Drink Some More

Mountain Dew Voltage, part of the Dew Drinker Designed promotion, is “Dew charged with raspberry citrus flavor and ginseng.” I have to say that it brings me back to my college days and drinking jungle juice.

The raspberry citrus flavoring is very overpowering, or I should say the raspberry flavoring is overpowering. The citrus flavoring missed the boat or is completely overwhelmed by the raspberry; it also tastes flatter than normal Mountain Dew. I am giving them the benefit of the doubt and saying it must have been my bottle. Hopefully it was just the bottle I purchased; I love original Mountain Dew’s almost over-carbonated taste, and Mountain Dew Voltage left me wanting the original and not more Mountain Dew Voltage.

Another drawback to Mountain Dew Voltage is the lack of the Mountain Dew taste. Even Mountain Dew Code Red still has that very particular Mountain Dew tastes. This one just tastes like raspberry. I think Mountain Dew did really well creating the flavor profile of Code Red where you can close your eyes and know it’s a Mountain Dew drink. Here, there is no such connection.

This is one of three new Mountain Dews in part of this contest to find a new Dew. Hopefully the other two are better than this one! I will be planning on tasting the other two in the coming days and voting. You can vote at http://Dewmocracy.com!

So, so much for Starbucks finding their roots.  I walked into a Starbucks tonight and saw the new Starbucks doubleshot + energy 15oz can.  The shape and size of the can shows that it is a direct competitor of the other multitude of energy drinks out there (Monster, Amp, etc.)  What happened to Starbucks returning to coffee?  Didn’t they get rid of their sandwiches, where were all pretty good, so they can reclaim the coffee market?  Now they want to compete with Coca-cola and Pepsi in the energy drink market.

I thought things were a little fishy when I first ordered the doubleshot shaken drink and they asked me if I wanted that “plus energy.”  I stared at the barista with a glazed look as he started to explain what “plus energy” meant.  “Plus energy” is the standard cocktail of energy (vitamin B, guarana, and ginseng).  So much for coffee.

I had the vanilla version today, and I have to say that it had WAY, WAY too much vanilla flavor!  There was hardly any coffee flavor, which is a drastically different taste than their over the counter doubleshot.  This is hard to swallow, pun intended. Though, I think it is perfectly inline to compete with the all fruit-flavored energy drinks that are out there now.

Even though we are on our second keg through our kegerator.  This time we got Red Hook ESB.  I still find myself yearning for some other beer that I haven’t tried before.  Enter Stoudts Smooth Hoperator.  Even though the ESB is very hoppy, this is quite different there is definitely a higher alcohol taste to the Hoperator compared to the ESB, and that could be because of its 7.1% AVB

Stoudts Smooth Hoperator is a great beer.  It has a smooth finish even after smacking you in the face with bitterness from the hops.  I would classify it as a IPA even though Stoudts doesn’t put it in a category.  Another plus is that this beer doesn’t that that metallic taste that can come with very hoppy beers.  That is a very good thing in my book!

I am very interested to see what else Stoudts has to offer.  I picked up a bunch of their beers from the package store that allows me to break up six packs.  Stay tuned for more Stoudts reviews!

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I went to the Triple A diner in East Hartford, CT the other day for a company breakfast. As usual I ordered coffee to go along with my meal, and as I sipped it, I came to ask the question: Why can’t diners serve good coffee? Thinking more about this question, I really have to extend it to most dining establishments. Why can’t restaurants get coffee service right?

Thinking back of my experiences of drinking coffee at restaurants, I was reminded of a time at Barcelona Wine Bar in New Haven, CT. This is a classy tapas bar that has amazing food, but when it came to our after-meal coffee I was hesitant. I asked the waiter what coffee they use for their espresso and he returned with a condom shaped wrapper to show me. It was pod espresso! Not even Starbucks uses pods, and their standards lately have been seriously lacking.

It is not all bad, however, when I went to Craftbar in New York, NY, the coffee was actually the best part of the meal. This gave me hope; maybe some restaurant care about their quality of coffee, maybe.

Why is it that restaurant coffee is so bad? Does good coffee cost that much more than run-of-the-mill coffee restaurants use today? The second question is easy to answer, and if the price is not that drastically different then it is the restaurants fault no serving us good coffee to begin with.

My roommate took a trip to Germany this past week, and wasn’t I happy when he brought back some absinthe for the apartment. I have to first say that I have been drinking Absente for a couple of months now and love it! To me, it tastes just like green Ouzo or Sambuca, of which I love! I have never had real absinthe before, so I was quite ready for Angelique 72 Verte.

With the first pour of this absinthe, I knew I was getting myself into something much different than what I was accustom to. Angelique 72 Verte is a much, much darker green than Absente is, and there is a much more pungent aroma of alcohol; Angelique 72 Verte is 72% alcohol, compared to the 52% that Absente is.

Since this was real absinthe, we though it only proper to drinking it in the traditional way. We were long away from making our friends take this as a shot just to see their faces; we wanted to savor it. We busted out the absinthe spoon, the sugar cubes, and a squirt bottle I had in the kitchen to replace the absinthe fountain. We dunked the sugar cube in the absinthe, we placed it gently on the spoon, we lit the cube on fire and slowly doused it with drips of water until the sugar has dissolved into the absinthe.

My roommate and I looked at each other and slowly took a sip not knowing what to expect. All we knew was from the smell being emitted from the glass. After taking a sip, we both sat back and shook our heads; it was delicious! I have to say, however, that it is totally different from Absente! So different that I am thinking Absente is just green flavored Ouzo, not that being green flavored Ouzo is a bad thing. It is just not absinthe.

I highly recommend anyone who has the chance of trying Angelique 72 Verte Absinthe to do so! When my roommate picked it up, it was revered as one of the best this absinthe store carried. I have to say now, though, I am going to have to spend the money for an absinthe fountain!