BAILEYS has been crowned the nation’s favourite Christmas drink – and for a good reason.
But could you enjoy a dupe that costs less than £17 per bottle?
We’ve tested supermarket own-brand versions of Irish cream liqueur from Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose, to see how they compare with Bailey’s.
For each one, we gave it a score out of ten for how close the taste was to the real thing.
And we also rated each bottle out of ten for value, taking into account the alcohol content (% ABV).
Here’s how the Bailey’s dupes each scored out of 20:
Baileys Original Irish Cream, £17.00 for 700ml (17% ABV)
The classic tipple is luxuriously creamy and sweet, with a warming tingle.
But at £2.43 per 100ml, it is more than double the price of the cheapest supermarket version.
The original is not so friendly on your wallet.
- Taste: 9/10
- Value: 6/10
- Total: 15/10
Tesco Carthy’s Country Cream, £7.00 for 700ml (12% ABV)
The Tesco version of Irish cream liqueur is not a patch on the original – but it is less than half the price at just £7 per bottle (£1 per 100ml).
The drink is watery and looks like weak tea.
It is lacking creaminess and the artificial coffee-like taste is too sweet.
This is also much weaker than Baileys, with an alcohol content of just 12% ABV.
- Taste: 5/10
- Value: 7/10
- Total: 12/10
WINNER: Sainsbury’s Irish Cream Liqueur, £13.25 for 70ml (17% ABV)
You’d struggle to tell the difference between Sainsbury’s dupe and the real thing.
The liqueur is thick, rich and creamy and a great copy for the taste of Bailey’s.
It’s got a slightly harsher edge and tastes a little more boozy, but otherwise is a convincing copy.
And at just £1.89 per 100ml (£13.25 per bottle), this is nearly 25 per cent cheaper than the original.
- Taste: 8/10
- Value: 7/10
- Total: 15/20
Donovan’s Country Cream Liqueur, £7 for 700ml (12% ABV)
Morrisons’ “Donovan’s” liqueur was just £1 per 100ml (£7 per bottle) – less than half the price of Bailey’s.
But sadly, it tastes like a cheap product.
It was thin and watery, with a pungent chemical smell that put our testers off from having a sip.
The toffee caramel flavour is ruined by a plastic aftertaste and harsh alcohol burn – despite its relatively low alcohol content of 12 per cent ABV.
- Taste: 4/10
- Value: 7/10
- Total: 11/20
Aldi Specially Selected Irish Cream Liqueur Classic, £7.99 for 700ml (17% ABV)
Aldi’s liqueur wasn’t the cheapest we tried, but it was the most disappointing.
It had a pungent biscuit flavour but with a strong chemical taste of alcohol.
At £1.14 per 100ml, this cost more than the versions sold by Tesco, but wasn’t as convincing a copy.
- Taste: 4/10
- Value: 6/10
- Total: 10/20
Lidl Deluxe Irish Cream Liqueur, £10.99 for 1000ml (17% ABV) [or £11.99 in Scotland]
This extra-large 1 litre bottle was not a bad copy of Bailey’s.
The flavour was similar, although it was harsher with a stronger alcohol taste.
And the liqueur was thinner and not as creamy – a bit like watered-down Bailey’s.
Working out at just £1.10 per 100ml, it was a bargain compared to the price of the original.
- Taste: 7/10
- Value: 7/10
- Total: 14/20
Waitrose No.1 Blonde Chocolate Flavour Cream Liqueur, £14.00 for 700ml (15% ABV)
Posh supermarket Waitrose’s version is a “blonde chocolate” flavour, which tasted a lot like vanilla and coconut and was very sweet.
But for the £14 per bottle price tag (£2 per 100ml), we were disappointed by how thin and watery it looked.
At at 15% ABV, it wasn’t as strong as Bailey’s.
This could make a fun alternative to the original if you wanted to mix things up this Christmas.
- Taste: 7/10
- Value: 6/10
- Total: 13/10
Prices correct at time of testing.
