{"id":1982,"date":"2011-08-19T14:06:33","date_gmt":"2011-08-19T21:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/?p=1982"},"modified":"2011-08-19T14:06:33","modified_gmt":"2011-08-19T21:06:33","slug":"review-alo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/?p=1982","title":{"rendered":"Review – ALO"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was first exposed to the wonders of Asian markets about 10 years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 My first experiences were that of awe and excitement.\u00c2\u00a0 There were tons of new interesting things to look at, buy and, were I brave enough, eat.\u00c2\u00a0 That last bit brought about a challenge.\u00c2\u00a0 I offered to my friend Colton that he could pick any drink he could find and I’d, at minimum, try it.\u00c2\u00a0 I had some seriously weird ones including grass jelly drink and birds nest drink (complete with bits of nest) to name a couple.\u00c2\u00a0 So when he picked aloe drink it seemed a natural choice, I mean, it has floaty bits in it!<\/p>\n

So, I have to admit, the floaty bits had me a bit worried.\u00c2\u00a0 But, after the first taste I was hooked.\u00c2\u00a0 This stuff is great.\u00c2\u00a0 Aloe drink has a crisp and fresh flavor with hints of citrus and grape.\u00c2\u00a0 The floaty bits are pieces of chopped aloe which are rich in vitamins.\u00c2\u00a0 And, the kicker for me, aloe drink isn’t overly sweet.\u00c2\u00a0 It only has 120 calories for a 16 oz bottle.\u00c2\u00a0 So, what started as a sort of dare has turned into a tradition for me.\u00c2\u00a0 Every time I hit the Asian market I pick up an aloe drink.\u00c2\u00a0 Thus, it goes without saying that when I was offered samples of ALO<\/a>, a new aloe drink on the market, I immediately said yes.\u00c2\u00a0 Though, what really piqued my interest was their suggestions on using it as a cocktail ingredient.\u00c2\u00a0 Despite the loads of bottles I’ve consumed it never crossed my mind to mix it up in a cocktail.\u00c2\u00a0 That quickly changed.<\/p>\n

\"ALO<\/p>\n

ALO, unlike the other aloe drinks I’ve had in the past, comes in a variety of flavors.\u00c2\u00a0 For each they combine aloe pulp and juice with other natural ingredients to make each drink.\u00c2\u00a0 I had the chance to sample six of their seven flavors.<\/p>\n

Exposed<\/strong> – Classic Aloe Drink – This is the flavor you’ll recognize if you’ve had any other aloe drinks in the past.\u00c2\u00a0 The flavor is lightly fruity with a nice citrus hit and a subtle grape flavor.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s got an interesting fruit characteristic that’s hard to put your finger on.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s kinda like those fruit candies you get at some restaurants.\u00c2\u00a0 You know they’re fruit, but you can’t say exactly what fruit.\u00c2\u00a0 This is a solid base flavor to build off of.\u00c2\u00a0 Since it’s not overly strong it adds a nice fruity undertone without masking other ingredients.<\/p>\n

Appeal<\/strong> – Aloe + Pomelo + Pink Grapefruit + Lemon – Very bright and citrusy.\u00c2\u00a0 The grapefruit flavor is the main player.\u00c2\u00a0 I think this one could make for an interesting twist on a Paloma<\/a> or Salty Dog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Elated<\/strong> – Aloe + Olive Leaf Tea – The aloe is subtle in this one with a fresh green tea flavor the star.\u00c2\u00a0 There is a touch of lemon, but I think it could be bumped up a bit.\u00c2\u00a0 The tea flavor really piqued my interest and I decided to craft up an original cocktail with it.\u00c2\u00a0 Look for the Honeysuckle in a few days.\u00c2\u00a0 In addition, I think this would mix really well with gin.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially if you found one with tea flavors of its own.\u00c2\u00a0 Roundhouse<\/a>, for example.<\/p>\n

Enrich<\/strong> – Aloe + Pomegranate + Cranberry – The pomegranate and cranberry add a fresh sourness and a bright pink color.\u00c2\u00a0 I wouldn’t say that either over powers the other, though.\u00c2\u00a0 Additionally, they’re quite nicely balanced with the aloe flavors.\u00c2\u00a0 The natural choice for this ALO is a Cosmo<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Keep reading for the recipe.<\/p>\n

Allure<\/strong> – Aloe + Mangosteen + Mango – This was Elisabeth’s hands down favorite.\u00c2\u00a0 The mango flavor is strong and there is some lychee flavor coming through as well.\u00c2\u00a0 No particular cocktail immediately springs to mind for this one, but maybe a mango Margarita or something with a solid rum backbone.<\/p>\n

Awaken<\/strong> – Aloe + Wheatgrass – I’m always a bit leery of wheat grass.\u00c2\u00a0 It smells like something that came out of a lawn mower.\u00c2\u00a0 ALO Awaken was a pleasant surpise, then. \u00c2\u00a0 The grass flavor is subtle and balanced by the fruitiness of the aloe drink base.\u00c2\u00a0 Subsequent sips found the wheatgrass flavor tamed even further.\u00c2\u00a0 I tried this in a Caipirinha, thinking to play the grassy flavors off of each other and it was really tasty.\u00c2\u00a0 Again, the recipe is below.<\/p>\n

Enough review.\u00c2\u00a0 Cocktail time.<\/p>\n

\"ALO<\/a><\/p>\n

ALO Caipirinha<\/strong><\/pre>\n
2 oz Cachaca\r\n2 oz ALO Awaken\r\n1\/2 Lime, Quartered\r\n1 tsp Demerara Sugar<\/strong><\/pre>\n
1) Muddle the lime and sugar until the sugar is dissolved\r\n2) Add the cachaca and ALO and stir\r\n3) Fill glass with ice<\/strong><\/pre>\n
This is a very tasty cocktail.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 As I suspected the grassy notes from the ALO and the cachaca work well with each other.<\/p>\n
\"ALO<\/a><\/p>\n
ALO Cosmo<\/strong><\/pre>\n
2 oz Citrus Vodka\r\n2 oz ALO Enrich\r\n1\/2 oz Lime Juice\r\n1\/2 oz Cointreau<\/strong><\/pre>\n
1) Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice\r\n2) Shake until well chilled\r\n3) Strain into a chilled cocktail glass<\/strong><\/pre>\n
Light, bright and refreshing.\u00c2\u00a0 Another pink cocktail I could easily drink way too many of.\u00c2\u00a0 This is another case where the cocktail is actually fairly dry despite having fruit juice and Cointreau in it.\u00c2\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
So, to finish, if you haven’t tried aloe drink before you should really give ALO a try.\u00c2\u00a0 With all their flavors there is a lot to chose from.\u00c2\u00a0 Plus, they’re distributing ALO in a lot of more mainstream markets, Sunflower, Cost Plus World Market and Whole Foods to name a few.<\/p>\n
\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a0 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>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was first exposed to the wonders of Asian markets about 10 years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 My first experiences were that of awe and excitement.\u00c2\u00a0 There were tons of new interesting things to look at, buy and, were I brave enough, eat.\u00c2\u00a0 That last bit brought about a challenge.\u00c2\u00a0 I offered to my friend Colton that he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[207],"class_list":["post-1982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1982"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1988,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982\/revisions\/1988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}