Review: Gray Kangaroo

If you’re a budding boozehound like me (under the tutelage of a drunken master… err, sherpa), you may find yourself recoiling in horror at your monthly liquor expenditures. And if you entertain friends at your place often, keeping the drinks flowing as a good host is wont to do, then it’s doubly horiffic.

There are a couple options. Continue buying your $26 bottles of Beefeater gin and Stoli vodka, and go broke at the rate you’re burning through them. Or, start buying the hangover/gag-inducing $9 swill found on the bottom shelf of your local liquor store. Neither are what I’d call ideal.

But wait! There’s another, almost unknown option available. I’d like to introduce you to the Gray Kangaroo, your personal liquor filter. Think of it as the philosopher’s stone for the modern drunkard. I pour in $9 plastic bottle swill in one end, and — shazzam! — out the other end comes liquor that rivals, or I daresay beats, the $26 stuff.

How does this magic work, you ask? From the Gray Kangaroo FAQ:

The Gray Kangaroo filter removes unwanted organic particles left over from the distilling process. These particles are common in inexpensive liquor because it has been processed less than more expensive liquors. These particles cause the off-taste associated with inexpensive liquor. They also get into your blood and cause you to get a headache, prematurely nauseated and are major contributors to a hangover.

As Cash explained in a seminar on liquor, there are two primary factors contributing to the expense of “top-shelf” spirits. First is marketing. All the magazine ads and billboards you see cost a lot of money, which of course is passed on to the consumer. Second is filtration. The more times liquor is filtered and purified, the higher the price.

The cheap “Aristocrat Vodka” you buy that doesn’t advertise takes care of the first factor, and the Gray Kangaroo takes care of the second.

For taste tests, I’ve filtered gin and vodka so far. The filtered gin is easily comparable to Beefeater gin. Cash did a shot of the filtered gin and said it’s one of the smoothest shots he’s done. Vodka works great too. I did a taste test of the filtered vodka against Grey Goose. The filtered vodka wasn’t as good as Grey Goose, but it wasn’t harsh either. I’d say it works outstanding as a mixer vodka for your cape cods, vodka tonics and the like.

For hangover tests, the Gray Kangaroo is a resounding success. I’ve gotten sauced off many a filtered gin & tonic, and always wake up feeling fine. There’s definitely truth to unfiltered liquor causing hangovers from hell.

Depending on your liquor consumption and how often you have friends over, the Gray Kangaroo’s price of $29.95 will easily pay for itself in a matter of a few months. I highly recommend it.

You can order from the Gray Kangaroo website.