13 Top Kirkland Liquors from Costco for Crafting Perfect Drinks

Anyone with a Costco membership will be intimately familiar with the company’s Kirkland Signature range. As the wholesale retailer’s sole private label, Kirkland has managed to garner an impressive reputation for being more than just a cheap knock-off brand. Costco offers an incredible variety of products under the Kirkland name, from coffee to cashews and tools to toilet paper. One category in which Costco’s Kirkland label has received particular acclaim is its liquors.

I’ll be the first to admit that almost two decades of working in the bar industry have made me a little bit of a booze snob. I don’t care if my drink’s extremely fancy or expensive, but I appreciate something that’s quality or offers great value for money. I was skeptical when I first heard people singing the praises of Kirkland spirits, especially given the frequent lack of transparency and consistency around who produces them for Costco. However, ever curious and willing to be proven wrong, I made a point to seek them out whenever I visited the U.S. over the last couple of years. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Kirkland’s liquor offerings. While I wouldn’t call any of them top-shelf spirits, there were many that I’d be more than happy to mix with or use in a cocktail. There were even a few that I’d enjoy drinking neat, which tasted nearly indistinguishable from their mainstream, mid-range counterparts. With that in mind, here’s my rundown of the best Kirkland Signature liquors for crafting drinks.

There’s a common misconception surrounding vodka: Some think that, because it’s a neutral spirit, the quality doesn’t make much of a difference. In my experience, there’s nothing further from the truth. A good vodka might not necessarily have pronounced or easily identifiable flavors, but it should have a smooth, almost velvety mouthfeel. It’s crisp and clean, and while you might be able to pick out some grain characteristics, there shouldn’t be any sharp or bitter notes. 

There are two vodkas under the Kirkland Signature brand, a French one and an American one. In terms of quality, the European variant manages to outshine the domestic version. It’s silky and bright with a touch of citrus, and produced in France, most likely by the Gayant distillery. I’d honestly find it pretty hard to distinguish Kirkland French vodka from a reputable brand like Grey Goose or Belvedere. The key difference is the price, with Costco’s vodka being far more affordable and therefore a much greater value for money. This means that while it’s clean enough to use in a vodka martini, I wouldn’t consider it wasteful to use it in any vodka drink, whether it’s a Moscow mule, a Cosmopolitan, or a simple vodka tonic. That great value and clean profile also make it an excellent neutral base for making spirit infusions, as there’s little to interfere with your chosen ingredients.

As a Brit, I’m quite picky about my gin, especially considering how much the spirit has boomed in the last ten years or so. A great London Dry gin should be smooth, unsweetened, and juniper-forward. I have no issue whatsoever with gins that deviate from the classic London Dry profile, but I do believe if a brand is going to use that moniker, it should do it justice. 

Although London Dry gin is a specific style of gin, it doesn’t come with restrictions surrounding its place of production – it doesn’t legally need to be made in London. That said, the fact that Kirkland Signature London Dry Gin is produced in Tennessee by a distillery commonly associated with whiskey-making was a bit of a red flag. Truthfully, it’s really not a bad gin. Although the juniper presence is lacking and there’s not much in the way of complexity, it’s still a fairly smooth, well-balanced gin with some pleasant pine and citrus notes. It wouldn’t be my go-to pick for a martini, but it’s a great budget pick for something like a Negroni or a Tom Collins, where it doesn’t have to be the star of the show. Like Costco’s vodka, I also think this gin would be great for infusions. Its lack of depth makes the gin more versatile in a way, and you could easily give it a flavor boost by infusing it with some fresh fruit, herbs, or citrus peel.

Unlike some other spirits, tequila has some pretty tight legislation surrounding where it’s produced, meaning you can always find out who produces a particular brand. Costco’s tequila has been made by a few different distilleries over the years, which has led to a lack of consistency and variable quality. Nowadays, Kirkland Signature tequila is made by Corporate Distillery Santa Lucia in Jalisco, Mexico.

I’ve previously marked Costco’s tequila blanco as one to avoid, partly due to its inconsistencies and partly because the discontinued silver variant was arguably better. That said, while I wouldn’t sip the blanco neat, it’s a worthy ingredient for crafting cocktails. Unlike most other budget tequilas, this one is made with 100% blue agave. It still doesn’t have as much agave character as more premium tequilas, but there’s enough earthy pepperiness and citrus zest to make it a great pick for a margarita. As with Kirkland’s gin, the lack of complexity makes it a bit more versatile. It’s a solid option for fruity, flavored margaritas because you don’t have to worry about losing flavors that aren’t there to begin with.

Next up in Costco’s tequila range is its Kirkland Signature Tequila Reposado. Meaning “rested” in Spanish, “reposado” defines tequilas that are aged for between two and twelve months in oak barrels. Besides giving the tequila a golden hue, barrel aging helps smooth out the spirit and give it a richer flavor profile. You’ll start to pick up notes of caramel, vanilla, honey, and some woodiness, too.

