Are Nathans the best Supermarket Hot Dog you can buy?

I'll be honest, I like a good hot dog once every so often and I don't particularly worry about how they are made or what's inside of them. What does matter to me is how they taste. That said, it does seem as though the better quality hot dogs always cost 2 or 3 times as much as I want to pay at the grocery store. If you really do believe hot dogs are meant to be fast, junk food then $6.00 for a 6-pack of that junk seems a little expensive. So, the best hot dog brand at the supermarket is usually not the cheapest. Since I don't eat hot dogs every day or even more than once a week, why not pay a little more and get the best whether it's considered 'healthy' or not? So, what are the best supermarket hot dogs you can buy? Well, I actually have three favorite hot dog brands from the supermarket:

 
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Russian Standard Vodka (Original) is one of three different vodkas made by the same company. Russian Standard Platinum and Russian Standard Imperia Vodka are the two upper-end, pricier vodka choices from the same distillery which I have not yet tried. Russian Standard, like any premium Russian vodka is distilled from Wheat. While the original Russian Standard Vodka maybe the cheapest of the three, it is still priced in the range of premium and popular vodkas like Stoli and Monopolowa. I paid $25.95 for a 1.75 Liter bottle of Original Russian Standard Vodka. You can expect to see it priced between $23.00 and $32.00 at your favorite, local liquor store. I’ll confess to two things prior to buying this: One, I was attracted by the interesting looking bottle, with Russian Calligraphy; supposedly named for Peter the Great. The bottle alone makes for good, drink conversation. Two, I didn’t actually pay $25.95. The liquor store was closing and I happened to be shopping at a most opportune time with liquor being sold at 50% off of shelf price. I paid about $13.00 for my first, 1.75 Liter bottle of Original Russian Standard Vodka. As someone who enjoys $20.00-and-under vodkas like Svedka and Ruskova, I was anxious to try an original Russian Standard Vodka at a most unoriginal price.
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It's not because I like Cheap Vodka that I couldn't wait to try New Amsterdam Vodka. For me, really cheap Vodka is Taaka. There are better vodka brands that are still considered cheap by vodka drinkers, where-as Taaka is considered downright undrinkable by some. So how does New Amsterdam Vodka Compare? I thought very highly of New Amsterdam Gin and numerous friends agreed that it is a great gin for the price, so this is one I looked forward to trying and because it is priced about 50% higher than Taaka, I anxiously expected it to be notably better than what I would personally consider a, cheap vodka. So, how does New Amsterdam Stand up to a  Cheap Vodka and for that matter, a better one?

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Put on your O Face

The first time I tried Horsetooth Hot Sauce anyone could tell by my own "O Face"  that this savory Habanero sauce is aptly named. But, the reason for my expressive o face isn't what you think. It has nothing to do with the heat of the Habanero heat, but everything to do with the flavor. The Horsetooth hot sauce people are selling their product short if they think the heat is the only reason the sauce will make you say, "oh". Habanero's  have always been one of my favorite peppers, not so much because they are hot but for their earthy, exotic flavor. If you can get past the heat, habanero's are the tastiest peppers on earth. The key is for the habanero peppers not to be so ridiculously hot that they you can't enjoy the flavor - and I think the Horsetooth hot sauce people have accomplished this feat with their O Face habanero sauce.
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A four pack of Youngs Double Chocolate Stout in the 16.9oz cans found it's way to my home by mistake. I was at a beer and wine store looking at the dark imported beer when I grabbed a 4-pack of the Youngs Double Chocolate Stout, thinking I was getting an unusual variety of Guinness. It is close, but not quite the same. This one is made in England. While the size of the can and familiar rattling of the plastic ball is the same as Guinness, the most notable difference is chocolate. I don't mind hints of dark chocolate and coffee in my stout beers, but I was a little put off by the label which indicates that chocolate flavor is intentionally added to the brew. I prefer beers where the hints of dark chocolate flavoring comes as a natural result of brewing process and aging in the barrel. See my review on Bourbon Barrel Stout. To be honest, I would not have bought the Youngs had I read the label more carefully and had I known it was only 5.5% alcohol as opposed to the hefty 10.3% alcohol level of premium beers like Bourbon Barrel Stout and Woodcutter # 5 by Odell brewing in Fort Collins. England is a good distance away from Fort Collins, Colorado and so is the taste of this interesting beer. Read the rest of this entry