Martini Tasting- Reviews or comments

[Angelhalo]

We just got off the Magic April 5th and did the Vodka Martini tasting and the Tequila & Margarita tasting.

The tequila and margarita tasting was great. They gave us three shots of Tequila. One was Cuervo Represado, One was Patron Silver, and one was Patron XO Cafe which tasted like coffee. Then there was a strawberry margarita, and a classic margarita. This tasting was AWESOME. All the drinks were good, and it was very fun!

The Martini tasting was HORRID. We went to the second tasting of the week which is the vodka tasting. I LOVE vodka martinis and was very excited. I do not like gin. Unfortunately they do not tell you in advance that the vodka they are using is "Absolut" I would NEVER in a million years pay for a martini made with Absolut. They all tasted disgusting. For a Martini, especially for the beginners in the room, you need a smooth, non-burning vodka. I felt so bad for the people in the room who had no experience with Martini's because they all hated them, and the reason was because they made them with Absolut, which tastes pretty much like rubbing alcohol. They needed to have used Grey Goose, or Ketel One or something like that. If we had known beforehand that they would be making the drinks with Absolut, we wouldn't have even bought the tickets.

I highly DO NOT recommend the vodka tasting for anyone who has never had Martinis before because they were terrible and you're going to think "Martini's are nasty!" Which is what the woman at the table beside us thought. Martinis are great, they just need to be made with a highly distilled, smooth, non-burning, vodka.

 

[Anal Annie]

The Martini tasting was HORRID. We went to the second tasting of the week which is the vodka tasting. I LOVE vodka martinis and was very excited. I do not like gin. Unfortunately they do not tell you in advance that the vodka they are using is "Absolut" I would NEVER in a million years pay for a martini made with Absolut. They all tasted disgusting. For a Martini, especially for the beginners in the room, you need a smooth, non-burning vodka. I felt so bad for the people in the room who had no experience with Martini's because they all hated them, and the reason was because they made them with Absolut, which tastes pretty much like rubbing alcohol. They needed to have used Grey Goose, or Ketel One or something like that. If we had known beforehand that they would be making the drinks with Absolut, we wouldn't have even bought the tickets.

I highly DO NOT recommend the vodka tasting for anyone who has never had Martinis before because they were terrible and you're going to think "Martini's are nasty!" Which is what the woman at the table beside us thought. Martinis are great, they just need to be made with a highly distilled, smooth, non-burning, vodka.

Sorry, I think that's harsh and I would have to say that's a bit of bunk and for the low price they charge for the Martini tasting you're probably lucky they didn't use Smirnoff! Trust me, I drink my share of vodka and my bar at home is stocked with Ketel One, Grey Goose, Belvedere, Smirnoff and Absolut. Some plain, some flavored. I use them differently for different drinks and like to have a choice available for guests. MOST of the time, for myself, I will use the Absolut. I have never been "burned" nor have I had a bad hangover from it. My liquor store keeps the Absolut 1 shelf down from the Ketel One and 1 shelf above the Smirnoff (I have no idea what they keep on the bottom shelf )...the Belvedere and Grey Goose are kept up front behind the counter...but I truely don't taste a big, big difference say between the Ketel One and the Absolut. It's just a name that impresses some and in my book if the shelf was a little bigger they could go together on the same shelf. I just don't find a lot of need for "designer vodka".

 

[Angelhalo]

Sorry, I think that's harsh and I would have to say that's a bit of bunk and for the low price they charge for the Martini tasting you're probably lucky they didn't use Smirnoff! Trust me, I drink my share of vodka and my bar at home is stocked with Ketel One, Grey Goose, Belvedere, Smirnoff and Absolut. Some plain, some flavored. I use them differently for different drinks and like to have a choice available for guests. MOST of the time, for myself, I will use the Absolut. I have never been "burned" nor have I had a bad hangover from it. My liquor store keeps the Absolut 1 shelf down from the Ketel One and 1 shelf above the Smirnoff (I have no idea what they keep on the bottom shelf )...the Belvedere and Grey Goose are kept up front behind the counter...but I truely don't taste a big, big difference say between the Ketel One and the Absolut. It's just a name that impresses some and in my book if the shelf was a little bigger they could go together on the same shelf. I just don't find a lot of need for "designer vodka".

