Names in The Game: Are Premium Liquors Better?

Tippling on our customary weekend order, allowing the familiar notes of roasted malt cue in a well-deserved respite, we can’t help but revere in the likes of this mighty liquid. Once too often, we find ourselves musing about booze; aspiring to be more than dilettantes by popping the top and unlocking flavours perhaps more golden than nectar. 

The best of us probably catch ourselves guilty of scanning premium liquors on the top-shelf, yet bagging a safe option such as the familiar Jack Daniels at the counter. Be it to get a good bang for your buck, or impressing your colleagues at the boardroom crowd, the bottle that’s out of reach— both in shelf height and price— has whetted our liquor appetite more times than we like to admit. Are premium liquors really of a higher quality? Well, liquor knowledge is social currency — so let’s get to the crux of this, shall we?

3 Measures That Define Premium Liquor

The science behind “premium” apparently does not stand without good reason. Premium liquors raise the notch through 3 different measures: (1) Quality of ingredients, (2) the production process, and (3) the ageing process, existing in different permutations in various premium brands.

Organic Ingredients

As the director of beverage education at The International Culinary Center in New York City, Alexis Kahn puts it, you end up with better tasting and healthier alcohol using fruits, grapes, and grains of organic quality as the use of alternative synthetic ingredients are reduced. For example, rum distillers using freshly pressed sugarcane juice tend to yield better taste than that of industrial molasses. Of course, as a form of justification to our farmers’ hard work, quality ingredients do come with pricier tags. Besides the ingredients, the flavour of the liquor can also be curated through delicate production processes. 

Distillation

As we know, care can be expressed in many ways. For one, the amount of care instilled into the distillation process has considerable influence on the flavour profile. During distillation, impurities are removed; more distillations give us purer distilled spirits. Some distilleries can also choose to capture certain flavours during this process. Tito’s Vodka for example, is distilled six times compared to Grey Goose Vodka claiming a five-step distillation, which resulted in reviews of Tito’s having a smoother profile. 

Ageing Alcohol

Post-production, ageing is also a key contributor of quality. In bourbon whiskey, the level of char in the ageing barrels can introduce various flavour notes such as oak, caramel, or vanilla to your drink. Even for clear spirits like vodka, freshly and carefully charred barrels were found to produce a smoother finish. Duration of ageing matters too, more ageing builds more flavour, hence fetching a heftier sum. 

Till date however, no study has reliably proven the absence of health benefits that some top-shelf players claim. To that we say thank goodness — the absence of these findings have given us another reason to keep our booze musings alive.

Defining Premium Liquor

While it is easy to understand what sets some liquor a shelf above the others, it is often difficult to define. Rarely do we, the general public, understand the backend processing of our alcohols; even if we bother to begin, it’s often information privy to the masses. So much as to remain a “premium” liquor, right? 

Price as an Indicator

But for one, price is not a good proxy of a liquor’s quality. Medical researcher Laura Veach stresses that effective marketing is usually what determines alcohol prices. Branding your alcohol with great appeal can do as much, or even more than an honest bottle of rare wine sitting on the value shelf.

Home-made Liquors

While we’re on it, it pays to highlight that going anywhere below your average liquor may land in you in a stranger-danger situation. There have been anecdotes of severe side effects such as damaged pancreas, optic nerves, and even death with dirt cheap boozes. The cheapest drink in the market are your home-made liquors (e.g., American moonshine), which have been found to go as low as one-seventh of an affordable brand-name liquor. 

Unfortunately, this is where we can only accurately say “value for money” stands. P.S.: Do note that these are different from regulated artisanal craft alcohols, which is now a booming liquor industry.

Verdict on Premium Liquor

Whether you’re a liquor collector, riding on the ‘finest-ingredients’ or the ‘exquisite-processing wave’, or simply entertaining frequent booze muses (guilty as charged), the verdict on premium liquors remains more of an art than science. The next time you feel the itch to dance with the top-shelf liquors, remember that there is no harm steering away from the ‘safe bet, no regrets’ crowd, and seek a thrill swill. 

Regardless of whose name is in the game (the liquor or yours), personal enjoyment of the product is what matters. If your tummy likes it, get it — if it’s a little too pricey for your taste; stay tuned to our latest promotions where you may find your favourite go-to on sale. Order above $99 and we’ll provide you with free alcohol delivery. Explore different liquors in the comfort of your own home this season. Afterall, isn’t this the best time?