WE’RE all trying to tighten our belts this Christmas – so how can we enjoy our festive favourites without it costing too much?
We’ve tested some traditional Christmas treats to find out whether supermarket own-brand goods beat the brands on quality and price.
In this test, we pitted Bailey’s against supermarket own-brand versions of Irish cream liqueur from Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Lidl.
For each one, we gave it a score out of ten for taste, also taking into account the alcohol content.
And we also rated each bottle out of ten for value, based on the price you pay per 100ml, and gave each product an overall score out of 20.
Here’s how the imitation Baileys fared against the real thing:
Baileys original cream liqueur
- RRP £17 for 700ml
The classic drink is exactly as you’d expect: creamy and smooth with a warm aftertaste.
But it comes at a price – the RRP for a standard bottle is £17, or £2.25 per 100ml.
That’s more than three times the price of the cheapest imitation bottle we tested from Aldi.
- Taste: 10/10
- Value: 4/10
- Total: 14/20
Tesco Irish cream liqueur
- £8.50 for 700ml
Tesco’s Irish cream liqueur was the same strength as Baileys – at 17 per cent ABV – but lacked flavour.
It meant it had a strong alcohol smell and a burning taste, like cheap vodka.
At £1.21 per 100ml, it was half the price of Baileys but one of the more expensive supermarket products we tried.
- Taste: 4/10
- Value: 6/10
- Total: 10/20
Asda Causeway Coast Irish country cream
- £4.75 for 700ml
The Irish cream liqueur from Asda was much thinner than Baileys and had a lower alcohol content, at 12 per cent ABV.
It had a mocha taste and was very synthetically sweet.
At just 68p per 100ml, it was the second cheapest we tried.
- Taste: 6/10
- Value: 8/10
- Total: 14/20
Morrisons The Best Irish cream liqueur
- £10.99 for 1L
This Irish cream liqueur from Morrisons had quite a harsh alcohol taste at first but a pleasant butterscotch aftertaste.
It was the same strength as Baileys (17 per cent ABV) but looked thin and watery, like weak tea.
We liked that it came in a larger 1-litre bottle and was in the middle of the range price-wise, at £1.10 per 100ml.
- Taste: 7/10
- Value: 7/10
- Total: 14/20
WINNER – Sainsbury’s Country Cream
- £10 for 700ml
The Sainsbury’s liqueur was a very close copy of Baileys, with a similar smooth taste.
It also had the same alcohol content at 17 per cent ABV.
At £1.43 per 100ml, it was the most expensive own-brand product we tried – but it was still a third cheaper than Baileys, so a great bargain alternative to the real thing.
- Taste: 8/10
- Value: 7/10
- Total: 15/20
Aldi Ballycastle Irish cream liqueur
- £2.79 for 75cl
Aldi’s Irish cream liqueur was the cheapest we tried, at just 64p per 100ml, but it also had a lower alcohol content of 12 per cent ABV.
We found it tasted thin, artificially sweet and milky.
- Taste: 4/10
- Value: 8/10
- Total: 12/20
Lidl Deluxe Irish cream liqueur
- £7.99 for 700ml
The Lidl version was nice and thick and matched Baileys in alcohol content, at 17 per cent ABV.
It had a synthetic toffee-like taste and was middle-of-the-range on price, at £1.14 per 100ml.
- Taste: 6/10
- Value: 6/10
- Total: 12/20
In other Christmas news, we tested 11 alternative sandwiches including Aldi and Starbucks – and the winner could be eaten all year-round.
While shoppers are going wild for a giant Asda mince pie.
