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Carolan's instead of Bailey's


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carolans2.jpg

 

 

K, before anyone go around saying that this is heresy, this stuff is SO much cheaper than Bailey's. I was shopping for Christmas Booze for the cupboard for the holidays, and when in the SAQ ( this is where us Quebecers go to buy officially sold booze by the governement) the rep at the store said that he highly recommended it because he thought that both were of almost same comparable quality, with the ONLY difference being that Carolan's was not marketed as strongly as Bailey's and was a WHOLE lot cheaper.

 

Ten bux cheaper in fact off off the forty ouncer. I did some research on the bottle, turns out Carolan's differs mostly by the addition of honey, and not much more. And that in fact in Ireland it is the number one whiskey cream sold.

 

A great find for this season, and I do believe it's won itself a place in the permanent alkie cabinet.

 

 

:bounce:

 

gogo

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I have had both, can't remember comparing price. I guess my liquer habits don't rank up there in the bargaining department. I'll have to revisit a taste test of both. I remember liking the Carolans, just don't remember much else, *must of finished the bottle*

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No chance of finding it here! But couldn't afford Baileys anyway. Restricted to supermarket Armagnac and home made cherry brandy (very good much to my surprise)

 

Mais, quand même, hope you had a marvellous Xmas and New Year, young Gogo! :)

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No chance of finding it here! But couldn't afford Baileys anyway. Restricted to supermarket Armagnac and home made cherry brandy (very good much to my surprise)

 

Mais, quand même, hope you had a marvellous Xmas and New Year, young Gogo! :)

 

Homemade Cherry brandy! I've made beer and wine. and a cordial called boerenjongens( old dutch family recipe of raisins in a sugar and brandy(although we use whiskey) canned and aged about 6 months. very sweet and the raisins are soooo good)

 

But I would love to make brandy. do you need a distiller to make it?

Edited by locolagarto
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Timo, the price is really that good... ten bux knocked off when buying the 40 oz, I actually bought and went through two bottles of the stuff this holidaze, so was a good deal. Bond, Season's Greetings mate, hehe, great seeing you here in a drinking thread :o I would also have to agree with you that when it comes to the spectrum of drinks the brandy cremes are pretty pricey...when visiting the alkey store just sometime a few days ago though, he rep there was pointing out that there is drink, cream brandy that is even cheaper from South Africa that is tearing up the lines. Super pricing and great taste... my uncle and aunt love it cuz of the elephant ^^

 

amarula.jpg

 

Loco as it turns out, one of our members of our Clan , Tomo, their family's expertise is the cherry Vodka! :D

 

 

Tomi's Cherry Vodka

 

 

:)

 

gogo

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Timo, the price is really that good... ten bux knocked off when buying the 40 oz, I actually bought and went through two bottles of the stuff this holidaze, so was a good deal.

 

amarula.jpg

 

Holy Crap Gogo! 2 bottles. no wonder I haven't seen you on the servers this holiday. Time to join you in a drink, I think. Or call in an intervention and get you back on the servers? Or get you on the servers and join you in a drink? Yep, well skip the intervention and just make it one huge drinkin' and grinding party on the servers!

 

Loco as it turns out, one of our members of our Clan , Tomo, their family's expertise is the cherry Vodka! :o

 

 

Tomi's Cherry Vodka

 

 

:D

 

gogo

 

Gonna have to check that out. I'm a Grey Goose fan myself. but can't remember ever turning down something new.

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Whoa there Loco. If it's moonshine you are after this is not the place. No I don't make the brandy ... just use it with the cherries and sugar ... a bit like your old family recipe. We have a friend with a cherry tree that overflows with juicy eating cherries EVERY year.

 

We had been using a rumtopf for a year or two but found the alcohol was leaking through the pot! But the idea was good and can be used with any combination of fruit and spirit. In this case we put the cherries in a glass jar, screw top needed, added an equal weight of sugar, topped up the jar with brandy to cover the cherries and sugar, screwed the top on the jar. Leave for 6 months, shaking every day at first till the sugar has dissolved properly, then occasionally. The cherries compacted down to half the jar and left a good amount of very drinkable, very sweet, liqueur. We used cheap brandy as you might guess.

 

We left the stones in the cherries, which gave a slight almond flavour, reminiscent for me to the Cherry Heering (Dutch) we used to get when I was younger and better off.

 

Photo later - got to go eat. Wife's orders.

 

 

Later: photos...not very good but the new internet connection is not yet complete and some things don't work yet, including the edit function on Photobucket! Also problem becos my cheapo camera was automatically adjusting to the light on the Rumtopf .. so a second photo to get the colour for the glass of cherry brandy.

 

The idea however is in the Rumtopf. You put layers of fruit in as the season progresses and keep adding equal amount of sugar and topping up to cover the fruit with rum. Adjust the idea to use any fruit and any spirit you fancy. Er...no...you would not shake the rumtopf..it has a loose lid. The screw top and shaking comes from a different recipe, but is imho better. Cleaner taste with only one fruit. The rumtopf is perhaps more suitable for an exotic desert than for a drink.

 

The cocktail stick is for show only and no real use in practice. Use a long handled small spoon or a different glass!

 

cherrybrandy1.jpg

 

cherrybrandy2.jpg

Edited by Bondbug
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Whoa there Loco. If it's moonshine you are after this is not the place. No I don't make the brandy ... just use it with the cherries and sugar ... a bit like your old family recipe. We have a friend with a cherry tree that overflows with juicy eating cherries EVERY year.

