27 Nov Black Friday (liquor) Deals
Black EveryFriday Deals
Today’s the day we’re all looking for the unbelievable deals, deals for which we’ll leave Thanksgiving dinner before the pie is served, deals we’ll sleep in a tent in a mall parking lot for, deals for which we’ll gouge out the eyes of our rivals, deals that bring out our most primitive instincts while also playing to desires only a thoroughly modern person would understand.
We thought a day that’s all about the deal would be a good time to share with you the best budget bottles we have on our shelves. And, best of all, these deals are available almost any day. You don’t need to get anywhere near a mall on Black Friday, unless urban camping is your thing.
1. Old Overholt Rye–if you want to sip your rye whiskey, there are better options out there. But for mixing, you can’t beat Old Overholt. It makes a great Manhattan or whiskey sour or any other rye cocktail, really. It’s even pretty decent to sip. And it cost $15 a bottle.
2. Svedka Vodka–Svedka has exactly the crisp, clean taste you want from a mixing vodka. It reminds me a lot of my favorite vodka, Grey Goose, except that it only costs a third of Grey Goose. Actually, come to think of it, that makes Svedka my favorite.
3. Vermouth–as a category, vermouth is a great value. Vermouth is an essential element to so many cocktails. There’s fantastic diversity among the various makers. Some of the recipes have taken hundreds of years to perfect. And yet there’s little reason to spend much more than $10 on a bottle. How can you beat that?
4. El Jimador Tequila–the reposado is great for sipping. Heck, you can even happily sip the silver. And both work great for mixing. The silver is nice and bright, and the reposado is well-rounded and mellow. And they’re less than half the price of their Patron competitors.
5. Kapali–for something that’s generally mixed with milk and vodka, it’s surprising how pricey Kahlua can be. That’s why we’re so grateful to our neighborhood liquor store owner who, when he noticed Kahlua in our hands once, asked, ‘Have you ever tried this?’ and handed us a bottle of Kapali. We actually like Kapali better than Kahlua; it’s strong hints of molasses are a nice addition. And Kahlua is always at least a few dollars more than Kapali, sometimes up to double the price. The downside with Kapali is that it’s nowhere near as omnipresent as Kahlua, and at such a low price point it’s not worth shipping or even looking very hard. But we’ve discovered that most any liquor store has its version of Kapali. We just picked one up called Caffe Lolita; when we want a white Russian, it gives us exactly what we need.
