced with a visit from said Mother I always run out and buy a bottle of Baileys. And a straw.
In the interest of helping consumers with an epinion on this product I've decided to have some myself for the first time in years. I poured a half inch into a tumbler and managed to get through almost half of it before I reached my sugar limit for the day.
A Bottle of Syrup
The brown glass bottle with its metal twist top is non-descript. It looks like an awful lot of other 750ml brown liqueur bottle. The gold, green and red label offers a vague country scene and informs that this sickly sweet sap weighs in at a predictably low 17% ABV.
The Pour
Bailey's Irish Cream pours an unpleasant coffee with cremora kind of tan. Blech. It also could pass for a weak chocolate milk in appearance. I normally swirl a liquor / liqueur in order to judge its viscous character. Forget viscous, this stuff is slimy.
The Nose
Surprisingly I enjoy the aroma of Irish Cream. The smell is whiskey (without too much bite) and vanilla. Some chocolate notes are buried in there too. Even though you can smell the whiskey there is no burn in the nose. You get the impression that there will be little, if any, alcohol taste in this drink.
The Taste
Okay, first the mouthfeel. It feels as slimy as it looks. And the slime lingers. The dominant flavor is vanilla with whiskey there in spirit but really you know it's whiskey when it hits the back of the throat and slightly warms your chest as it goes down. Without that heat it's all vanilla, cream and some bit of chocolate. The slimy feel really takes over and extinguishes any pleasure I might have garnered from this sampling. It clings to every part of your mouth until you drink something else. The aftertaste is heavy cream and it's gross. During this tasting I smartly prepared myself with a nice Anchor Porter beforehand in order to chase the Irish Cream. Even still, that taste lingers on. I really hope they don't waste good whiskey when making this stuff.
The Verdict
Gross beyond gross. It becomes slightly palatable when mixed with hot coffee but I don't happen to like coffee with liquor in it, so that doesn't work for me either. I can't see much reason to mix stimulants with depressants - the whole Red Bull and Vodka craze baffles me too, but I digress.
Irish Cream tends to have a loyal following among women (at least in my experience) and so I will end this by recommending it. My disdain for slimy libations is not reason enough to advise against trying it and Bailey's is the most popular brand there is. For those reasons I'll give it 3 stars and leave you with a bit of advice. If you do like Irish Cream, or have occasion to buy it for someone who does, you should look into Emmet's Irish Cream. Most of the people I know who like Bailey's tell me that they prefer Emmet's. I've tried it myself and concur with that and also it costs an average of five dollars less per bottle.
Recommended:
Yes
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carnut2k4
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