Cocktail Hacker

I was first exposed to the wonders of Asian markets about 10 years ago. My first experiences were that of awe and excitement. There were tons of new interesting things to look at, buy and, were I brave enough, eat. That last bit brought about a challenge. I offered to my friend Colton that he could pick any drink he could find and I’d, at minimum, try it. I had some seriously weird ones including grass jelly drink and birds nest drink (complete with bits of nest) to name a couple. So when he picked aloe drink it seemed a natural choice, I mean, it has floaty bits in it!

So, I have to admit, the floaty bits had me a bit worried. But, after the first taste I was hooked. This stuff is great. Aloe drink has a crisp and fresh flavor with hints of citrus and grape. The floaty bits are pieces of chopped aloe which are rich in vitamins. And, the kicker for me, aloe drink isn’t overly sweet. It only has 120 calories for a 16 oz bottle. So, what started as a sort of dare has turned into a tradition for me. Every time I hit the Asian market I pick up an aloe drink. Thus, it goes without saying that when I was offered samples of ALO, a new aloe drink on the market, I immediately said yes. Though, what really piqued my interest was their suggestions on using it as a cocktail ingredient. Despite the loads of bottles I’ve consumed it never crossed my mind to mix it up in a cocktail. That quickly changed.

ALO, unlike the other aloe drinks I’ve had in the past, comes in a variety of flavors. For each they combine aloe pulp and juice with other natural ingredients to make each drink. I had the chance to sample six of their seven flavors.

Exposed – Classic Aloe Drink – This is the flavor you’ll recognize if you’ve had any other aloe drinks in the past. The flavor is lightly fruity with a nice citrus hit and a subtle grape flavor. It’s got an interesting fruit characteristic that’s hard to put your finger on. It’s kinda like those fruit candies you get at some restaurants. You know they’re fruit, but you can’t say exactly what fruit. This is a solid base flavor to build off of. Since it’s not overly strong it adds a nice fruity undertone without masking other ingredients.

Appeal – Aloe + Pomelo + Pink Grapefruit + Lemon – Very bright and citrusy. The grapefruit flavor is the main player. I think this one could make for an interesting twist on a Paloma or Salty Dog.

Elated – Aloe + Olive Leaf Tea – The aloe is subtle in this one with a fresh green tea flavor the star. There is a touch of lemon, but I think it could be bumped up a bit. The tea flavor really piqued my interest and I decided to craft up an original cocktail with it. Look for the Honeysuckle in a few days. In addition, I think this would mix really well with gin. Especially if you found one with tea flavors of its own. Roundhouse, for example.

Enrich – Aloe + Pomegranate + Cranberry – The pomegranate and cranberry add a fresh sourness and a bright pink color. I wouldn’t say that either over powers the other, though. Additionally, they’re quite nicely balanced with the aloe flavors. The natural choice for this ALO is a Cosmo. Keep reading for the recipe.

Allure – Aloe + Mangosteen + Mango – This was Elisabeth’s hands down favorite. The mango flavor is strong and there is some lychee flavor coming through as well. No particular cocktail immediately springs to mind for this one, but maybe a mango Margarita or something with a solid rum backbone.

Awaken – Aloe + Wheatgrass – I’m always a bit leery of wheat grass. It smells like something that came out of a lawn mower. ALO Awaken was a pleasant surpise, then. The grass flavor is subtle and balanced by the fruitiness of the aloe drink base. Subsequent sips found the wheatgrass flavor tamed even further. I tried this in a Caipirinha, thinking to play the grassy flavors off of each other and it was really tasty. Again, the recipe is below.

Enough review. Cocktail time.

ALO Caipirinha

2 oz Cachaca

2 oz ALO Awaken

1/2 Lime, Quartered

1 tsp Demerara Sugar

1) Muddle the lime and sugar until the sugar is dissolved

2) Add the cachaca and ALO and stir

3) Fill glass with ice

This is a very tasty cocktail. With only 1 tsp of sugar it’s a bit on the dryer side (which I like), but that can certainly be easily tweaked to your personal tastes. As I suspected the grassy notes from the ALO and the cachaca work well with each other.

ALO Cosmo

2 oz Citrus Vodka

2 oz ALO Enrich

1/2 oz Lime Juice

1/2 oz Cointreau

1) Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice

2) Shake until well chilled

3) Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Light, bright and refreshing. Another pink cocktail I could easily drink way too many of. This is another case where the cocktail is actually fairly dry despite having fruit juice and Cointreau in it. If you wanted a bit more sweetness you could add a bit of grenadine which would bump up the pomegranate flavor and add some sweetness.