 

We had been using a rumtopft (spelling?) for a year or two but found the alcohol was leaking through the pot! But the idea was good and can be used with any combination of fruit and spirit. In this case we put the cherries in a glass jar, screw top needed, added an equal weight of sugar, topped up the jar with brandy to cover the cherries and sugar, srewed the top on the jar. Leave for 6 months, shaking every day at first till the sugar has dissolved properly, then occasionally.

 

We left the stones in the cherries, which gave a slight almond flavour.

 

Photo later - got to go eat. Wife's orders.

 

Well, darn! I was gonna get out my daisy dukes do my best Enus "aw shucks" impression then drive really darn fast around the county just for the fun of it!

 

I was seriously thinking about distilling wine into brandy. but your Cherries is almost exactly a variation of the Dutch boeren jongens . the modern translation is supposed to be farm boys. But the old trans is boeren = Brandy and jongens = raisin. and there is also boeren meisjes which is Brandy and Apricot and translated to Farm Girls. so I supposed Brandy and cherries would be almost exactly the same. Only change in my recipe is that I heat the water and sugar to desolve the sugar and throw in a couple of cinnamon sticks while it heats for a nice flavor. then remove from the heat, let it cool and the add the liquor. fill each jar about halfway with raisins or any fruit will work I guess. and fill with the sugar, water, liquor mixture and cap and let sit for at least 3 months. the longer the better. that way it's mixed and maintenance free until its time to sample. but it's so sweet you can only sip maybe a shot glass or cordial glass full with a few raisins of course. they are def the best part. One of our great Aunts used to bake raisin bread with the raisins from the boerenjongens. oh I wasn't old enough then. but I just had a thought for a desert recipe. Hmm........*wonders away from keyboard to check the kitchen cupboards for .......*

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Didn't see your post till I'd finished editing mine. Mine is a very basic simple soak with no added flavours. But your whole post is very much to my taste. In retirement we have time to go back to the older ways. Be terrible if all those things were lost.

 

I am saving yours, copy/paste, for reference for next season. Yes, the choice of fruit is critical. I now use cherries because Cherry Heering brings back good times and a lost lady.

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  • 2 months later...

My wife likes an occasional Baileys.

I haven't seen Carolans before though I have seen some other "Baileys type" of liqueur on the shelves.

I will keep an eye out for it.

In my experience usually the cheaper brands are cheaper simply because they have a lower alcohol content.

 

Is that the same in this case?

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Alc content's about the same Stubbie. I think though that this is a case of Carolan's simply not being as popular a name brand as Bailey's. The guy who sold me my first bottle last year said that it's a shame because Carolan is the number one selling cream whiskey in Ireland... maybe cuz the folks there know better and think the rest of the world is just buying into the Bailey's "hype"?

 

:)

 

gogo

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  • 1 year later...

recently I tried Coole Swan Irish cream liqueur - much better then Baileys, but not sure how it compares to Carolan's (dont remember trying it)

 

 

as for price - it depends on alcohol content - in most countries taxes are based on alcohol content. also it (price) depends on what kind of alcohol is used. not sure about other countries, but in US there are some tax brakes for different alcohols (rum, vodka, wine etc.). in most cases big multinational well known brands are charging more because of brand recognition, and all new brands need to compete with well established brands and easiest way to compete is sell product cheaper

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I think the closest to Bailey's in our house would be a mix of selfmade Eierlikör (advocaat) and Whiskey.

 

Eierlikör:

Mixing yolks with multiple destilled fruit wine( alcohol is around 90%). Put in a dark container for 2 days, kills all the possible salmonella and other bacteria.

 

Then mix the yolk/alcohol creamy, add sweet cream, powder sugar, inner parts of vanilla, Sometimes we add some cappucino. This Eierlikör is mainly used for cakes.

Eierlikoer-Torte.jpg

Some is mixed with whisky and filled into bottles, either to be drunk with the cakes or for later use. Advocaat has to be used up in 1-3 months because in diffrent to whisky it looses taste with time.

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recently I tried Coole Swan Irish cream liqueur - much better then Baileys,

 

 

I just saw the website for this new product I googled after you mentioned it Gint:

 

http://d3412.cp.irishdomains.com/home

 

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I've been drooling about that drink all afternoon at work. I don't think it's being sold in Montreal yet

 

:cry:

 

gogo

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I don't think it's being sold in Montreal yet

 

:cry:

 

gogo

 

Ah ha..I forgot you were our inside agent! :bounce:

 

I'd love to know if Montreal's ever gonna get this Gint. Also... any samples coming about? :P

 

in US it's distributed by our company - will ask about Canadian distribution

 

 

StBrendan%27s750.jpg

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Brendan%27s

 

http://www.dochara.com/tour/things-to-buy/buying-irish-cream/

 

Anyone knowing this one, favourite one of brothers family? Doing jobs with zeo alcohol tolerance I can't test this much (just 3 weeks a year at breaks). He sayhe got it for around 20 euro the litre.

 

 

Chattius, I've never heard of this in my life. Both of you guys have gotten me interested in visiting the SAQ (official alcohol distributor of Quebec) down the street from me just to see what's new and cool.

 

:)

 

gogo

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South African liqueurs are DELICIOUS! my favourite one is amarula, followed by cape velvet English toffee.

 

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and some farmers produce mampoer, very much like moonshine, hits you right between the eyes! but it is oh so good! :Just_Cuz_21:

 

Delta!

Edited by Delta!
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