I really don't know what they are. Chris poured them into little South African wine tasting glasses. [Ed: These notes are in random order; the tasting glasses came from South African wineries, hence the names below.]
"Fairview": creamy coffee, good mouth feel. There's a nice low subtle bass note and a hint of vanilla. It feels sophisticated; I can see drinking this straight up when I want to feel mellow and curl up and read a fluffy travel book. My favorite.
"Bouchard Finlayson": hot alcohol, some coffee flavor, lingering finish of burnt coffee beans. Not all that attractive, it tastes like the bourbon I drank in 9th grade out of a styrofoam cup with John Zebala and Mike Matsuda one night and it compelled us to write bad haiku on my brother's underwear. The one I liked the least.
"Neil Ellis": Toffee more than coffee, but not in a bad way. Tastes like a high quality Chinese Kahlua knockoff that's served in a low rent Macau gambling den.
"Groot Constantia": more cream; moderate coffee flavor--and that coffee flavor is almost minty. Call this "Nestle International Coffee Liqueur" , it'd go great in some hot chocolate drinkypoo at some Canadian ski lodge with whipped cream and cinnamon on top and one of those tubular cookies that looks like a taquito.
[After Dan wrote up his notes, I let him know which glasses had which coffee liqueurs: Fairview was Kahlúa ($15), Bouchard Finlayson was Kahlúa Especial ($18), Neil Ellis was Starbucks coffee liqueur ($17), and Groot Constantia was Trader Vic's Kona Coffee Liqueur ($12).]
"Fairview": creamy coffee, good mouth feel. There's a nice low subtle bass note and a hint of vanilla. It feels sophisticated; I can see drinking this straight up when I want to feel mellow and curl up and read a fluffy travel book. My favorite.
"Bouchard Finlayson": hot alcohol, some coffee flavor, lingering finish of burnt coffee beans. Not all that attractive, it tastes like the bourbon I drank in 9th grade out of a styrofoam cup with John Zebala and Mike Matsuda one night and it compelled us to write bad haiku on my brother's underwear. The one I liked the least.
"Neil Ellis": Toffee more than coffee, but not in a bad way. Tastes like a high quality Chinese Kahlua knockoff that's served in a low rent Macau gambling den.
"Groot Constantia": more cream; moderate coffee flavor--and that coffee flavor is almost minty. Call this "Nestle International Coffee Liqueur" , it'd go great in some hot chocolate drinkypoo at some Canadian ski lodge with whipped cream and cinnamon on top and one of those tubular cookies that looks like a taquito.
[After Dan wrote up his notes, I let him know which glasses had which coffee liqueurs: Fairview was Kahlúa ($15), Bouchard Finlayson was Kahlúa Especial ($18), Neil Ellis was Starbucks coffee liqueur ($17), and Groot Constantia was Trader Vic's Kona Coffee Liqueur ($12).]
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