Tuesday, June 21, 2016

takes a little getting used to

13 comments:

Charles said...

Yeah, that does sound like it would take some getting used to. Never had it before, but the original is such perfection I'm not sure why you would want to mess with it.

Kevin Kim said...

What's the original? Who makes it? How?

Charles said...

Oh, I just meant the original ginger beer. Is this not also a ginger beer concoction? I had assumed it was ginger beer plus lemon and lime, but judging by your reaction I guess it's not.

Kevin Kim said...

C,

I think it's pretty much literally what the label says: a drink made of lemon juice, lime juice, and bitters. It's the "bitters" part that made me think the drink might be alcoholic, but Joe Walther wrote in to say that the drink has no alcohol in it. I read the label's small print, and sure enough, no alcohol. Still—it's a strange flavor, and not one that hit me all that positively. It was drinkable, but I definitely prefer the ginger beer.

Kevin Kim said...

Charles,

I just looked in my comment-spam folder on Blogger and found three of your comments languishing there. Very weird. I don't know why that would happen, and I'm sorry. I've hit "not spam" on all of them, so presumably, they're now where they belong. I guess I should check the bin more often.

Charles said...

No problem. I just assumed that you hated me for some unknown reason.

Kevin Kim said...

I've had to prove I'm human, too, despite being the blog administrator.

The Maximum Leader said...

Wouldn't this be a mixer to use in a cocktail and not meant to drink on its own? I assume anything with bitters is a mixer.

Kevin Kim said...

Mike,

Hey, man, you tell me. I know fuck all about drinks. Normally, "bitters" means alcoholic, but there really is no alcohol in this, so... to mix or not to mix? Joe Walther did also say that he was thinking of mixing this with something alcoholic (gin?)

The Maximum Leader said...

I believe in bitters you use as a flavoring agent in cocktails there is some alcohol. There can't be much because you can get bitters in regular grocery stores in VA and they don't check ID to buy bitters. (So I would surmise that there is less alcohol in bitters than in weak beer.) I keep angostura bitters and orange bitters around for mixing cocktails. I know lots of fancy bars mix their own bitters for their own cocktails. So I would suppose that the stuff you are drinking would contain some (trace?) amounts of alcohol.

But, I'd never think to drink anything called bitters. I am interpreting here having never tasted the stuff, but I suppose that what you are drinking is probably some lemon/lime drink that is infused with bitters at bottling. I imagine you could substitute it for a drink like Sprite in a cocktail... Although, it wouldn't be as sweet as Sprite it might share some flavor patterns. I bet it would work well with gin or a light rum to make a crisp citrus-y cocktail.

Charles said...

I'm just baffled as to why Bundaberg would produce a mixer when there best-selling product is a stand-alone ginger beer. Weird.

Unknown said...

The Lemon Lime with Bitters is a flavor that I am enjoying more and more. With gin. Or sometimes with rum. I find it too sweet on its own. I actually like other cocktails made with bitters (I grew up watching my grandparents having a Manhattan every day at about 4:oo, and then my parents generation followed suit, and now many of my cousins and I drink one out of nostalgia when we get together.) I had a girlfriend who drank Gin and Tonics with a dash of bitters.

As an aside, back in 1988 I lived in Australia. While there, I was introduced to Bundaberg Rum. Ginger beer and rum go so well together, I had assumed that these sodas and soft drinks were part of the same company. I was incorrect. They are two different companies that happen to be located in the town of Bundaberg.

Maven said...

That product looks like it'd be a fine mix in for a gin and tonic or a vodka tonic... or maybe even a margarita (neat, none of that frozen froo-froo shit).