Kirkland’s Reposado is made by the same distillery behind the blanco, so it’s probably a safe assumption that the base spirit is the same. The difference is that this expression spends at least three months in American and French oak barrels. Like the un-aged version, this reposado doesn’t have a huge amount of agave presence, but there are some pleasant honeyed caramel notes. It could be smoother, but that’s not a huge deal if you’re mixing it. I suggest trying it in a Tommy’s margarita or a Paloma. You can also add depth to cocktails that typically call for blanco tequila by using it as a replacement for the un-aged version.

Costco’s Kirkland brand tequila añejo was one of the first Kirkland Signature spirits I tried. Unfortunately, I have to admit that the old version was much better than the current one made by Corporate Distillery Santa Lucia. This lacks the punchy agave-forward profile of the old expression; however, while it won’t find many fans among diehard tequila lovers, I could definitely put it to good use in a cocktail.

Aged for longer than the reposado, the añejo has an oakier profile with a butterscotch richness and some warming spice notes. You could certainly use it to make a solid tequila-based old fashioned with the right combination of bitters to even out its saccharine qualities. Alternatively, you could combine it with some tart citrus to counter its excessive sweetness. Another option is to keep things super simple — throw some into a highball with soda water and a few wedges of lime for an incredibly refreshing summer’s day drink.

Like Kirkland’s añejo tequila, you can tell that its spiced rum has been dosed with sugar and flavor additives to boost the taste. This won’t score any points with rum aficionados, but it’s pretty common practice these days, even among highly regarded rum producers. Plus, to be fair to Costco, the bottle doesn’t hide the fact that it’s added natural flavorings and caramel coloring.

While you could certainly mix Kirkland Spiced Rum with something like Coke, I’d be wary of combining it with anything too sugary unless you’ve got a massive sweet tooth. However, that doesn’t mean it won’t make a great cocktail or mixed drink if you’re careful to balance the flavors. A Dark ‘n’ Stormy cut with enough lime and made with a suitably dry ginger beer would work fantastically with this rum. At 46% ABV, the relatively high strength also makes it an excellent option for rounding out Tiki cocktails. Personally, I can see it being great in a Jungle Bird or citrus-forward spiced daiquiri. You can even use it in smaller quantities to add warmth and depth to other classic rum-based cocktails, like a Mai Tai or piña colada.

Moving on to Costco’s whisky offerings, let’s kick things off with the Kirkland Signature 12-Year Blended Scotch. It’s produced in Scotland – a legal requirement for scotch whisky – and bottled by by an American outfit called Alexander Murray & Company. However, because this company works to source and bottle whisky for companies like Costco, it’s not entirely clear which distillery (or distilleries) makes the stuff.

While this particular dram is a blend as opposed to a single malt, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s of poor quality. I personally wouldn’t drink it neat, but it’s still pretty smooth stuff thanks to 12 years of barrel aging. It features some nice notes of caramel, orchard fruits, dried fruits, and just a touch of smoke. It might not be a whisky to write home about, but it ticks all the boxes, making it suitable for a well pour and a cocktail ingredient. If you want the whisky to shine, I suggest adding some soda for a sophisticated whisky highball. It would be a great addition to a hot toddy, or you could potato-head a Manhattan into a Rob Roy if you prefer a drier, smokier twist on the classic cocktail.

All the liquors I’ve listed so far are great value, and while I wouldn’t be tempted to drink any of them neat, they’re all solid choices for making mixed drinks and cocktails. Now, however, we get to the stuff that generally surprised me, starting with the Kirkland Signature Premium Small Batch Bourbon.

Currently, Costco’s bourbon range is distilled by the Barton 1792 Distillery. This isn’t some nondescript white label outfit but an award-winning, Kentucky-based distillery with over 150 years of experience. The 1792 brand is considered one of the best in the bourbon world, and Costco’s decision to partner with the distillery is a masterstroke. The Kirkland Small Batch bourbon doesn’t have an age statement, but it’s still a deliciously smooth whiskey with pronounced notes of toffee, vanilla, and hints of tropical fruit. It works great as a sipper but is versatile enough to use in just about any bourbon cocktail you can think of, from old fashioneds to mint juleps. It’s also a great one to pick if you want to experiment with whiskey infusions, like bacon-infused bourbon.

Although Jameson might not be the best Irish whiskey in the world, it’s a decent benchmark for comparing against affordable options. It’s not even my favorite, but it’s reliable enough that I’ll turn to it time and again if I’m on a budget or if the bar I’m at has slim pickings in the whiskey department. So, it’s a strong compliment when I say that I genuinely struggled to differentiate Kirkland Signature Irish Whiskey from Jameson.