Ketel One and Grey Goose are Distilled more times than Absolut. There is a huge difference between the two. Of COURSE there are people out there who like Absolut, but for a Martini where 99% of the drink is Vodka, I think it's a poor choice. Absolut is what we drank in college when we were poor. It was on the same shelf as the Grey Goose, so placement on the liquor store shelf doesn't mean very much. I've never seen it kept behind the counter except for the HUGE bottles that are close to $100 each. But, I truly believe that if the vodka had been better, there would have been more finished drinks in our tasting room. I don't think I saw a single person finish their plain, non-sweet martini. Everyone was talking about how bad it was and how it burned. The burn is because it's not distilled as many times as Grey Goose, Ketel One etc. I understand that they probably use Absolut because it's cheaper, but I felt really bad for all the people who hated their drinks and now might never know what a "good" martini should taste like. I would have gladly paid more for the tasting, to get better quality. The name is not what I am paying for. I am paying for the number of times the liquor has been distilled. Which makes a HUGE difference. Even the cast member who was leading the tasting who was from Poland and has drank a fair amount of vodka in her life, mentioned that she wished it were a better quality of vodka. She agreed with you, as I do as well, that absolut especially the flavored bottles, are just fine for mixed drinks, but harsh for a martini, especially for first time martini drinkers. Those were her words. Not mine.

You may be just fine with Absolut but I personally think it has too much sting for a a beginner martini. (I am not talking about hangovers....never mentioned hangovers at all so I don't know how that came in to the convo.) If that had been the first martini I had ever tasted, I never would have tried another.

Just my honest opinion.

 

[Anal Annie]

I guess I am still poor then! Just BTW....I don't want to argue BUT, I believe that if my research is accurate, Absolut is distilled the same number of times as your vodka preference.... Quad does = four, right? I just really don't think Absolut deserves to be bashed. I keep a BIG selection at home, including all of these plus some, but I just don't find THAT big of a difference between them except in price........

"Grey Goose is distilled in small batches beginning in copper stills from a choice blend of grain. This pure grain vodka is produced with pristine, limestone-filtered water drawn from the famous Genté Springs. The spirit is then rigorously filtered and bottled at 80 proof."

"Ketel One Vodka is triple-distilled in small batches entirely from wheat using the alembic copper pot still method. The final distillation occurs in a centuries old, alembic copper pot still, referred to as "Ketel #1".”

"Belvedere Vodka is crafted at the Polmos Zyrardów Distillery from premium rye and underground spring water. It is first distilled in an alembic still, a costly and relatively laborious step, but one that imbues the vodka with a substantial body and a robust character. It is then triple-distilled in a continuous still, which lightens it significantly."

"Absolut Vodka is made entirely from a mash of locally grown wheat and purified well water. It is quadruple-distilled in a six-column, continuous still and emerges at extremely high proof."

And finally....
Grey Goose and the low-priced vodka market
"When Sidney Frank created Grey Goose, he priced it well above established competitors such as Absolut. This high price created a perception of quality. Frank's strategy proved successful, as Grey Goose was a financial hit and led to significant changes in the market. Many people attribute Grey Goose as being a major inspiration for the various other high-priced vodkas."

 

[sandgrace]

They did a blind taste test on 20/20 in which they had all the people taste the vodka straight...there were people that swore all they'd ever drink was Grey Goose, and some of the other expensive brands. The bottom line was nobody could tell the difference between the expensive brands and the cheaper brands!

 

[babybunrab]

Do they do these tastings on the 4 day? We are going at the end of the month and it is just DH and myself.

I've done the wine and martini tastings on the four (and, if I remember right, the three day). I'm not sure about the beer, b/c beer just makes me feel to full, but I don't believe the tequila or margaritas were available on the three or four day.

Sarah

 

[dredick]

I'm going on a 4 day, what do they offer, just martini & beer tasting or all? I would like to sign my kids into OC and do them all, maybe not in a row!!