So, to finish, if you haven’t tried aloe drink before you should really give ALO a try. With all their flavors there is a lot to chose from. Plus, they’re distributing ALO in a lot of more mainstream markets, Sunflower, Cost Plus World Market and Whole Foods to name a few.

† The product reviewed here was provided to me as a free sample. If you’re wondering what that means check out my sample policy.

I’ve reviewed Tequila Avion silver some months back and loved it. So, when I was given the opportunity to sample Avion‘s anejo bottling I was eager to see how this one stacks up. When I sip an anejo tequila I mentally prepare myself for certain qualities I expect to encounter. I expect some woodiness, vanilla notes from the barrel char, some spice and a decreased agave punch. What I found with Avion anejo didn’t fit neatly in that box and that was a great thing.

As you take your first sniffs of the light honey colored spirit you get smooth roasted agave notes, sweetness and fruitiness throughout. The flavor follows suit. Fruity agave is the star, but the aging has mellowed the sharpness leaving you with a tremendously smooth spirit that maintains the character of the agave. The finish is super clean and medium in length leaving you with more of that smooth agave flavor.

Since I’ve used the word more than I probably should in this short review, you no doubt realize the character of Avion anejo is agave through and through. You don’t get a ton of vanilla as you do with others, you don’t get heavy woodiness, just clean, pure agave flavor. I really loved this anejo. I will be pouring myself a glass, sipping and hopefully repeating for a very long time.

† The product reviewed here was provided to me as a free sample. If you’re wondering what that means check out my sample policy.

Long a favorite of musicians like 2Pac, Notorious BIG and Jay-Z, Alize was a spirit I had heard about but never had the chance to sample. That is until recently. I received a bottle of Alize Red Passion for review and my interest, or rather Elisabeth’s interest, was immediately piqued. I do have to admit though, the idea of passion fruit and cranberry is definitely appealing. And, I’m happy to say, Alize Red Passion lives up.

Alize Red Passion (16% ABV) – Light red with an aroma of passion fruit, Alize makes a strong visual impression. Passion fruit is definitely the star here. The cranberry is far lighter but still present in the background. Sweet, but not cloyingly so. You could easily drink this straight over ice. This would make a nice stand-in for wine in your next picnic basket. Or, better still, combine the two by adding some sparkling wine for a light spritzer. Make it a brut though so as not to get overly sweet.

I enjoyed the Alize. Am I going to be writing songs about it? Likely not. But that can be said for all the spirits I taste. I’m getting a vibe that this would mix well with some gin. Haven’t had a chance to experiment as yet, but you’ll be sure to know when I do.

† The product reviewed here was provided to me as a free sample. If you’re wondering what that means check out my sample policy.

Talking to the proprietor of a small farmer’s market stand or family run business is always an uplifting experience for me. The passion that these folks exude simply can’t be beat. Talking to Jeff Lindauer, CEO of Spring44, is the same. The passion for his products is palpable and you’re quickly wrapped up in the story of Spring44, both the eponymous spring and the company.

In 1969 Jeff’s father purchased a plot of land in the Colorado Rockies completely surrounded by Roosevelt National Forest. You see, earlier in the century homestead plots surrounded by forest land were sold to ranchers. The idea being that the rancher would then lease the surround forest land to graze his cattle and both enterprises would benefit. Jeff’s father purchased this remote piece of property from the original rancher and Jeff and his family vacationed their throughout their lives.

A tradition when visiting the Lindauer’s property has always been to drink directly from the high mountain spring, Spring44. As luck would have it, on one such outing Jeff brought along his friend and water connoisseur, Russ Wall. Russ was amazed with the quality and purity of the water. Insisting that his friend had an untapped resource on his hands he convinced Jeff to get the water tested. What they got back confirmed Russ’ belief that they had some of the purest natural water in the world. Their first idea of a line of top shelf bottled water quickly faded as they realized the cost to get the water from the spring to market would result in bottled water costing more than $10 per bottle. Lovers of fine spirits, their brainstorming naturally turned that direction and Spring44 was born.

Jeff and Russ have set their sights high right from the start. Their intent is to compete in the uber competitive premium vodka market. And, they’ve come out swinging.

Vodka (40% ABV) – Crystal clear with noticeable viscosity. The aroma is crisp, bright and lightly sweet. The flavor follows suit with a light sweetness, great mouth feel and a super-clean finish. There is a subtle complexity to this vodka that’s hard for me to put words to. You take a sip, contemplate and want to take another sip to see if you can identify it. I would absolutely put this vodka on par with other premium and super premium (read expensive) vodkas on the market.

