Tastings. What Did You Like/Dislike?

[teetoppz28]

We did the Mojito tasting on our last cruise (April 5, 2019 on the Magic). It was at the Heads Up bar on Castaway. The presenter was Julian from Jamaica. He was AMAZING. Fun and very informative. We got to mix/muddle our own and even pour our own liquor into our drinks! (That was shocking as we didn't know they allowed that! Some people took advantage of that... )

Let's say that the walk back to the ship was "interesting" and somewhat sideways... LOL!

 

[Candycane83]

We did the Mojito tasting on our last cruise (April 5, 2019 on the Magic). It was at the Heads Up bar on Castaway. The presenter was Julian from Jamaica. He was AMAZING. Fun and very informative. We got to mix/muddle our own and even pour our own liquor into our drinks! (That was shocking as we didn't know they allowed that! Some people took advantage of that... )

Let's say that the walk back to the ship was "interesting" and somewhat sideways... LOL!

Mmm I’m definitely keeping this one then! Lol! Sounds fun!

 

[soniam]

My ranking of the tastings I have attended (some once, others several times):

9. Beer-This is really the only tasting I would avoid. Speaking as a beer snob, there really isn't any beer on the ship that is better than mediocre, and drinking beers I got bored with 20 years ago is not my thing.

8. Whiskey-This one is usually held at 10:30 in the coffee shop, and you definitely need to like liquor if you are going. It is all glasses of straight whiskey. I happen to like whiskey/whisky and it's a reasonable priced and usually low key but friendly crowd. The pours are nothing special, usually an Irish, a Canadian, a bourbon, a blended scotch, and a single malt.

7. Cognac-Another late night, straight liquor offering. The problem is that the ship's Cognac selection is all from the mass market producers and I think this is the least variable tasting on the ship. You are going to get Hennessy VS, Remy Martin VSOP, usually Courvoisier VSOP, and an XO. Bonus points because one bartender used Hennessy XO as the last pour, and another let us all taste (as in, drops) the Remy Martin Louis XIII.

6. Rum/mojito tasting-Now getting into the range where the bartenders have some individual variability in what they serve, not my favorite as they usually offer straight white rum and/or cachaca among the options, which just isn't that pleasant to drink. No premium rums that I recall.

5. Mixology-A different experience every time and a favorite of many. Usually too many fruity/sweet/dessert cocktails for my personal preference, but always worth trying.

4. Tequila/margarita tasting-I have had quite different experiences at this one, some featuring more straight tequila and others concentrating on margaritas. Variability is always good. Bonus points because I like tequila but don't drink it that often.

3. Martini tasting-The only tasting I left walking on a slant. Unfortunately, for informative purposes something close to the original martini (a lousy cocktail with way too much vermouth) is usually served, but you will always get a nice dirty martini, usually a chocolate martini and 1-2 other fruity things.

2. Wine (many variants, e.g., New World, Old World, premium)-usually an experienced bartender who knows something about wine, and essentially a new experience every time.

1. Premium whiskey-Did this one last cruise. The first two offerings were uninspiring (Woodford Reserve and some Crown Royal 'premium' product), but the last two were Johnnie Walker Blue and Glenmorangie Signet, so this wins easily.

Not yet tried: Champagne (July 2019!), chocolate and liquor (we have a type I diabetic in our usual group, so tend to avoid candy)

I agree about the cognac. The Hennesey XO was amazing. I would have loved to try the Louis XIII. The others were just not my cup of tea. I wish they would use high quality rums for the rum tasting. They usually aren't as expensive as other high end liquors. The tequila/margarita one is appealing to me, because I rarely do tequila by itself. I think the martini sounds the most appealing, because I do like various one, even dirty. I hadn't heard of the premium whiskey one. That would be something that might be more interesting, but I am still not a huge scotch/whiskey fan. I thought about the champagne one, but I might just be disappointing. Let us know how it goes.