 

[dredick]

Just saw the post above mine, does anyone know for sure?

 

[samily]

I'm going on a 4 day, what do they offer, just martini & beer tasting or all? I would like to sign my kids into OC and do them all, maybe not in a row!!

We were on a 4 night at the end of January and they offered martini, wine and beer tastings. Enjoy!

 

[dredick]

yea!!

 

[branv]

They did a blind taste test on 20/20 in which they had all the people taste the vodka straight...there were people that swore all they'd ever drink was Grey Goose, and some of the other expensive brands. The bottom line was nobody could tell the difference between the expensive brands and the cheaper brands!

I saw that one, it was hilarious how shocked all the self-professed vodka snobs looked. They were so certain they could tell the difference. I would LOVE to do something like that at home with some friends. DH is reading "Judgment of Paris" right now, about the huge upheaval when french wine guys blind picked a california wine over bordeaux. Boy, do people get maaaad when they find out their assumptions are wrong.

Anyway, sorry, back on topic. Are the martini tastings on the four-day vodka or gin? DH hates vodka martini, but crazy for gin martinis. Anyone know?

I really wish they'd offer margarita tastings on the four-day. If they don't have the time to do information classes, they could at least offer a margarita sampler package. Heck, half the restaurants around here do that, you'd think it would be easy-peasy for DCL.

 

[dredick]

I bartended for years. I'm not surprised to hear the drink snobs couldn't tell the difference! Be warned, If the top shelf runs out, filling the bottle w/cheap stuff happens alot! then again, I am from the south!!

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Could you post the pomegranate recipe? That's one they never did in any I've been to.

As my DW is allergic to pomegranate, I guess I'll be having 5 martini's! She can make it up at the Tequila tasting -- I really don't care for the taste of tequila.

I am so jealous! This sounds so fun. We picked the wine tasting on our last cruise and it totally sucked. The wine was cheap and awful and the presentors were condescending and arrogant. My husband and I know a thing or two about wine and we learned nothing new at the tasting. Next time, we are signing up for the martini tasting!

Sorry about your experience with the wine tasting -- ours was excellent. We enjoy wine, but are far from experts. The sommelier's were very friendly and not the least bit condescending. We did have one know-it-all guest, and the presentors did a good job of handling it. We did our tasting in Sept 06 on the Magic.

 

[metzfan64]

We did the martini tasting on our recent cruise and it was great...they give you four small versions of the classic martini, an appletini, a lemoncello martini and a godiva chocolate martini...you get an education on the history of the martini so pay attention because there were leftover extra martinis and the Cast Member quizzed us on what she spoke about and whoever answered correctly 1st got a free martini...pay attention

 

[OurDogCisco]

I had a different experience with the Martini tasting than the above posters. Our session was very educational. I thought it was awesome. I was glad I went. I love the chocolatini a lot. In fact, I tried to order it serveral times throughout the cruise and it never tasted the same as the Martini tasting. So, I started to understand that a lot of bars don't use the same alcohol brands. Anyways, I made the recipe at home using the stuff they used to make and it came out great. I think, people use different ingredients to make their flavored Martinis that you can get a totally different taste from one bar to the next.

Just don't do what we did. we had afternoon tea after the Martini tasting. We were a little unbalanced! LOL...

We got a lot of Martinis for $15 (at least 6 in total).

 

[suzcruz]

does anyone have the recipe for the chocotini served at the martini tasting? TIA!

 

[jlawall]

I did this on the Wonder and I'm not really a martini drinker but it was fun and I actually learned alot!!

 

[jollytammy]

All the martini's were good to me! I had a blast!

 

[PurplePrincess4]

I wish I would have done this one. YUMMO! I did the Tequila one for kicks and actually learned a lot about tequila

 

[OurDogCisco]

Recipe for Choc Martini:

First, coat the martini glass with melted chocolate like Nutella.

Then, mix together in a Martini shaker with ice:

1/2 oz Absolut Vanilla
1/2 oz Bailey's
1/2 oz Franjelico
1/2 oz Godiva

It is wonderful.... Enjoy..