Baileys Irish Cream is an Irish cream liqueur, an alcoholic drink flavoured with cream, cocoa and Irish whiskey.
The beverage can be consumed on its own over ice or in hot drinks such as hot chocolates.
Although it is delicious, when not on offer in supermarkets it can be quite expensive to buy so I decided to head to every supermarket to pick up their own-brand version.
This included Marks & Spencer, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons, Lidl and Aldi to compare it to the real Baileys in a blind taste test, and the results surprised me.
I tasted all of them at random, comparing the colour, consistency and taste before finding out where the drink was from.
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Baileys
Baileys was first on the taste test and it had a distinct flavour with a great creamy consistency. It wasn’t too strong and had a lovely cream colour to it and I could taste the notes of vanilla in the drink.
I’ve always been a fan of Baileys at Christmas so could tell instantly that this was Bailey’s even though I didn’t know.
A 1L bottle of Baileys is currently £22 in Tesco, although it can be picked up for just £10 if you have a Clubcard. Similarly, Sainsbury’s is selling a 1L bottle for £21.95, or £13 if you have a Nectar Card.
Score 9/10
Morrisons’ The Best Irish cream
The next Irish cream I tried was from Morrisons and I absolutely loved this beverage, it was super creamy and not too strong. It also had a very similar consistency to Baileys, not too runny or thick and even preferred this over Baileys.
The description of the drink reads: “A blend of cream, spirit and Irish whiskey. Indulge in the silky smooth luxury of rich cream, delicately flavoured with Irish whiskey.”
It was also the same percentage as Baileys, unlike a lot of the other ones which were weaker. A 1L bottle can be picked up in Morrisons for £13.
Score 10/10
Aldi’s Specially Selected Luxury Edition Irish Cream Liqueur
Aldi’s Irish cream is £7.99 for a 700ml bottle and although the bottle looks fancy, it wasn’t my favourite at all.
It had a very watery consistency instead of a lovely creamy one and was way too sweet in taste. It didn’t taste very alcoholic and the overwhelming artificial taste ruined the entire drink.
Score 3/10
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Lidl’s Dundalgan Country Cream
This Lidl Irish cream liqueur was £4.99 for a 700ml bottle and although far cheaper than some other options, is also only a 12 percent whiskey drink.
The bottle is very attractive with a picture of a river and greenery and it tasted like a proper Irish cream liqueur. It still wasn’t as creamy as I would have liked but it wasn’t too strong and very drinkable compared to Aldi’s version.
Score 7/10
Marks & Spencer
After loving the flavoured Irish cream liqueurs from Marks and Spencer, I was super excited to try their standard liqueur.
However, this was so disappointing and was too strong and not creamy at all like it should be. It also didn’t taste anything like Irish cream liqueur and left a rather unpleasant aftertaste in the mouth.
The bottle was £10 for 700ml which is quite a lot of money considering Baileys is always on offer in the lead up to Christmas.
Score 4/10
Sainsbury’s
Sainsbury’s’ Irish Cream Liqueur, Taste the Difference is currently £12.50 or £9 for a 700ml bottle with a Nectar Card.
The description reads: “This silky cream liqueur is made with triple-distilled Irish whiskey blended with spirit and fresh cream from the Ballyrashane dairy. The result is a drink of indulgence, rich, sumptuous and sweet.”
I found this Irish cream a lot stronger than Baileys but overall it had a nice taste, colour and creaminess to it. It did, however, smell slightly off and left a funny taste in my mouth which is why it wasn’t my favourite.
Score 6/10
Asda and Tesco
I couldn’t find Asda and Tesco’s own-brand version of Baileys, although both Brady’s Irish Cream liqueur and Carthy’s Country Cream liqueur were found in both of the supermarkets.
Brady’s was purchased for around £6.50 for a 700ml bottle, while Carthy’s was around £6 for the same size.
These were the cheapest in the taste test and for a reason too. Brady’s, although in a nice bottle, felt greasy and oily on the lips and was super thick to drink.
The taste wasn’t awful but the oiliness put me off this drink, even though the bottle had been softly shaken. Carthy’s didn’t taste remotely similar to an Irish cream liqueur and was super sweet which wasn’t pleasant.
Score 1/10
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