I like the mixology because it is always fun and usually involves "audience participation". I just did the tequila and margarita on the last cruise - I had done this a couple times before - I like margaritas so I enjoyed it but I can't really do shots so I gave mine away. Once I did the Italian liquor (I think that what it is called) and most of the liquor was kind of gross. I did the mojito & capirinhana (or however you spell it!). I really enjoyed that because I loved all the muddled fruit.
But my 2 favorites are the champagne - because I love champagne and it was like a really cool history lesson - and the chocolate and liquor. That is my favorite!!! The setup is so beautiful! But I don't like scotch and that is one of the drinks.

Your comment about the Italian liquor one is exactly why I posted this. I am worried that there might be a lot of licorice/anise stuff. DH and I hate that taste generally. I love caipirinhas and mojitos, so that's appealing too. I might have to give the champagne a try. The chocolate and liquor was amazing! I'm not a big scotch person, but the chocolate really made it palatable.

We did the rum tasting and for me it was among the worst tasting class I've done (and we've done most - including tequila which I am not a big fan). The rum tasting is typically a late night tasting and is all shots of different rums - no mixers offered, no slices of lime to pair, nothing but the shots. Started with a straight shot of Bacardi and it's not really something I want to be tasting straight. Can't remember where we went from there but knew by shot # 3 that I was wishing I had stopped at the drink station for a big cup of coke to mix with what was being served. I don't know if they usually end with a shot of Rumchata or if the leader was taking some sympathy on me but it was the only one I could drink.

That was my fear a bit with the rum tasting. I like sipping really high end rums, but I don't know of any Bacardi ones that I would drink by itself, unless I had gotten to the lampshade/dancing on tables phase

Mixology is always fun and there's always enough variety so you will probably love a few drinks.

I've found the Martini class to be very similar to mixology... as in the last 2-4 drinks could interchange in either class. Martini class usually has more "history" and learning to it.

Our all time favorite class was the Mojito class taken on the bar on Castaway Cay.

Drinking mojitos on the Castaway Cay does sound very inviting.

We loved the Rum tasting. They are very high quality rums. We did not have a Bacardi. They are supposed to be sipped. We really enjoyed and it was very informational. These were not rums you would want to mix with things. We ended ours with a Yellow Bird.

I am wondering if the different ships or voyages do this one differently. I have heard conflicting reports before. I might have to investigate, because I like high end rums

And @soniam thanks for the thread!! I’m following as it’s my first time. I’m booked for tequila mojito and the chocolate & liqueur one right now, need to cancel at least one! Lol! My husband won’t appreciate me doing too much especially since I’m going on my own hahaha

I am enjoying the thread too. Our first DCL cruise, we did mixology and then and hour later had dinner at Remy with the wine flight. I can get how people might fall overboard now

I’ve stopped doing beer tastings. The beers available on the ships are pretty average, but I can live with that. However, the presentations have generally been poor. On the last one I did on the Fantasy, I suspect everyone attending knew more about beer than the presenter.

Wine tastings are usually interesting, and I think my wine drinking experience has improved as a result of attending these (just about every cruise now). I can now distinguish most of the wines they pour tasting them blind, primarily as a result of these sessions.

I’ve also enjoyed the chocolate and liquor tasting, the champagne tasting, and the martini tasting.

Mixology was a disappointment. This was on the Magic, and all drinks were premixed and we were not even given mixing instructions in printed form, so I would not be able to mix one myself without a bartenders guide. We did do the final layered drink ourselves, but no other hands-on experience.

I am very picky about beer, so I had written that one off too. I tend to avoid wine a lot now. It seems to wreak havoc with my allergies, especially reds. Bummer about your Mixology. We enjoyed both of ours on the Fantasy. I am wondering if the different ships handle it differently, because someone on the Wonder said the same thing as you.

This is really turning out to be a great thread. Thanks everyone!

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Mmm I’m definitely keeping this one then! Lol! Sounds fun!