Honey Vodka (40% ABV) – Wanting to create a vodka with a unique flavor the gents at Spring44 couldn’t have picked better than honey. There are sparse few honey vodkas on the market and Spring44 is a great addition. The color is, as you would expect, a very light honey. The aroma is distinctly honey with sweet and floral notes rounding it out. The flavor is sweet, but not overpoweringly so. This is definitely a honey vodka, not a honey liqueur. Though, that said the honey flavor is pronounced and very clean. You could definitely sip this all on its own. On a side note a small portion of the profits from this vodka go to a group focused on promoting pollinators. It’s a nice gesture, but not a marketing point. They do it because they feel it’s the right thing to do.

Gin (40% ABV) – Crystal clear and lightly viscous, like the vodka. The juniper is definitely the star of the aroma with citrus and coriander coming through in the background. The flavor offers less juniper than you’d expect and complexity in spades. Orange, juniper, lemon grass, cinnamon, green tea…seems like you could go on and on. Each sip offering more to your palate. This is a great gin. Balanced flavors of juniper and other botanicals make this a great choice for drinks where the gin is the star. The Martini (naturally), the Ramos Gin Fizz, or even a Gin and Tonic with the ratio low (like 2:1 tonic to gin) would be great with this gin.

Spring44’s offerings are definitely in the premium spirits category with their flavors, but the great thing is the price doesn’t follow. Both vodkas ring in at $25 and the gin is $30. Great deals all of them. Another thing I love about Spring44 is the labels. They’re very cleanly laid out with a large iconic image on each. A snowflake marks the vodka, a honey bee the honey vodka and a juniper berry for the gin. The imagery is truly stunning.

I think what I liked most about talking to Jeff about his products was his boundless energy and enthusiasm. We talked about the honey vodka and he explained the problems they had keeping the honey in solution. We talked about their interest in getting certified as organic. For the record, they’re not certified yet, but most of their ingredients are organic. From there we moved to the gin and we dove deep into their process, ingredients and his ideas for future offerings (dry gin, navy strength, etc). You can tell he has a passion for his work that simply knows no boundaries. Finally I asked where the name Spring44 came from. Jeff got a slight twinkle in his eye and said that as a kid the answer to any question he asked his dad was 44. “How much does that cost? $44 How much longer is it? About 44 miles.” Seems only appropriate that his dad would name the spring on his property Spring44.

I had the pleasure of attending the Spring44 launch party in Denver last week and want to share two of the cocktail recipes created by Denver mixologist Sean Kenyon.

Smokey Mountain

2 oz Spring44 Honey Vodka

1/2 oz Peach Liqueur

1/2 oz Del Maguey Mezcal Vida

1/2 oz Lemon Juice

1/4 oz Honey Syrup (1:1 Honey to Water)

1) Combine in a shaker with ice

2) Shake and strain into chilled cocktail glass

3) Garnish with a lemon wheel 

Two notes on this drink. When they served it at the party they used habanero infused Spring44 Honey Vodka and the added spiciness was fantastic. As regards the mezcal, you can really use any one you like, just make sure it’s smokey. That’s key to the flavor profile.

Blackberry Sage Gin Smash

2 oz Spring44 Gin

3 Blackberries

4 Sage Leaves

1/2 oz Lemon Juice

1/2 oz Raw Sugar Simple Syrup

1) Muddle blackberries with the lemon juice and simple syrup

2) Add the torn sage and gin

3) Shake and strain over fresh ice in an old fashioned glass

4) Garnish with a blackberry and sage leaf

Nothing to add to this one. Just super tasty.

† The product reviewed here was provided to me as a free sample. If you’re wondering what that means check out my sample policy.

A new vodka is coming to market with some serious names behind it. A collaboration between restauranteur Arrigo Cipriani (who’s father started Harry’s Bar in Venice), Lapo Elkann of Fiat Automobiles and Friulian distillers Marco Fantinel and Francesco Cosulich, I Spirit Vodka is “the essence of culture, taste and Italian flavors from yesterday and today.”

I can’t speak for that quote, but I can speak for the product itself. It’s got all the pedigreed features you’d expect to find in a top shelf vodka. The distillate is made from Friulian grapes and grain, distilled five times. The resulting spirit is then combined with filtered water from the Dolomite mountains bringing it down to 80 proof. Finally the vodka is chill filtered one last time at 0 degrees F.

The resulting spirit has a very clean aroma. Nothing really jumps out at me there. The flavor has a tiny bit of brandy essence from the grapes and the grain comes through subtly as well. As for the finish, it’s short and very clean. While there is a bit of spiciness to the spirit there is no burn. This is a top shelf vodka that I’d put on par with the other players in the field. If you’re a vodka fan and looking for a new bottle, I Spirit is worth checking out. It’s crisp and clean, just as a top shelf vodka should be.

† The product reviewed here was provided to me as a free sample. If you’re wondering what that means check out my sample policy.