Like many other Kirkland liquors, it’s hard to precisely identify the distillery behind the spirit. All I can confirm is that it’s produced in Ireland by a distiller that clearly knows what they’re doing. Like most Irish whiskeys, this one undergoes triple distillation. It’s been aged for four years, giving it a clean, smooth profile with classic notes of caramel, toffee, vanilla, orange, and a touch of honey. The whiskey is a little on the thin side, but there’s only so much one can expect from a bottle at this price point. It’s a superb pick for use in any cocktails you’d normally make with Irish whiskey, whether a boozy Irish coffee on a cold evening or a tart, frothy whiskey sour with your favorite bitters.

I was highly intrigued when I first learned that Costco had its own brand of cognac. To earn the name “cognac,” the brandy must follow some pretty stringent regulations. It must be made in the French region of Cognac using specific grapes and double-distilled in a certain type of copper still. To be labeled “XO,” the brandy must also be aged for a minimum of 10 years in barrels made of a special type of French oak. This means that although there’s no guarantee an XO cognac will taste incredible, you can expect a relatively high degree of quality just from the label.

Made by Peyrat-Associés in France, a cognac distillery with over a century of experience, Kirkland Signature XO Fine Cognac is a pretty impressive brandy. It’s aged between 12 and 21 years and boasts a classic cognac character of dried fruit, vanilla, and oak. There’s some nice complexity in there too, with spicy aromatic notes, some almond nuttiness, and a slightly floral dimension. It’s well-suited for sipping, but the impressively low price tag means you can throw it in all sorts of brandy-based cocktails without worrying about your wallet. It’ll work great in classics like the sidecar, Brandy Alexander, and Vieux Carré, giving depth that younger brandies might fail to provide.

There are plenty of cocktails that call for orange liqueur and, when given a choice, most bartenders will choose between Cointreau or Grand Marnier. The former is a type of triple sec, an orange liqueur made with a neutral spirit base, while the latter is a type of curaçao which uses brandy for its foundation. Triple secs are often better when you want a slightly lighter, cleaner orange taste. Curaçao, on the other hand, is a bit richer, often containing herbs and spices for more flavor.

Kirkland Signature Orange Liqueur uses cognac as its base spirit, meaning it tastes closer to Grand Marnier than Cointreau. I couldn’t track down the producer of this particular product, but for the price point, it’s definitely a worthy alternative to Grand Marnier. I’d be more than happy using this in a Dubliner or Singapore Sling cocktail. You could even sub it in for triple sec in something like a margarita, especially if you decide to use an aged tequila to amplify the toffee and vanilla notes of both those ingredients.

A little while back, I wrote up my ranking of Irish cream liqueurs for Tasting Table. I was visiting the U.S. at the time, and my piece was published just weeks before I first tried Kirkland Signature Irish Cream Liqueur. With Irish cream still on the brain, I couldn’t help but think about where I would have placed it and, honestly, I’d have given it a spot near the top.

It’s important to note that due to alcohol laws, Costco has two different versions of this product – the Irish Cream that I’m talking about and a lower-ABV Country Cream. The Irish Cream is made in Ireland with real Irish whiskey, whereas the latter is made with dessert wine in the U.S. I haven’t tried the Country Cream, but I’m willing to bet it’s not quite as tasty as the authentic stuff. Truth be told, this Irish Cream is remarkably similar to Baileys – smooth and creamy with a pronounced vanilla sweetness, albeit a touch less chocolatey character. You could absolutely sip this stuff over ice, but I’d also be happy to use it in any drink that calls for Baileys. It’ll add an extra dimension to any creamy cocktail, be it an Irish coffee, a White Russian, or an espresso martini. The low price and larger bottle also make the Kirkland liqueur a superb choice for the kitchen cupboard, particularly for baking and desserts.

While I’m definitely a big proponent of from-scratch eggnog, there’s nothing wrong with buying the pre-made stuff. It’s quicker, easier, and you can always use your own ingredients to upgrade store-bought eggnog. The main issue is that pre-packaged eggnog can vary wildly in terms of quality. Fortunately, Costco has managed to source an excellent liqueur for its Kirkland Signature variety.

Produced by Fairmont Ltd., a subsidiary of the same company that makes Kirkland Signature American Vodka, Costco’s own-brand eggnog is an award-winning seasonal tipple. It’s made with a combination of real dairy cream, brandy, spiced rum, and whiskey to produce an impressively authentic-tasting eggnog. Like Costco’s Irish cream, the alcohol strength of the eggnog means the product can vary from state to state, with a lower-ABV version being sold in some regions. When the holidays roll around and you’re not sure which eggnog liqueur to go for, I can wholeheartedly recommend this one. It tastes great warm or over ice, and its flavor is balanced enough to try out in your favorite eggnog cocktails.