I was on the Magic a couple cruises before @teetoppz28 and did the mojito tasting on CC. We had a different presenter and a different experience. All the ingredients except for the soda water (and ice) were already in the glasses. We were handed a glass, instructed to muddle, then add ice and soda water (for the drinks calling for it). We weren't given measurements or a printed list of ingredients. For the most part, participants had to ask for the ingredients and measurements or we weren't told the details. It was still a really fun experience, just different than what the PP had.

 

[ImDMous]

We did the rum one about a year ago on the Wonder. This particular one was not good. Mostly Bacardi and Kraken, a few mixed drinks, we did make one mojito. After that is was just straight rums and they were not good. Nothing exotic, I could have gotten it all at my local grocery store.

We really enjoy Mixology, wine, martini, tequila, and champagne tastings on the ships. We'll leave the rum and beer to others.

 

[lklgoodman]

We did the Mojito one on the Fantasy, Jan. 2019. It was done at the Heads Up bar on CC. Really enjoyed it, only 6 of us did it and we got to muddle and add our own rum to drinks. I don't remember our bartender's name. She was from Spain and very informative, also don't remember the rum brands, they weren't Bacardi though. Very fun and would do again.

 

[DCLObsessed]

We've taken a majority of the classes. Mixology several times (which is more interactive on the Fantasy/Dream than the Classic ships) always fun. My favorite by far is the Chocolate and Liquor tasting. Loved that one. Very informative for pairing and just enjoyed everything about it. The Martini tasting was fun but I'm a lightweight and frankly I was polluted from that class...needed food stat. LOL

 

[Dug720]

Your comment about the Italian liquor one is exactly why I posted this. I am worried that there might be a lot of licorice/anise stuff.

I don't recall a lot of licorice tasting stuff... But most of it was GROSS. Let's all remember...Beverly comes from Italy and is apparently pretty popular there.

 

[kiford]

Loved them all. We've done: champagne, wine (twice), tequila (twice), martini, beer, chocolate/liquor, mixology (twice), whiskey, cognac.

I still want to do high-end whiskey, high-end cognac, rum/mojito, the Italian liqueur one (I think that covers all?). I'd also like to repeat martini, champagne, and chocolate/liquor.

 

[DCLDVC1]

One dislike is that some of them aren't held until 10:30pm.

 

[disneyeek]

We just did Mixology, Tequila/Margarita and Chocolate/Liquor on the Fantasy. I really enjoyed all of them. Our bartender for Mixology was awesome, that one was probably everyone in our groups favorite. We did get a sampling of the Casamigos for our Tequila tasting.

When we were on the wonder we did Mixology, Wine and DH did Cognac. He hated the Cognac, LOL but we enjoyed both the Mixology and Wine.

 

[mab2012]

I've only done the Mojito and Caipirinha tasting on the Magic, August 2018. It was so much fun! The glasses had the sweetener/lime/mint already in the glass--they had us muddle it, taste the alcohol in the shot glass (and guess what it was), add that to the drink, add ice and club soda (if the drink needed it.) We made 5 different drinks. For the alcohols, we had Bacardi Limon, Bacardi Silver, Cachaca, some type of vodka, and some type of bourbon...lets just say I was paying less attention the more I drank...

We had a very similar experience on Magic, same month. Probably the same bartender. We enjoyed it, and found it pretty similar to Mixology, just with a focus on those particular types of drinks.

Bummer about your Mixology. We enjoyed both of ours on the Fantasy. I am wondering if the different ships handle it differently, because someone on the Wonder said the same thing as you.

It seems to vary both by ship and by sailing/bartender. We've done Mixology on Fantasy twice, and they were very similar experiences, where people took turns going behind the bar and mixing several of the same drink. We've also done both Mixology and the Mojito and Caipirinha on Magic. The big difference on the classic ships is that you can't get behind the bar without going through a staff-only area, so it's not accessible by guests. So whatever they do has to be done at tables. Mixology was pre-made drinks, and while I wouldn't say we outright disliked it, it was definitely an easy last on our list of favourite tasting experiences. Mojito and Caipirinha was somewhere in between. As the PP mentioned, the sugar syrup was already in the glass and the shots were pre-poured, so there was a bit less to do and less variation in the resulting drinks. But I liked that I got to mix ALL of my own drinks, rather than just one type of drink for several people, so that was a plus.

