Cheap alcohol in All Inclusive holiday resorts

[Seagull]

For those of you that have been on All Inclusive holidays, you'll know the cheap 'locally produced' spirits I'm talking about.

I have watched the drinks being served and noticed that they do seem to break a seal when they start a new bottle of spirit so the drinks shouldn't be watered down, at least not to begin with anyway.

Since there is a lot of expertise on this forum, I was wondering whether anyone on here has tasted these locally produced spirits and can tell how they are produced?

Are they just watered down in the factory as they don't appear to be very strong? Can you tell if they're just a single distill including head and tails?

Would be interested to hear what you guys reckon?

[chill]

In Mexico, they are bottled at 28% (from memory, might be a little off). The last place I stayed has a dispenser with bottles in the room (yes, dangerous!) and that is what it said on the bottles. If you made friends with a bartender (and what is friendlier than a good tip?), he would our from bottles of premium stuff that was at full strength.

[Easydrinker]

There really are so many tricks that a bar owner/manager can use to sell cheap product as premium.
I have lived and worked in a few such places.
I'm afraid that sometimes paying the premium is what it takes to receive it.
And sometimes moving stolen product sees it's price fall really low.
You thought that there was an easy answer to your question?

Robert.

Make your own, and know what you are drinking,,

[Myles]

Did a Nile cruise a few years ago. Picked the smallest boat (only 80 cabins) and went in July. HIGHLY recommended as not many travelers at that time of year and the small boats have better service.

Anyhow was drinking the rum on all inclusive. White and dark both locally produced and basically the same stuff. Not much rum flavour but reasonable strength and ok with coke. Couldn't really tell the difference between white rum and vodka and I suspect there may not have been much difference other than the label. Flavoured and coloured NGS possibly.

[Seagull]

I've also noticed very little difference between the vodka, gin and white rum in the resorts I've stayed at.

I'm away for a week from Tuesday so thought I might buy a bottle of vodka on the plane and take a Jack Daniels essence with me to pep it up a bit

Excuse my ignorance, but what is NGS? Neutral grain spirit?

[Myles]

Spot on, and I gather a lot of commercial blends have at least some mixed into their product.

[Easydrinker]

Spot on, and I gather a lot of commercial blends have at least some mixed into their product.

The easy way to bigger bucks...

Robert.

[packapoo]

Then, as I have posted before, people go on holidays to places like Bali or even greater Indonesia, go out for a night of enjoyment, then game over.
Poisoned from locally produced $hit being dispensed from brand name known bottles.

[Myles]

Not disagreeing with you as such.

However, most of the poisonings seem to be from folks that deliberately contaminate booze (either home made or bought in) with other alcohols to boost profits. They don't care that the alcohol they use is not ethanol but is something more toxic.

[Spirits4BB]

Then, as I have posted before, people go on holidays to places like Bali or even greater Indonesia, go out for a night of enjoyment, then game over.
Poisoned from locally produced $hit being dispensed from brand name known bottles.

Very worrying, night out, good time cheap booze then......... +BANG+

Roy Orbison........

[Seagull]

Hmm, maybe I'll be better of sticking to my two litres of Smirnoff bought for £20 on Thomas Cook Airlines.

[Icefever]

This is a report from last week in the Miami Herald about deaths from moonshine..makes you think?? about being more careful when on holiday.

[Phantom]

A difficult one to guess, or to decide what's best.

I'd say that if you're concerned about the place(s) you visit generally being a bit backward/banana republic etc, then taking the vodka and hitting it with some flavouring essences is erring on caution but being sensitive to possible "issues".

Of course, it depends where (commercially speaking) you buy your spirit from. If it's a "big business" place, it's likely to be over priced but ok and legal - they have too much to protect from possible legal challenges etc.......

If it's some beach side bar, selling "big names" for not a lot, then it maybe that they're just not as greedy as bars hereabouts. Yet it's also possible that they could be selling rubbish.........

If it's an EU location, it's likely ok (the EU IP big brother has it's uses). Major hotels/bars where lots of tourists go should also be ok, but smaller local bars would be worthy of sticking to the local beers etc........

Just my tuppence worth.......

[Easydrinker]

I would say that anywhere in the world that you see a beer top flipped, a cork extracted or a seal broken on a bottle of spirits, then you are not at risk of poisoning by the proprietor.
Big business, or counterfeiters might be having a go at you though

Robert.