 

[MonaMN]

We have only done the martini tasting (Dream), but it was great. I'm not usually a martini girl, but that was the tasting that worked for us. I thought it was great - I believe we did two basic martinis - vodka and gin - then one that had a bit of apple and the MOST AMAZING chocolate martini. So. Good.

Looking forward to trying something else on the Fantasy next January!

 

[Figment_Fan]

With the exception of the beer tasting, I really enjoy all of them. It is one of the things my wife and I love about Disney cruising. I have not found tastings on other cruise lines. The best one that we had was the one I was most skeptical about: Amari. Amari are Italian digestives, and we found out there are hundreds of them. These are served after dinner to help digestion. They are herbal infusions with a bitter and sweet taste. This was on the Fantasy in La Piazza. A Negroni is one of the drinks that was served. Love to explore different drinks.

 

[soniam]

With the exception of the beer tasting, I really enjoy all of them. It is one of the things my wife and I love about Disney cruising. I have not found tastings on other cruise lines. The best one that we had was the one I was most skeptical about: Amari. Amari are Italian digestives, and we found out there are hundreds of them. These are served after dinner to help digestion. They are herbal infusions with a bitter and sweet taste. This was on the Fantasy in La Piazza. A Negroni is one of the drinks that was served. Love to explore different drinks.

We were supposed to do a wine tasting on Celebrity last year, but it got cancelled. They didn't seem to offer anything but the wine tasting.

 

[Sleepyluke]

Wow, it seems very random as to what you get. Did the rum tasting on the Wonder last year and loved it. I don't have my pictures in front of me, but we did have one Bacardi, but it was a special reserve/single barrel or something like that, that I did not know even existed. We can not get it locally even from the distributor. Ours were all straight sipping rums and not designed for mixing. The cheapest bottle we had that I can find was $40 so, so decent to upper quality. We learned a lot and will definitely be back again next cruise.

 

[teetoppz28]

I was on the Magic a couple cruises before @teetoppz28 and did the mojito tasting on CC. We had a different presenter and a different experience. All the ingredients except for the soda water (and ice) were already in the glasses. We were handed a glass, instructed to muddle, then add ice and soda water (for the drinks calling for it). We weren't given measurements or a printed list of ingredients. For the most part, participants had to ask for the ingredients and measurements or we weren't told the details. It was still a really fun experience, just different than what the PP had.

That's really a bummer! Our experience made this our favorite one of all time. Julian, the bartender, even balanced multiple bottles of liquor on his nose for the group.

But this DOES prove that no two tastings are similar! Book one again, because I hope you'll get a much better presenter next time.

My wife has pictures and video of us doing the muddling, pouring, and drinking. Maybe she'll let me grab a couple and post them...

 

[diznymom]

I absolutely loved the Chocolate and Liquor tasting.

 

[cgolf]

1. Premium whiskey-Did this one last cruise. The first two offerings were uninspiring (Woodford Reserve and some Crown Royal 'premium' product), but the last two were Johnnie Walker Blue and Glenmorangie Signet, so this wins easily.

Not yet tried: Champagne (July 2019!), chocolate and liquor (we have a type I diabetic in our usual group, so tend to avoid candy)

How much was the Premium tasting? Curious if they change up the pours as well. Other than the Crown and possibly the Glenmorangie the other two aren’t my favorite pours. I love bourbons, just don’t see woodford as a premium pour, and my single malt tastes are Glenlivet and Lagavulin, I know opposite ends of the flavor spectrum. I did just have a Glenmorangie sampler pack recently and three of the four were very good pours.

 

[Auntof2]

Is the chocolate/liquor ever offered on the shorter cruises? It wasn't available on our 3 night on the Dream last year and I only see it on navigators for the longer sailings.